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Ask HN: Post-hype, Sapiens worth reading? Where to get modern recommendations?
Sapiens is the most hyped text in my memory; I haven't read it. I tend to think I could've died any time in at least the last century with access to more worthwhile literature than I had time for, and so the bar gets higher every year.
Now the hype has passed, is 'must-read' still a sober review? In general, what's a good source for not this year's 'bestsellers', but perhaps last decade or so, contemporary works with signs of staying power I suppose?
- rerdavies 4y agoProbably better to ask one question per post. It's an awful book. Don't read it.
- wrycoder 4y agoHis 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is worse.
- surprisetalk 4y agoWhat didn't you like about it?
- throwawaysalome 4y agoI was all excited to learn about the 70,000 years before man learned to farm, and then he bait-and-switched to a woke-ist screed (DEI, ESG, etc.).
- rerdavies 4y agoTedious platitudes mixed with gross inaccuracies dusted a sprinkling of biblical woo.
- surprisetalk 4y agoI really enjoyed Sapiens, and learned a lot from it. It offers quite a few micro-frameworks for understanding the history of the human world. I particularly liked the explanation of the birth of religions. For me, it served as an excellent companion to Guns Germs and Steel. GGS and Sapiens are great starting points for learning about history and the humanities. --- Since you're on HackerNews and interested in non-fiction, I'd recommend reading anything by Steven Johnson or James Gleick. Walter Isaacson's The Innovators is also very good. As for other recommendations, you can never go wrong with works that have stood the test of time. [1] https://taylor.town/eschew-the-new https://taylor.town/eschew-the-new [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_top_book_lists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_top_book_lists [3] https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/127723.The_Greatest_Books_org_Top_100_books_of_all_time https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/127723.The_Greatest_Book... Feel free to email me if you want any other specific recommendations. [4] hello@taylor.town I've found that ChatGPT is also quite good with recommendations if you list authors/books that you like and ask it to list uncommon suggestions that aren't included in your original list.