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Ask HN: Great books you read in 2009?

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Re: Ask HN: Great books you read in 2009?

#131

Post by wushupork »

I got a Kindle as a gift too and I love it as well. I highly recommend you play with it or at least borrow someone's (if they'll let you) if you doubt you'll like it.

"Inside Steve's Brain" - Great book on the history of Apple, and the inner workings of the company and the philosophy.

"Never Eat Alone" by Keith Ferrazzi on the importance of networking and building relationships.

"Trade-Off, Why Some Things Catch On, and Others Don't"

"The Pixar Touch" Great history of Pixar and how they came about.

"Call me Ted" - Ted Turner's autobiography

"How the Mighty Fall" Jim Collins

Re: Ask HN: Great books you read in 2009?

#132

Post by anatoly »

navi03 wrote: post #107
anatoly wrote: post #89

I got myself a Sony Reader mid-2009 and started reading about twice more than I had been before. 2009 was also the first year in which I wasn't too lazy to document which books I read (I'm really glad I wasn't). Here're some of the favourites this year: Classics: Kafka's The Process and America - both stunning novels that deserve to be read as much as his most famous, The Castle . Jan Potocki, The Manuscript Found in…

Интересно было бы прочесть Ваши отзывы на Каренину и Гетсби. Мне, например, очень любопытно, что Вам в этих романах кажется примечательным.

I've plans to write about both as I review the books I read in 2009 on my blog, but nothing I can put into coherent form here and right now, sorry.

Re: Ask HN: Great books you read in 2009?

#134

Post by drtse4 »

anatoly wrote: post #89

I got myself a Sony Reader mid-2009 and started reading about twice more than I had been before. 2009 was also the first year in which I wasn't too lazy to document which books I read (I'm really glad I wasn't). Here're some of the favourites this year: Classics: Kafka's The Process and America - both stunning novels that deserve to be read as much as his most famous, The Castle . Jan Potocki, The Manuscript Found in…

I agree on both Vinge & Egan recommendations. Permutation City by Egan is also quite good.

Re: Ask HN: Great books you read in 2009?

#136

Post by adam-_- »

Flat Earth News - Nick Davies: An interesting discussion about falsehood and PR in newspapers and the media generally.

Hackers & Painters - Paul Graham: Read it this year and enjoyed it a lot.

Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts: Awe inspiring "true" story about a convict who escaped to India. Really made me want to take a trip to India. Perhaps not the highest quality prose but a gripping story never-the-less.

A Simple Act of Violence - R J Ellory: I'm reading this right now and it's the first book in a while that has really grabbed me. Well written crime/thriller type book.

Re: Ask HN: Great books you read in 2009?

#137

Post by drtse4 »

knv wrote: post #102

Anathem, by Neal Stephenson Consider Phlebas, by Iain M. Banks Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins Business Stripped Bare, by Richard Branson Programming Collective Intelligence, by Toby Segaran Zen and Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig

+1 for Selfish Gene, read a few years ago.

Re: Ask HN: Great books you read in 2009?

#140

Post by olifante »

drtse4 wrote: post #135
paraschopra wrote: post #72

Guns, Germs and Steel - still reading it but one of the best I 've read so far..

After that you should read "Collapse", it's even better than Guns,Germs and steel imo.

no it's not. It's a good read, but not as seminal or breath taking as Guns, Germs and Steel, a true modern classic.
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