8 ms·

Ask HN: What should I read next?

38 points by anavette 4y ago

Between books, need something to read. What's the best, most unexpectedly-excellent book you've read lately? Any genre goes. No text too niche or too odd.

01arjuna 4y ago
This book came out not too long ago and is really good. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt What does a misanthropic octopus have in common with Tova, a widowed aquarium employee? Not much, until a friendship develops following a daring tank rescue, and Marcellus McSquiddles happily uses all eight of his tentacles, his three hearts, plus his sharp brain, to solve the soul-scarring mystery of Tova’s son Erik’s disappearance thirty years ago. Utterly original, funny, wise, and heartwarming (be warned: there’ll be tears as well as giggles), Remarkably Bright Creatures will have readers falling hard for an acerbic invertebrate whose intervention in his new friend’s life sets her up for healing lessons in love, loss, and family. —Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Editor https://a.co/d/cKptjQl https://a.co/d/cKptjQl
vladsanchez 4y ago
Ask ChatGPT! LOL
wisie 4y ago
Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency by Andy Greenberg The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War by Craig Whitlock. Enjoyed both a lot over the Christmas break.
somebody123 4y ago
This one can make the trick, I guess: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thus_Spoke_Zarathustra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thus_Spoke_Zarathustra
- anavette 4y ago
  A classic
mtmail 4y ago
I'd check the "Best book in 2022" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33849267 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33849267 submission. There's actually 5-10 such submissions https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastYear&page=0&prefix=true&query=best%20book%202022&sort=byPopularity&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastYear&page=0&prefix=tru...
Kaibeezy 4y ago
Mastering the Art of Japanese Home Cooking, Masaharu Morimoto Homemade dashi, ftw. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31823606-mastering-the-art-of-japanese-home-cooking https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31823606-mastering-the-a...
mindcrime 4y ago
The Universe Speaks in Numbers: How Modern Math Reveals Nature's Deepest Secrets[1] [1]: https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Speaks-Numbers-Reveals-Natures/dp/0465056652 https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Speaks-Numbers-Reveals-Natur...
jboynyc 4y ago
When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut.
- acdanger 4y ago
  Great book.
cainxinth 4y ago
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. Recently got around to finally reading it. I know Snow Crash is considered his best sci-fi novel (and it’s amazing, too), but I think I liked this one even better. Snow Crash is funny and weird and action packed, but its light-hearted tone diffuses the tension. The Diamond Age, by contrast, had a lot of hair-raising moments and characters I was really invested in.
- jvanderbot 4y ago
  I know I'm on the outside here, but I think Snow Crash is dumb, campy and cartoony. Diamond Age and Anathem are far better.
  - herculity275 4y ago
    Its campiness and cartooniness are very much intentional - nobody names their main character Hiro Protagonist without some very deliberate stylistic choices.
- grantc 4y ago
  I like that Snow Crash doesn't take itself too seriously. Reamde was also a not too heavy Stephenson read.
- in9 4y ago
  just started reading Anathem. Not sure how I feel about it, nor if this was a good book to start reading Neal Stephenson. But time will tell :D
  - kipple 4y ago
    FWIW I picked up & put down Anathem a few different times before it "clicked" for me — the made up words made it hard to get into at first. But now it's one of my favorite Stephenson novels. A less-steep place to start with him might be: - Snowcrash - The Diamond Age - Seveneves
    - 4y ago
ilrwbwrkhv 4y ago
4000 weeks by Oliver Burkeman.
WillAdams 4y ago
_The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo_ by Tom Reiss, and Gabriel Stoian (Translator) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13330922-the-black-count https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13330922-the-black-count It was an interesting look at this period of history, and even more fascinating insight into the wellspring from which Dumas drew for his stories. It's esp. interesting when contrasted w/ the pastiche of _The Count of Monte Cristo_ by Steven Brust, _The Baron of Magister Valley_, which I also highly recommend if you're interested in literate fantasy.
fsociety 4y ago
If you are interested in cybersecurity, I thought these two books are fantastic: - Tracer in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency by Andy Greenberg https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60471288-tracers-in-the-dark https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60471288-tracers-in-the-... - This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race by Nicole Perlroth https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/49247043 https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/49247043
- anavette 4y ago
  This is an unfamiliar subject area for me. Thank you!
ahoya 4y ago
[dead]
dunefox 4y ago
