Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?

#351

Post by lizzard » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 6:45 PM UTC

officemonkey wrote: post #57

Anthony Trollope's "The Warden." Trollope isn't as well known as Dickens or Austen. I think the emotional intelligence of this book makes up for the fact that nothing much happens. There's a vicar who is old friends with the Bishop. He's made Warden of an Almshouse for old men in the community. The amount of money he's going to get to do basically nothing is embarrassingly large. It's an extremely gentle book about c…

Trollope is pretty great. Especially if you like a long story arc and a large cast of characters, try the Warden series and the Palliser series.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?

#352

Post by lizzard » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 6:56 PM UTC

dwd wrote: post #205

The Journey to the West - Wu Cheng'en Abridged English translation: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/100237.Monkey In its book form this story is basically unknown in the English-speaking world despite being considered one of four literary classics in Asia. And the 70s TV show that was based on this story was very faithful to the source material, particularly the humour.

Some other fabulous Chinese novels, not really obscure as they are the most famous novels in China, but not well known to English speaking readers: Dream of Red Mansions/Story of the Stone, an epic about two families and the decline of their fortunes; The Scholars, another 18th century long book of linked stories that's basically political satire; and Outlaws of the Marsh/The Water Margin, a long series of linked tales about bandits that's a little bit Robin-Hoodish as it's really about their political rebellion.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?

#353

Post by bordercases » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 7:07 PM UTC

fasthandle wrote: post #324

bordercases wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USA will recover more quickly from a manufacturing slump due to the other assets it has or can acquire. Many other economies are dependent to some extent on the US. But it's going to be a big dip globally.

Re-tooling workers between industries in more developed countries is much easier, because of a workforce that's expected to not just have a single skill or is trained/expected to support more than one. Quality in the west also has potential for strength because of greater devolution to the production floor. But I do have a problem with saying 'west' vs 'east', everyone can learn from each other. I have problems with…

> Quality in the west also has potential for strength because of greater devolution to the production floor.

What do you mean?

> But I do have a problem with saying 'west' vs 'east', everyone can learn from each other. I have problems with assumptions of superiority. Could framing it as a question of learning and leadership be better?

I think it's better put through the frame of negotiation. That's typically how the boundaries of any exchange internationally are set up to be fair and, depending on the goodwill between parties and their negotiating style, are mutually beneficial or mutually non-harmful.

"East" and "West" are also drastic simplifications which I'm sure you're aware of, but you don't get the evidential fodder for analyzing negotiation structures. This includes motives, positions, interests and personal players.

Like for example if I said "Eastern Europe versus Western Europe" I'd be conflating the interest of multiple countries and would be missing out on the history between Germany versus Russia (not a lot of goodwill), or Merkle versus Putin (maybe some goodwill due to her East German background?).

Re: Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?

#354

Post by analogtom » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 7:47 PM UTC

Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants. by John D. Clark

"And even when it was successfully completed, the peroxide would still decompose slowly; not enough to start a runaway chain reaction, but enough to build up an oxygen pressure in a sealed tank, and make packaging impossible. And it is a nerve-wracking experience to put your ear against a propellant tank and hear it go "glub" —long pause — "glub" and so on. After such an experience many people, myself (particularly) included, tended to look dubiously at peroxide and to pass it by on the other side."

Re: Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?

#355

Post by crimsonalucard » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 7:53 PM UTC

atombender wrote: post #257

crimsonalucard wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never read Gene Wolfe or Riddley so not commenting directly on them. But I wonder if this type of "puzzle box" interface to a plot line actually produces a false catharsis that makes what is otherwise a crappy plot seem a lot better than it actually is... I'd rather have a story be narrated in utter clarity and be enamored with it rather then be given a puzzle and have to piece together the plot only to have my bia…

Well, I question the reality of the idea of "utter clarity", or its usefulness to a narrative. Common to all story-driven narratives is that the writer purposefully hides information. The author knows everything, and knows how the story will end; the characters don't. This creates suspense. That doesn't make the book a "puzzle". Further, the choice of "dialect" has nothing to do with puzzles. Rather, it imbues the na…

My usage of the word utter clarity is more in contrast to Wolfe's style of narrative with hidden meanings and themes.

Basically any book that has to have the reader do extra work to solve a puzzle is using the catharsis of solving the puzzle as an illusory element that affects your bias towards the book.

