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Ask HN: What are your favorite books? I'm bored

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Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books? I'm bored

#53

Post by danschuller »

I really enjoyed "The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles".

I've have it recommended a few times but the title sounded a bit self help-like so I avoided it. Eventually I did ready and it's pretty great. It covers how people manage to get work done, which is pretty important for everyone.

Last year I read The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt. It's non-fiction, though I believe the central premise is a little tongue in cheek. An ancient Roman manuscript that's rediscovered and helps set off the enlightenment and our modern culture.

For Buddhism I enjoyed Zen Flesh, Zen Bones by Paul Reps, mainly a collection of translated koans. If you've never it I recommend Godel Escher Bach : An Eternal Golden Braid, as it also likes to play with Buddhism. It's a book that tends to get a bit of hate but I found it quite fun and playful.

Non-fiction for sci-fi and fantasy: Robin Hobb and Vernor Vinge.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books? I'm bored

#55

Post by cellover »

shire wrote: post #50
cellover wrote: post #30

I like understanding where I am located in space and time, that is why I love reading about science & science fiction ; it is indirectly related to religion in the sense that it makes you think about your world, about yourself. Buddhism / Religion / ... : - Siddartha - Hermann Hesse - The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho Science: - A brief history of time - Stephen Hawking (space, time) - The Blind Watchmaker - Richard Dawki…

have you read Siddhartha? did you like it.

I loved it, it is concise, deep and enlightening! I highly recommand it.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books? I'm bored

#57

Post by kilo_man »

Just listing books that have had a big impact on me:

* The Now Habit - http://www.amazon.com/dp/1585425524

* Getting Things Done - http://www.amazon.com/dp/0142000280

* Simply Christian - http://www.amazon.com/dp/0061920622

* Surprised by Hope - http://www.amazon.com/dp/0061551821

* The Great Divorce - http://www.amazon.com/dp/0060652950

* Mere Christianity - http://www.amazon.com/dp/0060652926

* The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius - http://www.amazon.com/dp/048629823X

* Tao Te Ching - http://www.amazon.com/dp/0060812451

Books from the Bible that I like:

* Genesis

* Judges

* Ruth

* Tobit

* Job

* Psalms

* Ecclesiastes

* Sirach/Ecclesiasticus

* Everything written by John

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books? I'm bored

#58

Post by outrightfree »

I bought Labyrinths of Reason many years ago, and I still love dipping into it every now and then. I always seem to find something new in it (one benefit of a failing memory)

Labyrinths of Reason: Paradox, Puzzles, and the Frailty of Knowledge by William Poundstone

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books? I'm bored

#59

Post by mrcdima »

Some titles I've recently read or at least have placed on my reading list.

--------------------

Philosohpy

Letters from a Stoic: Epistulae Morales Ad Lucilium - Seneca

Meditations - Marcus Aurelius (must read)

The Republic - Plato

--------------------

History

Five Chimneys - Olga Lengyel

The Gulag Archipelago - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (must read)

The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank

--------------------

Fiction

(particularly dystopian) 1984, Brave New World, Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451

(crime/action) Child 44, The Secret Speech, Agent 6 - Tom Rob Smith

--------------------

Economics

Capital in the Twenty-First Century - Thomas Piketty

Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty - Banerjee, Duflo

Why Nations Fail - Robinson

--------------------

Economics/Decision making/Psychology

Undercover Economist, Freakonomics, Nudge, Thinking Fast and Slow

--------------------

Random titles

The Selfish Gene, Self-Reliance, The Elements of Style (about writing), Slaughterhouse-Five

--------------------

Some links to inspire your reading (though you may want to checkout the websites first to get an idea of the topics they cover)

http://www.gatesnotes.com/Books

http://bookpickings.brainpickings.org/

http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/reading/

http://www.ryanholiday.net/reading-newsletter

I’m just a working-class guy trying to take part in the conversation that all the smart people are having. What books should I read? - http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/03/im-just-a-working-cl...

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books? I'm bored

#60

Post by personlurking »

Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano (the one Chavez gave to Obama in 2009), from 1971.

"In the book Galeano analyzes the history of Latin America as a whole, from the time period of the European settlement of the New World to contemporary Latin America, describing the effects of European and later United States economic exploitation and political dominance over the region."

The main takeaway (I'm not finished yet), as stated early on, seems to be that for a country/region to lose out economically/developmentally, another country/region has to win. It made me think about cause and effect historically, but also in general.

Somewhat relatedly, at least in terms of cause and effect, and with a historical basis in exploitation, is a question I read that was posed by philosopher Peter Singer, also in 1971, based on a paper he wrote called Famine, Affluence, and Morality. In it, an analogy is made where a drowning child in a pond (in the US) needs saving but at the cost of ruining your new shoes. At the same time, an equally in-need child (in Africa) is starving to death and he/she could be saved by foregoing the purchase of the new shoes. Most people would help the drowning child but not the starving one.

You can see Mr. Singer discuss it here (2 min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCgmPRxUYDY

Singer on this question and others (9 min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVViICWs4dM

A university professor exploring it in more detail (14 min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pyzv2UWzaos

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