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Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012

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Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012

#121

Post by borlak »

Mostly scifi and fantasy. I've never been much of a reader, so I'm trying to catch up on classics.

* Hunger games 1-3 -- not bad, would probably recommend

* Hitchiker's guide to the galaxy -- good, surprised how short it was. really liked the style of writing, fun to read. recommended

* Stranger in a Strange Land -- currently reading this one, interesting, but nothing ground breaking. one character seems to dominate the book. don't know if I'd recommend.

* Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep -- interesting, a bit boring. I kept comparing it to the movie, and in the end I like the movie better. they each focus on different subjects, but I like the movie's subject better, and it felt more professional/solid. would recommend.

* Ringworld -- pretty good. the 'Teela problem' is fascinating to me and got me thinking a lot outside of reading, which to me is a sign of a good book. the 'spacey stuff' in the book was not that great. even the ringworld itself was not that interesting. would recommend.

* The Mote in God's Eye -- my favorite book of the year. so much to think about (moral problems/dilemmas). the realistic part of the space travel was new to me (like the consideration of g-forces in constant acceleration), and so that was more to think about. definitely recommend.

* Cryptonomicon -- a close second. Neal Stephenson goes into wicked detail in his books and always blows my mind (never heard of Van Eck Phreaking before this book, how is that possible?). definitely recommend.

Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012

#122

Post by wahnfrieden »

niklaslogren wrote: post #72
wahnfrieden wrote: post #32

Satantango, by László Krasznahorkai.

Could you please expand on this? This book is on my to-read list, but I'm not sure I'll ever get around to reading it. Wasn't it very repetitive?

I read it since Tarr is one of my favorite directors and I saw the movie recently (the author works closely with Tarr on the screenplay and on set). It's dark, very dark but full of humor and great visual descriptions. It adds a lot to the movie, although they are separate works.

Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012

#123

Post by philh »

abecedarius wrote: post #17

Favorite novel, I think: Orthogonal by Greg Egan. First couple books in a trilogy are out. If you liked Egan in the 90s but mostly lost interest this millennium, like me, then take a look.

On a similar note, my own choice is Egan's Diaspora. Most of the characters are sentient software, and it explores some of the implications of being able to fork oneself, or rewrite your software. On top of that the physics is, to the best of my mildly-educated knowledge, an extension of General Relativity consistent with what we already know; and part of it takes place in a six-dimensional spacetime.

The only other Egan I've read is his collection Luminosity, which was similarly impressive. I'm definitely going to check him out further.

Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012

#124

Post by famo »

mindcrime wrote: post #29

The Mysterious Island - Jules Verne. Probably my first favorite book, which I've read about 10 or 12 times in my life. Just re-read it again a few weeks ago. Never gets old. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Island The three titles in The Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant. I'm not normally real big on zombie stories, but this one was a breath of fresh air. Part zombies, part conspiracy story, and wildly enter…

Ghost In The Wires was definitely my favourite read of 2012. I'm keen to read a few more in your list. Ta for posting!

Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012

#125

Post by icoloma »

jlees wrote: post #112
Urgo wrote: post #57

I read a number of good books but hands down my favorite that I read in 2012 was Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. This is from Amazon: At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, READY PLAYER ONE is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut—part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots,…

I wouldn't class Ready Player One as the best book of 2012, but it was certainly enjoyable (when I read it in 2011). I prefer This Is Not A Game and Pattern Recognition in this genre; also worth checking out is Tad Williams' Otherland series.

I can confirm that Pattern Recognition is (in my memory) even better than Ready Player One, which is also an amazing book. Thanks for the others, didn't know about them.

Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012

#126

Post by inetsee »

mindcrime wrote: post #116
mikeash wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely recommend the rest of the Laundry books. Also be sure to check out Stross's short story "A Colder War", which came before those, and is very much in the same overall theme, although substantially darker.

Will do! I have a handful of other Stross books waiting in a pile to be ready already, but not sure I have any more of the Laundry ones yet. I know I have several of his other traditional sci-fi works waiting, and I'll definitely get to the rest of the Laundry books eventually.

I can highly recommend "Accelerando". It's one of my all time favorite books. I've read it a half dozen times, and I'll probably read it again, just not right away.

I also liked his Eschaton series, "Singularity Sky", and "Iron Sunrise".

In spite of loving "Accelerando", I've never been able to get into his non-hard science fiction series, like the Laundry series, or Merchant Princes.

Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012

#127

Post by venus »

Reltair wrote: post #63

How to Get Rich: One of the World's Greatest Entrepreneurs Shares His Secrets - Felix Dennis. The most life-changing book that I read this year. http://www.amazon.com/How-Get-Rich-Greatest-Entrepreneurs/dp...

+1 to this book. It's worth it just for the crushing realisation of what income category the actual rich consider you to belong to.

Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012

#128

Post by portman »

Funny, I just posted this: http://willsllc.github.com/blog/books-2012/

Most Thought-Provoking Books of 2012

The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation by Jon Gertner published March 15, 2012 Over the span of a few decades, a single research lab invented the transistor, the microprocessor, radar, the communication satellite, the CD, and more.

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg published February 28, 2012 Why toothpaste tingles, how Febreeze was a flop, and hundreds of other tidbits that are perfect for cocktail parties and future Jeopardy episodes.

The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail-but Some Don't by Nate Silver published September 27, 2012 Weaves together baseball, earthquakes, the weather, poker, and terrorism. Chapter 7 is the best description of Bayes theoreom I've ever read.

The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone---Especially Ourselves by Dan Ariely published June 5, 2012 The third Ariely book, and just as fun. Would be ranked #1 except it's essential the same formula as his prior two gems.

Automate This: How Algorithms Came to Rule Our World by Christopher Steiner published August 30, 2012 Surprisingly good read from a first-time author (and YC alum). Expands on Andreessen's quip to cover trading, couter-terrorism, the Arab Spring and more.

Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012

#129

Post by mikeash »

inetsee wrote: post #126
mindcrime wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Will do! I have a handful of other Stross books waiting in a pile to be ready already, but not sure I have any more of the Laundry ones yet. I know I have several of his other traditional sci-fi works waiting, and I'll definitely get to the rest of the Laundry books eventually.

I can highly recommend "Accelerando". It's one of my all time favorite books. I've read it a half dozen times, and I'll probably read it again, just not right away. I also liked his Eschaton series, "Singularity Sky", and "Iron Sunrise". In spite of loving "Accelerando", I've never been able to get into his non-hard science fiction series, like the Laundry series, or Merchant Princes.

I wouldn't recommend Merchant Princes too much. They're fun, but they're long, and don't really finish. At some point, the plot sort of gets lost, and the series ends with way more questions than answers. It's a cool universe, and really interesting, but IMO not used so well.

Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012

#130

Post by mindcrime »

inetsee wrote: post #126
mindcrime wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Will do! I have a handful of other Stross books waiting in a pile to be ready already, but not sure I have any more of the Laundry ones yet. I know I have several of his other traditional sci-fi works waiting, and I'll definitely get to the rest of the Laundry books eventually.

I can highly recommend "Accelerando". It's one of my all time favorite books. I've read it a half dozen times, and I'll probably read it again, just not right away. I also liked his Eschaton series, "Singularity Sky", and "Iron Sunrise". In spite of loving "Accelerando", I've never been able to get into his non-hard science fiction series, like the Laundry series, or Merchant Princes.

Yeah, I've got that one, but haven't gotten to it yet. The only other Stross I've read was, Halting State. But I have Accelerando, The Jennifer Morgue, Singularity Sky, and a couple of others, in the queue waiting to be read.
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