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Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?

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Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?

#281

Post by palerdot »

loosetypes wrote: post #255
palerdot wrote: post #227

The Count of Monte Cristo - This is one breathtaking epic. I have been putting off reading this novel for quite some time and occasionally see this name popping up in HN too, but never gave a serious thought for giving it a go. Was I wrong! This is an epic in its true sense, and you will feel a sense of amazement as you progress through the novel. I'm quite a reader, and I have not experienced such amazement when rea…

Completely agree for the Count of Monte Cristo, but wanted to add that I had a similar experience more recently with Shogun (James Clavell) which I found equally inescapably immersive.

Thanks for the suggestion. Adding 'Shogun' to my reading list

Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?

#284

Post by Intermernet »

Zenbit_UX wrote: post #243
emodendroket wrote: post #220

From a few angles: * I read the Bible out of curiosity and ended up joining a church, so that's pretty consequential. * Moby Dick and Journey to the West were probably the most sheer enjoyment I got out of books * Learning C# 3.0 by Jesse Liberty is extremely dated at this point, and was dated even when I read it, but was the first book that made me "get" many basic OO concepts and taught me a language I've gotten a…

> I read the Bible out of curiosity and ended up joining a church, so that's pretty consequential. Is there a bigger story here? I'm not the type that would find reading the Bible appealing but I can say without a shadow of doubt that if I would, it would not awaken any latent desires for religion.

I've read 3 different versions of the bible and it converted me from an agnostic to an atheist. I think GP may have been predisposed to religion (or at least to the social aspects of joining a church) as the bible, as interesting as it is, is only as interesting as any other selected and vetted collection of philosophy and story telling. Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism and Islam also have very interesting texts worth reading.

This isn't meant to be insulting or dismissive, I have nothing but good will to GP, but statistically just reading the bible doesn't usually lead to joining a church. If it did, you could lose the rest of the evangelism and missionary practices and not really see a dent in the population of Christianity.

Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?

#285

Post by Pelam »

"The Known World" By Edward P. Jones, Historical fiction about former slaves who own slaves, https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/edward-p-jones

"Your Brain At work" - Practical insight into how emotions affect thinking, limitations of cognition, etc. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6899290-your-brain-at-wo...

Cryptonomicon! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptonomicon

Finally, if you happen to be Finnish: "Alastalon Salissa", A novel ahead of its time. Not translated unfortunately, but should be. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastalon_salissa

Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?

#287

Post by tajd »

palerdot wrote: post #227

The Count of Monte Cristo - This is one breathtaking epic. I have been putting off reading this novel for quite some time and occasionally see this name popping up in HN too, but never gave a serious thought for giving it a go. Was I wrong! This is an epic in its true sense, and you will feel a sense of amazement as you progress through the novel. I'm quite a reader, and I have not experienced such amazement when rea…

The Master and Margarita is one of the best novels I've read this year too. It is funny and is so fresh with its humour, despite being several decades old.

Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?

#288

Post by anoplus »

daxfohl wrote: post #245
daxfohl wrote: post #203

Nothing. I've read a bunch of them looking for some kind of enlightenment. I can't say any of them were actually worth the time invested. I expect to be downvoted, but this is truly what I feel. Read a couple of these books just to confirm to yourself they're a waste, and go lead your own life.

Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking. --Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein has some beautiful quotes. It reminds me the "imagination is more important than knowledge" quote.

Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?

#289

Post by mkolodny »

jagrsw wrote: post #65
stocktech wrote: post #2

https://www.amazon.com/Nonviolent-Communication-Language-Lif... Nonviolent Communication. I think it was linked on HN where it caught my attention. This book teaches a great way to communicate, but for me, it has also helped me think about my feelings and how I can communicate those feelings better. I feel more in touch with my feelings and more empathetic as a direct result from following what the book is teaching.…

The co-author of this book is (seems to be) Deepak Chopra who acquired quite a fame for his liberal use of quantum physics terminology (quantum woo-woo) and for producing thoughts and ideas which typically turn out be not very coherent under a closer scrutiny ( https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Deepak_Chopra ), i.e. for "sounding deep while saying nothing" I wonder how his co-authorship affects contents of the book. I bo…

I can't stand books that "sound deep while saying nothing". This book definitely does not fall into that category. It's one of the books (if not the book) that has had the biggest impact on my life since reading it. It's like a more modern How to Win Friends and Influence People.

In a different version of the book than the one you mentioned, the forward is written by Mahatma Gandhi's grandson. That forward is also very worth reading.

Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?

#290

Post by mkolodny »

andreilys wrote: post #186
stocktech wrote: post #2

https://www.amazon.com/Nonviolent-Communication-Language-Lif... Nonviolent Communication. I think it was linked on HN where it caught my attention. This book teaches a great way to communicate, but for me, it has also helped me think about my feelings and how I can communicate those feelings better. I feel more in touch with my feelings and more empathetic as a direct result from following what the book is teaching.…

I'm not sure you need to read the whole book to get value out of it. I'm not knocking the idea of NVC, I think it's helpful, however, reading the book it seemed like the author took a great article/blog post and turned it into a meandering book to jack up his speaking fees. You can save yourself the time/money and just read the Wikipedia page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolent_Communication

I disagree. There are a lot of books (especially self-help books) that I feel that way about. I think every chapter in this book is worthwhile, and I plan on re-reading it at least once.
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