Ask HN: Which book are you reading, since when? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Which book are you reading, since when?

28 pointsnothrowaways88 comments

On another post people commented reading 4- 12 books per year.

What book are you reading since when, and how far have you read it?

Code by Charles Petzold for a month or so after seeing it recommended here over and over. It's highly recommended for a reason! Petzold's explanations are phenomenal. Can't wait for the 2nd edition so I can reread it.

The second edition is available, at least on Safari

Old Man and the Sea. Was forced to read it in high school and promptly forgot it. Read it again and it's amazing. A short but big story about wants vs. needs with a surprising but inevitable ending.

Before that, The Great Gatsby. Same thing - forced to read earlier, then decided to read again. I missed so much about it the first time around.

It's kind of sad how education can tarnish classics in this way.

To re-iterate another commenter, Code by Prezold is surprisingly good (based on first few dozen pages). I had low expectations based on what seemed like hype, but so far it's holding up. It reminds me of the way that James Burke in his series Connections wove what seemed to be entirely disconnected technological threads together.

Just finished the Foundation, I just couldn't put down the kindle. I don't know how I missed this gem.

It is really social-science fiction if that makes sense - the premise is a mathematical model that can predict the future of an intergalactic civilization, with social and technological decline, dark ages and recovery.

The plots are various political intrigues the characters participate in to move civilization forward.

Side note, has anyone watched the TV show based on it? Trailer looks amazing but haven't had the time to dig into it.

I couldn't get into it. They changed some of the characters and beginning plot and I hate when hollywood does that.

I was also really excited about The Wheel of Time series that came out on Prime (especially since Sanderson was consulting on it), but it really disapointed for the same reasons. The Expanse was spot on though. I hope someone picks the show back up so they can finish out the series.

The early episodes of the Expanse were easily the best Sci-Fi TV I can remember watching. Was still good towards the end but definitely didn't keep me as glued to the screen as the first series.

Yeah. I read that they went over budget and had to rewrite the last couple episodes to finish our season 6. It was good but felt more rushed and incomplete.

I haven't yet read the books (they're in the queue, but I'm currently going through Peter Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga/Universe[0] first)... but the show was both really interesting and really awful, imo. It had a good premise initially, the bit about mathematical formulae that can guide humanity through existential struggle, and then it just kinda dropped the ball on that concept beyond a few scenes. The show apparently introduced a concept not really emphasized in the books, according to others I've talked to, in the form of "Empire" - a singular man, cloned multiple times, with a youth version (Dawn), an adult version (Day), and an elderly version (Dusk), some of which overlap beyond just the 3 generations. That was one of the more interesting bits of the TV series to me, since the rest was somewhat muddled and incoherently presented. Acting ranged from decent to awful. Too much mystery building for a show with no guarantee of a renewal. Worth a shot if you're bored and into SF though.

[0]: https://www.goodreads.com/series/108563-commonwealth-univers...

Yeah it's quite watchable. To the point I signed up to Apple TV just for that show (and promptly unsubscribed once I'd finished, been meaning to check when the next series is out).

> mathematical model that can predict the future

Read the Robots series and then Foundations Edge and sequels.

Oh The Foundation is such a beautiful read. Anytime I think about the longevity of our civilization, I think of it. I'm sure the creators of Horizonte Zero Dawn were inspired by it.

A few open books scattered through the house:

  Billion Dollar Spy, Hoffman (I’m kind of obsessed with Cold War espionage)

  SICP, JS edition (great read, I do a lot of JS work and I’ve learned a lot, despite time spent studying the language itself, and I’m still in the first chapter)

  Topoi, Goldblatt (tough read, but Category Theory calls to me)

  The Order of Time, Rovelli (his work is the clearest explication I’ve yet encountered of how QM might really be)

  Helgoland, Rovelli (ibid)

Treasure Island - since last week - just started

The Left hand of Darkness - since two weeks

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics - since three weeks nearly finished

Breakfast of Champions - since a month - can't find the damn thing to finish the last chapter

Space 2069 - since two months - half way

Snow Crash - since three weeks - first chapter

Leonardo Da Vinci - Walter Isaacson - two months - nearly finished

I've finished a bunch this year but you didn't ask about those...

Last weekend I read Upgrade by Blake Crouch from cover to cover. It was amazing and I can recommend it to anyone on here.

