I think this year was poorly in comparison with 2011, in regards of new releases. So, what were the best books you read this year?
Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
1–10 of 227 posts
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#2Not exactly a new release, but 'Dissolution' by C.J. Sansom was without a doubt the best book I read this year. [1]
That aside, I reread the Dan Brown 'Angels & Demons' and 'The Da Vinci code' novels, worked my way through 'To kill a Mockingbird' for the first time since high school and read the 'Catechism of the Catholic Church' - to better understand the religion my girlfriend is choosing.
[1] http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dissolution-Shardlake-C-J-Sansom/dp/...
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#3[Pandora's Star](http://books.google.com/books?isbn=0330518917) by Peter F. Hamilton. A old book, yes, but a part of some of the best science fiction I've read.
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#4Moonwalking with Einstein. Not particularly new but a pretty entertaining book on the Art of Memory. Not particularly useful (the book kind of says so itself) but insightful and methods of loci is still a marginally useful skill to have.
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#5Biography of Steve Jobs. It was truthfully entertaining.
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#6The best book I read this year was not a 2012 release, but HN participants should read it if they haven't already. That book is The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande,
http://www.amazon.com/Checklist-Manifesto-How-Things-Right/d...
which was mentioned favorably in several HN threads this year. (Thanks to the recommenders here who reminded me to read this book.) The Checklist Manifesto is practical, exciting, and thought-provoking in balance, and it will help you do your work better, whatever you do, and enjoy your family life better, whoever is in your family. It's a great read; don't miss it.
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#7Here's a list of books that I read this year and liked. My favorite was Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. The rest are all worth reading. I hesitated to put "The Joy of Clojure" on that list because it's too narrow, but it's one of the best programming books I've seen.
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#8Someone recommended this - at first I thought the title sounded too cheesy, but then again I already had plenty of (bad) management books, so I gave it a try:
http://www.amazon.com/Its-Your-Ship-Management-Techniques/dp...
While not featuring any groundbreaking ideas, it's convincing and straight to the point.
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#9I'm pretty happy with Nassim Taleb's _Antifragile_.
http://www.amazon.com/Antifragile-Things-That-Disorder-ebook...
It's essentially the culmination of Fooled By Randomness and The Black Swan.
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#10How Music Works by David Byrne
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936365537
Feeding Back: Conversations with Alternative Guitarists from Proto-Punk to Post-Rock by David Todd
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/161374059X
Rise of the Videogame Zinesters: How Freaks, Normals, Amateurs, Artists, Dreamers, Drop-outs, Queers, Housewives, and People Like You Are Taking Back by Anna Anthropy
Some interesting ideas; the referenced tech is now dated. It's even easier to make games now then when this book was published.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1609803728
I recently started 10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10 by Nick Montfort, et al http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0262018462 (but also available as a free PDF)
Generative Design: Visualize, Program, and Create with Processing , by Hartmut Bohnacker, is under the Christmas tree. :) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1616890770/