6 ms·
Ask HN: I only read tech/business books – recommend me some fiction?
I read exclusively non-fiction (mainly technical and business books). I don't think it's doing my brain any good, particularly my creative thinking and my ability to switch off.
Can anyone recommend some good, contemporary fiction for people that have forgotten how to read fiction?
- mech422 6y agoI don't know about 'contemporary' but I always loved Heinlein (Stranger in a Strange Land is probably appropriate for the HN crowd) Also, really can't go wrong with Terry Pratchett. P.S. - I have the same problem, its been years since I read for 'fun'. Mostly all tech stuff now.
- ryanmercer 6y agoHeinlein is always great. Check out B. V. Larson's Swarm and Undying Mercenaries series, Dennis E. Taylor Bobiverse series, and Craig Alanson's Expeditionary Force. Also what I mentioned to OP, what I'm doing my annual re-listen of https://www.goodreads.com/series/51166-troy-rising https://www.goodreads.com/series/51166-troy-rising They're not Heinlein by any means but they're fairly good hard science fiction. The audiobook versions all have fantastic narrators too if one has a commute.
- kesor 6y agoRead Eliyahu Goldratt's books, these are novels that explain business ideas - but hardly can be called tech books.
- chrisrickard 6y agoI just finished read my first fiction novel in about 10 years: Dune. Although it’s not quite contemporary - I really enjoyed it so you might too. There is also a bunch of follow on books I may delve into one day... but right now I’m back to business books :)
- aidenn0 6y agoMaybe read the second one, but each novel is worse than the previous imo
- chrisrickard 6y agoGood to know, I just did some googling and the wider world seems to very much agree with your opinion!
- poormystic 6y agoTry Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age :)
- DanBC 6y agoI enjoyed The Collector Collector and The Thought Gang by Tibor Fischer. They're both short, and funny. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Collector-Tibor-Fischer/dp/0099268191 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Collector-Tibor-Fischer/dp/00992681... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thought-Gang-Tibor-Fischer/dp/0099516926 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thought-Gang-Tibor-Fischer/dp/00995... I enjoyed all the books written by Fred Vargas. Detective stories, but funny. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fred-Vargas/e/B001I9OXT6 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fred-Vargas/e/B001I9OXT6
- opendomain 6y agoany book by Steven Brust
- Engineering-MD 6y agoI really enjoyed ‘the name of the wind’ by Patrick Rothfuss. However it is a trilogy and the author has been unable to release the final one for a decade now- so only read it if you don’t mind waiting for closure!
- dkeyes 6y agoThe Overstory by Richard Powers is an incredible read. It's a story about trees and humans -- and how they are connected in untold ways. The writing is truly fantastic and you learn a massive amount about the magic of trees and forests along the way.
- kaybe 6y agoI liked The City & the City by China Miéville. It's basically a crime story based in two different cities, and I won't say more about that. :) edit: Apart from that, if you like visual storytelling, it's great to read graphic novels, comics or webtoons in a language you're still learning. I could recommend some if you're interested.
- ryanmercer 6y agoRight now I'm doing my annual re-listen to John Ringo's "maple syrup trilogy" (next I'll do my annual re-listen of The Martian, narrated by R. C. Bray not Huwill Huwheaton) https://www.goodreads.com/series/51166-troy-rising https://www.goodreads.com/series/51166-troy-rising It's a really fun series, basically an alien race appears in the system and installs a gate to open up trade with the system. It has some really neat ideas in it and some good challenges they work through from fuel to interstellar war, with the primary character being your run of the mill guy with tech industry experience working in a rural community fighting his way to being fantastically wealthy and arguably the primary defender of human space. Book 1: Live Free or Die: >First Contact Was Friendly >When aliens trundled a gate to other worlds into the solar system, the world reacted with awe, hope and fear. But the first aliens to come through, the Glatun, were peaceful traders and the world breathed a sigh of relief. >Who Controls the Orbitals, Controls the World They're a good read, but the narrator makes them quite a good listen. I've actually bought other author's entire series purely because Mark Boyett has narrated them. Mark Boyett, R.C. Bray, and Luke Daniels are some great narrators and all do a lot of narration in the hard science fiction space. They make the audio versions of books far superior to reading it yourself, at last in my opinion. Daemon and the sequel Freedom TM by Daniel Suarez are also a fun read. It uses near-future, or even at the time experimental tech, to weave a mostly believable near-future scenario. Daemon: >When the obituary of legendary computer game architect Matthew Sobol appears online, a previously dormant daemon activates, initiating a chain of events that begins to unravel our interconnected world. This daemon reads news headlines, recruits human followers, and orders assassinations. With Sobol’s secrets buried with him, and as new layers of his daemon are unleashed, it’s up to Detective Peter Sebeck to stop a self-replicating virtual killer before it achieves its ultimate purpose - one that goes far beyond anything Sebeck could have imagined....
