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Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

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Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#61

Post by corodra »

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…

Cool to see an economics book on your list. I think it's a highly underrated subject among the tech community. I started to lightly teach myself economics this year. It was a real sobering experience learning how incredibly stupid I was towards economics and how complex it is. But even after just learning a little, it's amazing to see how that ignorance is a fear mongering tool in the media.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#62

Post by CalRobert »

The Market Gardener - a guide to profitable high-end vegetable growing on 1.5 acres (organic, niche, supplying CSA's, farmer's markets, and restaurants). Seriously considering doing it myself.

The Autumn of the Middle Ages - A discussion of the mindset of peoples as the medieval period ended and the renaissance begain. Bit dense, translated from Dutch. But really interesting to focus on what was going on inside people's heads and how they viewed the world instead of simply historical events.

More importantly:

Llama Llama shopping Drama

Goodnight Moon

All aboard for the Bobo road

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#63

Post by agentofoblivion »

Secrets of the Temple. An absurdly good read on the history of the Federal Reserve system. I learned a tremendous amount about how our world works, and how we got to where we are today. Very eye opening, and a little scary how powerful they are. (Not conspiratorial in tone, as the title and topic might have you believe. Very balanced narrative.)

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#64

Post by arethuza »

One I can recommend is Six Minutes in May: How Churchill Unexpectedly Became Prime Minister

How to architect a failed military campaign that leads to the downfall of the government, become PM because the existing PM has to go and then write the history to blame everyone else and boost your own reputation.

Quite relevant today of all days!

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#65

Post by corodra »

ElCapitanMarkla wrote: post #7

A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts - Andrew Chaikin. Loved it A Man for all Markets - Edward O. Thorp. Loved his stories about counting cards and then moving onto hedge funds etc. American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road – Nick Bilton. Not a bad rundown on the Silk Road. I came across this book after listening to the Casefile podcast https://casefilepodcast…

Yes! A Man for All Markets! I read this one too! Thorp became my new hero because of it. Got me to start doing more personal research projects.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#66

Post by xhrpost »

The Obstacle is the Way (somewhat encouraging)

The Art of Empathy (very interesting)

The Three Body Problem (good)

The Startup Way (decent)

The Politics of Bitcoin (short but interesting)

Why We Sleep (very much worth it)

The Last Arrow (mixed feelings)

The Prize (boring but informative)

Superhuman by Habit (OK, not much new)

The Circle of Profit (straight to the point)

Thinking in Systems (couldn't finish it)

Radical Candor (awesome)

Harry Potter #1 (too low of a reading level)

Man's Search for Meaning (classic)

Flow (Amazing!)

Scary Close (great)

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#67

Post by corodra »

FahadUddin92 wrote: post #15

I read 50 books this year. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/50-books-i-read-year-fahad-ud... One Minute Manager Talent is Overrated Originals Measure What Matters Crossing the Chasm Mindset The Startup Of You Remote - Office not Required So Good They Can't Ignore You The 8 Traits Successful People The Box The Defining Decade - Why Your Twenties Matter - Meg Jay The Power of Habit Cracking the Coding Interview The Googl…

Question, how in depth was the Alibaba book? Was full of nitty-gritty details of how it started or was it kind of a shallow hoo-ray kind of book?

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#68

Post by gnfisher »

1. Imperium/Conspirata/Dictator [Cicero Trilogy] - Robert Harris (excellent)

2. The Fear Index - Robert Harris (good)

3. 1776 - David McCullough (good)

4. Sharpe's Eagle - Bernard Cornwell (good)

5. Star Wars: Thrawn - Timothy Zahn (okay, fun if you read original Thrawn books)

6. Star Wars: Alliances - Timothy Zahn (okay, not as fun as above)

7. Heir to the Empire - Timothy Zahn (fun!)

8. Star Wars: X-Wing series books by Aaron Allston (fun!)

9. Art and Fear - Bayles & Orland (not that impressed)

So I rediscovered Star Wars stuff I enjoyed a lot as a kid and re-read them as well as some newer SW stuff which was all right but not the same as encountering it at 13 years old.

Discovered Robert Harris this year, he's great. Going to keep reading more of his stuff.

I was re-reading some of the Hornblower books by C S Forester (amazing stuff) and branched out to Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe. It was good fun. Going to read more of that large series.

Re: Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

#69

Post by mosiuerbarso »

gw wrote: post #40

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 o…

If you want to get through more books but don't have the time, you might want to give audio books/Audible a go. My book reading has declined over the years due to work and life. But my Audible subscription has allowed me to get through quite a few extra books every year.
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