I didn’t know it at the time but Walden by Henry David Thoreau. I read it in high school and didn’t think it meant much to me. I’ve been rereading it recently and realized a lot of insights and observations it has on living a simpler life are core beliefs I follow. It’s funny reading it again and discovering how great of an impact it had when I originally read it to write a paper for a high school English class.
Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
261–270 of 980 posts
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#262"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,…
>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.
Nietzche fills this role for me. Thinking he was right is a big red flag. But not knowing of him makes your opinions on philosophy meaningless.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#263Anything from Sagan: Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God could convert the Pope to agnosticism. Stephen Ray Gould: Full House: The Spread of Excellence from Plato to Darwin: will both challenge every preconceived notion you've had, link seemingly impossibly unrelated phenomenon together using similar models and patterns, and leave with a much more intuitive understanding about co…
This author is by far my favorite. Everything he wrote was amazing and made me think so deeply about things.
I recommend Dragons of Eden especially because it sheds light on how fabric of our culture is woven by old thoughts that are recycled in interesting ways. The Demon Haunted World does a good job at explaining how we have to escape magical thinking and be more rational about how we approach life.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#264Middlemarch by George Eliot
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#265Anna Karenina. Nothing mind-blowing. I didn't see a light in the sky. I read a lot, fiction and non-fiction. When I read Tolstoy, I remember thinking "What sort of dark magic is this?" He drew characters in a way I haven't seen since. I _knew_ these people. I remember this book, decades later. I remember a lot of what I've read, but Tolstoy was the man. I have no idea how or why his magic worked.
Anna Karenina is a masterpiece of a novel. I highly recommend it as well.
I often jokingly mention that this is the first book that ever made me want to get married. While many now that the novel describes the tragic life and relationships of Anna, only those that read it will now that here is another, as important and positive story, about the love between Kitty and Levin.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#266Although I'm not generally into fantasy, I found "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" by Stephen Donaldson to be fantastic. I tried to start it twice and gave up (there are some disturbing elements) but once I got into it I was hooked. Loved that the hero wasnt into being a hero and was deeply flawed. For non fiction, "Godel, Escher and Bach" is right up there, along with The Selfish Gene.
I have bought and read the entire decalogue of the Thomas covenant series. The first 2 trilogies were prime fantasy. The final quadrilogy probably deserves a re-read but it wasn't quite at the same level on the first read for me as the others.
It's the only book that I can remember that has sent me scrambling for a dictionary as the sentences contained words whose meaning could not be discerned by inference.
"The surquedry of the Elohim was their downfall", for instance.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#267Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
Saying it is your favorite book is one thing. Saying it "changed your life" is another and yes, I'd think anyone who's life was changed by that particular book is indeed an idiot. I just don't see myself wanting to continue to engage with that person after a comment like that. Maybe I'm just impatient shrug
Cactacea Shrugged
Before I made a judgement about someone making that claim, I'd need to know in what way it 'changed their life'.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#268The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt. It changed the way I think about what's important, both to me and to other people and societies.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#269Anna Karenina. Nothing mind-blowing. I didn't see a light in the sky. I read a lot, fiction and non-fiction. When I read Tolstoy, I remember thinking "What sort of dark magic is this?" He drew characters in a way I haven't seen since. I _knew_ these people. I remember this book, decades later. I remember a lot of what I've read, but Tolstoy was the man. I have no idea how or why his magic worked.
I second this... to this day, I am in awe! Such a profound and readable book in the same time. Each character lives within me, and in many situations, one of them emerges :)
As Nabokov said, it is the supreme masterpiece of 19th-century prose.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#270I am still discovering new best books, recently "bird by bird" which taught me and made me laugh.