Fiction : the history of love Non fiction: start with why
As a fan of Sinek’s messages - I would recommend his Ted/YouTube talks over the books.
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?
#832I am not sure about being the best, but one book that really felt special and still does is : - The beginning of infinity by David Deutsch. This book really ignited my love for epistemology in general, and the nature of scientific progress and understanding. Another notable book for me : Finite and infinite games by James Carse. I find the book fascinating if only because the concept the author is describing is both…
"The beginning of infinity" by David Deutsch is the definitive book on Optimism.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#833there are two: Pirsig's "Zen..." and Thoreau's "Walden...." the quality which is defined is not the quality, and the sun is but a morning star. iykyk. no posturing intended, just answering the d*n question.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#834- The works of Richard Feynman: All are very nice reads.
- The Idea Factory (Jon Gertner): The only book I’ve read more than once and gifted to several friends and acquaintances.
- The Silmarillion: Incredible World-Building
- The Master and His Emissary (Mcgilchrist) Dense, but rewarding. Considerably changed the way I think.
- God’s Debris (Scott Adams, yes, THAT Scott Adams) Read it in undergrad and not sure if it was a JIT kind of thing, but it impacted me.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#835Best 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 looki…
I'm reading The Goldfinch right now. Indeed, master storytelling, super readable. I'm enjoying it immensely.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#836One book and two book series:
Moby Dick by Herman Melville.
The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson.
The Aubrey–Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#837Nobody has mentioned: - The Lord of the Rings. It is the secret gateway for us nerds to get into literature and poetry (do not skip the poems!). Read all the reference materials like The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, J.R.R.'s letters, the books his son Christopher edited and published, etc. If the poems seem weird or don't make sense, research why they are worded and structured the way they are. - The Master and Margarit…
Obscure wtf? It's a classic of Russian literature and taught in every Russian lit class.
It's 'obscure' in the sense that something like To Kill a Mockingbird is 'obscure' (The only reason I know it is due to the prevalence of US pop-culture and it being referenced there). Sure everybody in the US probably knows about it and many read it in school, but outside of the US it's pretty rare to meet someone who has read it. I'd be willing to bet a lot more people in Europe have read The Master and Maragrita than To Kill a Mockingbird for example.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#838Earlier quoted context omitted.
No of course not. You're not dangerous...if so, uh, I am logged into a random stranger's Hacker News account. :) Kidding aside friend, I get the feeling you've been hurt in the past and that's really sad. I can't change any of that. But I can tell you that you're a pretty cool person in the present and you can attract other cool people by being authentically you. Consider your list of favourite books - you're frickin…
Well, thanks! That's much appreciated. I was being a little whimsical with the parent comment, by the way. The entire comment tree is honestly really baffling to me. From people claiming I'm a secret fan of Rand, to people claiming I'm antisocial, or a sociopath - it's been a wild ride. From my perspective, it would be worse to subject myself to people who hate me. And just because I'm not friends with someone doesn'…
from an outsider's perspective, this has been some of the most fun hacker news comment chains ive seen for a good long while keep it up, if you can consistently come up with such entertainingly divisive stuff as this you'll go far, i'm sure.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#839Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If you build expensive stuff on the property you generally pay more. This is not Land Value Tax. Georgism is an argument against this concept of taxing based on what you do with the land.
So, am I to understand that prime beach real estate is to be taxed the same as a plot in a desert or swamp? There is clearly a lot of trouble with taxing land, because an inherent part of its value is what you can do with it. People pay premium for land that is useful and desireable. The structures placed on land and the values thereof are proportional to this desirability and economic utility. Furthermore, it might…
> So, am I to understand that prime beach real estate is to be taxed the same as a plot in a desert or swamp?
Why would that be the case? A beachfront plot would likely have a higher value than a plot in a desert or swamp, so the tax levied on the beachfront plot’s value would, of course, be higher. It’s a tax on the land’s value, not a tax on the size of the plot.
Re: Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
#840Picking a "favorite" is generally hard. I once learned that the best way to phrase this question is in the form of e.g. "What are some of your favorite books?" so the responder doesn't have to force rank their all-time-favorite in their head, which can feel taxing. So I'll name two: I'm actually a bit surprised to not see "Brave New World" mentioned yet. That was a life-changing experience to my teenage self And sinc…
The vision in "Brave New World" seems so unrealistic and far fetched that for me to treat it as any sort of warning or deep insight.