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Comment by d0m | Hacker News Reader

SICP is by far the best book I have read in my life.

That is very sad. I feel bad for you. There are so many wonderful books in the world - the fact that a programming book is "by far" the best book you've read in the world is just tragic.

Try these ones:

- Narcissus & Goldmund by Hermann Hesse

- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marques

- Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Oliver Twist is certainly a great one. But my Dickens' favourite is David Copperfiled. I still read it from time to time and it is always a great journey.

My personal favorite is A Tale of Two Cities, but I haven't read enough Dickens yet to be sure what I have missed.

But while I heartily agree that reading classic literature is very worthwhile, I also think that reading a nonfiction book like SICP (Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs) can be a deep and rich experience, a reading experience that can change someone's life for the better.

I loved a Tale of Two Cities. Amazing writing. Just amazing. The scene where they're escaping from Paris is just incredible.

- Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell

- How the Steel Was Tempered by Nikolai Ostrovsky

I feel bad for you to feel bad for me. We each have different opinions and this book has a very special meaning to me. I never said I didn't like other books, but this one is my personal favorite, even if it's a technical book.

I agree but just a small correction : s/Marques/Márquez/ (pronunciation : 'markes) they are both common Spanish family names leading to a common confusion.

Great fiction is one thing. SICP is another.

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Completely offtopic, but...

i've never been able to finish it. The repetitiveness bored me out of my skull. It's on the stack of unfinished books with, among others, On the Road (by Kerouac) and Catch-22 (by Heller). I'd rather re-read Gormenghast (by Peake), The Plague (by Camus) or any book by Marukami.

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