Ask HN: What is the greatest book you've ever read? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What is the greatest book you've ever read?

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I am looking to buy some books for summer reading (Fiction and Non-fiction).

It's quite hard to pick the "greatest", but I recently re-read A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, and it's still as wonderful as the first time I read it.

Read it three years ago; entertaining, engaging, and quite deep in it's development of characters within a relatively static environment. Definitely a great.

I'm sure there'll be plenty of sci-fi, fantasy, and tech- or entrepreneurship-related non-fiction books mentioned, so I'm specifically trying to approach from a different direction.

The two I've seriously got to recommend are East of Eden and The Count of Monte Cristo. East of Eden is Steinbeck, of whom I'm usually not a fan, but it was phenomenal and definitely made me rethink my approach to life (it was high school, so this was easier to do, but it's still a nice feature in a book). The Count of Monte Cristo is also a classic, and I'm sure I won't be the only one to recommend it, but it's absolutely brilliant through and through. Make sure you pick up the Robin Buss translation, though (unless you're comfortable reading in French, of course).

I too love East of Eden, I'm curious though what change did it cause you to make?

Sci-Fi: The Dune series. All of them. There is no excuse to give up after the first one. Frank Herbert was a philosopher who worked in the medium of the sci-fi novel.

Fantasy: "The Worm Ourobourous". If Christoper Marlowe had invented the fantasy novel genre, this is what he would have written. The prose makes modern fantasy look like milquetoast.

Criticism: "The Art and Craft of Drawing" by Vernon Blake. The best attempt to capture the mental processes involved in drawing like the Masters. It was written in the 1920s when artists could still draw like the Masters and knew the tradition.

Programming: "Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming: Case Studies in Common Lisp". A gymnasium for the programming mind.

But STAY AWAY from any Dune follow-up novels written by Herbert's son, including the "final" one of the series. Just terrible, it breaks your heart.

Fiction: tie between Of Human Bondage by W.Somerset Maugham or The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky

Non-Fiction: Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond

Business: Rework by Jason Fried - one of the best in a long time

I checked out Rework on Amazon and saw some really mixed reviews, now im not sure about getting it. What do you like about it, and do you suggest anything else?

I briefly checked out the first 20 or 30 reviews on Amazon and was not surprised by the comments, but by the ratings. My take on the comments? True: if you are a long time follower of the signal vs. noise blog then you will have seen some of the material before. True: some of the advice is ambiguous, but necessarily so - this is not a "how to start a web company" step-by-step manual. It is an aid to seeing business from a total non-traditional platform. True: the book is short on pages and word-count - you can easily read it in an afternoon. Every other page is an illustration (no informational value) of some kind taking away from actual information space - I did feel I was mislead by this. True: They do use their own company as an example quite a lot which took away credibility. Their biz is the extreme example in a few ways but it is very interesting how they embrace obstacles that others run from i.e. having globally spread employees.

I got over my own negativities when I read the book for the second time three months later. The book is written in such a way that, to me, the message will adapt and be meaningful regardless of the current situation. Kind of like the bookd Who Moved My Cheese is still taught and changes meaning for each reader, each time they read it.

In my opinion it's definitely worth reading - take that for what you will.

Other suggestions? I've got plenty if you want 'em. I read a book or two a week. Here's two more of my fav business-type books.

Seeking Wisdom by Peter Bevelin & The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber - a classic

Here's a short cut to the best reading on business and entrepreneurship - take the following links and cross reference. If a book is on both lists it's usually very good.

http://sivers.org/book

http://personalmba.com/best-business-books/

King Lear (Shakespeare). Disgrace (Coetzee). The Brothers Karamazov (Dostoevsky). Тихий Дон (Sholohov's name is on the cover; there are several translations under various titles as Quiet Don or something like that).

Shantaram

http://www.amazon.com/Shantaram-Novel-Gregory-David-Roberts/...

Best overall: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and its less well-known sequel, Lila

Best fantasy in terms of most imaginative and full of wonder: The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. (I know, everyone saw the crappy movie; it simply does not do the book justice.)

Best Scifi: The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons

Didn't you find Endymion and The Rise of Endymion brutally painful?

Actually, I rather liked them... :)

Best novel about growing up is The Chosen by Chaim Potok.

http://www.amazon.com/Chosen-Chaim-Penguin-Modern-Classics/d...

I got a LOT out of that when I reread it at least thirty years after reading it the first time.

Best nonfiction book full of amazing facts and insights into the human condition I didn't know before I read the book is The Nature of Paleolithic Art by R. Dale Guthrie.

http://www.amazon.com/Nature-Paleolithic-Art-Dale-Guthrie/dp...

There are bunch of others I could remember, but these two in particular took me by surprise by being much better than I would have guessed they would be when I first picked them up.

Gödel, Escher, Bach - the best book ever hands down!

I have this book sitting next to me, but I never read past the first chapter. Could you tell my why I should read it over the dozens of other books on my reading list? It just looks so dense.

