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Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

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Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#951

Post by MailleQuiMaille »

LinuxAmbulance wrote: post #661
MailleQuiMaille wrote: post #134

Depends at what age you'd ask me that. Harry Potter 4 was the first book I binged when I was a kid. Lord of the Flies was the first book that made me feel weird emotions, and I liked it. Snow crash is the book that made me think "Fuck, how can one write a book like that ?" and therefore started what I hope to be a lifelong hobby. I still think of Flatland from times to times, as I'm jealous and amazed of the brain of…

Snow Crash made me work on being a writer. Just an incredible book, and I am only saddened that he will never again write another book like it.

I see, we are from the same cloth !

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#952

Post by ElevenLathe »

sriacha wrote: post #950
ElevenLathe wrote: post #458

I read /Cannery Row/ once a year, and have for over ten years. I am a Steinbeck fan, and this is my favorite of his, but I'm not sure if I keep doing it because it's really the best or if I just enjoy judging my own changes in outlook against a standard unit of literature. I suspect it's the latter but it's a short book and I recommend anyone read it at least once.

Its one of the most beautiful books for me...I'm afraid to reread it and lose that feeling.

I get it every year, possibly even stronger. The opening line still gives me chills every read-through:

> Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream.

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#953

Post by Shocka1 »

tb_technical wrote: post #142

"The best book I've ever read was Atlas Shrugged in 8th grade. Changed my life." Not because I remember anything about it, or believe anything it espouses, or even like it all that much, but because it's a useful filter for obnoxious people in meatspace. If someone I don't know too well asks me what my favorite book is, I say Atlas Shrugged. If they react inappropriately, I'll be cordial and treat them with respect,…

The ol' treating social interactions as a chess match... I could have definitely related to this in my 20s, but I cannot relate to this anymore. At this point in my life it sounds truly terrible to me for multiple reasons. At some point I learned that it takes much longer than a conversation to truly get to know someone. People I was unimpressed with at first have turned out to be a really great friends a few months later. This has happened enough that I usually just give people a pass now regardless.

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#954

Post by Shocka1 »

lolinder wrote: post #499
cactacea wrote: post #492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that is a bit of a misunderstanding of where I'm coming from here. Their assumption is that there is a limited subset of reasons why someone would not engage on this specific topic. I pointed out another that they may not have considered since this requires an assumption of intent that is unwarranted and in my opinion, unwise to make.

What they're looking for: > I know they can either tolerate ideas they hate Your explanation: > would note you as an idiot without comment and move on Maybe I'm also misunderstanding what you're trying to communicate, but it sure sounds to me like your motivations are exactly what they're trying to filter out of their life.

I feel like the point here is that there is a sort of silly manipulation that OP is actively conducting on initial conversations with people that only take one data point. I am 100% sure that people are much more complex than an Atlas Shrugged test, very similar to the way that prediction algorithms use multiple attributes. One test or attribute is overly simplistic.

I don't think it requires any special insight to understand that a fantastic approach to meeting people is to simply be genuine and honest.

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#955

Post by BatFastard »

Onavo wrote: post #876
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #362

These threads often end up, with everyone trying to prove they are literary scholars. I prefer junky fantasy books. I'm really too old and cynical to give a damn what y'all think of me. I probably liked David Edding's Belgariad series, along with the Mallorean series, the most. I reread them, regularly, and go through all ten books, in a couple of weeks. They are an easy read. Also, Glen Cook's Black Company books ar…

Try The Name of the Wind , basic but good.

"Name of the wind" would be on my desert island list!

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#956

Post by xkcd-sucks »

Moby Dick, Herman Melville

VALIS, Philip K Dick

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance + also Lila, Robert Pirsig

Naked Lunch, William Burroughs

Immortality, Milan Kundera

Catch-22, Joseph Heller (pair with The Deserters, Charles Glass -- In fact a lot of the stuff in Catch-22 is actually toned down from reality)

Mastering the Core Teachings of Buddha, Daniel Ingram (but ignore 80% of it)

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#958

Post by powerset »

twoodfin wrote: post #50

Taking “best” to mean, “About to be banished to a small, rocky island in the North Atlantic, can pack one book”: Ulysses , and it’s not particularly close. The book is fractally intricate and intellectually puzzling in the best sense—something new and special to notice every time you pick it up. But it also wears like old leather, and I find myself returning to favorite chapters simply to sink indulgently into the ch…

How do you read it though? I tried but felt like I'm lacking a lot of context without which it doesn't make much sense.
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