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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?

#201

Post by toast0 »

anonymoushn wrote: post #184
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…

> 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?

I liked the parts about the railway signaling, and suffered through all the multi-page anti-regulatory rants in the middle of lovemaking. Looking for recommendations for entertaining tales of signal networks. :P

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

#202

Post by aporetics »

tmtvl wrote: post #18

' Bashō, dichter zonder dak ' with the subtitle ' Haiku en poëtische reisverhalen ' by professor Willy Vande Walle, a Belgian Japanologist. It's a translation of Basho's travel diaries with a lot of contextual information, kind of like Martin Gardner's ' The Annotated Alice ', if you've read that one. It's an amazing intellectual tour de force by one of the foremost experts in his field, and it helps that the origina…

Thanks, I’m marking this to look into

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

#203

Post by ljhsiung »

East of Eden by Steinbeck really changed my college mindset on what it means to be "good" and "evil", "right" and "wrong".

It's really hard to describe what the book's about. It's an epic, through and through, and all epics are hard to detail precisely. Inter-generational trauma? Handling one's "sin"? Making a livelihood after repeated failure, be it yourself or external factors?

Contrary to my first sentence, there is one character that I would describe as pure evil. But I feel that just supports one of the conflicts; however incredibly rare, what can an individual do when they come across a bonafide force of evil?

It is dripping with Biblical imagery, and Steinbeck's prose is rambling and tangential for some (though poetic for me), and his characters are not "realistic" and larger than life (but that's what makes them pop off the page for me and so memorable. I guess it's always a balance).

"Now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good."

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

#204

Post by jjcm »

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.

This is one of my favorites. It's one of the few where the hero manages to become the villain in the end, and does so convincingly.

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

#206

Post by yogurtboy »

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…

Totally agree. While the logic of the comment wasn't bad, that's just a weird maniuplative style of social engineering.

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

#207

Post by killthebuddha »

Dove wrote: post #124
edanm wrote: post #119

Impossible to pick just one. I'll give a few that haven't appeared yet: Fiction: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (Eliezer Yudkowsky) Non-fiction: Rationality - from AI to Zombies (Eliezer Yudkowsky) Probably no books have impacted me quite as much as these two, barring early-childhood books that have impacted me from a young age. Fiction: Worm (by Parahumans) Best "superhero" fiction ever created. Just on…

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality is splendid. Some of the most vigorous writing I've ever encountered. I agree, it is highly recommended.

BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD

Edit: On a more serious note, this book actually changed the way I think in a very concrete (and positive) way. The book spurred me to start consciously reflecting on "what about X, specifically, is surprising" and/or "what about X, specifically, is confusing". It's impossible to quantify, but the habit has definitely, definitely, boosted my ability to disentangle complex situations and make better decisions.

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

#208

Post by jjcm »

the__alchemist wrote: post #13

Non-fiction: Pale Blue Dot. Fiction: The Diamond Age.

We're pretty much living parts of The Diamond Age right now. I feel like we're within a decade of A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer being a real book, especially with Claude and ChatGPT's multimodal aspects.

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

#209

Post by booleandilemma »

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…

Well done OP, this cactacea guy does not seem like someone you'd want to be friends with :)

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

#210

Post by aporetics »

RhysU wrote: post #115
njtransit wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Read a physical copy. Use two bookmarks, one for the footnotes. Read until the toothbrush photo before thinking about putting it down.

This is good advice.
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