If I have to pick only one: "How Asia Works" by Joe Studwell.
Is a bit old, but was super interesting.
Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
411–420 of 651 posts
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#412Children of time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It has been a long time since I have enjoyed a scifi novel so much.
Make sure to read the sequal: Children of Ruin.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#413The Enlightenment - The Pursuit of Happiness by Ritchie Robertson (2020). Long but worth indulging in if you enjoy intellectual history.
Being You - A New Science of Consciousness by Anil Seth (2021). A clear and readable account of approaches to dissolving the hard problem of consciousness.
Open Society and its Enemies by Karl Popper (1945). Plato, totalitarianism, and why democracy is good.
These are available as audiobooks.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#414Probably "The Goal".
After reading "the Phoenix project" a couple of years ago a good deal of it was predictable but that doesn't prevent it from being very interesting.
(To be completely honest I listened to it instead of reading it myself, but I still think it counts.)
Another interesting audiobook is "The Minuteman" maybe only available through Audible. It is a story of part of the fight against nazism in America.
Only annoying thing about it is the author at a couple of places tries to equate that fight with todays antifa, which leaves a rather sour taste there and then but is forgotten a minute or to later because the book is otherwise really interesting and I enjoy stories of nazis getting punched and otherwise punished and people getting away with it.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#415Still reading it actually, but definitely "The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the transition to the information age" by James Davidson and William Rees-Mogg (actually the father of current UK politician Jacob Rees-Mogg)
Its main thesis is that the main driver of megapolitical change are shifts in the risk/reward payoffs of violence. Was written in '97 but still talks about cryptocurrency and things like that. Interesting book.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#416Unsong by Scott Alexander A delightful, completed serial that tells an alternate story of the world since 1968, when Apollo 8 crashed into the crystal fabric of the sky and fundamentally broke the machinery of the universe. Now science no longer works, the old ways have power and sometimes people go to bed on Monday to wake up on Wednesday. I loved the way the fiction intertwined with reality.
My favorite part was probably the American Pie discussion, but this paragraph highlights the pun overload in this book well:
Exodus 15:3 says “The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is His Name.” But this verse is ambiguous: “man of war” can mean either a type of Portuguese jellyfish or a type of British warship. Which one is the LORD? I suggest that He is the latter. A jellyfish is a primitive and ignorant animal, unworthy to be compared to the glories of God. But a warship is mighty and inspires awe, and divine comparisons are entirely suitable; indeed, God may be the only thing worthy of being compared to it. For it is written, “The LORD alone is worthy of warship.”
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#417The Dispossessed , by Ursula K. Le Guin. It identified so many of the "edges" of society and how I think about and interact with the world, on a daily basis. Without a doubt one of the best books I've ever read. Maybe even the best. The only other book that came close this year was Robert Sapolsky's A Primate's Memoir .
Oh, this been one of my favorite books for decades. I was introduced by Tony Wolk, an old hippie professor of English Lit at Portland State. I took a class from him nearly every term, in part because he was good friends with LeGuin and would have her guest lecture sometimes. She was astonishing, perhaps the best combination of intellect and humanity I’ve encountered. Tony said that first and last sentences in her boo…
That's cool.
I'd have loved to have met her.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#418Anyone read a book that helps with headaches? I get lot of them and I meditate too. I sleep well, and eat well too.
Your question intrigued me so much that i searched for books on Amazon dealing with "Headache" and to my surprise, there is a whole lot. You might want to try a couple; the book Splitting: The inside story on Headaches by Amanda Ellison (https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/amanda-ellison/) seems promising.
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#419I just finished this one so it might just be fresh in my memory, but I really enjoyed Kiril Yeskov's "The Last Ringbearer". It's a sequel/retelling of Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" written from the Mordorian perspective and based on the premise that LOTR is "a history written by the victors". It has a completely different feel than Tolkien's writing, and sort of stuffs something resembling Cold War politics into Midd…
I can't see any links to buy this in the UK either on Amazon UK or physical stores - is it out of print?
Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?
#420Dune - I loved it so much I’m avoiding watching the film in case it doesn’t live up to the book. Never split the difference by Chris Voss - it’s a classic on negotiation. I’ve learned a lot of practical tips and tricks from it.
The new film does live up to the book, in my experience and after re-watching the original Lynch film, it wasn't even as bad as I remember. The new film fits the atmosphere perfectly, hoping the sequel doesn't end up like the matrix sequels (although I'll probably watch matrix 4 too!)