Ask HN: What are some of the best books you have read in 2022?

Post by rg111 » Sat, Oct 29, 2022, 4:15 PM UTC

chrisshroba wrote: post #159

plants wrote: post #153

I’m sure not everyone came here to hear tech book recommendations, but I will add another vote for Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppman. It’s one of the best tech reference books I’ve ever read. It manages to explain SO much while requiring so little prior knowledge from readers. Another book that is relatively new that I loved was Designing Machine Learning Systems by Chip Huyen. I worked in prod…

I finally read DDIA this year and loved it. If anyone has any more suggestions for similarly enlightening books, I'd love to hear them!

Post by filoeleven » Sat, Oct 29, 2022, 4:18 PM UTC

gdy wrote: post #111

asicsp wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm, I read fantasy a lot more than sci-fi. I did a quick check for books I read recently and all sci-fi ones are by male authors (excluding Becky Chambers). The most recent is "Daros" by Dave Dobson which fits your other criteria.

I once studied the map of Charon and asked myself who is Octavia Butler? Guess what Xenogenesis was about. Next I recalled Cherryh's Foreigner series and then searched my mind palace for the works of Le Guin and found The Left Hand of Darkness and The Word for World Is Forest.

Post by iancmceachern » Sat, Oct 29, 2022, 4:41 PM UTC

iancmceachern wrote: post #166

"How to do nothing"

Post by croo » Sat, Oct 29, 2022, 4:41 PM UTC

hnews_account_1 wrote: post #144

myth_drannon wrote: post #117

Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun series. As someone who read a lot of sci-fi, I'm surprised I've discovered it only now. It's considered the Dostoevsky of scifi, very different from golden age hard scifi. Already started books of the Long Sun. Disappointment of the year - The three body problem. Feels like buying on amazon a product with thousand of rave reviews only to realize its all fake Chinese reviews.

I disagree on Three Body Problem. Especially the second book which I thought was even better than the first. The third was pretty meh and I didn't entirely like the resolution. But the first book is really great imo.

Post by throwoutway » Sat, Oct 29, 2022, 4:44 PM UTC

sebastialonso wrote: post #171

club_tropical wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve read ISAIF; it is chock-full of good insights. He also wrote The System’s Neatest Trick, which, once seen, cannot be unseen. Will check out Ellul; thank you for the recommendation.

I've read the Trick and found it very derivate. Most interesting, but he's not discovering a new element either. I'd wager that anyone with an average knowledge of history and a basic understanding of how social systems work, independently discovers "the trick" rather quickly and thankfully with much less cringy imaginery.