Ask HN: Books you read in 2015? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?

#91

Post by jharohit » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 8:56 PM UTC

projektir wrote: post #85

Daring Greatly by Brené Brown - discussion of shame culture, its effects on people, and how to combat it - pretty good book about a topic that doesn't get raised often enough, even if I don't agree with everything the author says. The Sports Gene by David Epstein - how genetics may affect sport performance (and not only that); a bit of a counterpoint to Gladwell's Outliers - probably my favorite book this year. The M…

you found The Martian bland ?! That's...I am...speechless. It is an amazing book. The characters are superbly fleshed out and Andy Weir's humour is par excellence. The calculations were not tedious at all. LOL - if you stuck on Mars, calculations are you best friend. I think the author has actually dumbed it down quite a lot TBH.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?

#92

Post by guscost » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 8:59 PM UTC

anatoly wrote: post #62

Non-fiction, best to worst: Henry Marsh, Do No Harm . A brilliant memoir by a neurosurgeon about his work, the nature of his profession, successes and mistakes (especially the latter). Frequently touches or verges into the personal. Not morbid, but often sad. Keith Johnstone, Impro for Storytellers . Viola Spolin, Improvisation for the Theater Two very good books about improvisation, although Spolin's is too dry and…

In the past couple of years I've read through the entire Aubrey/Maturin series, and I totally agree that they are some of the best books ever. I've never been into historical fiction but it was a great decision to make an exception in this case. Highly, highly recommended. There is also a very nice (though extremely simplified) movie adaptation.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?

#93

Post by comrh » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 9:05 PM UTC

ycom13__ wrote: post #77

Here are all the ones I read this year A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire) by George R. R. Martin A Feast for Crows: A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) by George R.R. Martin The Confident Speaker: Beat Your Nerves and Communicate at Your Best in Any Situation by Harrison Monarth House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewsk To the Last Man: A Novel of the First World War by Jeff Shaara Dead Wake: The Last Cro…

> Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson

Second this one. Larson can really write history to be a page turner.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?

#94

Post by EliRivers » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 9:05 PM UTC

jharohit wrote: post #91

projektir wrote: post #85

Daring Greatly by Brené Brown - discussion of shame culture, its effects on people, and how to combat it - pretty good book about a topic that doesn't get raised often enough, even if I don't agree with everything the author says. The Sports Gene by David Epstein - how genetics may affect sport performance (and not only that); a bit of a counterpoint to Gladwell's Outliers - probably my favorite book this year. The M…

you found The Martian bland ?! That's...I am...speechless. It is an amazing book. The characters are superbly fleshed out and Andy Weir's humour is par excellence. The calculations were not tedious at all. LOL - if you stuck on Mars, calculations are you best friend. I think the author has actually dumbed it down quite a lot TBH.

I also found it bland; it became repetitive and dull. Problem, exposition of solution, repeat. The character interaction, by the nature of the plot, was pretty minimal and almost all the problems were technical - there was very little inter-character conflict or character development. At the end of the novel, everyone was pretty much the same as they were at the beginning. The journey was entirely physical, and the dangers were personal.

I am befuddled that you say the characters were superbly fleshed out; I found them rather two-dimensional, and some of them clearly existed only because there needed to be more people hanging around.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?

#95

Post by orky56 » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 9:08 PM UTC

hkmurakami wrote: post #16

"Shopgirl" - Steve Martin - short and poignant. Recommended. "Madame Bovary" - Gustave Flaubert - Considered to be one of the masterpieces of literature, but it's so long that I can't really recommend it. "The Sales Acceleration Formula" - Mark Roberge - I'd recommend this to any entrepreneur. "Status Anxiety" - Alain de Botton - A pretty good pop scienc-y psychology book. "Zero to One" - Peter Thiel - A philosophy b…

Just curious why you found "Zero to One" to be a philosophy book? Despite its academic approach, it was surprisingly practical even if not many startups/entrepreneurs would find it accessible right away in their first venture.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?