If you like horror: The Great God Pan by Machen. If you like Scifi: Dune or Children of Time/...
sandreas 4y ago
Fantasy: Patrick Rothfuss - Kingkiller Chronicles Naomi Novik - Scholomance Michael J. Sullivan - Riyria Ilona Andrews - many books Caution: Be aware that the last book of the Kingkiller Chronicles "the doors of stone" is not out yet and may never happen[1], so although it is one of the greatest fantasy books of all time (in my opinion), it's kind of unsatisfying after part 2 :-) [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/wdoiq2/in_december_readers_donated_over_700000_to/ https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/wdoiq2/in_december_r...
- w0m 4y ago
  Re: Kingkiller Chronicles I'll second it probably the best Fantasy I've read. The sequal is still solid. <3 Pat but I wouldn't expect the series to be finished at this point.
  - johnthedebs 4y ago
    Adding my vote here too. I recently finished listening to the audiobooks for the fourth time. I don't read (listen to) a crazy amount of fiction, but probably much more than most people, and this series is far and away the best I have read. I'm not holding out hope for a third book, but what a nice surprise it would be.
    - sandreas 4y ago
      I did not believe that he'll finish the series since I got my hands on the first two books, because it already was 7 years after the first release. In my opinion his novel "The Slow Regard of Silent Things" is not worth the money and he had lost his flow. That would have been a pity, but kind of ok-ish - nobody is perfect. More recently I feel confirmed (and a little shocked), since I've read about his shady behaviour regarding his "charity" work, as well as plans of releasing and reading chapter 1 and then not delivering for more than 8 months. I can't believe there are still fans standing by him and still spending their money for his very shady purposes... I would not recommend to do so. And yet "The name of the wind" (part 1) and "The wise man's fear" (part 2) are still the best fantasy I've ever read so far.
skibidibipiti 4y ago
Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky is a really good political action adventure sci-fi novel with aliens and techno science magicy stuff.
serjester 4y ago
Personally I’m a sucker for a beat-the-odds survival story and 438 days is in a tier of it’s own. It takes a special kind of human to survive in the open ocean for over a year. With no exaggeration, everyone I’ve recommended it to finished it the same day they started it.
- hot_gril 4y ago
  The Forty Days of Musa Dagh (1933) is one of those. Supposedly was passed around Jewish ghettos during WW2.
billfruit 4y ago
The Count of Monte Cristo, it is over 1300+ pages in the English translation I read, and it is fun and interesting read, almost every single page of it.
- 0xJRS 4y ago
  I love TCMC, its my favorite story, but I enjoy reading the abridged version more. I find that every time I read the unabridged I end up feeling like it was slightly too long.
  - throwawaysalome 4y ago
    Your love be real. I can't imagine reading TCMC more than once, and you've read the abridged at least once, and the unabridged at least twice.
- daltont 4y ago
  Reading it now. I'm reading an abridged e-book. Read somewhere that the Penguin Classics unabridged translation is preferred however.
- anavette 4y ago
  This one is a fave, thanks for reminding me.
DylanSp 4y ago
Shattered Sword, by Anthony P. Tully and Jonathan Parshall. An in-depth analysis of the battle of Midway, primarily from the Japanese perspective, covering everything from the organizational culture of the IJN and its impact on Japanese doctrine and planning to the minute-by-minute events of the battle.
hot_gril 4y ago
1. The Aeneid 2. Romans
mindracer 4y ago
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke is excellent
warrenm 4y ago
Stealth of Nations Nudge Thinking Fast and Slow Without Remorse Cuckoo's Egg The Intellectual Lives of Children Why Johnny Still Can't Read or Write or Understand Math Technopoly Amusing Ourselves to Death Leviathan (Dolin)
- wry_discontent 4y ago
  Second Amusing Ourselves to Death. Fantastic book, especially when paired with Inventing Reality or Manufacturing Consent.
alexashka 4y ago
Thus Spoke Zarathustra. “Man is something that shall be overcome. Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman — a rope over an abyss. What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end.” “You say 'I' and you are proud of this word. But greater than this- although you will not believe in it - is your body and its great intelligence, which does not say 'I' but performs 'I'.”
- wry_discontent 4y ago
  I thought The Gay Science was much better than Zarathustra. I feel like I got a lot more insights out of it. If you go into Nietzsche with Zarathustra I think you'd be kinda confused about his whole schtick.
3minus1 4y ago
The Selfish Gene by Dawkins is a fascinating (to me mind-blowing) look at biology and evolution. There are some subtle popular misunderstandings about evolution that he thoroughly debunks. Thinking Fast and Slow by Kahneman is basically a summary of his life's research in behavioral economics and is super fascinating. There has been some scrutiny about some of the claims but still an amazing, enlightening book. Expecting Better by Osler is basically a summary of things to expect with pregnancy but she takes skeptical view to any and all conventional wisdom and summarizes the actual research behind various recommendations. Very educational and refreshing read for me.