If the author chooses to hide information then reveals it explicitly at a later time for the effect of suspense this to me is still a story presented with utmost clarity.

From your statements it seems as if Riddley is not exactly that type of "puzzle" book.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?

#356

Post by ska » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 8:08 PM UTC

sah2ed wrote: post #63

ska wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fwiw, I don't think the Kuhn qualifies as 'unknown'.

Granted. I must have mentally parsed the “unknown” used by OP as “not widely known” (to the HN crowd), and if you look at a lot of the contributions, many of the authors are not exactly “unknown” either.

Fair enough. Very specifically I think that book is pretty standard reading for anyone interested in epistemology of science - but that doesn't mean it is generally known.

I read the original as looking for books that are good in subject X, but not well known in that subject area.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?

#357

Post by tnorthcutt » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 8:09 PM UTC

derangedHorse wrote: post #338

idlewords wrote: post #30

"Light and Color in the Outdoors" by Marcel Minnaert. The book goes into the physics of a lot of outdoor phenomena; you will be amazed at the things you never noticed or thought about before reading it. "The History and Social Influence of the Potato" is a pretty good time. "Politics of Qat: The Role of a Drug in Ruling Yemen" may sound way too niche, but it's fascinating as a study of transportation in a drug econom…

Politics of Qat is almost impossible to find. Any suggestions on how to get a copy? On the Amazon website of my region it only shows one edition available for around $1000

https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Politics-Qat-Role-Dru...

Re: Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?

#358

Post by crimsonalucard » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 8:09 PM UTC

jeswin wrote: post #279

pergadad wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting that all of this is only a problem if China is indeed an/the enemy. In fact mutual dependence is one of the key elements of Europe's narrative since WW2 - "if we all exchange and trade we will not make war against each other." On the one hand not surprising that a War/Defense-Ministry funded documentary has this underlying premise of 'China is the enemy'. On the other hand we should really wonder: wh…

What happens if Taiwan is invaded? Would the US stay neutral, or at that point would China become an enemy? If the US stays neutral, then who is a friend? You can only be truly friends with people who share your principles and values. Not all of them, but most or many of them.

If China childishly invades Taiwan then the US would have to childishly declare war.

Isn't the whole point of the united states to be inclusive of all principles and values.

I think the whole rivalry from both sides is more because China is projected to surpass the US economically. The US wants to keep its dominance out of pride and China wants to dethrone it, also out of pride.

It's more of childish pride thing but at the same time both countries can potentially burn everything down if they act on the urge.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?

#359

Post by FrobeniusTwist » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 8:48 PM UTC

officemonkey wrote: post #57

Anthony Trollope's "The Warden." Trollope isn't as well known as Dickens or Austen. I think the emotional intelligence of this book makes up for the fact that nothing much happens. There's a vicar who is old friends with the Bishop. He's made Warden of an Almshouse for old men in the community. The amount of money he's going to get to do basically nothing is embarrassingly large. It's an extremely gentle book about c…

Amazed to see Trollope mentioned here.

I read Dr. Thorne probably twenty years ago, and liked it OK. I recently found, and have been completely blown away by, the Timothy West recordings of Trollope on Audible. They are hands down the most consistently enjoyable audiobooks I've ever come across (and I've been listening to audiobooks since the 90s). West's readings add so much to the experience. I really cannot recommend them strongly enough.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?

#360

Post by shadowprofile77 » Mon, Jan 20, 2020, 9:16 PM UTC

narag wrote: post #290

shadowprofile77 wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I happen to have almost all of his ufology books including "Passport to Magonia" and you're right that he covers those subjects, but he doesn't claim it's a collective psyche phenomenon. Instead he argues that it has elements of this but guided by an external control system, which is itself part of some, for lack of a better word coming to my mind right now, extradimensional intelligence (he never makes this specific…

I still think it's very interesting how he found the tales of UFO sightings stereotypical and tried to explain the patterns in an original fashion. I mean it's a nice way to look at things that makes me curious of the other book.

Take him with a grain of salt, since he's just a single researcher in a big field laden with quackery and crackpots but I thought his approach and reasoning were refreshingly clear headed. I recommend his other UFOlogy books very much at least for the sake of entertaining curiosity about something many people don't read about often.