Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?

#121

Post by dri_ft » Sun, Jan 19, 2020, 10:06 PM UTC

mellosouls wrote: post #12

mellosouls wrote: post #8

Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban is not unknown but not hugely popular. Post apocalyptic novel written in a made up language (think Clockwork Orange). Poetic and deeply moving account of a boy's journey through a world where scientific knowledge has devolved to primitive ritual and incantation; and his dawning realisation that we lost everything . I've never read anything else like it. https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/R…

Here's how it starts off, be warned: On my naming day when I come 12 I gone front spear and kilt a wyld boar he parbly ben the las wyld pig on the Bundel Downs any how there hadnt ben none for a long time befor him nor I aint looking to see none agen. He dint make the groun shake nor nothing like that when he come on to my spear he wernt all that big plus he lookit poorly. He done the reqwyrt he ternt and stood and c…

But it's surprising how quickly you settle into it, honestly.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?

#122

Post by mindcrime » Sun, Jan 19, 2020, 10:09 PM UTC

bordercases wrote: post #102

mindcrime wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Foundations of Decision Analysis by Hubbard. Sounds interesting, but I couldn't find this in a quick preliminary search. Do you have a link handy? The only book titled "Foundations of Decision Analysis" I came across was by Howard and Abbas. Also, not sure if this is related to the Hubbard you refer to or not, but there's a gentleman named Douglas Hubbard who has written some really excellent material in this area. I…

Sorry I meant Howard.

Gnarly. Thanks for the recommendation. I think I'm going to order a copy of this one.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?

#123

Post by yesenadam » Sun, Jan 19, 2020, 10:10 PM UTC

alexashka wrote: post #47

I'm reading through Behave by Robert M. Sapolsky. It's a science based look at human behaviour. It's not light reading but it's not a textbook either, it's in-between. This book will remain unknown just by the virtue of it's weight - this is not 'how to feel better by meditating 10 minutes a day' pop psychology pamphlet, this will take some work to get through :)

I watched his 25-part Biology of Human Behavior (Stanford U.) course years ago, it's the best course I've ever done. Maybe covers a lot of the same ground. He's a great lecturer! Very funny and a great storyteller. There's a lot on how brains work, how genes work, and then all the levels science studies human (and animal) behaviour - e.g. "Why did they do that?" can be explained by what happened a millisecond ago, or a few seconds ago, or that morning, or .. (a dozen levels omitted) ... millions of years ago.

Lecture I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNnIGh9g6fA

Re: Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?

#124

Post by yourcelf » Sun, Jan 19, 2020, 10:14 PM UTC

Radio Gaga: A Mixtape for the End of Humanity, by Stefani Bulsara.

An off-kilter, hilarious, inventive, and cutting apocalyptic sci fi novel about pop music. Writing style is like Douglas Adams meets Tom Robbins, through the lens of Top 40 radio and tabloids.

https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781733712569

Re: Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?

#125

Post by jeromebaek » Sun, Jan 19, 2020, 10:14 PM UTC

the economy of literature, marc shell. it gives you a semiotics of money, a way of understanding money qualitatively. it has been 100x more valuable than any economics textbook.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?

#126

Post by alephx » Sun, Jan 19, 2020, 10:16 PM UTC

Science, Politics and Gnosticism: Two essays by Eric Voegelin, https://www.amazon.com/Science-Politics-Gnosticism-Two-Essay...

I found it to be a very interesting and deep take on the philosophical and historical origins of many contemporary political currents.

The Road to Serfdom, by F. Hayek, a liberal economist.

I found it very well written, amusing and even hilarious in how even in the 1940's supporters of communism and progressives where making the same kind of arguments that are made today. Hayek needless to say, deals brilliantly with these. As relevant today as when written. I find its ideas resonate a lot when thinking about how systems of all kind come to be and function.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?

#127

Post by atombender » Sun, Jan 19, 2020, 10:19 PM UTC

mellosouls wrote: post #8

Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban is not unknown but not hugely popular. Post apocalyptic novel written in a made up language (think Clockwork Orange). Poetic and deeply moving account of a boy's journey through a world where scientific knowledge has devolved to primitive ritual and incantation; and his dawning realisation that we lost everything . I've never read anything else like it. https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/R…

Riddley Walker was probably also a big influence on Iain M. Banks' Feersum Endjinn [1]. Most of the chapters are narrated by Bascule, a simple-minded (but certainly not stupid) young man who writes phonetically:

  Woak up. Got dresd. Had brekfast. Spoke wif Ergates
  thi ant who sed itz juss been wurk wurk wurk 4 u
  lately master Bascule, Y dont u ½ a holiday?

The novel is a bit out of character for Banks, and reminds me of something Gene Wolfe or Terry Pratchett might have come up with. I think it's a wonderfully underrated gem, and Bascule's narration is one of its endearing features.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Feersum-Endjinn-Novel-Iain-Banks/dp/0...

Re: Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?

#128

Post by hackerbeat » Sun, Jan 19, 2020, 10:23 PM UTC

Dirty Havana Trilogy by Pedro Juan Gutierrez - About the hardships of making ends meet in Cuba.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?

#129

Post by johncoltrane » Sun, Jan 19, 2020, 10:26 PM UTC

_When Prophecy Fails. A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group that Predicted the Destruction of the World_ by Leon Festinger, Hank Riecken, and Stanley Schachter. I have no idea if it's popular or not but it certainly is fascinating.

A small cult is growing around a woman who claims that the world will end at a specific date and that some will be saved in a specific way. When the date comes and there's neither end of the world nor saving, how will the group react?

Re: Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?

#130

Post by rrgmitchell » Sun, Jan 19, 2020, 10:26 PM UTC

mellosouls wrote: post #8

Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban is not unknown but not hugely popular. Post apocalyptic novel written in a made up language (think Clockwork Orange). Poetic and deeply moving account of a boy's journey through a world where scientific knowledge has devolved to primitive ritual and incantation; and his dawning realisation that we lost everything . I've never read anything else like it. https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/R…

Riddley Walker is a stunningly good novel.

I've read it twice and I'd read it again. Many years ago there was a dramatisation of it at the Edinburgh Festival, very powerful.

One bit that sticks in my memory is when Riddley stumbles on the overgrown ruins of what must be the M25 motorway that encircled London. And he cries: "O what we ben wonce! And what we come to now!"