Same! It was excellent.

Did you read 350 pages in a weekend?

I did the same! (Well, I audiobooked it).

I thought it was really good too. Though personally I liked Dark Matter and Recursion more.

Just started an overdue reread of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, as of last weekend. About half done now.

I keep seeing this recommended. I plan on reading it at some point.

Worth the time?

Definitely. It'll get you thinking. Keep in mind there is more depth to the topics the book touches on.

It's a strong recommend from me too. I consider it a "must" read if you want to follow my roadmap (https://www.programmingbooks.dev)

Highly. I think I've read it a couple (or maybe three?) times in my life and I know the next time I do that I'll get something new out of it. It's a lifetime book.

I'm on book 4 of the Bobiverse series and am really enjoying it, easy reads started the series last week! Read Blake Crouch's latest Upgrade over a weekend and would reccomend as well.

Teaming with Microbes by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis. Since last week. Good read I recommend it even if you are not into gardening understanding life in the soi is important.

I read about 60-70 books per year, predominantly fiction. I'm currently halfway through _Jade War_ by Fonda Lee, and after that I'll read the third book in that series. Up next would be either Joe Abercrombie's _First Law_ series or maybe pick up the second book in Josiah Bancroft's _Babel_ series.

My TBR pile is about 140 books long at this point, so I don't think I'll run out of things to read. :)

>My TBR pile is about 140 books long at this point, so I don't think I'll run out of things to read. :)

Haha, my main list of books to read is 748 books long... :|

I highly recommend First Law, one of the better fantasy series I've ever read.

I've already read the first book, just need to finish the others! Thanks for the confirmation though!

The black Swan

Previous book was the innovators dilemma. Both are kind of cliche books, good reads though which pull me out of the IT technical stuff which one has to read nowadays to keep up.

Of course there's my eternal struggle to read an "eternal golden braid". But that has stalled due to a chapter being incredibly meta it just hurts the brain

Shout out to my boox note Ereader. That thing has been a godsend.

I'm almost finished with The Art of Agile Development(https://www.programmingbooks.dev/#the-art-of-agile-developme...). I started reading 3 weeks ago and it's a chunky books. It's a great book and covers a lot of good agile ideas and practices.

A lot of sci-fi. I keep a couple things in flight all the time, go where I feel moved. Currently: Stand on Zanzibar, (Brunner, 1968) 88% through, 2 months. Babel 17, (Delany, 1966), 66% through / 1 month. Also, Revenant Gun, (Han Lee, 2018) about 15% through / 2 months. Also, Catcher in the Rye (Salinger, 1946), 60% through, 3 months. Gnomon, (Harkaway, 2017) 40% through, 4 months.

Cheating here accounting other recent reads, but I've finished a couple others in the intervening time. Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (Chambers, 2014, reread), Dark Tower (book 7), (King, 2004). Pattern Recognition, (Gibson, 2004, reread). Revolution Business (Book 5 of Merchant Prince, Stross, 2009). Aurora (Stanley-Robinson, 2015).

I have some other stuff I read at a more leasiurely piece-by-piece pace, mostly materialistic philosophy / nerdery.

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0375703764

Since Jan 1st. Ashamed that I'm only 130 pages in (~660 total). Life just keeps getting in the way were I don't make the time to sit down and read. Been over-indexing on my career and reading technical stuff after hours. It usually takes me a month or two to get through a book. But half a year later and I've barely put in a dent.

It also doesn't help that the book is mind-bending and incredibly postmodern and effectively has a plot structure not unlike the movie Inception, with footnotes taking over the entire page for several pages before falling off completely. Not exactly a "quick read before bed."

Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis, for the second time, since a few days ago, about 90% of the way through.

I'm working through "The algorithmic beauty of seashells" by Hans Meinhardt and it's fantastic. It's been on my list for quite a while, but I only got around to it about 2 months ago. I'm through the first 90%, which means I got through the seashell pattern modeling. I'm reading the last part more slowly, both because it's not building up the model and because I'm building an interactive implementation of the models.

I'm also reading Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. Started less than a month ago, am at p256/867. It's not my 'priority book', but I've been enjoying it when my brain needed a break from the seashells.

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett.

