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Books I loved reading this year

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Re: Books I loved reading this year

#71

Post by tomgp »

joconde wrote: post #3
99_00 wrote: post #2

I'm super impressed by the production level of his 5 books I loved reading video.

Assign me a $140B net worth and I can do the same :)

Doesn't that video seem odd though? I don't understand what's going on here, it's just surreal. Like if I was a multi-billionaire would I hire a film production crew including a bunch of extras and Christmas themed set to tell the world about 5 (already high profile and best selling) books? Is this just marketing for Bill? To what end? I guess everyone has to have a hobby.

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#72

Post by [deleted] »

rememberlenny wrote: post #25

- List for the lazy - A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence, by Jeff Hawkins. The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race, by Walter Isaacson. Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro. Hamnet, by Maggie O’Farrell. Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir.

[deleted]

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#73

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

mdturnerphys wrote: post #44
TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #33

> Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir No. Just no. It is hard science fiction, but there is no character development. I had no empathy for the main character and did not care about him or his fate. Also he is unusually prude, which he blames on being a school teacher, but even his inner dialogue consists of “HOLY COW!” when surprised. I mean, really??

With The Martian , a later "classroom edition" was published with the profanity removed. Maybe he just wanted to avoid making a second edition this time.

Interesting, I did not know about that. Thanks.

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#74

Post by etc-hosts »

tomgp wrote: post #71
joconde wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assign me a $140B net worth and I can do the same :)

Doesn't that video seem odd though? I don't understand what's going on here, it's just surreal. Like if I was a multi-billionaire would I hire a film production crew including a bunch of extras and Christmas themed set to tell the world about 5 (already high profile and best selling) books? Is this just marketing for Bill? To what end? I guess everyone has to have a hobby.

Yes this is just marketing for Bill.

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#75

Post by etc-hosts »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #28
azinman2 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you rather Gates just takes his billions and spend it on private planes and yachts, retreated away from the world? I’m glad he’s taking his acumen and treasure to things that are intended to positively benefit the entire world, personally. There’s a lot of great things he can still achieve in this lifetime regardless of his past. Computing has largely moved on from his Microsoft days and it’s control of the wor…

Oh, he's a great guy now (mostly). I fully applaud 99% of everything he's tried do with the Gates Foundation. But what he did to the future of computing lingers on, and will do so for another decade or threee.

Instead of paying more taxes, he has spent billions on privatizing schools.

He has worked harder and accomplished more than anyone reading this, all of us work in a world shaped by his will.

I was still very disappointed to learn that at some level he's just another out of touch billionaire.

His excuse for hanging out with Epstein is he was seeking more access to philanthropic organizations. That's hilarious.

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#76

Post by notatoad »

tomgp wrote: post #71
joconde wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assign me a $140B net worth and I can do the same :)

Doesn't that video seem odd though? I don't understand what's going on here, it's just surreal. Like if I was a multi-billionaire would I hire a film production crew including a bunch of extras and Christmas themed set to tell the world about 5 (already high profile and best selling) books? Is this just marketing for Bill? To what end? I guess everyone has to have a hobby.

things just grow on their own sometimes, especially if you're successful enough.

it's perfectly reasonable for a multi-billionaire to want to write a blog to publish his thoughts on various things. the existence of "the gates notes" is pretty normal. and when you're rich, you hire somebody to run the website for you. web design and marketing are pretty interlinked, so the guys running the blog do some promo, and generally run it the same way they would run any other content site. which includes making some video content targeting the most widely-viewed types of posts.

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#77

Post by elhudy »

jjordan wrote: post #26

I recently read Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life, by Jack Bogle, the founder of Vanguard. Written during the 2008 recession, it's so much more than a business book. It highlights in detail how the financial industry at large leeches so much wealth for itself while creating so little, and offers insights from someone truly introspective of life, business, finance, and the future of the country. Highl…

Check out The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care - And How To Fix It, for a similar story and crisis facing the healthcare industry right now. Written by a Johns Hopkins professor and surgeon.

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#78

Post by evgen »

Baeocystin wrote: post #65
adamgordonbell wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Project Hail Mary was so good. I loved The Martian but Artemis not as much. By that measure Project Hail Mary was a return to form. It was just a fun, breezy read that hit the problem solving part of my brain in just the right way, but with a different angle on things than "The Martian".

I liked a lot of the ideas in PHM. I found the protagonist insufferable throughout, though. Perhaps Weir was going for a more flawed character after Watney? (Never read Artemis, so I can't comment there.) I still think it's a good book, and well worth the read. But man did that character grate on my nerves.

I either listened to or read an interview with Andy Weir where he said that he was aiming for just such a flawed protagonist in PHM. I think he felt the Watney character was criticized for being the fantasy self-projection of a certain variety of nerd/geek (a variety that is over-represented on HN) and so he decided to try to make a hero who was not as likable, brave, or self-sacrificing as people like to think they are.

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#79

Post by CodeGlitch »

Baeocystin wrote: post #65
adamgordonbell wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Project Hail Mary was so good. I loved The Martian but Artemis not as much. By that measure Project Hail Mary was a return to form. It was just a fun, breezy read that hit the problem solving part of my brain in just the right way, but with a different angle on things than "The Martian".

I liked a lot of the ideas in PHM. I found the protagonist insufferable throughout, though. Perhaps Weir was going for a more flawed character after Watney? (Never read Artemis, so I can't comment there.) I still think it's a good book, and well worth the read. But man did that character grate on my nerves.

Rocky was an amazing character though.

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#80

Post by metanonsense »

fernandotakai wrote: post #42
adamgordonbell wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Project Hail Mary was so good. I loved The Martian but Artemis not as much. By that measure Project Hail Mary was a return to form. It was just a fun, breezy read that hit the problem solving part of my brain in just the right way, but with a different angle on things than "The Martian".

project hail mary's audiobook is the best audiobook i've ever listened to. it's.... incredible. they adapted parts of the book that were kind of hard to "get" perfectly (and for people that read it, i think you know what i mean). i totally recommend it.

It absolutely is the best. Ray Porter’s way of narration opened a new, almost visual, dimension. Maybe it’s this very intimate „inner speech“ style, but to me this was a truly novel experience.
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