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Show HN: Books mentioned on Hacker News in 2025

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Re: Show HN: Books mentioned on Hacker News in 2025

#131

Post by thefaux »

threethirtytwo wrote: post #123
TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was recently reading through Ursula K. Le Guin's The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction, and she has so many great quotes that are directly relevant to this situation. Here's a shorter one: > “The use of imaginative fiction is to deepen your understanding of your world, and your fellow men, and your own feelings, and your destiny.” And a longer one: > “We read books to find out who we are.…

What Le Guin is expressing is a beautiful idea, but it is a false beauty. It feels like truth because it aligns with how narrative engages the human mind, not because it accurately explains what stories are or why they exist. The sense that fiction reveals destiny, inner depth, or essential humanity is an illusion created by evolved cognitive machinery, not evidence of genuine insight. From an evolutionary and cognit…

1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.

2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

Re: Show HN: Books mentioned on Hacker News in 2025

#134

Post by mtlynch »

SquareWheel wrote: post #20
seinvak wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My bad — probably should’ve added a disclaimer :) For what it’s worth, I only added sponsored links to the top ~50 books out of ~10k total. Mostly just trying to cover the cost of a decent domain so I can keep the site running.

> "probably should’ve added a disclaimer" It's a violation of the Amazon Associates program to not have one.

Also, it's illegal in the US and many other countries to not disclose that you're earning money from a recommendation.[0]

[0] https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/ftcs-endorse...

Re: Show HN: Books mentioned on Hacker News in 2025

#136

Post by ffuxlpff »

mitthrowaway2 wrote: post #47
samx18 wrote: post #34

Kind of surprising that HN still is quite limited to the US-West, expected a little more diversity with the readers and discussions out there

What are some books from other regions that you hope might get discussed here more?

Maybe the German, French, and Russian classics from around 1830-1950. The material that was considered the backbone of modern literature. At least War and Peace was mentioned in the list.

They might be a bit heavy reading but pretty much understandable even for less educated reader. The literature before that is written for people who know the Bible, Homer, Ovid etc, classic philosophies and European history thoroughly. For others it looks like nonsense or they might read it but not really get much out of it.

Re: Show HN: Books mentioned on Hacker News in 2025

#137

Post by watersb »

jaggederest wrote: post #128
number6 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Accelerando is one of my favourite too! Thanks for sharing the reply, always love book recommendations

In a thematically similar but very different vein, Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time series was an enjoyable read. I also recommend Eric Nylund's work, specifically Signal to Noise and A Signal Shattered. Edit: Well, there you go, Children of Time had 23 mentions now that I've read down further. Disappointed to see Eric Nylund's work fade into obscurity, I rate him up with Neal Stephenson.

I haven't been able to find Eric Nylund's "Signal to Noise" and sequel "A Signsl Shattered" in ebook format.

But they are strange and great.

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