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Ask HN: What are you reading these days?

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Re: Ask HN: What are you reading these days?

#141

Post by verisimi »

wolframhempel wrote: post #71
LoFiSamurai wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought The Coddling of the American Mind was excellent.

Yup. I've been looking for books that explain the underlying structures and dynamics of "wokeness" for a while. I feel "the Coddling" does a good job for some aspects of it. The best book I found so far in this regard is "Cynical Theories" by Helen Pluckrose. You read it and just think: "yeah, this is it". Unfortunately it's written like a PhD thesis, so not the lightest read.

James Lindsay, new discourses, does the best analysis of woke I know of. Including reading books, analysis of academia, etc

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9K5PLkj0N_b9JTPdSRwPkg

Re: Ask HN: What are you reading these days?

#142

Post by titaniumtown »

SeanAnderson wrote: post #4

I just finished reading Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky I'm currently reading Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences by Tynan Sylvester. A good friend of mine gifted me Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin and I'm planning on getting into that one soon.

Children of Time is a really good novel. Was scrolling through the comments to see if anyone was going to mention it.

Re: Ask HN: What are you reading these days?

#145

Post by fsloth »

Several books - but I really want to shout out Roger Zelazny’s ”Lord of light”(1967)

I don’t think this book is as half as well known in the Sci-fi genre as it should be. When you start reading it, it becomes an obvious precursor to themes in so many modern books. Matrix and the Culture series of Iain Banks, as well as Rajaniemi’s ’Quantum thief’ come to mind. The central theme is semi-immortality - peoples minds are uploaded to a new body one after another. In a colony planet, far removed from Earth, an elite has taken control of this and lord it over everybody else. At some point superpowers emerge etc to make it ’more entertaining’ and some of that is a bit clunky - but get past that! This is a jewel waiting to be read (and not very long).

Re: Ask HN: What are you reading these days?

#146

Post by sigilis »

padjo wrote: post #132
Scarblac wrote: post #129

_Regenesis_, by George Monbiot. About how we can realistically feed everyone on the planet long term, in a way that doesn't destroy nature, keeps soil healthy and more able to deal with climate change, and is also affordable. Very good. Very well sourced, sceptical of romantic ideas that just don't scale. Given that we currently use 60% of our agricultural land to feed livestock, that we then use to produce 12% of ou…

I really don’t understand how so many smart people don’t understand this and continue to consume animal products regularly.

People still smoke cigarettes despite decades of clear evidence that they will lead to a horrible death in many cases. Society has built so many disincentives to doing so, and yet they persist.

Animal products will continue to be consumed no matter how obvious it is that their production is morally repugnant and environmentally destructive.

I am sorry to say that I am one of those consumers despite knowing better.

Re: Ask HN: What are you reading these days?

#148

Post by specproc »

QwertyPi wrote: post #75
nbonaparte wrote: post #65

Just finished The Song of the Cell , currently reading Gravity’s Rainbow (lol) and starting The Horse, the Wheel, and Language .

Gravity's Rainbow is just a shadow of Pynchon's best work by a large margin, Mason & Dixon . I can't recommend it highly enough. It's probably the best novel I've ever read.

I absolutely love Inherent Vice, both book and film. Really good fun, like The Big Lebowski's edgier cousin.

Re: Ask HN: What are you reading these days?

#150

Post by officehero »

padjo wrote: post #132
Scarblac wrote: post #129

_Regenesis_, by George Monbiot. About how we can realistically feed everyone on the planet long term, in a way that doesn't destroy nature, keeps soil healthy and more able to deal with climate change, and is also affordable. Very good. Very well sourced, sceptical of romantic ideas that just don't scale. Given that we currently use 60% of our agricultural land to feed livestock, that we then use to produce 12% of ou…

I really don’t understand how so many smart people don’t understand this and continue to consume animal products regularly.

How do you define 'regularly' on a global scale?
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