I've heard about, and tried to get into the Discworld a few times, but it never really happened. I think I tried Guard! Guards! twice. Maybe I was in a different headspace, or maybe it was just not for me. But then I tried Small Gods, and it's the best thing I've read since (the nutrition label on the back of) sliced bread. No, really, it's lovely! I'll be done tomorrow according to my Kobos statistics, and then I just need to figure out what I'm gonna read next. Cannot wait to find out about all the things out there in the Discworld that I don't know about yet.

You've got alot of fun reading lined up.

Almost all of the ones I've read were great.

If you're stuck with which to go with next maybe try Mort or any of the early series involving the witches.

Book Yourself Solid Started sometime last year, haven't touched it in months.

Westward Ho been meaning to read it since I was about 10 years old and this spring I remembered I had a 100 year-old copy that's been sitting on a shelf for 20 years so I started it. Again, haven't picked it up in months. Thanks for reminding me.

"The Ugly Chickens" (novella from "1981 World's best SF" collection). My 12 year-old still likes it when I read to him at bed time, so we've been reading it for the last two nights. At least this one I know I'll finish soon, or I'll hear about it :-)

Who is the author of Ugly Chickens?

Howard Waldrop. We stopped about half way through because it's pretty boring for a 12 year-old. Switched to Avram Davidson's "The Golem" instead, which he liked much better.

I just started The Hobbit a couple days ago. For the last 3-4 months I've been checking out library books on the Kindle and reading as a bedtime ritual to help get me to sleep. It's been working pretty well, I rarely lay there unable to go to sleep.

I just finished Devolution by Max Brooks, it was good but not really in my wheelhouse. I didn't realize when I started reading it, but he also did World War Z, which I felt the same way about, and also recently finished reading

Before that I finished Artemis by Andy Weir, good but not great. Read because I had recently finished The Martian and absolutely loved it.

_Ask Your Developer_ by Jeff Lawson (CEO and co-founder of Twilio) since last weekend, 3/4 way through. Very good read even for just a developer like myself who has no aspiration of going into management.

_Midnight Riot_ by Ben Aaronovitch A fun read set in London about a new cop who sees ghosts and finds out he has ability to do magic . He becomes an apprentice to a master magician who also happens to be an inspector for the the police department. Started about 2 weeks ago maybe and just past half way. _Ask Your Developer_ took precedence for a while but now give each equal attention.

A few years back I was reading 'Rivers of London' by Ben Aaronovitch on the London Underground on my way to work when I realised he was talking about a body being found in the actual tunnel I was passing though at the time.

Back in the early '00s I read Stoker's Dracula and then just by chance ended up going to England for a work assignment. I visited Whitby and saw the steps at the church that Stoker described. Utterly amazing to be in a place described in a book written 100+ years prior.

Thanks to having little kids and going to the public library every 3 weeks, I read 4-12 books every 3 weeks. During these 3 weeks I also re-read books I previously read.

Seriously, if you're thinking about upgrading your book read count, I highly suggest having kindergartners.

Now if you want something I'm reading without the kids around: Witchblade Compendium 2. I read 21 out of 50 chapters. Been reading since early/mid June. Would not recommend so far, but I heard that after chapter 30 (issue 80 of the series) it gets good, we'll see.

I second this. We haven't gone to the library since COVID but before that I was reading a lot more. I think the last library book was either Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance or Getting Stoned with Savages

I liked "getting stoned" better :-)

Snow Crash, total 90s hacker all up in your metaverse's d-base type of book. Picked it up after learning it was a big influence to the early ID software guys (can definitely see how)

"The God is Not Willing", the first book in a new trilogy by the author of the Malazan Book of the Fallen. Set in the same universe.

A bit over halfway through, reading a chapter every few days.

The Populist Delusion by Neema Parvini started last week finished this week, an overview of political views of Mosca, Pareto, Michels, Schmitt, Jouvenel, Burnham, Francis, and Gottfried

The Elementary Particles by French author Michel Houellebecq finished last week had started about a month ago.

Might is Right by Ragnar Redbeard about halfway through

Napolean: A Life by Andrew Roberts started in the spring, about 1/2 way through had to take a break to read shorter books. Will get back to it, great book but very long.

This week, I'm reading Love is a Choice by Frank Minirth, Paul Meier, and Robert Hemfelt. Read about one third of it.

Last week, I started and finished The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel.

