Ask HN: Please name two of your most favorite books. • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Please name two of your most favorite books.

#11

Post by vips » Mon, Oct 12, 2009, 1:55 AM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #2

only two ? tough! The diamond age Manifold: time edit: this thread is going to seriously mess with my productivity in the next couple of weeks.

Its tough, but choose it to reduce the some of noise

Re: Ask HN: Please name two of your most favorite books.

#12

Post by ori_b » Mon, Oct 12, 2009, 1:56 AM UTC

Godel, Escher, Bach - Douglas Hofstadter

Fiasco - Stanislaw Lem

Re: Ask HN: Please name two of your most favorite books.

#13

Post by jacquesm » Mon, Oct 12, 2009, 1:57 AM UTC

socratees wrote: post #3

Maybe you should use proper grammar. "What are your favorite books?" or "Please name two of your most favorite books."

Maybe you should not snipe about the grammar without at least naming your favorite books ;) ?

Re: Ask HN: Please name two of your most favorite books.

#14

Post by unalone » Mon, Oct 12, 2009, 2:02 AM UTC

House of Leaves - What literature should be. Innovative both in design and in prose. It's very long but you can finish it in a maddening evening, it's hilarious, it's terrifying. Along with Steven King's It, one of two books to give me nightmares. Incredibly complex. It's a puzzle I still haven't fully solved. I consider it the first modern-era novel, and expect others will come like it. When I wrote a novel a year and a half ago, its design was my greatest inspiration.

Finnegans Wake - This book can't be explained until you've seen it. The pinnacle of the English language.

Re: Ask HN: Please name two of your most favorite books.

#15

Post by pgbovine » Mon, Oct 12, 2009, 2:03 AM UTC

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience http://www.amazon.com/Flow-Psychology-Experience-Mihaly-Csik...

The Design of Everyday Things http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/d...

Re: Ask HN: Please name two of your most favorite books.

#16

Post by trafficlight » Mon, Oct 12, 2009, 2:06 AM UTC

House of Leaves - Mark Danielewski

The Raw Shark Texts - Steven Hall

Re: Ask HN: Please name two of your most favorite books.

#17

Post by gtt » Mon, Oct 12, 2009, 2:07 AM UTC

Nassim Nicholas Taleb -- The Black Swan

Sun Tzu -- The Art of War

Lao Tzu -- Tao Te Ching

Re: Ask HN: Please name two of your most favorite books.

#18

Post by rjett » Mon, Oct 12, 2009, 2:07 AM UTC

The Man Who was Thursday by GK Chesterton....very well written allegorical spy novel.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas... I'm a sucker for a good plot and this has always been a favorite of mine since I first read it in 5th grade.

Re: Ask HN: Please name two of your most favorite books.

#19

Post by fogus » Mon, Oct 12, 2009, 2:09 AM UTC

"House of Leaves" by Mark Z Danielewski

and

Catch-22 by Josepf Heller

Re: Ask HN: Please name two of your most favorite books.

#20

Post by loumf » Mon, Oct 12, 2009, 2:12 AM UTC

"Cat's Cradle" Kurt Vonnegut "Frankenstein" Mary Shelley