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

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

#101

Post by mcphage »

a_square_peg wrote: post #60
JKCalhoun wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but for the rest of us it might suggest a food we had not yet tried.

Fair enough. I feel like I've been seeing a lot of questions on Reddit along this line that comes off as very low effort to generate engagements so that's really the reason behind my comment but I see how my response also comes off as snarky.

It is a low effort method to generate engagement, but it does generate really good engagement.

Likewise, your other example of “what’s the best food you’ve ever eaten” is a lazy question… but I bet the answers would be really interesting.

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

#102

Post by ruraljuror »

nataliste wrote: post #87

The Consolation of Philosophy by Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius. It is a profound synthesis of classical philosophy and personal reflection on the human condition. Boethius, writing in prison while awaiting execution, blends Stoic, Neoplatonic, and Christian ideas to address timeless questions of fate, fortune, happiness, and virtue. It transcends religious dogma and focuses on rational inquiry into how one can f…

Curious if you have read A Confederacy of Dunces? It is how I learned of Boethius, although I can't say I remember much of either.

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

#103

Post by ruraljuror »

aristofun wrote: post #61
tocs3 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Books are not oranges." As an aside, what do you mean by this? I would have an even harder time giving and answer to the best orange I've eaten. The Hobbit. My brother read it to me when I was just starting to read. When he was done I asked him to read it again. he said no and I learned to read in earnest. I was often shooed out of the adult section of the library. I have read lots of books by now.

> what do you mean by this That books are not a commodity.

I feel like it would be hard to choose the best of a commodity, so this is even more perplexing to me.

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

#104

Post by l_j_w »

5555624 wrote: post #63

The 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.

I occasionally use this service called serial literature that sends an email on the cadence you want for their selection of stories. I chose Count of Monte Cristo twice a week. After the first couple emails I ended up reading then clicking the “send next installment” link multiple times. I finished the book in a week. It was such a great read.

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

#105

Post by njtransit »

will-burner wrote: post #47

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace It’s kind of cliche for a white male nerd of a certain age, but it has stuck with me. How imaginative the book is, the huge mix of characters and stories in the book, and the style of writing are incredible. The pace of interesting ideas is very fast and engrossing, and the language used to describe things is complex but not overly so.

It’s on my to-read list, but starting is daunting. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again (the essay collection) was amazing. I think about it often.

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

#108

Post by brg »

Non-fiction: The Age of Wonder, Richard Holmes.

Fiction: The Gods Themselves Asimov.

These are the book I always recommend to friends and colleagues. There are runners up based on taste, such as Zero to One,The Making of the Atomic Bomb, and Anathema.

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

#109

Post by rgun »

lotsoweiners wrote: post #106

I would probably have to say The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. I’m a sucker for fat historical fiction books and this one delivered everything I want from that type of book.

I was blown away by Pillars of the Earth.

I had never read a historical fiction before it. It is so well crafted, showing different characters and their perspectives, all in the backdrop of medieval England.

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

#110

Post by loveparade »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #49
justchad wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Haven't read The Selfish Gene, but reading the summary it looks like it touches on some very similar themes as Stephen Pinker's How The Mind Works, which I thought was also a great book. Gave me a good intuitive understanding of how the human neural system evolved, and I found so much of the book to be prescient and timely in our current "AI era".

What people forget to mention is when they have read a book. I read the Selfish Gene when I was a teen and it left a lasting impression. It was published in 1989. How the Mind works was published in 2011.

Reading the Selfish Gene today as an adult, when you've probably read a dozen similar books already, is not going to have the same effect. It's going to be pretty boring. That's why asking for book recommendations is flawed to begin with.

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