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

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

#551

Post by qubitcoder »

lmm wrote: post #467
hans0l074 wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I second this. The Hail Mary Project was a great read and even made it into Barack Obama's list[1]. I am working my way through The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin and so far it's a page turner. [1]: https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/1471168495312420877

Curious, I wouldn't call Three-Body Problem a page turner - there was a whole lot of nothing happening the whole time. Even fans of the book (which I am not) tend to retreat into "well actually it's the sequels that are good".

The Three-Body Problem certainly takes a _while_ to get going. I gave up the first time reading it on my phone. But I kept hearing others sing its praises.

Years later, I started playing the audio book on a roadtrip. At some point, I couldn't "put it down", so to speak--especially as the plot twist is gradually revealed. The sequels are extraordinary, and perhaps among the best sci-fi ever written.

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

#552

Post by foreigner »

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.

I read this many years ago and I'm still scared of The Shrike.

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

#555

Post by mudil »

anonuser123456 wrote: post #103

A Conflict of Visions, Thomas Sowell. A good book regardless of what you think of Sowell’s politics.

Why, when describimg conservatives, always a disclaimer? There's nothing wrong with Thomas Sowell or his ideas. He is an intellectual powerhouse.

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

#557

Post by breckenedge »

pivo wrote: post #530
breckenedge wrote: post #484

“The First Salute” by Barbara Tuchman, her last book. It’s a deep dive into the politics, personalities and execution of the American revolution. The author is adept at finding the crucial stupid choices that lead to strategic collapse, often driven by pettiness and blindly following orthodoxy. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/03945533...

I hadn't read that, but it reminds me of her first book (I think) "The Guns of August" which describes the first few months of WWI, and which I enjoyed very much.

I’ve read her WWI trilogy The Zimmerman Telegram, The Proud Tower, and The Guns of August. The Zimmerman Telegram and The Guns of August were both amazing, and The Zimmerman Telegram is short, to me it read better than any Tom Clancy novel. The Proud Tower is good but didn’t seem great. Nicolas and Alexandra by Robert Massie also occurs during that period and is worth picking up.

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

#558

Post by CiceroCiceronis »

bobsoap wrote: post #550
CiceroCiceronis wrote: post #91

That would have to be One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. What a profoundly human book. The kind of book that is very difficult to describe in any meaningful way, but which I unreservedly recommend to anybody.

I'm currently learning Spanish and got the original version my first month in. My plan was too ambitious - I didn't get very far on my first try. I look forward to my next one once I'm more proficient.

If you don’t want to wait, Marquez said that he thought Rabassa’s translation was better than the original!

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

#559

Post by scrozart »

BatteryMountain wrote: post #308
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…

I'm in a similar headspace as you - not a druggy but went that shamanic route. 2x Ayahuasca ceremonies and 5 grams of mushrooms a few years ago... changed my life. I recommend only doing mushrooms once or twice a year at most for larger dosages and once or twice a month at most if doing 2g or less. If you do it more regularly you may have diminishing returns. Cannabis I'd do at most once a month if at all. San Pedro…

Forgive me - what is San Pedro?

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

#560

Post by ChristopherDrum »

Fiction: "The Underground Railroad" by Colson Whitehead (now a well-reviewed series on Amazon) A fantastic book that lingered with me for weeks after reading it.

Non-fiction: "This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends" by Nicole Perlroth If you want to be shaken to your core by the past, present, and future of cyber-espionage and cyber-warfare, this is the book that will drop your jaw more than once.

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