Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
Ask HN: What book did you read in 2016 that was so good you gifted it to others?
21–30 of 45 posts
Re: Ask HN: What book did you read in 2016 that was so good you gifted it to others?
#22The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
What were your takeaways from the book? Also, Citizen of the Galaxy and Double Star are really good reads in the same sort of vein of political-minded science fiction.
How different we may seem to others. When they talk about earth they are talking as if we talk about other strange lands.
"Did you know..." applies to everyone, no matter how far they are.
Re: Ask HN: What book did you read in 2016 that was so good you gifted it to others?
#23Neither are new books, but this year I both read and subsequently gifted * 1491 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1491:_New_Revelations_of_the_A... * Stranger in a Strange Land (the "Original, Uncut version") https://www.amazon.com/Stranger-Strange-Land-Robert-Heinlein... 1491 is about the societies in the Americas prior to European contact. And if anyone knows of any books on the topic that have been written since then…
1491 is fantastic. Have you read the sequel, 1493? It's thoroughly enjoyable as well.
Re: Ask HN: What book did you read in 2016 that was so good you gifted it to others?
#24Daemon and Freedom by Danial Suarez
Some amazing insights in AI, Augmented Reality, and a distributed manufacturing society.
Re: Ask HN: What book did you read in 2016 that was so good you gifted it to others?
#25In programming there is the concept of "technical taste".It applies to cookbooks too:
Every Grain of Rice by Fuchsia Dunlop.
https://www.amazon.com/Every-Grain-Rice-Chinese-Cooking/dp/0...
This is a fantastic cookbook if you are interested in cooking Chinese food and a great reason to become interested if you are not. The author is a fine thoughtful writer and has really good taste and recipe judgement. The result is an intriguing collection of simple but good to amazing recipes with almost no duds. I've made over 60 of the recipes this year and almost all were a success. I love food and cooking and have over 70 cookbooks but this one has given me the most pleasure.
Re: Ask HN: What book did you read in 2016 that was so good you gifted it to others?
#26Re: Ask HN: What book did you read in 2016 that was so good you gifted it to others?
#27Being Mortal, by Atul Gawande. It changed my outlook on life.
Re: Ask HN: What book did you read in 2016 that was so good you gifted it to others?
#28"Infinite Jest," whose 20th anniversary of publication was celebrated this year.
I also gifted this one this year. And also apologized to the person I gave it to...
Re: Ask HN: What book did you read in 2016 that was so good you gifted it to others?
#29"Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius
Re: Ask HN: What book did you read in 2016 that was so good you gifted it to others?
#30Mein Kampf