Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?

#511

Post by MegaDeKay » Fri, Dec 24, 2021, 4:36 PM UTC

mylons wrote: post #145

OnionBlender wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it worth the effort? I've picked up snow crash a few times in the past 20 years and found it a hard read. I really want to enjoy it but I find it hard to swallow. I suppose it has been hard because it doesn't take itself seriously. My sci-fi reading history has been: - several William Gibson novels between 1995-2008 - Most of the ender's game series and home coming from 80's to 2008. - Between 2008 and 2018 I read…

the first chapter of snowcrash is one of my favorite chapters in any book i’ve ever read. the rest of the book is great and goes into some really bizarre territory on how to manipulate humans, as well as looking at the effects of a truly decentralized economy + metaverse. it’s really forward looking and prescient for a book that was written in 1988-91.

Couldn't agree more! That first chapter hooked me harder than anything I have ever read. It would hav been amazing had the entire book held to that pace, but I personally felt it got too bogged down at times in the more philosophical bits. Still a great book on balance, and deserves great credit for its exploration of the metaverse.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?

#512

Post by alexilliamson » Fri, Dec 24, 2021, 4:36 PM UTC

Hyperion by Dan Simmons. I had an itch for some good epic world-building after finishing the Game of Thrones books and giving up on the next ones being released. Was not disappointed.

Structurally, Hyperion is a play on Canterbury Tales, but it weaves in hefty amounts of sci-fi, fantasy, philosophy, history and theology. Lots of WTF moments, and a great balance of humor and truly dark shit.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?

#513

Post by Ostrogodsky » Fri, Dec 24, 2021, 4:37 PM UTC

alecst wrote: post #504

jnsaff2 wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read Sapiens and its companion a few years ago. This year I read Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity' by David Graeber and David Wengrow [0]. And found it much more nuanced, interesting and believable. Harari's narrative is just too slick. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29316008

The slickness is part of the appeal. I agree that he gets some of the details slightly wrong: the part about serotonin and depression sticks out. But at the same time, I'd rather have a slightly wrong and profoundly enjoyable book than one that's a slog to get through but gets more of the details right. I think Sapiens strikes a good balance.

No post body was provided.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?

#514

Post by wallacoloo » Fri, Dec 24, 2021, 4:39 PM UTC

jonbot420 wrote: post #472

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. Written by an AI researcher, the book explores HP as if he was a very rational and intelligent agent, rather than someone who immediately accepts all aspects of magic. It’s not just interesting, but includes real theories of rationality that made me consider how I immediately accept many things myself.

Elizier Yudkowsky is just a really good author. can’t speak for HPMOR, but i love his other series, The Sequences, which per my understanding communicates the same ideas via more succinct, nonfiction writing.

https://www.readthesequences.com/ or the paperbacks are on Amazon.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?

#515

Post by jinguang » Fri, Dec 24, 2021, 4:40 PM UTC

quantumJanitor wrote: post #150

OnionBlender wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it worth the effort? I've picked up snow crash a few times in the past 20 years and found it a hard read. I really want to enjoy it but I find it hard to swallow. I suppose it has been hard because it doesn't take itself seriously. My sci-fi reading history has been: - several William Gibson novels between 1995-2008 - Most of the ender's game series and home coming from 80's to 2008. - Between 2008 and 2018 I read…

Give the Three Body Problem series a try, I think you’ll enjoy it immensely.

No post body was provided.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?

#516

Post by blaeks » Fri, Dec 24, 2021, 4:42 PM UTC

arvinsim wrote: post #496

michaelbarton wrote: post #63

“How to change your mind” by Michael Pollen. I read a lot of books, and this is one that caused a change in my life. The succinct summary is that psychedelics are misunderstood and there is more and more research showing their potential, especially in the treatment of trauma. I had a difficult childhood. It’s something I still struggle with personal interactions because of this, even after years of therapy. After rea…

It's just sad that I am in a country where drugs are illegal and we are in a pandemic where travel is hard.

I bet that the breath and cold water are still legal:) Do not give up!

Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?

#517

Post by oxymoron » Fri, Dec 24, 2021, 4:47 PM UTC

the__alchemist wrote: post #132

The final section of The Baroque Cycle. Clever, detailed historical fiction epic about the 1600s and 1700s in Europe, The Middle East, and a bit of North Americas east coast. Interactions between fictional and real characters, without anything that can be proved didn't happen (like The Thee Musketeers). And, just a hint of magic. See Isaac Newton as a precocious Cambridge student probing the universe by maneuvering a…

I absolutely adore the Baroque Cycle. Question: Since I read it I’ve wanted to read more about the development of money and financial institutions, but I’ve had difficulty finding good books on the topic. Does anyone have any good recommendations?

Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?

#518

Post by twodai » Fri, Dec 24, 2021, 4:50 PM UTC

Viktor Frankl man's search for meaning - great perspective I needed while going through an emotionally difficult breakup. Basically it's a story about a psychologist during the holocaust and his experience in concentration camps. How it changed people and the experiences he lived through.

The big question in the book he's trying to answer is why do some people give up while others Excell in life.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?

#519

Post by vchynarov » Fri, Dec 24, 2021, 4:51 PM UTC

ryanar wrote: post #497

vchynarov wrote: post #198

Fiction: "The Lies of Locke Lamora" I found this book because I just finished playing Dishonored 2 and I wanted to read a book with a dystopian steampunk alternative-Victorian vibe. The events take place in a gritty, corrupt city of waterways and canals controlled by different factions. The factions represent either the legitimate nobility or the extensive underground criminal empire. A charismatic leader of a small…

I enjoyed this book as well, but wasn't as enthralled by the subsequent books in the series. I think it just sort of lost me after a bit.

@ryanar - Good to hear but disappointing. I was planning to start the second book next year.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?

#520

Post by mbrudd » Fri, Dec 24, 2021, 4:58 PM UTC

alexilliamson wrote: post #512

Hyperion by Dan Simmons. I had an itch for some good epic world-building after finishing the Game of Thrones books and giving up on the next ones being released. Was not disappointed. Structurally, Hyperion is a play on Canterbury Tales, but it weaves in hefty amounts of sci-fi, fantasy, philosophy, history and theology. Lots of WTF moments, and a great balance of humor and truly dark shit.

Great book! Was on my list for years and I finally read it a year or so ago. Strangely, though, I couldn't get into Fall of Hyperion and set it aside. Perhaps it's time to dust it off and finish that series...