I reread all of China Mieville this year and enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
I also enjoyed reading Nick Harkaway. A brilliant writer if ever there was one.
Chinaman is a must read if you are a fan of cricket.
Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
181–190 of 227 posts
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#182Gravity's Rainbow - took 4 months out of my year, but and it's still mostly a whoosh, but every time I started reading another book after that, it was just amazing how much better Pyncheon writes. Will revisit it for sure, though not very soon. Anna Karenina - just a whole different level, Tolstoy's writing in a way I don't feel many contemporary writes could. Feels creepy how similar the people's lives in the 19th C…
What a great reading list. It's a really nice mix. If you're up for a reading group, let me know (email is in my profile).
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#183This sounds like a weird suggestion but it's an incredibly entertaining and interesting book about an amazing entrepreneur who was one of America's first fruit tycoons. http://www.amazon.com/Fish-That-Ate-Whale-Americas/dp/037429...
I actually value the "weird suggestions" most: the "latest thing" books are pretty visible. Whether bubbled up through Amazon's creaky recommendation engine or twitter or whatever, Nate Silvers' book was going to show up on my radar, whereas something like this might not have. Thanks!
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#184Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance - A book on philosophy, can go as deep as you like. Was written over 25 years ago, but feels very fresh. My key take away from this book was that you should be humble enough to appreciate various models of the world - e.g. Science or Religion. Favorite quote: "When you have a Chatuahaha in your head, you can't resist inflicting it on innocent people". Still makes me smile :-)
Life of Pi - Bought it following the buzz of the movie. Read the book first, then saw the movie. A good simple read. Sort of reinforces, the 'various models' idea of the 'Zen...' book. Found the movie slightly better than the book, which was a surprise. Ang Lee has made subtle changes, which makes the story more peppy.
Perfect Rigor - Captures the story (and math) behind, the turning down of a million dollar prize by Gregory Perelman. The genius Russian mathematician, who solved a 100 year old standing problem, of the missing proof of the Poincare Conjecture. It was perhaps my best technical read of the year.
I am feeling Lucky (by Doug Edwards): Google's emplpyee number 59, writes about his experience at Google. I found it the best book on Google. Better than some of the others, which seem a bit like officially authorized versions.
Below ones I read it in 2011. But haven't posted here, so here goes:
Born to Run (By Chris Mcdougall): A health book. Has really helped my running. Highly recommended to all.
A guide to a good life: The ancient art of Stoic Joy (By Joseph Irvine): A very good book on philosophy. Read it on the reco (http://sivers.org/book) of Derek Sivers.
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#185"Steve Jobs" - Walter Isaacson
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#186NON-FICTION
1) Thinking fast and slow
(currently reading)
2) The Lean Startup (Read when I joined founders institute, was helpful in quite number ways. Doubled it with same course on udemy )
3) Banker to the poor - Md. Yunus (Got a chance to interview Md.Yunus,)
4) Business Model Generation http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/book (Quite a read, for business model generation. One can explain whole biz plan in 1 page)
5) The Dilbert principle
6) Steve Jobs
FICTION 1) The Hobbit 2) Ulysses 3) Sense of ending
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#187i highly recommend all of these:
- "Cathedral and the Bazaar"
- "Buddhism Without Beliefs"
- "Mindfulness in Plain English"
- "Godel Escher Bach"
- "People's History of the United States"
- "Debian Administrator's Handbook"
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#188Gravity's Rainbow - took 4 months out of my year, but and it's still mostly a whoosh, but every time I started reading another book after that, it was just amazing how much better Pyncheon writes. Will revisit it for sure, though not very soon. Anna Karenina - just a whole different level, Tolstoy's writing in a way I don't feel many contemporary writes could. Feels creepy how similar the people's lives in the 19th C…
What a great reading list. It's a really nice mix. If you're up for a reading group, let me know (email is in my profile).
Seconded.
I am surprised that there are not more of Pynchon's books in this thread.
'Vineland' is an easy, humorous read. If you want to take Pynchon head on, I can't recommend 'Against the day' too much.
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#189Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance - A book on philosophy, can go as deep as you like. Was written over 25 years ago, but feels very fresh. My key take away from this book was that you should be humble enough to appreciate various models of the world - e.g. Science or Religion. Favorite quote: "When you have a Chatuahaha in your head, you can't resist inflicting it on innocent people". Still makes me smile :-)…
I tried to read Zen a couple of years ago but lost interest. I picked it up again this year and got through it this time.
I think [one of] the basic messages of the book, that of paying attention and enjoying the little things of life like understanding and servicing your BMW motorcycle is great. Unfortunately I didn't get much out of the philosophical ramblings about arete (quality) and the author's nervous breakdown, which takes up most of the second half of the book. I did enjoy the description of the road trip though, if I were living in the US right now I'd love to do it.
Re: Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012
#190Fiction:- The Expanse by James S. A. Corey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan_Wakes & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calibans_War Near SF by Daniel Saurez http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_(Suarez_novel) Non Fiction:- Katherine Boo: http://www.behindthebeautifulforevers.com/ Susan Cain: http://www.thepowerofintroverts.com/ Daniel Kahneman: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow
Thinking fast and slow is awesome , changed the way i work