Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?

Children of Blood and Bone: Really good and gripping. Listened to the audiobook of this one and it keeps you on your toes.

1. Bourne (The language and world of this novel are extraordinary - everything is falling apart yet brimming with life. Strangely moving)

2. The Design of Everyday things (Essential for anyone in UI/UX)

3. All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries (Highly engaging, entertaining sci-fi novella series, from an author that can write a very decent robot protagonist)

4. The Power (Interesting story with sci-fi elements on the dynamics of power, sex, and gender roles. I didn't care for the book, but the first 3/4 of the book are amazing)

5. Side Hustle: From Idea to Income in 27 Days

6. 7 brief Lessons on Physics

7. The Last Lecture (The energy and positivity coming from a man knowing he's about to die is infectious. Great read)

8. A wizard of Earthsea (Move over Harry Potter, this is the essential children's story about wizards)

9. Exploring diabetes with owls (Funny, irreverent)

10. Miss Peregrines home for peculiar children (Made an effort to read more YA this year - this was the best in this series, but I still hated it. There's a host of better YA series out there.)

11. A Wizard of Earthsea: The Tombs of Atuan (See 8.)

12. The Girl in the Dark (Interesting book about a skin condition I had never heard of, and the trials of living with a very rare condition)

13. The Phantom Tollbooth (Clever children's book)

14. Black hole blues and songs from outer space (Informative book about the study of space, the political and economic forces standing in the way of science, and the incredible individuals working in this field)

15. Welcome to Night Vale (Hugely entertaining, clever and weird)

16. You need a budget (Basic economics book explaining how to budget in a way that lets you do more with your money)

17. To fight Against This Age (Incredibly pretentious, Ivory Tower philosophizing)

18. Infinity Gauntlet (Half the Universe dying because Thanos wanted to sleep with Lady Death will never not be ridiculous)

19. The Right and Wrong Stuff (Great read explaining how to anticipate and avoid career pitfalls)

20. Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children: Hollow City (pretty shitty)

21. The Farthest Shore (Ursula K. Le Guin was the biggest loss this year)

22. Miss peregrine's home for Peculiar Children: Library of Souls (I hate this book and all its characters)

23. Every Good Endevour (Religious book about a Christian worldview and the value of labor - not a bad read)

24. When to Rob a Bank and 131 warped suggestions… (interesting, funny, from the writers of Freakonomics)

25. Weapons of Math Destruction (Probably the most useful book on this list, if you're reading this on "hackernews")

26. Holes (Perfect summer paperback read)

27. Silver Screen Sirens (Essential for film geeks)

28. A full life: reflections at 90 (I gained a lot of respect for Jimmy Carter: he lived an incredible life and does great things)

29. Call Me by your name (Very good romance novel to send to your bigoted relatives at Christmas)

30. Hyperbole and a half (Incredibly entertaining, very distinctive art style)

31. The Murderbot diaries: Artificial Condition (See 3.)

32. His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass (Best children's book, fight me)

33. Less (Exceptionally well-written)

34. Resilience (Great book, especially for those that have gone through extremely difficult circumstances)

35. The Strange Bird (Dark, bleak, full of life, see 1.)

36. The Murderbot diaries: Rogue Protocol (See 3.)

37. His Dark Materials: The subtle knife (See 32.)

38. Tap Dancing to Work (Very dry, some stories/articles are fantastic, others very, very boring for people that do not care about finance)

39. So Good They Can't Ignore You (Pretty good)

40. His Dark Materials: The Amber Spyglass (Amazing YA, see 32.)

41. Uncontainable (Inspirational book about conscious capitalism)

42. The Emperor of All Maladies (Pretty much everything you'll ever want to know about Cancer, written in a very engaging way)

43. Blind Spot

44. Shoe dog (Great story, see madmax108's comment, totally agree)

45. The Faithful Spy (Beautiful artwork describing a Christian pastor's fight against fascism during WW2)

46. Zero to One

47. You'll grow out of it

48. The Happiness advantage (Really fantastic book about the value of positive psychology)

49. Dreams from my father (Enlightening look into Obama's early days)

50. Ayoade on Ayoade (Entertaining, extremely scatter-brained, not as funny as his interviews or tv programs)

51. The Diabolic (badly written YA Sci-Fi)

52. The Physics of Everyday Things (surprisingly informative, recommended for non science-people interested in the way things work)