#96

Post by EliRivers » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 9:10 PM UTC

lmcnish14 wrote: post #71

A few books I read for fun this year: - Armada: Ernest Cline - Very disappointing and predictable - Library of Souls: Ransom Riggs - Easy but engrossing book - Ruby Under a Microscope: Pat Shaughnessy - I find his style of explaining things very accessible - Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End: Atul Gawande - It's a hard subject to think about but helped me to understand that prolonging life and contin…

- Armada: Ernest Cline - Very disappointing and predictable ... but much improved (although still bad) if you take the interpretation that everything that happens after he almost beats someone's head in with a tire iron happens inside his head during his full-on psychotic break. You can push some of the earlier events into being clues towards that, mix in his father's conspiracy theory insanity for a genetic component, and then view everything that happens as purely a story he tells himself, fuelled by his obsession with eighties sf. It's a push, but it makes it a better book (although still pretty bad) :)

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?

#97

Post by neilsharma » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 9:11 PM UTC

"The Righteous Mind" - Jonathan Haidt. This book helped me understand conservative thinking, made me less heated in my opinions, and provided a convincing framework for me to understand moral arguments

"Emperor of All Maladies" - Siddhartha Mukherjee. An excellently written history of cancer.

"Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage" - Lansing Alfred. A true story of one of the last great explorations man has taken

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?

#98

Post by DanBC » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 9:15 PM UTC

Mostly kids books. These stood out - I've read each of these at least 30 times.

This is not my hat: http://www.amazon.com/This-Is-Not-My-Hat/dp/0763655996

Smelly Louie: http://www.amazon.com/Smelly-Louie-Catherine-Rayner/dp/14472...

WOLVES: http://www.amazon.com/Wolves-Emily-Gravett/dp/1405053623/

Gorilla: http://www.amazon.com/Gorilla-Anthony-Browne/dp/0763673668/

Goodnight, goodnight, construction site: http://www.amazon.com/Goodnight-Construction-Sherri-Duskey-R...

The Promise: http://www.amazon.com/Promise-Nicola-Davies/dp/0763666335/

Some of these won the Kate Greenaway Award - an award for excellent illustration. I've made a partial list here (this is an ugly list because I just needed a list of all the books in one place, with links to amazon, and I'm too lazy to do more now it works): http://danbc.neocities.org/index.html

The official list is here. http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/greenaway/

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?

#99

Post by martythemaniak » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 9:18 PM UTC

scorchio wrote: post #89

Leave it to Psmith - 10/10 Anna Karenina - 8/10 The Code of the Woosters 8/10 Fooled by Randomness 7/10 Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life 8/10 How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia 9/10 Reluctant Fundamentalist 9/10 The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes 8/10 The Last Question - Asimov - 9/10 The Magic of Thinking Big - 6/10 The catcher in the Rye 8/10 Models 7/10 High Fidelity - Nick Horn…

Leave it to Psmith - 10/10

Anna Karenina - 8/10

The Code of the Woosters 8/10

Fooled by Randomness 7/10

Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life 8/10

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia 9/10

Reluctant Fundamentalist 9/10

The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes 8/10

The Last Question - Asimov - 9/10

The Magic of Thinking Big - 6/10

The catcher in the Rye 8/10

Models 7/10

High Fidelity - Nick Hornby 8/10

The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman 7/10

The Surrender Experiment - 10/10

Untethered Soul - 9/10

The Autobiography of a Yogi - 7/10

Raja Yoga - Swami Vikekandanda - 7/10

Something Fresh, something new - 7/10

Karma Yoga - Swami Vikekandanda - 8/10

Thinking, Fast and Slow - 9/10

Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates 10/10

The Pearl by John Steinbeck 7/10

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?

#100

Post by ablation » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 9:19 PM UTC

jharohit wrote: post #91

projektir wrote: post #85

Daring Greatly by Brené Brown - discussion of shame culture, its effects on people, and how to combat it - pretty good book about a topic that doesn't get raised often enough, even if I don't agree with everything the author says. The Sports Gene by David Epstein - how genetics may affect sport performance (and not only that); a bit of a counterpoint to Gladwell's Outliers - probably my favorite book this year. The M…

you found The Martian bland ?! That's...I am...speechless. It is an amazing book. The characters are superbly fleshed out and Andy Weir's humour is par excellence. The calculations were not tedious at all. LOL - if you stuck on Mars, calculations are you best friend. I think the author has actually dumbed it down quite a lot TBH.

While fairly engaging until the end, the characters in the book were pretty shallow and the story itself wasn't really that special. "Amazing" is extremely heavy praise for what is a decent airport sci-fi page turner.