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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?

#351

Post by bloopernova »

BizarroLand wrote: post #266
MattPalmer1086 wrote: post #84

Although 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 sur…

I've been reading history books lately, and my ebook feature "look up selected word in dictionary or Wikipedia" is such a useful little thing. I wish I'd had something similar in the 80s (the convenience, I know I could get a dictionary)

A built-in pronunciation guide would also have been very appealing to this 80s bookworm.

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

#353

Post by travisjungroth »

znpy wrote: post #328
bitcoin_anon wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just failed the test.

I wanted to post something similar. It's crazy how many people essentially jumped at their throat with obnoxious comments and even outright ridiculing the poster (see the "checkers/chess" comment as an example). Quite literally the author explained the whole reasoning and they still "failed the test". I haven't even read atlas shrugged but I guess at this point I'm curious to read it and possibly adopt a similar stra…

I don’t want to pass this test. Someone who uses one of our first interactions to test how tolerant I am of Objectivism removing themselves from my life is an ideal outcome.

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

#354

Post by tb_technical »

bee_rider wrote: post #160
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,…

Canticle for Leibowitz was pretty good. Regardless of political opinions, that monologue in the middle of Atlas Shrugged is some quite poor writing. TBH if someone said their Atlas Shrugged was their favorite book, I would assume they were making some sort of political statement, which seems like a bit of an intrusion on what otherwise ought to be a fun chat about books. I was a teenager when I read her books, and th…

The idea that the people are not ready for certain technologies strongly resonates with me. Every day I find myself falling further and further out of touch with new technology.

Never read The Fountainhead.

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

#355

Post by DurtEetr »

toast0 wrote: post #201
anonymoushn wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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

Going Postal by Terry Pratchett has my favorite entertaining read about signaling networks.

In addition to the invention of a working mail system, you’ll read descriptions of semaphore towers working in a way that is similar to the Telegraph, except with light rather than pulsed waves over wire. It’s also hilariously funny and deeply philosophical at times.

I recommend it wholeheartedly.

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

#356

Post by jppope »

standardUser wrote: post #275

Allen Carr's Easy Way To Stop Smoking I find a lot of my successes are driven by building powerful and convincing narratives about my own life and circumstances. Unfortunately, the anti-smoking messaging that comes form every website, doctor and other resource all parrots the same tired arguments I had been hearing since the 90's. My earnest efforts to find new perspectives hit the same wall of propaganda every time.…

question: I'm not a smoker, but would the information be able to be generalized?

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

#357

Post by mellosouls »

Collected Works of Shakespeare

The Tempest was my way in. Hated him as many did at school, but when my path was my own I decided there must be something to the extraordinary reverence in which he was held so I decided to have another go.

I had to plough through for a while rereading until I finally "got" the flow.

After that it was a long journey through some of the most beautiful words and thoughts I'd ever encountered, my life genuinely deepened and enriched.

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

#358

Post by danenania »

agigao wrote: post #306

- The Magic Mountain - Thomas Mann - The Man Without Qualities - Robert Musil - The Gospel According to Jesus Christ - Jose Saramago - Moby Dick - Herman Melville - The War of the End of the World - Mario Vargas Llosa - The War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy etc. I can't do "The" xD

> The Gospel According to Jesus Christ - Jose Saramago

Have you read Blindness? I liked The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, but personally I liked Blindness a lot more.

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

#359

Post by phtrivier »

v-erne wrote: post #138
edanm wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wonderful, wonderful book. One of my favorites. It's old, but the beginning especially is just a non-stop adventure. It always drags a bit for me after the first third, but picks up again and continues to be great throughout.

>> It's old, but the beginning especially is just a non-stop adventure. It always drags a bit for me after the first third, but picks up again and continues to be great throughout. Yeah, as much as I love Count Monte Christo as a story, being it a movie ( https://youtu.be/qesn8pV9yu8?si=ssccZfQGf9F1fCk3 ), series ( https://youtu.be/bF1Z7irZLdY?si=oDF0OnB-1NWVfwZq ) or anime ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gankutsuou:…

Tangentially: the 2024 version [1] of the movie has been a huge success in France (quite deserved in my opinion), and is about the open in the US.

The imagery of the movie has a definitive "Batman" vibe - sort of "full circle", even though, apparently CoMC was not _really_ an inspiration for the Dark Knight, as the legend went. [2]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Count_of_Monte_Cristo_(202...

[2] https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/254769/was-batman-...

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

#360

Post by standardUser »

jppope wrote: post #356
standardUser wrote: post #275

Allen Carr's Easy Way To Stop Smoking I find a lot of my successes are driven by building powerful and convincing narratives about my own life and circumstances. Unfortunately, the anti-smoking messaging that comes form every website, doctor and other resource all parrots the same tired arguments I had been hearing since the 90's. My earnest efforts to find new perspectives hit the same wall of propaganda every time.…

question: I'm not a smoker, but would the information be able to be generalized?

I think it was uniquely suited to break through the homogenous anti-smoking propaganda and offer new perspectives. Though he did write similar books about alcohol and diet.
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