Cry The Beloved Country by Alan Paton.
Whenever I feel short of compassion, this books helps me gain some senses and completely change the way I look at the world - literally everytime.
Ask HN: Which book have you re-read recently?
121–130 of 224 posts
Re: Ask HN: Which book have you re-read recently?
#122Zero to One (audio book)
Re: Ask HN: Which book have you re-read recently?
#123Man's search for meaning by Victor Frank https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man's_Search_for_Meaning
Yeah! Thanks! I am going to reread it now.
Re: Ask HN: Which book have you re-read recently?
#124Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead , Tom Stoppard. This is a hilariously clever play so packed with verbal and physical humor that you almost have to read it aloud to yourself and move about your own living room to fully digest it. It explores the sensation that supposedly random events are somehow orchestrated into a purposeful coherence by an unseen force (Stoppard? Shakespeare?) More than one character has an e…
This was made into a movie a while back as well. It really liked it.
Re: Ask HN: Which book have you re-read recently?
#125Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. Really, anything by Gibson is worth reading multiple times, simply for the great writing style. Pattern Recognition also does something special: have you really ever /thought/ about brands and advertising? Lots of commentary on culture, memetic fashion, and what it means.
Recursion by Tony Ballantyne is a book that I didn't actually like all that much, but reread anyways. It covers a lot of topics I love (global AIs, Von Neumann Machines, tulpas, trusting trust, and a totalitarian utopia). The plot leaves a lot to be desired, but the concepts are worth it.
Re: Ask HN: Which book have you re-read recently?
#1261984, followed directly by Brave New World. Our world resembles a lot from each of these books. Much like in 1984, we have devices and companies constantly monitoring us (iOS, Android, Facebook, etc.), we have “news programs” and websites seemingly modeled after the “two minutes hate”, and we clearly have some Ministry of Truth-like misinformation getting spread around while accurate information gets lost or ignored.…
>we have soma-like drugs
Having not read the book. Anyone know if that soma is based on vedic soma[1], seems like it.
Re: Ask HN: Which book have you re-read recently?
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
Both you and pdog have made interesting observations, I suppose, but as I said, neither book described our reality accurately. Our reality is far more complicated. As you point out, millions have protested, but tens of millions haven’t. As pdog remarked, the world in 1984 might be described as a totalitarian hellscape, in part, but parts of our world can also be described as such; pdog needs to look outside his local…
>As you point out, millions have protested, but tens of millions haven’t. On both an absolute and per-capita level, those millions are actually record highs. These are historically large demonstrations. I'd have to check where I read this, but IIRC about 3% of a country's total population is typically the amount you need demonstrating in order to overthrow a government. We're possibly looking at a revolution in progr…
> "you guys"
I don't know what group you're imagining me to be a part of, but you have no idea who I am, clearly. That's fine.
Re: Ask HN: Which book have you re-read recently?
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
>As you point out, millions have protested, but tens of millions haven’t. On both an absolute and per-capita level, those millions are actually record highs. These are historically large demonstrations. I'd have to check where I read this, but IIRC about 3% of a country's total population is typically the amount you need demonstrating in order to overthrow a government. We're possibly looking at a revolution in progr…
> "you guys" I don't know what group you're imagining me to be a part of, but you have no idea who I am, clearly. That's fine.
Fair enough. I retract any implied criticism. You keep organizing!
Re: Ask HN: Which book have you re-read recently?
#129I re-read Fahrenheit 451 recently. I had read it only once when I was young.
Re: Ask HN: Which book have you re-read recently?
#130Nassim Taleb's Antifragile. First read it when it came out in 2012, and I was still unmarried and unemployed. Interesting to re-read it now that I'm married and have been working for 4+ years.
+1 for Antifragile. Very interesting ideas, even though his writing style is a bit overbearing (lots of rants and personal attacks). I found it interesting to think about how the ideas in the book apply and relate to software development: https://henrikwarne.com/2014/06/08/antifragility-and-softwar...