Yes, it is dense, and difficult in parts - but take your time. It took me a long time and several attempts too - but was well worth it. I still go back and read sections again to get a better understanding of some of the concepts. It is very unique and original synthesis of many diverse topics weaved together - logic, computer science, genetics, philosophy, intelligence and consciousness - around a central idea. The central idea is about self-reference and strange loops - as in logic with Godel's theorem, in music - as in Bach's fugues which curl and twist, and Escher - whose drawings such as two hands drawing each other - capture the surreal nature of these strange loops. If you are a programmer, or ever had an interest in Artificial Intelligence this book presents some compelling ideas on how intelligence or even consciousness may emerge out of these strange loops. Even if you are not a programmer, this book will change the way you think about thinking!

Here are some more favorites (they may not qualify as the best books ever, but great books with original and useful ideas):

- Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation by Steven Johnson

- The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home by Dan Ariely

- Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath, Dan Heath

+1! I'm approaching the final chapter, and it's been a great read!

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. I'd also strongly recommend Terry P's Going Postal and Making Money.

I have a long list of non-fiction books I've read and enjoyed. Most recently, I read Paul Graham's Hackers and Painters. Would definitely recommend it!

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Some translations are better than others, but I have found The Emperor's Handbook[1] to be the best so far.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/dp/0743233832/

Read something REALLY fun, enlightening and TRUE: Surely you're joking Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a curious character) and What do you care what other people think (Further adventures of a curious character)

ObAmazon: http://www.amazon.com/What-Care-Other-People-Think/dp/039332...

ObAmazon: http://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Char...

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

If you're on HN, you already know what this is. Probably.

I'd seen it but never read it. After reading your comment I downloaded it and enjoyed it. Thanks!

without visible comment scores, this thread is not as useful as it could have been.

For computer security fact-wrapped-up-as-fiction, the "Stealing the network' books are very entertaining, realistic depictions of 'the perfect hack'.

For scifi, I enjoy collections of short stories such as the "new writings in SF" anthologies. But they're hard to get hold of, so any "best SF" collection of short stories will serve you well.

For postmodern fiction, Haruki Murakami's Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is a great read.

Roots by Alex Haley. My copy is read, re-read, worn, and well loved.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Haley#Roots

For fiction, I'd vote for the First and Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson.

He's often mocked for deploying the less-visited corners of the OED, but some people love that sort of joy in language. The antihero has never been done better, and the inversion of the whole 'wake up in a fantasy land' trope is brilliant and explored to its logical conclusions.

Give it to Book 2 of the First Chronicles ('The Illearth War') before you decide whether you like them.

I was "forced" to read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in school, and it's still my favorite, forced or not. One of the best parts about that school.

-All my friends are superheros -The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time -Outliers ... and other Malcolm Gladwel books -The Professor and the Madman

many more.

The Manual (How to Have a Number One the Easy Way)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Manual

Happiness, by Riccard Mathieu[0]. He gave an introductory talk at google too[1].

[0]http://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Guide-Developing-Lifes-Impor...

[1]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1424079446171087119...

History of the World - J. M. Roberts

http://www.amazon.com/History-World-J-M-Roberts/dp/019521043...

This was my lunch time reading for many months whilst doing contract web development. I was working with the most offensive tech lead I've ever met, but he was also incredibly effective.

It kept me sane (I think).

Infinite Jest. It's hard to say anything about it that hasn't already been said a million times, so I'll abbreviate the standard one: If you trust the author for the first 100 pages and refuse to pass judgment, you will be rewarded with some of the most beautiful, human characters ever put to paper. (That being said, it's not easy reading.)

There's plenty of nerds here so I'm sure I won't be the last to nominate Lord of the Rings and Dune.

Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

http://www.amazon.com/Hard-Boiled-Wonderland-End-World-Inter...

this book is the yin to neuromancers yang. instead of predicting the net it predicts how networks change our thoughts. i can't recommend this enough.

Adventures of a Bystander by Peter Drucker.

Jane Jacobs's three city books: The Death and Life of Great American Cities, The Economy of Cities, and Cities and the Wealth of Nations.

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand

Mastering Regular Expressions by Jeffrey Friedl, the first edition (a.k.a. "The Perl Edition", http://regex.info/ for more information about the book and its editions)

It's my standard litmus test judging a programmer; if you haven't read or don't care to read a book on regular expressions, then I probably don't want to write code with you. It's also useful to remind people who think they're nerds because they own a smartphone and can download "apps" that they're in a league far below.

Good grief.

I worked for a time in a Java (and some other stuff) shop, and I witnessed people spending hours and iterations on code that could easily have been substituted with some not too sophisticated pattern matching. Some of the "senior developers" seemed to find the topic totally novel.

I think things have changed somewhat in the last 5 - 7 years, but I can appreciate the parent's point.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

also a great audiobook for a ~5 hr drive

Musashi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musashi_%28novel%29

In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust

I'm curious if anyone here is going to offer The Bible as the greatest book he has ever read.

I do.

The Bible has changed more lives than any other book, movie, or song you can name.

Goethe's Faust. It's more densely packed with brilliance than anything else I've ever read.

I second. For sure you also did read the original German version? :)

God Emperor of Dune from the Dune series. Work up to it. It's incredibly rewarding.

Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson.

These two books will be pure candy for anyone who reads this site:

Daemon Freedom T.M.

Daniel Suarez

Don Quixote by Cervantes, or Shogun by Clavell.

The Dispossessed, by Ursula Le Guin

Heidegger What is called Thinking.

Suttree by Cormac McCarthy.

Dune

Kane and Abel

Enchantment, by Orson Scott Card

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