- DoingIsLearning 6y agoNot really contemporary but the non-cerebral book that got me reading for reading sake without a specific purpose or objective was a second hand paperback 'The City and the Stars' by Arthur C. Clarke. I remember only reading for a few minutes a day on the train, but it pretty much felt like watching a TV mini series where each train ride was a short episode. I think that book in particular was the turning point for me, from only reading technical books and having no interests outside non-fiction, to realising I was just looking through fiction books that I didn't actually enjoy.
- cafard 6y agoA bit long, but The Index of Self-Destructive Acts by Dominic Beha has bits touching on tech and business. It is quickly (for its length) read. Another book set in the first decade of the century is Netherland by Joseph O'Neill (nothing in particular to do with tech or business), not long, and quite readable.
- TimSchumann 6y agoHouse of Suns - Alistair Reynolds
- mdn0420 6y agoThe Stormlight Archives
- isaacimagine 6y agoDune
- paulz_ 6y agoI'm currently finishing up The Culture series by Iain M. Banks. The first novel is called Consider Phlebas. It's my favorite sci-fi universe of any book, movie, or game. Feels a bit like Star Trek if the Federation were more advanced.
- Shugarl 6y agoVampire Diaries awoke my inner teenage girl self.
- twoquestions 6y agoI'll stand by most of the other recommendations here that I've read, here are some books I liked that I haven't seen here yet: We Are Legion (We Are Bob) is a pretty good and campy series. The Dresden Files series is also good, I tried to get into it but I hated the mumbly voice actor on Audible unfortunately. Iain Banks is good, especially Player of Games, Consider Phlebas and The Algebraist. Use of Weapons put a bad taste in my mouth. Good luck! EDIT: Forgot to mention Isaac Asimov, I've yet to see anything bad by him. Still trying to get through the Foundation series.
- AlecSchueler 6y agoContemporary fiction that would get the creative minds working I think would be Exchange Place by Ciaran Carson. It's a bit like a labyrinthine search for identity and self identity, and for knowing the other. Set in Belfast and in Paris, the former is which it is also interesting to learn a bit of the actually life feeling of.
- loriverkutya 6y agoIf you forgot how to read fiction, The long way to a small angry planet will put you back on track no time.
- kaladin_1 6y agoStormlight Archives (Way of Kings) by Brandon Sanderson.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- jressey 6y agoEveryone should read Moby Dick . If the traditional praise is not enough, it is about how hard it is to understand. Code, tech, government, whales, or anything large. I identified with Ahab, mostly because he vacillates between confidence of knowing and fear of unknowing. It is just like working on a large software project.
- dawg- 6y agoAmazing book and you totally nailed the reason why it's my all-time favorite. It's a monster story where the book itself is the monster. Instead of seeing the monster through the words of the characters, the reader holds it in their own hands. In our insane pursuit of reading and understanding this monstrous book we become a little bit like Ahab himself by the end. It gives you an impression of something huge lurking behind the pages, something bigger than your comprehension. The pursuit of God, or the Truth, or whatever big universal thing you believe in, is such a huge and terrifying endeavor that it will break a human being if we are too honest about it. Moby Dick is truly an awe-inspiring experience. Also, don't skip the whaling chapters. They are secretly the best parts of the book. Another book that gives off very similar vibes is Don DeLillo's Underworld.
- aidenn0 6y agoI cannot stand Melville. My idea of hell is a library full of only his books and stories.
- red_hare 6y agoIf you’d like to try some short fiction, ‘the paper menagerie and other stories’ is hands down my favorite collection of science fiction.
- harperlee 6y agoFictions by Jorge Luis Borges. Short stories that will help you pick it up easily. They are intrincate and dreamy/legendary, in a sense, and touch themes that some people here like (infinity, time, labirynths, myths, old literature, libraries, misteries...)
- wombatmobile 6y ago> Can anyone recommend some good, contemporary fiction for people that have forgotten how to read fiction? [This is not a criticism, rather an exploration...] Why do you include the constraint "contemporary" fiction? You said you want to stimulate your creative thinking, and "switch off". Might you be open to the possibility that fiction set in another place and time could help with your objectives? I'm asking because I've felt similar to what you describe, and I know of some good books that did for me what you ask, but they are mostly set in different centuries to this one, and written by people who are dead. I work in software engineering and marketing, which means most of what I do is conceptual rather than physical. I find that doing physical jobs, like carpentry gives me a satisfaction and a feeling of escape. After I've built something, I can sit back and just look at it... there's no better feeling than making something come into existence. Well, sometimes a good work of fiction can achieve a similar level of escape or transcendence, yes.