vlod 4y ago
After numerous attempts at getting through Snow Crash (pretty good), finally finished it last night. Next is Blindsight by Peter Watt [0], which looks interesting. [0] https://smile.amazon.com/Blindsight-Peter-Watts/dp/1250237483 https://smile.amazon.com/Blindsight-Peter-Watts/dp/125023748...
- kipple 4y ago
  Hah! I came here to recommend Blindsight. "vampires in space" sounded silly, but it was unexpectedly intelligent and creative — some real mind-opening perspectives on consciousness. Meanwhile, I've read every Neal Stephenson & William Gibson book multiple times... anyone have suggestions for other authors to read, before I just loop again?
  - vlod 4y ago
    I found "Blindsight" via this [0] video. I'm planning to read "The Dispossessed" by Ursula K. LeGuin" after that (also from that video). Might be worth checking out for some ideas. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP0XnfC1jVM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP0XnfC1jVM
  - ZeroGravitas 4y ago
    I've never seen anyone else make the comparison but I always felt Umberto Eco books were in a similar niche to Neal Stephenson. With long asides into esoteric details and real history.
    - ZeroGravitas 4y ago
      While checking to see if anyone else had made this connection, I discovered that Neal used to feature a quote on his website of a reviewer describing him as "like Umberto Eco without the charm".
      - kipple 4y ago
        Lol, well I'm sold — will check out Eco
wry_discontent 4y ago
I read a lot, usually history but I've been getting back into fiction I really liked The Three Body Problem, I've over a thousand pages in the last month in this series. I also enjoyed The Poppy War and Dune. The best nonfiction I read recently was Blackshirts and Reds and A People's History of the Supreme Court. It's not quite HN material, but I also absolutely loved The Nix. It's a book I described to my friends as "nothing happens" by which I mean all character stuff.
wobbly_bush 4y ago
If you are open to fiction - I came across an entire genre called LitRPG which is combination of RPG-game style elements in the form of a book. It is mostly written by young gamers so the writing quality is pretty basic but various authors explore different gaming-related creative elements very well. Couple of books to start with in this genre are "Defiance of the fall" and "Dungeon Crawler Carl". The latter is even better as an audiobook vs regular book.
credit_guy 4y ago
Here's two books that will change the way you understand the non-Western world. 1. Coup d'Etat A Practical Handbook. I know, you never intend to organize a coup, why would you need a practical handbook? Well, coups or attempted coups are surprisingly frequent. Wikipedia has a list [1] of 60 attempted coups worldwide since 2010, a stunning 18 of which (30%) were successful. 2. The Dictator's Handbook. Yet another handbook. I think these titles, with their weird attempt of humor, are quite unfortunate. It's a shame. The content is great, but I wonder how many people don't buy the book because they feel insulted by the idea that they'd ever need a handbook to be a dictator. I know I felt that way. Well, don't take that title as an insult, just ignore it. The majority of the countries worldwide are led by dictators. It's quite important to understand how they think. This way it's easier to understand what's going on in the world. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_coups_and_coup_attempts_since_2010 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_coups_and_coup_attempt...
TylerLives 4y ago
The Ancient City - Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges If you're interested in what life in ancient Greece / Rome was like. The author does a very good job at not going into too much detail and boring the reader, while still telling you all the important events and changes that took place.
- anavette 4y ago
  Has been on my list! Will move it up. Thanks
- unraveller 4y ago
  Amazing book, it explains so much about the deep layers of our culture that it can make modern usage of terms seem hollow. For another epic collection of history tidbits for the following period check out From Dawn to Decadence - Jacques Barzun
steponlego 4y ago
KJV Bible.
- anavette 4y ago
  A correct answer.
simonblack 4y ago
Murder Mysteries. Agatha Christie's 'Hercule Poirot Series' books are always good. (Actually most of the Agatha Christie's crime series are good.) Bear in mind that most of those are set in the 1920s-1930s period.
varunsharma07 4y ago
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30659.Meditations https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30659.Meditations
roydivision 4y ago
Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo had a big impact on me when I read it recently. I wouldn't call it horror, but it's a disturbing and yet compelling read.
- fm2606 4y ago
  The scenes to Metallica's "One" is from the movie. Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Got_His_Gun_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Got_His_Gun_(film) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM8bTdBs-cw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM8bTdBs-cw
vector_rotcev 4y ago
There is No Antimemetics Division. You'll love it.
sprkwd 4y ago
Providence, Alan Moore

