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

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

#221

Post by myth_drannon »

rnernento wrote: post #135
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 think Gene Wolfe is the one of the greatest authors of all time across any genre. I highly highly recommend the Fifth Head of Cerberus which is 3 short interconnected novellas and Peace, which isn't traditional Sci-Fi but is absolutely worth a read. He's not just writing, he's constructing beautifully crafted puzzle-boxes that take a lot of time and thought to unpack.

Too bad that his most famous contribution to the world is not his books but Pringles chips.

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

#222

Post by dc-programmer »

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!

Distributed Systems by Tanenbaum is a great complement to DDIA. It requires a more significant time and energy investment however

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

#223

Post by voisin »

andrei_says_ wrote: post #216
voisin wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 for The Body Keeps The Score. This book had a big impact on me and led me to focus on the physical components of past trauma. I started doing yoga daily and after a few months suddenly started having a huge release of emotions during the session. It only lasted for maybe 6-7 consecutive sessions, but left me with less daily anxiety and my panic attacks essentially disappeared. I highly recommend this book.

Did you experience a permanent shift in body posture, alignment, or chronic tension?

No I wouldn’t say so. I got stronger but as I started running daily my flexibility has reduced again (lots of hamstring and hip flexor tightness!). I would say it was a permanent shift in that I haven’t had a panic attack since.

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

#225

Post by zuhayeer »

throwoutway wrote: post #211
zuhayeer wrote: post #58

I really enjoyed reading Build by Tony Fadell. It's about building startups, but the stories embedded throughout the book really makes it. He speaks about pouring his heart into little details highlighting his experience designing the iPod, iPhone, and Nest. Lot of inspirational motivation balanced with practical examples and reality checks. One of my favorite examples of a seemingly tiny, yet delightful experience w…

Why did they need that screwdriver?

For self-installing the thermostat. Previously, pretty much all thermostats had to be installed by a technician, they made it so you could replace your old one yourself.

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

#226

Post by leobg »

jwsteigerwalt wrote: post #145

Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants Ignition breaks down the fallacy that huge innovations come from large professional teams. It demonstrates that getting the right mix of risk tolerance in your team is a large part of innovation. Too little risk tolerance and you never create anything amazing; too much and you can blow it all up (either literally or go bankrupt). https://www.bookslegit.com/b…

Elon Musk has recommended this book several times.

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

#227

Post by leobg »

lancesells wrote: post #137

My two favorites that stand out this year: Earth Abides by George Stewart 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

Oh wow. Didn’t expect to see this here. Earth Abides is one of my favorites, too. Must have read it over five times. I even visited Berkley and the Indian Rock Park close to where the author lived, which is a central location in the book.

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

#228

Post by bergie »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #13

I went on a kick of reading "competency porn" (think Project Hail Mary/The Martian but not necessarily solving engineering problems). On top of PHM, I read Sixteen Ways to Defend A Walled City (great dark satire despite the shit ending) and The Goblin Emperor (more on the social engineering side of things, so better characterization than something like The Martian)

The other two books in the Siege trilogy are also fun, though maybe not equal to the “sixteen ways”. All of them have quire abrupt endings.

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

#230

Post by wahnfrieden »

morelisp wrote: post #108

For non-fiction, Graeber and Wengrow's The Dawn of Everything (which I'm still working through the references of as well, many of which are also good). For fiction, my sample size this year is sadly small but probably Becky Chambers's The Galaxy, and the Ground Within , the final(?) book in the Wayfarers ( The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet ) series. A great end to the series, and given that it must have been plot…

recs from the refs?
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