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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?

#181

Post by contagiousflow »

bitcoin_anon wrote: post #167
cactacea wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "The best book I've ever read was Atlas Shrugged in 8th grade. Changed my life." "huh, ok" > Really, I'm just looking for people who won't jump down my throat on a faux pas. I think you're dismissing the people such as myself that would note you as an idiot without comment and move on wanting nothing to do with you. Edit: tests and trick questions with people you just met is an ineffective way to navigate the world…

You just failed the test.

If the test is an insincere answer to a question that may tell me a lot about your worldview, then I'm fine failing it. I would rather know genuine people.

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

#182

Post by dawnerd »

spicyusername wrote: post #62

I 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…

Same, I didn't like reading much at all but Kurt Vonnegut really connected with me.

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

#183

Post by pc86 »

cactacea wrote: post #177
bitcoin_anon wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just failed the test.

Good. I don't want anything to do with people that "test" others like this. You cannot do so without making assumptions about intent.

I'm of two minds on this. On one hand, yes you probably don't want to go through life "testing" people in this way as I'm sure there are some unintended consequences of doing so and you probably end up with kind of a boring circle of people around you. On the other hand, I would never want to be friends with someone who thinks someone is an idiot because they liked a particular book. "You liked this thing I don't like and therefore I want nothing to do with you" is extremely childish. So it would seem to have exactly the intended effect in this case.

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

#184

Post by anonymoushn »

cactacea wrote: post #151
tb_technical wrote: post #142

"The best book I've ever read was Atlas Shrugged in 8th grade. Changed my life." Not because I remember anything about it, or believe anything it espouses, or even like it all that much, but because it's a useful filter for obnoxious people in meatspace. If someone I don't know too well asks me what my favorite book is, I say Atlas Shrugged. If they react inappropriately, I'll be cordial and treat them with respect,…

> "The best book I've ever read was Atlas Shrugged in 8th grade. Changed my life." "huh, ok" > Really, I'm just looking for people who won't jump down my throat on a faux pas. I think you're dismissing the people such as myself that would note you as an idiot without comment and move on wanting nothing to do with you. Edit: tests and trick questions with people you just met is an ineffective way to navigate the world…

> Edit: tests and trick questions with people you just met is an ineffective way to navigate the world. My 2c

Then it sounds like you won't ask someone their favorite book and write them off entirely if they say it's a raunchy romance novel about industrialists?

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

#185

Post by rurp »

Cloud Atlas would be my choice for fiction. The novel covers an incredible range of interesting ideas and great writing.

Antifragile for nonfiction. It really changed the way I think about how both the natural world and human institutions function.

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

#186

Post by EFreethought »

pc86 wrote: post #183
cactacea wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good. I don't want anything to do with people that "test" others like this. You cannot do so without making assumptions about intent.

I'm of two minds on this. On one hand, yes you probably don't want to go through life "testing" people in this way as I'm sure there are some unintended consequences of doing so and you probably end up with kind of a boring circle of people around you. On the other hand, I would never want to be friends with someone who thinks someone is an idiot because they liked a particular book. "You liked this thing I don't lik…

I am guessing you have never met someone who actually did like "Atlas Shrugged".

The fact is, some people deserve harsh judgement. Including people who lie to someone and think they are morally superior for doing so.

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

#188

Post by EvanKelly »

kylecazar wrote: post #99

100 Years of Solitude is my favorite. I majored in Spanish literature in college, that was my first exposure to Gabriel García Márquez (I read it in the original Spanish, but I'm told the English translation is faithful and very good).

I've struggled through 2 or 3 Marquez books in Spanish (I'm far from fluent), and have read all of them in English. Gregory Rabassa was an excellent translator and ,from my unexpert point of view, captured the essence of Marquez' work.

Translated literature is interesting and I've recently read a few differing views on the "best" translations of Homer.

I've resigned myself that I simply must trust the masses in some places and I won't be learning Russian to read Tolstoy authentically.

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

#190

Post by calvinmorrison »

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

I recently got a NEW copy as an adult. So happy to have it on my shelf!
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