Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#21

Post by Jerrrrrrry » Sun, Oct 06, 2024, 4:16 PM UTC

Anything from Sagan: Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God could convert the Pope to agnosticism.

Stephen Ray Gould: Full House: The Spread of Excellence from Plato to Darwin: will both challenge every preconceived notion you've had, link seemingly impossibly unrelated phenomenon together using similar models and patterns, and leave with a much more intuitive understanding about complexity, randomness, and chaotic systems.

A Briefer History of Time: For those who truly would like to exalt their personal God of the Gaps to the small unit.

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#22

Post by ilrwbwrkhv » Sun, Oct 06, 2024, 4:21 PM UTC

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. When you are young, it is a remarkable book to read.

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#23

Post by SirAllCaps » Sun, Oct 06, 2024, 4:22 PM UTC

Fiction: Independent People by Halldór Laxness or Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

Non-Fiction: The Feynman lectures on Physics.

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#24

Post by Jerrrrrrry » Sun, Oct 06, 2024, 4:25 PM UTC

01HNNWZ0MV43FF wrote: post #15

mikewarot wrote: post #3

The Boy's Second book of Electronics by Alfred Morgan(1957) introduced me to electronics in the 1970s, and lead to a technical mindset and lifestyle. The Engineers Notebook by Forest Mims really taught me the basics of electronics. What do you care what other people think by Richard Feynman(1988) introduced me to the idea that nobody is really as much of an expert as you might think. 1632 By Eric Flint, and the subse…

"the way things work", the book with all the woolly mammoths in it. Learned a lot from it

That is the literal pillar; physically and figuratively the foundation, of my knowledge corpus; aptly the bottom book in my corner-turned-library.

I spent hours as a kid, slowly parsing, contextualizing, researching every iota and minutiae of that book.

I had an encyclopedia just to help supplement that book.

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#25

Post by sfpotter » Sun, Oct 06, 2024, 4:29 PM UTC

John McPhee's "The Curve of Binding Energy".

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#26

Post by mindcrime » Sun, Oct 06, 2024, 4:44 PM UTC

The truth is, if you ask me this 100 times, you'll probably get 100 different answers, because it's impossible to really pick just one (well two, separating by fiction/non-fiction). But for today I'll go with:

Fiction: Neuromancer

Non-fiction: The Selfish Gene

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#27

Post by a_square_peg » Sun, Oct 06, 2024, 4:48 PM UTC

I think this is as meaningful as the question "what's the best food you've ever eaten?", which is to say, it's not a very meaningful question.

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#28

Post by bo1024 » Sun, Oct 06, 2024, 4:48 PM UTC

aristofun wrote: post #2

Unless youve just read a handful of books in your life it is impossible to give a good answer to the question. Books are not oranges.

It's also impossible to give a bad answer, what are you worried about? Go for it.

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#29

Post by justchad » Sun, Oct 06, 2024, 4:48 PM UTC

mindcrime wrote: post #26

The truth is, if you ask me this 100 times, you'll probably get 100 different answers, because it's impossible to really pick just one (well two, separating by fiction/non-fiction). But for today I'll go with: Fiction: Neuromancer Non-fiction: The Selfish Gene

Came to say The Selfish Gene for nonfiction. Changed the way I thought about things.

Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

#30

Post by upmind » Sun, Oct 06, 2024, 4:48 PM UTC

My favourite fiction is Ready Player One. Great story and very nerdy!