38 points by anavette 4y ago

Between books, need something to read. What's the best, most unexpectedly-excellent book you've read lately? Any genre goes. No text too niche or too odd.

01arjuna 4y ago

This book came out not too long ago and is really good. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt What does a misanthropic octopus have in common with Tova, a widowed aquarium employee? Not much, until a friendship develops following a daring tank rescue, and Marcellus McSquiddles happily uses all eight of his tentacles, his three hearts, plus his sharp brain, to solve the soul-scarring mystery of Tova’s son Erik’s disappearance thirty years ago. Utterly original, funny, wise, and heartwarming (be warned: there’ll be tears as well as giggles), Remarkably Bright Creatures will have readers falling hard for an acerbic invertebrate whose intervention in his new friend’s life sets her up for healing lessons in love, loss, and family. —Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Editor https://a.co/d/cKptjQl https://a.co/d/cKptjQl

vladsanchez 4y ago

Ask ChatGPT! LOL

wisie 4y ago

Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency by Andy Greenberg The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War by Craig Whitlock. Enjoyed both a lot over the Christmas break.

somebody123 4y ago

This one can make the trick, I guess: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thus_Spoke_Zarathustra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thus_Spoke_Zarathustra

anavette 4y ago
A classic

mtmail 4y ago

I'd check the "Best book in 2022" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33849267 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33849267 submission. There's actually 5-10 such submissions https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastYear&page=0&prefix=true&query=best%20book%202022&sort=byPopularity&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastYear&page=0&prefix=tru...

