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Ask HN: What is one book you would recommend everyone to read?

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Re: Ask HN: What is one book you would recommend everyone to read?

#161

Post by halpert »

biren34 wrote: post #114

Okay at the risk of being offensive, all the comments before mine are made by overly intellectual fools. I'm not usually so insulting--but as a father of two, if my 3 year old and 1.5 year old could only read one book, it would have to be "Oh, the places you'll go" by Dr. Suess. Sorry to stomp on Das Kapital and its ilk, but if you get only one book, I can't imagine a better first message to convey than the endless p…

What’s amazing about Dr. Suess is how much creativity and fun he packs into a very simply written book. Most children’s books are so asinine. “Sally went to the farm. She saw a pig. Sally can drive a tractor. Etc. etc.” There is rarely a point to the book. Dr. Suess uses similarly simple language: “You can think about red. You can think about pink.” While simple, the underlying message is usually profound, and that makes it so much more interesting.

Re: Ask HN: What is one book you would recommend everyone to read?

#162

Post by t0bia_s »

olalonde wrote: post #142
Brajeshwar wrote: post #133

I decided to learn/understand why Religion is the center-stage for almost every event that happens to humanity. This year, I’m planning to read the books, at least, of the top 5 religions of the world. Read Bhagavad Gita[1], had read the Bible[2] in hotel stays but will read it again, and the Quran[3] is waiting in the book-shelf. No, not religious at all; in fact, very far from it. Some time back, someone did a nice…

As a non-religious myself, I can't understand how you found the willpower to read the Bible and even want to read it again. I tried reading some chapters and was either bored to death or couldn't understand the text because of how badly it is translated/written.

If there is a story, try to adapot it for nowadays. Keep asking what is the point of it and what would happen today.

Of course there are boring parts with family trees etc., so skip it.

Re: Ask HN: What is one book you would recommend everyone to read?

#164

Post by chrismatheson »

Brajeshwar wrote: post #133

I decided to learn/understand why Religion is the center-stage for almost every event that happens to humanity. This year, I’m planning to read the books, at least, of the top 5 religions of the world. Read Bhagavad Gita[1], had read the Bible[2] in hotel stays but will read it again, and the Quran[3] is waiting in the book-shelf. No, not religious at all; in fact, very far from it. Some time back, someone did a nice…

This is maybe a completely un-informed comment, but does religion have much to do with the actual books? From my own personal experience 90% of the people I meet who call themselves religious couldn't quote more than 10 lines.

Re: Ask HN: What is one book you would recommend everyone to read?

#167

Post by Helmut10001 »

hermitcrab wrote: post #107
Helmut10001 wrote: post #63

The Road - Cormac McCarthy

'The road' is compelling, but pretty grim reading.

Yes, absolutely. The effect it had on me was that I got more humble, which is why I recommended it.

What I see on HN is that there is a lot of "Success" literature promoted, which from my point of view is a little bit too much focused on self-optimization.

Re: Ask HN: What is one book you would recommend everyone to read?

#169

Post by geraltofrivia »

paulus_magnus2 wrote: post #160

Firstly, as a meta comment I think HN has jumped the shark. Secondly, come on. You can listen to around 200 audiobooks per year while commuting, doing chores, excercising etc. Lastly: if you only ever want to read a couple of few books, these should be the dictionary and thesaurus.

Apologising in advance to derail from the point of this comment. Lately, I've been giving audiobooks a go. It really does make "consuming" a book much, much easier. Listening during commute/chores is a huge plus. But also, I can't help but feel that listening to books is far less engaging, rewarding than reading them. I've found this holds not just for immaculately written books, but even for easy reads (e.g. wheel of time; pulp sci-fis).

And so I'm at a cross w.r.t. audiobooks. If its not half as gratifying, should I continue to pay thrice as much for a book that I'd enjoy twice as less? On the other hand, am I better of consuming said book (/audiobook) than not?

I guess I want to ask if (i) it's just a me thing? and (ii) if not, where do you (/you all) stand on the matter?

Re: Ask HN: What is one book you would recommend everyone to read?

#170

Post by bttger »

shafyy wrote: post #150

To have or to be - Erich Fromm Erich Fromm is a great author and in this book he looks at the difference of having (owning stuff) vs. being (enjoying experiences). He argues that too many people are focused on "having", and that our whole society and even language is built around that. For example, you would say "I have a relationship". He argues that it's a weird choice of words, since you don't own the relationship…

Is it really common to say "I have a relationship"? I would instinctively say "I am in a relationship". Maybe though it is also because my mother tongue is German and in Germany people say "Ich bin in einer Beziehung".
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