Ask HN: Books you read in 2016? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?

#161

Post by thisisforyou » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 4:20 PM UTC

guiambros wrote: post #149

Last year I gave myself a Zuckerberg-style goal to read a book every two weeks. It started well, but some months were harder than others (usually when the book wasn't very good, so I would switch to podcasts for a few weeks, before getting back on track). Here's an unordered list of the best: [BUSINESS / SELF-IMPROVEMENT] - " Work Rules! " - about Google's culture and values - " Search Inside Yourself " - about mindf…

How far did you get into 'Infinite Jest'. Did you break pg. 200? In my expeirance there seems to be this energy hump at pg. ~200, but if you can push past that it is smooth sailing till the end. (and absolutely worth it)

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?

#162

Post by thisisforyou » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 4:21 PM UTC

adentranter wrote: post #64

An add-on to this question if people dont mind. What medium are you reading these books on? Physical, ebooks, pdf, kindle?

All physical.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?

#163

Post by thisisforyou » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 4:22 PM UTC

shams93 wrote: post #5

My Damage: The Story of a Punk Rock Survivor https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DWWCBEK/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?... Rosemary's Baby https://www.amazon.com/Rosemarys-Baby-Ira-Levin-ebook/dp/B00... Make: Analog Synthesizers https://www.amazon.com/Make-Analog-Synthesizers-Ray-Wilson-e... Android UI Design with XML https://www.amazon.com/Android-UI-Design-XML-Tutorial/dp/147...

How did you find 'Rosemary's Baby'? Seems like the novel was eclipsed by the movie and you never hear about it.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?

#164

Post by magnanimous11 » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 4:23 PM UTC

nicholast wrote: post #154

Here are a few I enjoyed in 2016 by genre: Business - Making Things Work by Yaneer Bar-Yam Investing - Charlie Munger The Complete Investor by Tren Griffin Essays - Michel de Montaigne Complete Essays ($.99 on Kindle!) Physics - At Home in the Universe by Stuart Kauffman Software - An Elementary Introduction to the Wolfram Language Current Events - Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom Fiction - The Orphan Master's Son b…

I absolutely agree with your recommendation of "A Confederacy of Dunces", but it is definitely not an Autobiography.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?

#165

Post by thisisforyou » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 4:23 PM UTC

scandox wrote: post #69

This is mine: - Summae Technologiae by Stanislaw Lem - The Futurological Congress by Stanislaw Lem (reread) - Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson - The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson - The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut - Embassytown by China Mieville - The Vegetarian by Han Kang - Perchance to Dream (stories) by Charles Beaumont - Highrise by J.G. Ballard - In a Glass Darkly and Other Stories by Sheridan Le…

How did you like 'New American Stories'?

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?

#166

Post by thisisforyou » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 4:27 PM UTC

dejv wrote: post #130

Out of 32 books I read this year I recommend: Somehow tech/startup related: - Spelunky, Derek Yu: book about creating the game of Spelunky + notes on game design - Disrupted, Dan Lyons: book about "old" guy working in startup - Hatching Twitter, Nick Bilton: book about Twitter Non-startupy books: - A Wild Sheep Chase, Haruki Murakami: modern Japanese novel - The Hills of Chianti, Piero Antinori: story about wine comp…

Curious if you have read other Murakami?

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?

#167

Post by kakarot » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 4:29 PM UTC

Masters of Doom may well be the only book I've finished this year. I'm currently reading a few novels and The Snowball (Buffet's bio) but it is a slow process because of the overwhelming amount of time I spend reading news, technical resources, comics, and short stories.

I cannot recommend Masters of Doom highly enough to anyone on this website. It's about the rise of Id games and the technological and cultural breakthroughs they made in the industry. Kushner expertly weaves a tale about video games, programming and entrepreneurship in a way that few can. His attention to detail is masterful -- not simply an overabundance of detail, but detail in all the places it belongs. I really felt like I was there with the two great Johns, just as invested in the future of Id as they were.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?

#168

Post by hdivider » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 4:35 PM UTC

jcmoscon wrote: post #110

hdivider wrote: post #16

Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher and William Ury. Once you realize virtually every conversation with a human is also a negotiation, the need to study it becomes clear.

Read about classic rhetoric. It's a fascinating subject!

Interesting. Any book suggestions?

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?

#169

Post by wyldfire » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 4:38 PM UTC

I read pretty much just fiction: "Daemon", "Dark Matter", "Brave New World", "Armada", "Oryx and Crake" (in progress). They're all pretty great, I heard about several of these on HN.

"Armada" was a nice simple story very much along the lines of "Ready Player One." "Daemon" was surprising -- an interesting 'what if' regarding the evolution of AI.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?

#170

Post by nkzednan » Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 4:42 PM UTC

Mostly read fiction. Some of my top books I read this year are:

- Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino (as well as his other detective novels)

- Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Zafon

- The Martian

- Dark Forest (and the Three Body Problem)

- Shantaram

- Age of Myth by Michael Sullivan

- Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits