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Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

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Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#31

Post by claudiawerner »

bun_at_work wrote: post #23

Non-fiction: - Factfulness by Hans Rosling - The War on Science by Shawn Otto - Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell - A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson - The Storm Before the Storm by Mike Duncan - The Enigma of Reason by Hugo Mercier Fiction: - And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie - The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson - The Magicians by Lev Grossman The non-fiction books were all incredib…

I'm interested in checking out Basic Economics, but I'm concerned it's very ideologically slanted compared to an undergrad economics textbook. I'm moderately well read in classical political economy (and Marx) but I've heard conflicting reviews over Sowell (the man) and his book.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#32

Post by psychotik »

Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand. Story of human grit and survival in the Pacific WWII theater that I hadn't heard of before. I was blown away by the story, and about what I learned about the War that I didn't already know.

Creativity Inc. Re-read it this year, re-inspired.

The Outsider - Stephen King. Well written, engrossing but a typical Stephen King novel

Shoe Dog - Phil Knight. Story of Nike. Phenomenal.

Bad blood - John Carreyrou. Story of Theranos. Absolutely crazy read.

7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy - Hamilton Helmer. Good insights on strategy

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#33

Post by Arkdy »

bun_at_work wrote: post #23

Non-fiction: - Factfulness by Hans Rosling - The War on Science by Shawn Otto - Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell - A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson - The Storm Before the Storm by Mike Duncan - The Enigma of Reason by Hugo Mercier Fiction: - And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie - The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson - The Magicians by Lev Grossman The non-fiction books were all incredib…

Wow, that's interesting. We must have approached Grossman from completely different perspectives. Last year (2017) I read the entire Magicians series and thoroughly enjoyed them because they made me uncomfortable. I was trash, in the same way that Quentin was trash, so following his arc was introspective. At the time I contrasted it to the optimism in "All the Birds in the Sky" by Charlie Jane Anders (if you're familiar)

What was your experience like?

For reference, my most recent fiction is:

- "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" by Murakami

- "Uprooted" by Naomi Novik

- "God Emperor of Dune" by Frank Herbert

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#34

Post by FranzFerdiNaN »

bun_at_work wrote: post #23

Non-fiction: - Factfulness by Hans Rosling - The War on Science by Shawn Otto - Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell - A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson - The Storm Before the Storm by Mike Duncan - The Enigma of Reason by Hugo Mercier Fiction: - And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie - The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson - The Magicians by Lev Grossman The non-fiction books were all incredib…

I hated The Magicians the first time, but I read it again once the tv show came out and I found it a lot better the second time. I just had to realize everyone in the book was supposed to be incredibly spoiled and bored assholes with barely any redeeming qualities. It showed the completely emptyness of life for people who can do pretty much everything, like youre playing a video game with cheats.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#35

Post by r34 »

Ernst Jünger: Annäherungen. Drogen und Rausch (not transleted to english? I've read it in polish). Great piece of essay.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu - bit sad

2 books by Greg Egan: Distress & Teranesia

The Invention of Nature : Alexander Von Humboldt's New World

DMT: The spirit molecule

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Marquez (WOW)

The book of dead philosophers by Simon Critchley (funny!)

& some more (I have to start noting it down :P)

Currently: The Systems View of the World by Ervin Laszlo

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#36

Post by mosiuerbarso »

These are a mixture of audio books and paperbacks I've been reading. I'm listening to more and more audiobooks via audible as it allows me to keep learning new stuff whilst travelling or doing simple household jobs.

Anyways. Here are a few of my best of I've read/listened to this year:

Dictators Handbook by Bruce De Mesquita and Alastair Smith - Very interesting theories on power structures.

History of western philosophy by Bertrand Russel - I love my history. And it was fascinating seeing how ideas/thoughts/thinking have evolved over the centuries.

America the Farewell tour by Chris Hedges - Very interesting ideas and points of view. A tough read at times. I really hope it some part of the book doesn't come true.

Chasing the Scream by Johanne Hari - Good history of the war on drugs, the cost and its futility.

I've read more but these are my top 5 of 2018

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#37

Post by rgrau »

earthicus wrote: post #4

Ofer Gal - Baroque Science. A highly academic history of the scientific revolution, not the most readable book. It focused quite a bit on mathematization, especially in optics (and Kepler's optics revolution in particular), and also in observation via instrumentation like telescopes and microscopes. Paul Nahin - The Logician and the Engineer. About Boole and Shannon's work; I had already learned the material so i ski…

> Michael Chriton - Jurassic Park. The movie was better.

That surprised me as I found the book far better than the movie, and in fact it's a book I keep recommending.

What did you find lacking there?

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#38

Post by jger15 »

Non-fiction:

7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy - Hamilton Helmer

American Wolf - Nate Blakeslee

Atomic Habits - James Clear

Conspiracy - Ryan Holiday

Courage To Be Disliked - Ichiro Kishimi

How To Change Your Mind - Michael Pollan

Open - Andre Agassi

Why We Sleep - Matthew Walker

World After Capital - Albert Wenger

Fiction:

Chocky - John Wyndham

Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata

The Eight Mountains - Paolo Cognetti

The Invisibility Cloak - Ge Fei

The Midnight Fox - Betsy Byars

Such Small Hands - Andres Barba

The Thief - Fuminori Nakamura

Ties - Domenico Starnone

Trick - Domenico Starnone

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#39

Post by raverbashing »

5555624 wrote: post #16
ian0 wrote: post #5

I was introduced to sci-fi last year and pretty much stuck to it throughout 2018. Perhaps the usual suspects given the crowd here but in any case below are my highlights. Completely blew me away: - Anathem by Neal Stephenson - Accelerando by Charles Stross - Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy by Liu Cixin Great Reads: - Seveneves by Neal Stephenson - Glasshouse, Neptunes Brood & Saturns Children by Charles Stross -…

> Rendezvous with Rama by Isaac Asimov Arthur C. Clarke, not Asimov

Also, and I might add, stay at that one and don't bother too much with the sequels.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#40

Post by gw »

I wish I could say I read as much as others here, but I'm slow and lazy. I'll mention one, though...

Roughing It by Mark Twain. It's a grab bag of stories about his journey west without much of an over-arching plot. Though one of his earlier novels, it already has his distinctive humor and a command of English you could drown in, like this:

"A growing warmth suffused the horizon, and soon the sun emerged and looked out over the cloud waste, flinging bars of ruddy light across it, staining its folds and billow caps with blushes, purpling the shaded troughs between, and glorifying the massy vapor palaces and cathedrals with a wasteful splendor of all blendings and combinations of rich coloring."

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