During the past two months, I read 1) Perfectionism: A Relational Approach to Conceptualization, Assessment, and Treatment by Gordon Flett, Paul L. Hewitt, and Samuel F. Mikail, 2) Bad Science by Ben Goldacre, and 3) Neurosis and Human Growth by Karen Horney.

and? recommendable?

Definitely. It depends on what you already know and what you'd like to learn, but each one of them added a great deal to my understading of the world and human psychology in particular.

“The End of the World is Just the Beginning” by Peter Zeihan. Probably needs to be read with a grain (or two or three) of salt, but it’s pretty thought-provoking.

How do you feel about the writing style? I was barely able to finish it. I can't say I agree with most of the speculative non-fiction he wrote in that book (which is also a rehash of the ideas in the previous book, Disunited Nations) but the writing style with all the clichés and the expressions trying to make it funny were absolutely horrible.

Just finished 'Subtle is the Lord - The Science and Life of Albert Einstein' by Abraham Pais. Easily the best biography of Einstein.

Currently reading: 'Inhibitor Phase' by Alastair Reynolds (60% read), 'Wayward' by Hannah Mathewson (50%), '10,000 Light Years from Home' by James Tiptree Jnr (50%), 'Rust for Rustaceans' by Jon Gjengset (20%), and 'Hands-on Rust' by Herbert Wolverson (10%).

I'm just finishing "Rationality: from AI to Zombies". Started ~25 days ago. It's quite long and frankly rather underwhelming given promising beginning. I don't recommend the title.

Also, I'm in 25% of Deep Learning by Goodfellow. I started it two months ago but had a long break.

When I was a teenager, I read yearly ~75 fiction books. Being an adult I read less, but I'm more careful with the lecture choice given the limited time.

"Nelson's Trafalgar: The Battle That Changed the World" by Roy A. Adkins.

I had recently went on the boat the "RRS Discovery" and on the same day "HMS Unicorn" both in Dundee and it got me amazed by the Age of Sail.

The people of those days were made of strong stuff!

I hope to go and see "HMS Victory" of Lord Nelson fame at the end of the year because of that book.

Always looking out for new reading material so love these threads.

I hadn't realised until recently that the fleet that Nelson destroyed at Trafalgar was on its way to the English Channel to help Napoleon's army to cross to England. In that way the battle of Trafalgar is directly comparable to the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 and the Battle of Britain in 1940.

The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek from early March and Immune by Phillipp Dettmer from February (mainly when on a holiday)

Essential Scalia: https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Scalia-Constitution-Courts-...

On the last few chapters about private property. Justice Scalia's jurisprudence and his views on what the role of SCOTUS ought to be is profoundly thought provoking.

I just finished recent Clark nominee Skyward Inn and it was such a disappointment that I've gone back to golden-age mysteries to read something I know I'll enjoy - The Eight of Spades by John Dickson Carr.

I'm in a bit of a lull unfortunately, it seems like every recommended book I've read recently is a dud. I read every day so my demand is high.

Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan. Started a few days ago and I am about half way through.

The Network State by Balaji Srinivasan for the past week and a half.

About half the way through it. Would recommend

reading through the vatta's war series (fun military sf) at roughly four days per book.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch Started about a month ago, just finished earlier today.

How Asia Works. Started reading it last week after a recommendation in HN

I came to the comments to see other people also having books on their night table for months. Am I really the only one here who takes longer than half a year to read a book? Guess I have to adjust my habits..

I go through phases where I will read on a near daily basis and then stop reading for months on end, or, start something and not finish it.

When I was a kid I always had a book. I really have no excuse not to read more but sometimes the internet just gets in my way.

Exactly!

just received & started on Spreadsheet Implementation Technology: Basics and Extensions by Peter Sestoft, upon recommendation by another HN user a few weeks ago. spreadsheets are wild y'all

2022:

The Ministry for the Future, Rise and Fall of Third Reich, Benjamin Franklin's biography by Walter Isaacson, Leonardo Da Vinci's biography, Crafting Interpreters, The Overstory

I couldn't finish Ministry for the Future; I found it just too depressing. And I like Kim Stanley Robinson but I just couldn't believe in the solutions he proposes for climate change. I think the problem is too big for us to solve and that humanity is almost certainly in for a few rough centuries while we adjust. A lot of people are going to suffer.

I'm not able to continue the book either. I got lost in the carbon coin proposal. And yes it's very depressing. What's depressing is human conduct. As long as politicians are manipulating the situation for their own benefits, it's impossible to come up with a solution.

