Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?

- Founders at Work: Jessica Livingston. Good. Less repetitive than Coders at Work.

- Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage. Awfuly boring. But I don't care at all about sailing (it was a gift).

- Terre des Hommmes: Antoine de St Exupéry. Brilliant, the chapter with the 2 girls made me decide to read all his work in 2016.

- Practical Common Lisp: Peter Siebel. Had to start Lisp!

= Jan =

Smarter Than You Think - Clive Thompson 3

The positives of tech and the internet.

= Feb =

Super Sad True Love Story - Gary Shteyngart 4

Science fiction set in the not too distant future. Main themes include life extension and surveillance.

= Mar =

The HitchHiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams 4

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe - Douglas Adams 3

Had never read this series, thought it might be about time.

= Apr =

What does it all Mean? - Thomas Nagel 2 (though it is kind of meant for people who have never done any Philosophy, ever, so would recommend to someone like that. Will pass it on to someone taking an interest in the subject)

An introduction to Philosophy.

Earth - David Brin 5+

Science fiction set in the not too distant future, written in the 90s. Really interesting themes / vision of post climate change world.

SlaughterHouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut 5

Semi autobiographical account of the bombing of Dresden in WW2. Really funny and clever ideas. Very good.

= May =

Nick Cohen - What’s Left? 4

Account of how the left has degenerated since the collapse of the hard left and the winning of liberal battles e.g. LGBT rights. Basic premise is that those on the left hate the West and the status quo so much they stoop to allying themselves with anyone who also opposes the status quo.

= June =

Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy won’t go away - Rebecca Newberger Goldstein 5+

Plato has somehow appeared in the 21st century and is doing a talk at Google! A really enjoyable account of how Plato’s philosophy could be applied to modern issues. Really good. I want to go to Athens.

= July =

The Mind Body Problem - Rebecca Newberger Goldstein 4

Novel about a female philosophy student shagging around and philosophising about it.

Believing Bullshit - Stephen Law 4

Book detailing the various tricks / schemes played by charlatans and how to avoid being taken in by them.

= August =

36 Arguments for the Existence of God: a work of fiction - Rebecca Newberger Goldstein 3

Novel about an academic and his mentor. It was ok.

= September =

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe - Douglas Adams 3

Think I’m done reading these for now, don’t feel the urge to finish the set.

Kafka - The Trial 5

Really good. Love the surrealism - the nightmarish / dreamish-ness of it. Saw it in the Theatre as well after reading it, thought that was great too.

= October =

= November =

Existence - David Brin 3

Not as good as Earth. Glad I read that first. Interesting imagining of what form contact from alien life could take though. Also interesting look at existential risks. The main part I didn’t like was how it skipped forward in time 3 decades about 3/4s of the way through, I had thought the characters were a little weak in general up until then anyway, and then they were pretty much gone entirely at that point.

= December =

Alone Together - Sherry Turtle 4

The negatives of tech, robotics and the internet. Interesting and important read.

Imperium - Robert Harris 5

First in the semi-fictional trilogy accounting the fall of the Roman Republic, told through the eyes of Cicero’s secretary, Tiro. Really good. The politics, the corruption, the ancient city really brought to life. Enhanced by having visited Rome in the Summer.

Also currently reading ‘Reclaiming Conversation’ by Sherry Turkle, an account of the negative affect being permanently tethered to the internet has on our conversations, our capacity for empathy and our relationships, and Nietzsche’s 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra'.

"Kokoro" Natsume Soseki

"The Politics of Dialogical Imagination" Hirano Katsuya

"History and Repetition" Karatani Kojin

"The Structure of World History" Karatani Kojin

"Anti-Oedipus" Gilles Deleuze & Felix Guattari

"Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors" Nicholas Wade

"Capital, Volume I" Karl Marx

These books have been the most informative and thought-provoking for me this year.

Good stuff, though, thanks for sharing your highlights!

Looking at back my own list, a lot of good, but few if any great books on it... The good effect is more in the aggregate learning than any one of them in particular.