Ask HN: What Books Do You Recommend Reading for 2022?
Just looking for suggestions from all topics, not just programing. A better question might be what books are you reading this year, I guess you can respond to either.
It's a fantasy story about a young mage attending an academy to study magic when he finds himself stuck inside a time loop that lasts a month before resetting. The worldbuilding is very well realized, it has a fascinating magic system that rewards ingenuity, and most importantly, has one of the most satisfying endings I've ever read in any medium.
It takes a few chapters to pick up, but there were times where I laughed, cried, and even moments where I thought deeply about the philosophical implications of the narrative.
Overall, it solidified itself as one of my favorite books of all time, and I would recommend it to nearly any fan of fantasy. I can't possibly do it justice, but it's the #1 rated story on Royal Road and the most favorited story on Fiction Press. (at least in it's genre)
[0] https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/59661342-mother-of-le... [1] https://www.fictionpress.com/s/2961893/1/Mother-of-Learning
I've been wondering occasionally on how people discover web novels, Do you know of any successful blog type web novel authors? i.e. Those who write web series on their own blog, I guess one has to be already well established to create web series on their own blog.
A few web serials that are very good and self-hosted via blog that I can think of off the top of my head are:
The Wandering Inn by Pirateaba [0]
This is a story about a college student who randomly gets teleported into a fantasy world one day when going to the restroom. She stumbles upon an inn and takes over as the innkeeper. It's a fun story with great worldbuilding that spans multiple continents. Starts off pretty slow and is hit or miss for a lot of people, but I personally think it's a fantastic series that just takes a while to hit it's stride.
Worm by Wildbow [1]
This story is a rather grimdark take on a realistic world that has superheroes and villans. It follows a high school girl named Taylor who gains the power to control bugs and her attempts to become a hero. Well regarded in rational-adjacent circles because all of the characters make decisions that are both intelligent and in honest pursuit of their goals. Some of the most inventive use of powers I've seen in superpowered fiction and despite the bleak nature of the world, there is a lot of exploration of the human condition. The author has also released a sequel to this named Ward, and has two other on-going stories named Pact and Twig. All are beloved by fans.
Finally, there's A Practical Guide to Evil by ErraticErrata [2]
This is a story that is actually a deconstruction of many fantasy tropes which I really appreciate about it. It follows a young woman who meets a Name—someone who represents the platonic ideal of whatever their name actually is—who is one of the most feared villans of all time. The protagonist, Catherine, realizes the futility of fixing society through good works, and instead chooses to become the Named villan's apprentice. Her goal throughout is to fix society and make it more equitable—just through becoming a powerful Name in her own right.
Hopefully this gives some ideas for other self-hosted blogs for web serials. My list is far from comprehensive—there's a huge world of web serials out there to explore. I just listed some that I've personally enjoyed greatly. Also, as far as I know, none of those authors were known before starting their blogs, but are now some of the most popular web serial authors.
A great community that I've enjoyed for finding similar works is on Reddit at /r/Rational. There are a lot of great discussions about up-and-coming works that fit within the genre. (rational fiction—I promise it's not as cringe as it sounds lol)
[0] https://wanderinginn.com/ [1] https://parahumans.wordpress.com/ [2] https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/
It's going to take a while for me to explore all these, Thanks a lot for the recommendations; Especially for telling how you found it.
If you are into fantasy crime fiction (think Godfather with some fantasy elements), do check out The Green Bone Saga [1] by Fonda Lee.
[0] https://www.goodreads.com/series/189931-remembrance-of-earth... [1] https://www.goodreads.com/series/216281-the-green-bone-saga
You've probably read some variation on this idea: our simple hunter-gatherer ancestors lived an egalitarian life, until we discovered agriculture and started down the path of hierarchy, domination and all the inevitable ills of civilization. This book does an expert job of picking that argument to pieces and presents a tome of empirical evidence to the contrary - the story of our ancestors was far more complex and interesting.