Kaibeezy 4y ago

Mastering the Art of Japanese Home Cooking, Masaharu Morimoto Homemade dashi, ftw. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31823606-mastering-the-art-of-japanese-home-cooking https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31823606-mastering-the-a...

mindcrime 4y ago

The Universe Speaks in Numbers: How Modern Math Reveals Nature's Deepest Secrets[1] [1]: https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Speaks-Numbers-Reveals-Natures/dp/0465056652 https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Speaks-Numbers-Reveals-Natur...

jboynyc 4y ago

When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut.

acdanger 4y ago
Great book.

cainxinth 4y ago

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. Recently got around to finally reading it. I know Snow Crash is considered his best sci-fi novel (and it’s amazing, too), but I think I liked this one even better. Snow Crash is funny and weird and action packed, but its light-hearted tone diffuses the tension. The Diamond Age, by contrast, had a lot of hair-raising moments and characters I was really invested in.

jvanderbot 4y ago
I know I'm on the outside here, but I think Snow Crash is dumb, campy and cartoony. Diamond Age and Anathem are far better.
- herculity275 4y ago
  Its campiness and cartooniness are very much intentional - nobody names their main character Hiro Protagonist without some very deliberate stylistic choices.
grantc 4y ago
I like that Snow Crash doesn't take itself too seriously. Reamde was also a not too heavy Stephenson read.
in9 4y ago
just started reading Anathem. Not sure how I feel about it, nor if this was a good book to start reading Neal Stephenson. But time will tell :D
- kipple 4y ago
  FWIW I picked up & put down Anathem a few different times before it "clicked" for me — the made up words made it hard to get into at first. But now it's one of my favorite Stephenson novels. A less-steep place to start with him might be: - Snowcrash - The Diamond Age - Seveneves
  - 4y ago

ilrwbwrkhv 4y ago

4000 weeks by Oliver Burkeman.

WillAdams 4y ago

_The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo_ by Tom Reiss, and Gabriel Stoian (Translator) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13330922-the-black-count https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13330922-the-black-count It was an interesting look at this period of history, and even more fascinating insight into the wellspring from which Dumas drew for his stories. It's esp. interesting when contrasted w/ the pastiche of _The Count of Monte Cristo_ by Steven Brust, _The Baron of Magister Valley_, which I also highly recommend if you're interested in literate fantasy.

fsociety 4y ago

If you are interested in cybersecurity, I thought these two books are fantastic: - Tracer in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency by Andy Greenberg https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60471288-tracers-in-the-dark https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60471288-tracers-in-the-... - This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race by Nicole Perlroth https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/49247043 https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/49247043

anavette 4y ago
This is an unfamiliar subject area for me. Thank you!

ahoya 4y ago

[dead]

dunefox 4y ago

If you like horror: The Great God Pan by Machen. If you like Scifi: Dune or Children of Time/...

sandreas 4y ago

Fantasy: Patrick Rothfuss - Kingkiller Chronicles Naomi Novik - Scholomance Michael J. Sullivan - Riyria Ilona Andrews - many books Caution: Be aware that the last book of the Kingkiller Chronicles "the doors of stone" is not out yet and may never happen[1], so although it is one of the greatest fantasy books of all time (in my opinion), it's kind of unsatisfying after part 2 :-) [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/wdoiq2/in_december_readers_donated_over_700000_to/ https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/wdoiq2/in_december_r...

w0m 4y ago
Re: Kingkiller Chronicles I'll second it probably the best Fantasy I've read. The sequal is still solid. <3 Pat but I wouldn't expect the series to be finished at this point.
- johnthedebs 4y ago
  Adding my vote here too. I recently finished listening to the audiobooks for the fourth time. I don't read (listen to) a crazy amount of fiction, but probably much more than most people, and this series is far and away the best I have read. I'm not holding out hope for a third book, but what a nice surprise it would be.
  - sandreas 4y ago
    I did not believe that he'll finish the series since I got my hands on the first two books, because it already was 7 years after the first release. In my opinion his novel "The Slow Regard of Silent Things" is not worth the money and he had lost his flow. That would have been a pity, but kind of ok-ish - nobody is perfect. More recently I feel confirmed (and a little shocked), since I've read about his shady behaviour regarding his "charity" work, as well as plans of releasing and reading chapter 1 and then not delivering for more than 8 months. I can't believe there are still fans standing by him and still spending their money for his very shady purposes... I would not recommend to do so. And yet "The name of the wind" (part 1) and "The wise man's fear" (part 2) are still the best fantasy I've ever read so far.