I've been trying to read The Phoenix Project but it just fills me with rage.

I took a break to read At The Mountains Of Madness. That made me feel a little better by comparison.

> The Phoenix Project but it just fills me with rage.

Why?

The characters are just obviously incompetent and/or malicious. I know it's supposed to be a story about the power of DevOps transformation or whatever but like... you could also just not suck at your job maybe?

That's so interesting...when I read it I started having micro-panic-attacks because they were describing exact scenarios I've been in and exact people I've worked with. The single-threaded dev and the malicious ladder-climber stood out especially well/poorly.

> The characters are just obviously incompetent and/or malicious.

Maybe Sarah, but I think the book makes at least three good points: (1) It is challenging to get an organization to change and to stop viewing IT/Ops as a cost center; (2) It is critical that IT/Ops understands how the business works; (3) Getting the organization to the point that The Thee Ways of DevOps are implemented requires cooperation between Dev and Ops to create the feedback loops necessary for both improvement of daily work and continual experimentation. This necessitates buy-in from management to try new things.

The book is based on The Goal by Eli Goldrat, and while it may be a bit heavy-handed in the portrayal of some characters, IMO it gets at the point that transforming a company’s culture is hard while also illustrating some of the steps necessary to get there.

grugq recommended The Blacktongue Thief a few months ago, and it was fantastic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29670545

Since then, I've read several of the author's other books — and recently I've been re-listening to The First Law trilogy. (Steven Pacey is the best Audible narrator in the game.)

Moby Dick & Children of Time, both since May-ish. Slowly going through them, since my book club is temporarily on hiatus and I'm being lazy.

The follow up to Children of Time, Children of Ruin, is also fantastic and a third book is slated to come out this year!

_The Splendid and The Vile._ My sister recommended it, and it was great on audiobook. I found the stories about Beaverbrook especially interesting. I found the insight fascinating into what Churchill was thinking during the war, how much he leaned on his closest advisors, and how badly some of Hitler's advisors fucked up. I wound up reading (or listening) to it through the lens of how important relationships are in whatever kind of work that we do. Also, in 2021 I read _The Moral Animal: Why We Are the Way We Are_ and it was the best book I've read in years.

Just finished Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam and now a few pages into Zen Golf by Joseph Parent.

I've been on a non-duality kick lately.

Losing Ourselves: Learning to Live without a Self by Jay Garfield

Halfway through Tropic of Cancer, and halfway through The Bright Ages.

Currently actively reading:

The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War by Clark

The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History by Mikaberidze

An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp by Chassell

The Girl from the Channel Islands by Lecoat

Recently completed:

Leviathan Falls by Corey

Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947 by Clark

Showstopper! the Breakneck Race to Create Windows NT and the Next Generation at Microsoft by Zachary

Mercury Rising: John Glenn, John Kennedy, and the New Battleground of the Cold War by Shesol

Seeking Love in Modern Britain: Gender, Dating and the Rise of 'the Single' by Strimpel

The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age by Damrosch

Come Fly with Us: NASA's Payload Specialist Program by Croft

Aerial Warfare: The Battle for the Skies by Ledwidge

De Gaulle by Jackson

1913: The Year Before the Storm by Illies

Vichy France by Paxton

Year Zero by Reid

And the Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi-occupied Paris by Riding

The Kinsman Saga by Bova

The Triumph of William McKinley: Why the Election of 1896 Still Matters by Rove

La Place De La Concorde Suisse by McPhee

End of a Berlin Diary by Shirer

Seizing the Enigma: The Race to Break the German U-Boat Codes, 1933-1945 by Kahn

Hell and Good Company: The Spanish Civil War and the World it Made by Rhodes

The Forgotten Depression: 1921 : The Crash that Cured Itself by Grant

Bernard Baruch by Grant

Wool by Howey

Project Hail Mary by Weir

Reading Flash Boys by Michael Lewis since last night.

Powered thru Stalin: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928 by Stephen Kotkin. How the Bolsheviks ended up in power is just such a ridiculous, improbable tale.

Fantastic book. Super hard to read, given the current events here in the USA. Paraphrasing, Kotkin's thesis is that revolution only succeeds when the elite stop defending the current regime.

I've since been wondering what our elite will do, when push comes to shove.

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