"The years of rice and salt' by Kim Stanley Robinson
Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
231–240 of 980 posts
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#232"Vehicles: Experiments in synthetic psychology" by Valentino Braitenberg.
Has shaped my outlook on artificial intelligence more than anything else, and this was written in 1984, long before GPT-3 was a thing. Absolutely "mind-blowing" in that it deconstructs and then reassembles your understanding of what a mind is.
Best short story: "The Egg" (by Andy Weir); just read it, is very short, no spoilers.
Best entertainment/fiction: "Murderbot Diaries"
Is highly entertaining, very unique protagonist, raises some very interesting ethical/philosophical questions and does far-future sci-fi worldbuilding insanely well.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#233The best book I've partially read is the New Testament. The best book I've actually read is Taleb's Antifragile.
So many people talk about this one and they never give spoiler alerts.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#234There can be only one answer to that - the Bible . Twenty years ago, I was convinced the content alone justified the claims of a divine origin, which opinion has only grown stronger in the years since. Even if you don't believe in it, it is worth reading as literature - an extraordinarily epic story, and a lot of stuff to say about humanity and divinity along the way. Everything else, comparatively, seems to me like…
Stick with QCT, I’ve been coming back to that essay for 20 years. Given your other recs, you might want to go back to a few of the Dialogues: the Apology, the Laches, maybe the Phaedrus. And if you’re serious about the divine origin stuff, after reading the Apology, read the third chapter of Walden.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#235The 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.
That’s certainly one way to interpret it.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#236The 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…
Thanks for the suggestion, I'm interested!
Found it on Standard Ebooks, in case that helps someone else:
https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/boethius/the-consolation-o...
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#237"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…
> 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.
Not OP. But I would say the filter is working. If you would treat somebody like an idiot for liking a book you don’t like, I indeed, would want you filtered out of my circle of friends.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#238Not sure which one I would pick but the Culture series by Iain M Banks probably had the most impact on me.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#239The 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.
Just remembering my first reading thinking: hey they had complex financial instruments back in the 1800s. Also - market manipulation by use of faster comms.
But really a nice story.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#240Best book I've read in a long time: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt -- it's not often that literary fiction reads as smoothly as a Stephen King book. It's a coming of age story, a drug story, a heist story all rolled up.
Best book I ever read (for myriad other reasons) probably remains Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- never has a book amused me like that. I don't think much about my sensibility, beliefs, way of looking at the world would be quite the same if that book hadn't have come along when I was eleven and said, "you're okay, you're not alone. Don't panic."