- dawg- 6y agoA Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oe. It's short, it's gripping, it's devastating. Oe won a nobel prize for it, so you can't go wrong there.
- WaltPurvis 6y agoQuibble: One is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for an entire body of work, not just a single novel; Oe wrote many other highly regarded novels in the thirty years between publishing A Personal Matter in 1964 and winning the Nobel Prize in 1994.
- Zanni 6y agoTed Chiang's Stories of Your Life and Others is the best, single-author collection of short stories I've ever read. If you like that, you might also enjoy The Lifecycle of Software Objects, an absolutely heartbreaking novella about simulated children, and his follow-up collection Exhalation. Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is fantastic, and it's follow-up, Speaker for the Dead is even better, and my favorite science fiction novel of all time. They won back to back Hugo and Nebula awards. Card is a polarizing figure for his outspoken political opinions, but if ever the art should be separated from the artist, it's Speaker, which is an incredible exploration of empathy and responsibility, in addition to being a gripping, action-packed, science-literate read. Many more in this series, if you get into it. John Scalzi's Old Man's War series is fantastic, if you're into military science-fiction, or even if you're not. Smart, funny, engaging and accessible, and reminiscent of Heinlein at his prime, minus the weird incest fetish. Redshirts, a Star Trek parody, rivals Galaxy Quest and only falls short because Galaxy Quest is so goddamn brilliant. Agent to the Stars is less appreciated, but in my opinion his finest novel, rising way above its goofy premise by taking it seriously, exploring the consequences and treating the characters with empathy and respect. Also hilarious. Seconding Dune, which is a classic for a reason, and Stranger in a Strange Land (though I think The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is a better place to start with Heinlein). Also Neal Stephenson, though I'd suggest Cryptonomicon over Diamond Age.
- giantg2 6y agoI don't read much fiction either. I did read more when I was younger. I enjoyed many of the Halo books (there are a couple duds in there too), which lead me to other books authored by Eric Nylund. I like his writing style, even though he has more fantasy elements to his stories than I would typically like but it somehow works. A Game of Universe and Mortal Coils are some that I have read. I also read some of the Splinter Cell books. They were ok from what I remember, but probably only good if you liked the games. Tom Clancy has some good books (the Splinter Cell game books are ghost written). I remember Rainbow Six was a good one. You could also try non-fiction adventure books. Since they are set in areas you are not familiar with, your brain still has to build the environment and imagery. Something like One Man's Wilderness. I enjoyed that book. I used to read and listen to books like Hatchet and this was along the same lines but non-fiction. I'd also say to be careful about these. For me, it makes me want to quit and live on a farm.
- tensility 6y agoFor whatever it's worth, I've quite enjoyed the Laundry Files series by Charles Stross, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Laundry_Files https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Laundry_Files>.
- chanmad29 6y agoI'd just go to Booker's Prize/Nobel Prize winning books and pick up something that interests you.
- anthonygd 6y agoI just finished The Three Body Problem. It's the best science fiction I've read in a very long time. It is a trilogy so it'll take some time, but completely worth it.
- thomas43 6y agoi recommend Roberto Bolaño and Gaito Gasdanow
- zebraflask 6y agoFor a fantasy classic, you could try John Crowley's Little, Big, which was reputedly the late lit critic Harold Bloom's favorite novel. Bloom notoriously hated most fantasy novels - the Harry Potter series in particular - so that's a noticeable endorsement. For an older fantasy series, you could also try Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy (starts with Titus Groan), which actually predates the Lord of the Rings and has a crowd that thinks it's better written. I think Neil Gaiman has worked on a TV series adaptation.
- nknealk 6y agoMinistry for the future. It imagines a future where global warming goes unmitigated. I don’t want to spoil anything beyond that. Fantastic glimpse into what our future may hold.
- aidenn0 6y agoRead the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett. They are always funny, but not always light. For the HN crowd "going postal" is probably a good first read. You can mostly read them in arbitrary order.
- blablabla123 6y agoSmall book shops (those you find at train stations or airports) can be quite nice to navigate. I'd pick something that looks interesting to you and it should have less than 130 pages. Since book shops might not be an option during Covid, I'd try an online book website. Actually most books that I buy are either from authors that I've already read a lot of times (=easy reads for me) or I read an article in a magazine and a book is referenced. Unfortunately I don't read much contemporary fiction in English, but I liked A Man's Place from Annie Ernaux, it's also just 96 pages
- skydhash 6y agoMy favorite current series is "The stormlight archive". The world building is very good.