Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman.
If ever I’m struggling with something I pick it up and open to a random leaf and just read until I feel better.
Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
71–80 of 980 posts
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#72Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#73Godel Escher Bach is the best book I've read. Very interesting topics and the sheer creativity of the writing is amazing.
I prefer his autobiography (https://xkcd.com/917/).
Seriously though, this question is unanswerable, but your answer is probably one of the few books I'd get behind as an answer to this.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#74Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#75I was very influenced by Kurt Vonnegut when I was a teenager. Coming of age is a perfect time to learn that the fact that life is absurd doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't laugh, just the opposite. Sirens of Titan and Slaughterhouse Five are some of my favorite books of his. As an adult, I've been very influenced by the late Daniel Dennett and his naturalist philosophy. Books like From Bacteria to Bach and Back or D…
Great choices!
I've read Vonnegut sporadically and decided this year to read through all his books. Sirens of Titan is an old favorite I've read multiple times, but I reread it about two weeks ago, and Slaughterhouse Five a few months ago.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#76The Count of Monte Cristo -- I've read it a few times and I know I'll read it again. While there are a few books I've read more than once, I can't think of any I know I will read again.
Wonderful, wonderful book. One of my favorites.
It's old, but the beginning especially is just a non-stop adventure. It always drags a bit for me after the first third, but picks up again and continues to be great throughout.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#77Growing up ‘The Brothers Lionheart’.
As an adult, ‘The Idiot’.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#78[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#79Several immediately come to mind.
Short stories: The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories (Ken Liu); Stories of Your Life and Others and Exhalation (Ted Chiang); The Martian Chronicles (Ray Bradbury)
Novels: The Monk (Matthew Gregory Lewis); Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#80Fiction : the history of love
Non fiction: start with why