skibidibipiti 4y ago

Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky is a really good political action adventure sci-fi novel with aliens and techno science magicy stuff.

serjester 4y ago

Personally I’m a sucker for a beat-the-odds survival story and 438 days is in a tier of it’s own. It takes a special kind of human to survive in the open ocean for over a year. With no exaggeration, everyone I’ve recommended it to finished it the same day they started it.

hot_gril 4y ago
The Forty Days of Musa Dagh (1933) is one of those. Supposedly was passed around Jewish ghettos during WW2.

billfruit 4y ago

The Count of Monte Cristo, it is over 1300+ pages in the English translation I read, and it is fun and interesting read, almost every single page of it.

0xJRS 4y ago
I love TCMC, its my favorite story, but I enjoy reading the abridged version more. I find that every time I read the unabridged I end up feeling like it was slightly too long.
- throwawaysalome 4y ago
  Your love be real. I can't imagine reading TCMC more than once, and you've read the abridged at least once, and the unabridged at least twice.
daltont 4y ago
Reading it now. I'm reading an abridged e-book. Read somewhere that the Penguin Classics unabridged translation is preferred however.
anavette 4y ago
This one is a fave, thanks for reminding me.

DylanSp 4y ago

Shattered Sword, by Anthony P. Tully and Jonathan Parshall. An in-depth analysis of the battle of Midway, primarily from the Japanese perspective, covering everything from the organizational culture of the IJN and its impact on Japanese doctrine and planning to the minute-by-minute events of the battle.

hot_gril 4y ago

1. The Aeneid 2. Romans

mindracer 4y ago

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke is excellent

warrenm 4y ago

Stealth of Nations Nudge Thinking Fast and Slow Without Remorse Cuckoo's Egg The Intellectual Lives of Children Why Johnny Still Can't Read or Write or Understand Math Technopoly Amusing Ourselves to Death Leviathan (Dolin)

wry_discontent 4y ago
Second Amusing Ourselves to Death. Fantastic book, especially when paired with Inventing Reality or Manufacturing Consent.

alexashka 4y ago

Thus Spoke Zarathustra. “Man is something that shall be overcome. Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman — a rope over an abyss. What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end.” “You say 'I' and you are proud of this word. But greater than this- although you will not believe in it - is your body and its great intelligence, which does not say 'I' but performs 'I'.”

wry_discontent 4y ago
I thought The Gay Science was much better than Zarathustra. I feel like I got a lot more insights out of it. If you go into Nietzsche with Zarathustra I think you'd be kinda confused about his whole schtick.

3minus1 4y ago

The Selfish Gene by Dawkins is a fascinating (to me mind-blowing) look at biology and evolution. There are some subtle popular misunderstandings about evolution that he thoroughly debunks. Thinking Fast and Slow by Kahneman is basically a summary of his life's research in behavioral economics and is super fascinating. There has been some scrutiny about some of the claims but still an amazing, enlightening book. Expecting Better by Osler is basically a summary of things to expect with pregnancy but she takes skeptical view to any and all conventional wisdom and summarizes the actual research behind various recommendations. Very educational and refreshing read for me.

vlod 4y ago

After numerous attempts at getting through Snow Crash (pretty good), finally finished it last night. Next is Blindsight by Peter Watt [0], which looks interesting. [0] https://smile.amazon.com/Blindsight-Peter-Watts/dp/1250237483 https://smile.amazon.com/Blindsight-Peter-Watts/dp/125023748...