It's a fascinating subject, of great and current import, treated in an astonishingly informed and clear manner. It's hard to describe the refreshing feeling of being exposed to such a mind. It's like reading a book written by Spock.
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Bill Mollison, "Permaculture Designer's Manual"
Pretty much the best book on design (of all kinds, not just farms) that I've ever run across. It's also a manual for creating ecologically harmonious, profitable farms that improve the environment and biodiversity and all that good stuff.
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Christopher Alexander, "A Pattern Language" et. al.
I found this on HN yesterday, a curated list of scattered esoteric topics:
I have had better luck looking up reading lists of people from the past like of Gandhi, Tolstoy, Anthony Burgess etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Books_of_the_Western_Wor...
It sounds like something you would like to try.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ministry_for_the_Future
Found the writing style mediocre at best.
I like to roughly alternate between fiction and non-fiction. It keeps things refreshing. I also find reading fiction after reading non-fiction makes it easier to glean the ideas the fiction book is trying to convey as you're still in the information processing mindset of reading a non-fiction book. This adds an extra layer of appreciation beyond enjoying the story.
In terms of choosing a book to read - just think of things you've always been interested in and then ask for recommendations for books (fiction or non-fiction) that discuss the topic, or use that topic as a major plot point. A good general rule of thumb I've found is not to bother with books with less than a rating of 4 on Goodreads unless it's a subject you really think is going to interest you, or an author you know you like already.
Due for release in 02022-03-22. (See what I did there?)
It ought to be an interesting read.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/554161/whole-earth-...
https://www.amazon.com/Projections-Story-Emotions-Karl-Deiss...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optogenetics
After David Graeber's Debt: The 5000 Years reprogrammed my brain, I've been binging on anarchistic-libertarian and adjacent ideas. Such as The Dawn of Everything by Graeber and Wengrow, everything by Jill Lepore such as If Then and These Truths. Next up is Mine! by Heller and Salzman.
I'm slowly chewing thru the podcast The History of Philosophy without Any Gaps. Penance for ignoring this stuff in my youth.
Highest recommendation for the podcasts Know Your Enemy, Volts (David Roberts), 5-4 (fivefourpod.com), You're Wrong About, Capitalisn't, Corecursive. Really, there are so many worthy podcasts. These are most notable to me for how much they've influenced and changed my thinking.
* A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
* A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
* Hyperion by Dan Simmons
* The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons
* Endymion by Dan Simmons
* The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons
* Exhalation by Ted Chiang
- Any book by Nassim Taleb (I'd recommend starting with Antifragile).
- The Count of Monte Cristo (Most fun novel I have ever read).
- Moby Dick or The Whale (One of the top two novels I've ever read).
- Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness in the West (Tied with Moby Dick for best novel I've ever read).
- The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Epic reading... worth the commitment).
BTW I loved Moby Dick. Read one summer when I was 15 on the Gold Coast. Body boarding every morning and reading Moby Dick every afternoon. So much salt water, great days.
On the other hand, H.P. Lovecraft is always a good read.
In that vein, there's now also
https://ken-follett.com/books/never/
(though it's US vs China, not Russia).
Also: The Goal.
If you're intellectually capable, they're life changing.
If you're more for leasure, consider reading the longest running science fiction series in history: Perry Rhodan.
It's been running for ... 60? ... years now. A new 60 page booklet every week.
There's the silver books, as well, instead of having to buy them all separately.
Curious! Why do you consider it surprising? I consider it as well-rounded, actually.
It is a book-long conversation on storytelling with some of the best storytellers alive, in comic book format.
Can’t recommend it enough.
Completely changed how I look at political and financial pundits.
I recommend both. They are super fun and irreverent but with character depth and interesting sci-fi / future elements.
I do like the concepts in pop psychology but dislike writing that is 80% filler.
• Gerhard Buchwald - Vaccination - A Business Based on Fear (1994)