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Ask HN: Books you plan to read in 2020?

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Re: Ask HN: Books you plan to read in 2020?

#61

Post by kedean »

puszczyk wrote: post #3

I look forward to read “Meditations”[1] by Marcus Aurelius and re-read “Black Swan”[2]. On the _craftsperson_ front I’ve heard good things about “Designing Data-Intensive Applications”[3] by Martin Kleppman. Also hope to get some good recommendations here :) [1]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30659.Meditations?ac=1&f... [2]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/242472.The_Black_Swan?ac... [3]: https://www.goodre…

I just finished Kleppman last week. It took me since August since I was mostly reading during working hours, but I highly recommend it, especially as a companion piece if you already have a lot of familiarity with database technologies.

Re: Ask HN: Books you plan to read in 2020?

#63

Post by beaconstudios »

0kl wrote: post #55
beaconstudios wrote: post #30

For me: - On the Genealogy of Morality, Nietzsche - Simulcra and Simulations, Jean Baudrillard - The Ruling Class, Gaetano Mosca - Finish off the Enchiridion and Shobogenzo For work: - Envisioning Information, Edward Tufte - Antifragile, Nassim Nicholas Taleb

When I studied Nietzsche it was more or less “Read Zarathustra, then read all the ‘Viking Portable Nietzsche’ then read all of the ‘Basic Writings of Nietzche’” all translates by Hollingdale or, preferably, Kauffman. Among the jewels you’ll find in such a reading are things like the seed of Nietzsche’s thought being placed, imo, in The Birth of Tragedy, with the line: > It is only as an aesthetic phenomenon that exis…

I'm on the back end of Zarathustra at the moment, hence moving onto something a bit stronger. I tend to flick between different books by any given author in order to assimilate their ideas, so I might add Birth of Tragedy at the same time - thank for the recommendation. I'd like to get through all of Nietzsche's key writing in the next couple of years.

I've thought about reading Schopenhauer as I understand he's a great complement to Nietzsche's work - I'll see where I get to with Nietzsche first. Camus is somewhat related as an absurdist compared to Nietzsche/Schopenhauer's existentialism, but a bit more optimistic about the possibility of meaning.

I'm tempted to dig into Plato as the problem of universals is a philosophical topic that I value greatly, and his theory of forms is basically its origin story.

Re: Ask HN: Books you plan to read in 2020?

#65

Post by bemmu »

eric_cc wrote: post #56
bemmu wrote: post #43

To start the year off, my casual just-before-sleep reading will be "Ender's Shadow", which is a story that isn't a prequel or a sequel to "Ender's Game", but a story parallel to it. "What We Cannot Know", which is an exploration of all the topics that we might never be able to know, such as how to predict the weather, is the universe infinite etc. "Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder", because it's dauntingly…

> because it's dauntingly long and I'm feeling masochistic. it's only 544 pages?

For the reasons psv1 mentioned, despite this it feels long.

Re: Ask HN: Books you plan to read in 2020?

#66

Post by keiferski »

CaRDiaK wrote: post #51
kidintech wrote: post #23

My compiled list for 2020, as suggested by friends I respect and HN: General ==== - Master & Margarita (w reader's guide) - Why we sleep - The righteous mind: why good people are divided by politics and religion - The wisdom of insecurity - The denial of death - The three body problem (friend's advice: slow burn, stick with it) - The dubliners - The devils (Dostoyevski) - The name of the rose - Enten-Oller (Kierkegaa…

My fiancée is an avid reader of fiction and canonical literature, she averages around 40 books a year. I was looking for something interesting to get her one Birthday for a change and was recommended "The Master & Margarita" by some folks on reddit. She loved it. It's a very strange book apparently but it steered her into some other Russian authors since. I've read "Why we sleep" on your list—I average about 20 non f…

> I believe there is a blog post out there that claims there is little scientific evidence to back up some of the medical claims made in the book,

You might find this useful: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21546850

Re: Ask HN: Books you plan to read in 2020?

#68

Post by vesinisa »

CaRDiaK wrote: post #51
kidintech wrote: post #23

My compiled list for 2020, as suggested by friends I respect and HN: General ==== - Master & Margarita (w reader's guide) - Why we sleep - The righteous mind: why good people are divided by politics and religion - The wisdom of insecurity - The denial of death - The three body problem (friend's advice: slow burn, stick with it) - The dubliners - The devils (Dostoyevski) - The name of the rose - Enten-Oller (Kierkegaa…

My fiancée is an avid reader of fiction and canonical literature, she averages around 40 books a year. I was looking for something interesting to get her one Birthday for a change and was recommended "The Master & Margarita" by some folks on reddit. She loved it. It's a very strange book apparently but it steered her into some other Russian authors since. I've read "Why we sleep" on your list—I average about 20 non f…

Here is the blog post regarding factual errors in "Why we sleep" in case anyone is interested: https://guzey.com/books/why-we-sleep/

I was about to read the book based on a colleague's recommendation, but the blog post and a separate article in my local newspaper debunking few of the claims made me decide against it.

Re: Ask HN: Books you plan to read in 2020?

#70

Post by criddell »

0kl wrote: post #21
puszczyk wrote: post #3

I look forward to read “Meditations”[1] by Marcus Aurelius and re-read “Black Swan”[2]. On the _craftsperson_ front I’ve heard good things about “Designing Data-Intensive Applications”[3] by Martin Kleppman. Also hope to get some good recommendations here :) [1]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30659.Meditations?ac=1&f... [2]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/242472.The_Black_Swan?ac... [3]: https://www.goodre…

Re Aurelius: preview a couple different translations if you can - I have found there to be significant differences. If you have the time/inclination and haven’t already I’d also suggest reading Epictetus and Seneca first. NB: My favorite of all the available Aurelius translations so far is Martin Hammond (Penguin Classics)

Is Hammond's your favorite because it's the best read or because it's the most faithful to the source material?
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