Currently a chapter away from finishing Bill Bryson's new one, At Home. It is basically the same style and formula of A Short History of Nearly Everything but applied to a walk around his home in England. I am a sucker for a good history of science and technology and Bryson is really, really good at it.
Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why
81–90 of 211 posts
Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
One of my top five books. I've read it so many times that the binding broke and the book is now in three pieces. I'm amazed that James Clavell managed to capture the culture so well.
Would you recommend any of his followup books? I'm worried that stories with different characters, time periods etc won't have the same feel.
Tai Pan, King Rat.
Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why
#83Neal Stephenson's "Anathem". Seriously one of the best novels I've ever read. He's an excellent writer, and after about the first fifty pages I couldn't put it down.
Also his "Cryptonomicon", a phenomenal novel.
Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
Would you recommend any of his followup books? I'm worried that stories with different characters, time periods etc won't have the same feel.
After Shogun I read a bunch of his books. The only one that stood out for me was Rat King.
> Rat King
It didn't stand out enough for you to get the title right though ;)
Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why
#85Linchpin by Seth Godin.
What Made this so valuable to me was that it introduced for the first time the concept of what Seth calls the "Resistance", the part of the brain that prevents you from taking risks and putting yourself on the line. I also love it for introducing me to The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.
Since reading those books I have been much better at doing important work that actually matters without putting it off or making excuses.
Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why
#86The Alchemist Heard about it for years, always wrote off as too esoteric but as an entrepreneur it seriously resonated and somehow made it all seem a little more manageable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Alchemist_(novel)
Fantastic book. Either that, or Eliezer Yudkowsky's fanfiction "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality" was the best fiction I read this year.
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5782108/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_M...
HP&TMOR didn't sound like the kind of thing I'd have liked... massively mistaken. Very good. Highly recommended.
Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why
#87The best book I read was a work of fiction.
"The Night Trilogy: Night, Dawn, Day" by Elie Wiesel.
Elie Wiesel is a Nobel peace prize winner and he is a survivor of The Holocaust. The short novel Night, talks about his experiences in the concentration camp. The Dawn and Day are fictional works by him .
Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why
#88I just got done reading "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis. Well written, does a good job explaining what bond traders were doing before 2008 and why this downturn started. Well worth the read, IMO (I was recommended the book by a hedge fund manager when I met him at my school).
Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why
#89Doubt is Their Product: How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health
Not really the audience here (it has a very anti-libertarian message), but I found this book to be eye-opening. Basically it's about how companies create uncertainty, delay, litigate, whatever it takes to keep extremely harmful products from being made illegal (most of the methods were pioneered by the tobacco industry). I found it eye-opening.
Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why
#90"A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin: http://www.amazon.com/Game-Thrones-Song-Fire-Book/dp/0553381... GRRM manages to create an alternate world that feels real, where characters have flaws, nothing is black and white, and the good guys don't always (or even frequently) win. By far the best book (and series) I've ever read.
Be forewarned. If you don't deal with cliffhangers well, it may be better for your mental health to wait for the series to be finished. The author is thoroughly committed to the quality of the series, no matter how long it takes. At the current rate it will probably be a decade before the final three books are finished.
On the other hand there is an HBO series in the works that looks to be very high quality.