Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011 • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011

#61

Post by meow » Tue, Dec 27, 2011, 10:07 AM UTC

beilabs wrote: post #51

meow wrote: post #18

I read "Wheel of time" series by Robert Jordan this year. The books in this series are just so addictive.. wasn't able to stop till I read all thirteen books :)

Just one left to go, I've been waiting for a very very very long time.

Oh, when ever I get the longing for the last one, I go on a revision of my favorite parts in previous books.. Thank fully I started this in August and haven't heard of it before.. Now just one more year to go till the last book.. :)

I still wonder how BS is going to cover all loose ends in one book!

Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011

#62

Post by alinajaf » Tue, Dec 27, 2011, 10:13 AM UTC

jasondrowley wrote: post #36

I'm going to be on the receiving end of a great deal of vitriol for saying The Bible and the Koran, but sitting down and reading those two books—for the first time in my 21-year existence—was a really interesting experience. I'm not going to turn this into a personal essay. I realized—after reading both books with a critical eye—that there are a lot of trumped-up claims made about each books' contents that ultimately…

As someone who's made the transtion from muslim -> atheist, I was disappointed, confused and terrified when I first read a translation of the Koran. I'm genuinely curious as to what you've learned from it that's of any use, apart from perhaps, a deeper understanding of the thought-process and ethos of Islamic fundamentalists.

Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011

#63

Post by pinaceae » Tue, Dec 27, 2011, 10:15 AM UTC

Politics: The Gamble by Thomas E. Ricks

Economics: How Markets Fail by John Cassidy

Fiction: read through the works of Jo Nesbo, Dennis Lehane, Don Winslow and Stieg Larrsson - all of them recommendable

Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011

#64

Post by alinajaf » Tue, Dec 27, 2011, 10:16 AM UTC

wqfeng wrote: post #38

Is it necessary to be books published in 2011? If not, Calculus Made Easy is the best book I read in 2011.

This is on my todo list. "Maths and stuff" is a big gaping whole in my intellectual toolbox and I've been meaning to get it sorted out for a while. I'll probably pick something like this up, right after I'm done with "Speech and Language Processing"

Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011

#65

Post by ljy » Tue, Dec 27, 2011, 10:22 AM UTC

- The 4 Hours Work Week (Tim Ferriss) - The Lean Startup (Eric Ries)

Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011

#66

Post by martinvanaken » Tue, Dec 27, 2011, 10:31 AM UTC

For work : Rework, from 37signals. Fresh, opinionated and funny.

For leisure : A Dance with Dragons, from Georges R.R. Martin "Game of Thrones" series (the HBO version is superb, but do not miss the books either).

Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011

#67

Post by juanre » Tue, Dec 27, 2011, 10:33 AM UTC

Kahneman's "Thinking, Fast and Slow". It's a great account of things we know about how the mind works, with amazing insights.

Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011

#68

Post by soitgoes » Tue, Dec 27, 2011, 10:35 AM UTC

Always on the lookout for a good read. Thanks for posting the question. Through HN I discovered:

"A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy"

Which I enjoyed very much.

Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011

#69

Post by david927 » Tue, Dec 27, 2011, 10:42 AM UTC

juanre wrote: post #67

Kahneman's "Thinking, Fast and Slow". It's a great account of things we know about how the mind works, with amazing insights.

It's been on my list after watching this great lecture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjVQJdIrDJ0

I plan to follow it with Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything.

Re: Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011

#70

Post by sdoering » Tue, Dec 27, 2011, 10:51 AM UTC

lkozma wrote: post #13

Best books I read in 2011: * "Salonica, City of Ghosts" by M.Mazower. Tells the history of Thessaloniki, informative, entertaining, at times nostalgic. * "The Cauchy-Schwarz Master Class" by J.M.Steele. A guided tour of mathematical inequalities. Very entertaining and readable (for a math book) and extremely well written. * "Indiscrete Thoughts" by G-C.Rota. Irreverent anecdotes about mathematicians. * "Black Swan" b…

Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness are both great reads from N.N. Taleb. Imho both are must reads.