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

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?

#311

Post by merrua » Fri, Dec 23, 2016, 2:49 PM UTC

n3on_net wrote: post #36

Here is my list of 2016: - The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory - The 48 Laws Of Power - Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything - Crossing the Chasm - The Richest Man in Babylon - Confessions of an Economic Hit Man - Europe: A History - The Penguin History of Europe - The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon - Sapiens…

The book 'The Richest Man in Babylon' is available to read online at archive.org

https://archive.org/stream/RichestManInBabylon_650/the_riche...

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?

#312

Post by wyldfire » Fri, Dec 23, 2016, 3:45 PM UTC

freehunter wrote: post #195

wyldfire wrote: post #169

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.

Daemon was one of the best book series I've ever read. It's one of the few that stuck with me and made me fall in love with "near-future sci-fi". Things at the bleeding edge of technology that are technically possible today, and the book is written in today's world (not tomorrow's), but just hasn't been done yet. Douglas Richards has a whole series of these near-future sci-fi books as well. Mind's Eye is good (along…

Hmm -- book series? Is there a sequel‽ Wow I better check it out, I really felt like it could keep going from there.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?

#313

Post by krausejj » Fri, Dec 23, 2016, 4:46 PM UTC

I've been raving about two books this year:

1) The Swerve (won the Pulitzer Prize)

A few years old but newly relevant - it made me think, are we at the dawn of a new renaissance or the breakdown of society? Both have happened before... we lost much of the classical era's accumulated human knowledge when papyrus scrolls were burned/destroyed in the Middle Ages. Is computer storage much more resilient than papyrus in the face of social upheaval?

2) Ecotopia

What if Northern California seceded and let its crazy out in a super-green, post-technological, self-sufficient independent state? This book, written in the 1970s, has ridiculous foresight and anyone familiar with the Bay Area will deeply appreciate this thought experiment.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?

#314

Post by _jdams » Fri, Dec 23, 2016, 6:58 PM UTC

mindcrime wrote: post #185

thisisforyou wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious if you have read other Murakami?

Not the author of the parent post, but... Murakami is awesome. I've only read After Dark and Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki , but I'm hooked. I'll definitely be reading Norwegian Wood , Kafka By The Shore and/or IQ84 in the near future.

I read Kafka on the Shore in 2016 and let me tell you, I'm not a big reader (I'm working on it), but it had me thinking about it for weeks.

The book itself is like a dream state, it's magic; There's something about it where even when I think about it again, I get taken off into the lands within the book. I hear other Murakami works are similar in that regard. It is really hard to explain but it had me thinking about my life, who I am as a person to outsiders who meet me, how I see myself and what I feel my purpose in life is, etc.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?

#315

Post by b_emery » Fri, Dec 23, 2016, 10:35 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?

Audiobooks while driving. Download for free via a library suscription on hoopla.com. I only commute 10 miles each way but the time really adds up. I went through about 7-8 books last year.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?

#316

Post by b_emery » Fri, Dec 23, 2016, 10:43 PM UTC

jdpigeon wrote: post #231

It was the second year of my "read books like an adult" effort and there were some great ones: Infinite Jest (David Foster Wallace)* I was blown away by how completely delightful it was to read. I went in to it with a lot of trepidation about its length and esoteric fixation, but found myself completely immersed in the book in a way that I hadn't been since I was kid. I didn't pick up any hard and fast lessons from t…

I appreciate the reviews btw, thanks. More useful than just a list.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?

#317

Post by jharohit » Sat, Dec 24, 2016, 5:54 AM UTC

FajitaNachos wrote: post #226

alawrence wrote: post #207

The War of Art - Steven Pressfield (unsure how I felt about this one, but it's short so worth a read) Deep Work - Cal Newport (recommended) Stumbling on Happiness - Daniel Gilbert (recommended) Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals - Heidi Grant-Halvorson (lots of great stuff in here, highly recommended) The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Alex Haley (I really like biographies and Malcolm X was a pretty interesting person…

I also read Ready Player One this year and thought it was excellent. Since then I've been searching for more books that pull me in like that one did. Way of Kings is pretty good so far.

something similar would be "Off to be a Wizard" - would absolutely recommend it

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?

#318

Post by sn9 » Sat, Dec 24, 2016, 7:13 AM UTC

wpietri wrote: post #114

Matt Ruff's Lovecraft Country , which led me to the non-fiction book Sundown Towns by James W. Loewen. I'm reading the latter right now and blowing my mind. My understanding of the American history of racism was basically that it was generally getting better over time. Slavery, Civil War, Jim Crow, and then the civil rights era. What this leaves out was that things got rapidly better after the civil war for a few dec…

Ta-Nehisi Coates has a bibliography and suggested reading order for books that informed his incredible Case for Reparations (worth reading even if you come to disagree with his conclusions).

You'll find a ton about the Jim Crow and the racism built into federal housing policy: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/06/home-is-...

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?

#319

Post by bewe42 » Sat, Dec 24, 2016, 12:26 PM UTC

I'd like to add "Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned". Even though the book could be shorter and the idea is rather simple, it made me re-think how I search for ideas and how I decide what to work on.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?

#320

Post by hampo » Sun, Dec 25, 2016, 1:20 PM UTC

all non-fiction mostly geopolitics and history:

Prisoners of Geography, Tim Marshall From the ruins of Empire, Pankay Mishra (best read of the year) Capitalism: A short history, Jürgen Kocka The Great Transformation, Karl Polanyi The Second World War, Churchill

Not from this year but still resonating: Postmodern Imperialism, Eric Walberg (should not be read uncritically) The Rich don't always win, Sam Pizzigati