kipple 4y ago
Hah! I came here to recommend Blindsight. "vampires in space" sounded silly, but it was unexpectedly intelligent and creative — some real mind-opening perspectives on consciousness. Meanwhile, I've read every Neal Stephenson & William Gibson book multiple times... anyone have suggestions for other authors to read, before I just loop again?
- vlod 4y ago
  I found "Blindsight" via this [0] video. I'm planning to read "The Dispossessed" by Ursula K. LeGuin" after that (also from that video). Might be worth checking out for some ideas. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP0XnfC1jVM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP0XnfC1jVM
- ZeroGravitas 4y ago
  I've never seen anyone else make the comparison but I always felt Umberto Eco books were in a similar niche to Neal Stephenson. With long asides into esoteric details and real history.
  - ZeroGravitas 4y ago
    While checking to see if anyone else had made this connection, I discovered that Neal used to feature a quote on his website of a reviewer describing him as "like Umberto Eco without the charm".
    - kipple 4y ago
      Lol, well I'm sold — will check out Eco

wry_discontent 4y ago

I read a lot, usually history but I've been getting back into fiction I really liked The Three Body Problem, I've over a thousand pages in the last month in this series. I also enjoyed The Poppy War and Dune. The best nonfiction I read recently was Blackshirts and Reds and A People's History of the Supreme Court. It's not quite HN material, but I also absolutely loved The Nix. It's a book I described to my friends as "nothing happens" by which I mean all character stuff.

wobbly_bush 4y ago

If you are open to fiction - I came across an entire genre called LitRPG which is combination of RPG-game style elements in the form of a book. It is mostly written by young gamers so the writing quality is pretty basic but various authors explore different gaming-related creative elements very well. Couple of books to start with in this genre are "Defiance of the fall" and "Dungeon Crawler Carl". The latter is even better as an audiobook vs regular book.

credit_guy 4y ago

Here's two books that will change the way you understand the non-Western world. 1. Coup d'Etat A Practical Handbook. I know, you never intend to organize a coup, why would you need a practical handbook? Well, coups or attempted coups are surprisingly frequent. Wikipedia has a list [1] of 60 attempted coups worldwide since 2010, a stunning 18 of which (30%) were successful. 2. The Dictator's Handbook. Yet another handbook. I think these titles, with their weird attempt of humor, are quite unfortunate. It's a shame. The content is great, but I wonder how many people don't buy the book because they feel insulted by the idea that they'd ever need a handbook to be a dictator. I know I felt that way. Well, don't take that title as an insult, just ignore it. The majority of the countries worldwide are led by dictators. It's quite important to understand how they think. This way it's easier to understand what's going on in the world. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_coups_and_coup_attempts_since_2010 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_coups_and_coup_attempt...

TylerLives 4y ago

The Ancient City - Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges If you're interested in what life in ancient Greece / Rome was like. The author does a very good job at not going into too much detail and boring the reader, while still telling you all the important events and changes that took place.

anavette 4y ago
Has been on my list! Will move it up. Thanks
unraveller 4y ago
Amazing book, it explains so much about the deep layers of our culture that it can make modern usage of terms seem hollow. For another epic collection of history tidbits for the following period check out From Dawn to Decadence - Jacques Barzun

steponlego 4y ago

KJV Bible.

anavette 4y ago
A correct answer.

simonblack 4y ago

Murder Mysteries. Agatha Christie's 'Hercule Poirot Series' books are always good. (Actually most of the Agatha Christie's crime series are good.) Bear in mind that most of those are set in the 1920s-1930s period.

varunsharma07 4y ago

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30659.Meditations https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30659.Meditations

roydivision 4y ago

Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo had a big impact on me when I read it recently. I wouldn't call it horror, but it's a disturbing and yet compelling read.

fm2606 4y ago
The scenes to Metallica's "One" is from the movie. Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Got_His_Gun_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Got_His_Gun_(film) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM8bTdBs-cw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM8bTdBs-cw

vector_rotcev 4y ago

There is No Antimemetics Division. You'll love it.

sprkwd 4y ago

Providence, Alan Moore