[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.
Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
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Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#162[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.
In the same universe, Dreaming Void, Temporal Void and Evolutionary Void. I read the Temporal Void a year or two ago without reading the first and despite not completely understanding the story, loved it. Went back and read the whole series this year, and found it fantastic.
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#163And for designers and developers, the Smashing Magazine series - brilliant!
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#164'Anything You Want: 40 Lessons For A New Kind Of Entrepreneur' by Derek Sivers. http://www.flipkart.com/anything-you-want-1936719118/p/itmdy...
'Jugari Cross' by Poornachandra Tejaswi; an amazing thriller novel that takes place in real-time. http://www.flipkart.com/jugari-cross/p/itmd7gdp6xvushkd?pid=...
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#1653 of my favorites were JavaScript books: Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja by John Resig (2012) is a very hands-on look at writing a Javascript library: http://j.mp/RgOcXO High Performance JavaScript by Nicholas C. Zakas (2010) is one of the most thorough treatments of performance and JS I have read: http://j.mp/V0R0X3 Professional JavaScript for Web Developers (2012 3rd edition) is an incredibly in-depth reference of…
I've been studying JS recently and recommend: JavaScript Web Applications - Alex MacCaw JavaScript: The Definitive Guide - David Flanagan
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#166I read 27 books in 2012. Here are some of the more interesting ones: Shogun - James Clavel . 'Epic' is the best word I can use to describe this historical fiction. I first read it in 2009 and have reread all 1100 pages multiple times since. The first English pilot to reach the Japans discovers a culture that, while strange, is in many ways far more advanced than his own. The fictional Lord Toranaga is based on the hi…
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#167Although this may sound very complex, the book is actually not that hard to follow. Highly recommended!
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#168I 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,…
Sounds like Snow Crash! Snow Crash was one of the best I read this year, I'll put Ready Player One on my list!
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#169I read 27 books in 2012. Here are some of the more interesting ones: Shogun - James Clavel . 'Epic' is the best word I can use to describe this historical fiction. I first read it in 2009 and have reread all 1100 pages multiple times since. The first English pilot to reach the Japans discovers a culture that, while strange, is in many ways far more advanced than his own. The fictional Lord Toranaga is based on the hi…
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#170Walter Jon Williams' The Green Leopard Plague , which is also part of an anthology of the same name. The anthology includes several other stories that build up the world that GLP takes place in. Some interesting ideas about identity and consciousness in a society with extremely advanced bioengineering. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Leopard_Plague Umberto Eco's Prague Cemetery which expands greatly on a tiny…
But, the blue ant books are so boring! I am so genuinely perplexed whenever anybody recommends them. Honestly I can't say anything after Pattern Recognition is any good or not as I never gave it a shot.
I guess I just struggle with what exactly and who exactly I'm supposed to be paying attention to in Pattern Recognition. Too many asides that I only found distracting and not amusing or even interesting.
But I loved the sprawl series so much, I keep trying to pick up Gibson again. I'm just left mystified what anyone sees in his recent 5 or 6 books.
I did read the Sprawl books pretty much as they were published, or within a couple years. I think I was in 6th grade when I read Neuromancer the first time.