L'étrange défaite, Marc Bloch, 5/5

Historiae,Quintus Curtius Rufus, 4/5

The Blitzkrieg Legend, Karl-Heinz Frieser, 4.5/5

La vérité sur l'affaire Pétain, Henri Guillemin, 4/5

Far Travelers, the exploring machines, Oran W. Nicks, 4/5

The name above the title, Frank Capra, 5.5/5 (yes)

Robespierre et la république sociale, ALbert Mathiez, 3/5

Digital Apollo, David A. Mindell, 2,5/5

Le loup dans la bergerie, Jean-Claude Michéa, 5/5

The Tender Carnivore, Paul Shepard, 4/5

Scènes de la vie intellectuelle en France, André Perrin, 4/5

Adults in the Room, Yanis Varoufakis, 5.5/5 (really)

Love's Executioner, Irvin Yalom, 5/5

OK, so out of these some are for pure space geeks; some are for political radicals that know French; some are for war and history geeks; some for economy geeks (I happen to be all of these). Which would I absolutely recommend?

1° Frank Capra's autobiography. It's astounding, it's gripping, it's moving, it's suspenseful, it's as wonderful as the great Capra movies and it's true (you'll believe it to the last word). Check for yourself:

I was coming downstairs from Admiral "Bull" Halsey's office. I would have to pass right by Admiral Nimitz. Was he waiting for me? Would be renege on the all-important Special Film Coverage directive I had written for him, and he had signed? Had MacArthur nixed the order to integrate all combat photography? Had the the Air Force? The Marines? I hesitated, then saluted, and walked by him.

"Oh, Capra! Can you spare a moment?"

I went limp. "Of course, Admiral."

Behind his desk, his back to me he faced a window that looked out over our sunken warships. "Sit down, please," he said, huskily. "I apologize for alling you in here. It"s just this --this --goddam sonofabitch of a _war_!". His hands clasped and unclasped behind him as he rocked slowly back and forth on his heels. Then, out of the depths of an overwhelming hurt, he cried out: "They cheered me... Three thousand of them... Eighteen-year-olds... Legs gone, faces gone... They cheered me... I sent them there .... They cheered me....".

Then he turned, sat heavily on his chair, and with tears streaming down his face, he beat the table with both fists: "GODDAM SONOFABITCH OF A WAR! GODDAM SONOFABITCH OF A WAR! What am I going to write to their parents? What can _anybody_ write to their parents?..." He grabbed his wet face in both his hands. He was sobbing now. A father weeping for all the sons in the world. "Eighteen-year-olds... kids... boys... three thousand of them... They cheered me... I sent them there... they cheered me... GODDAM SONOFABITCH OF A WAR! goddam sonofa--" His handkerchief was out now. Not once had he looked at me, directly.

I sat as if transfixed. Tears had started down my cheeks. The white-thatched adminral blew his nose, composed himself, then looking at me with a shy little smile, he said pleasantly: "Thank you, Capra, Thank you."

He had wanted to share his great pain with another human being -- someone that was not Navy. I rose to my feet, try to mumble something. I couldn't. So I smiled back and walked out. I had witnessed something rare. Something awesome -- the inside of a tormented human soul.

2° Varoufakis' "Adults in the Room". If you have the slightest interest in politics, power, economy, negociation, struggle, go read it. It's gripping like a detective story, it's suspenseful, it's incredibly intelligent and insightful; reading this I grew a profound respect for Y. Varoufakis and it changed a lot of my views on a lot of things about the EU, the Euro, the power relationships in Europe, etc. quote:

Benoît and I had resumed our whispered conversation when suddenly I heard shouting. Benoît looked concerned.

'What happened?' I asked him. Concentrating sa I had been on my discussion with Benoît, I had failed to notice the drama unfolding behind me.

'Michel shouted at Wolfgang,' he replied.

'Why?' I had been aware only of raised voices, whereas Benoît, who was facing me, had seen everything and might also have actually heard what was said.

'Because Wofgang said that he wants the troika in Paris,' said Benoît with a bitter grin.

It all made perfect sense. The troika that had been born and raised in Athens was now Paris-bound because its ultimate mission was to control the French national budget. The harsh ahd failed policies imposed upon Greece had nothing to do with our country. The threat to close down Greece's banks that Benoît had been relaying to me at the very moment Michel yelled at Wolfgang had nothing to do with our banks. They were Wolfgang's signal to Paris: if France wanted the Euro, it must forfeit sovereignty over its budget deficits.

Some of these texts are available online (partial or complete).