Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?
I got asked recently, and I think it's an excellent question.
What's the "best" book you've ever read? By "best", in means whatever you mean.
What's the "best" book you've ever read? By "best", in means whatever you mean.
He goes into so much detail about training to become an astronaut, his first spaceflight, training and planning for the Apollo missions, and talks about so many of the details and complexities of spaceflight that I had no idea about before.
For example, in the early space walks, they didn't consider how difficult it is to use simple tools in microgravity and without a surface to sit/stand on. The astronaut got completely exhausted just keeping himself still while turning a wrench, because when you turn the wrench, it pushes you and starts moving and spinning you, and when you try to correct it, you'll most likely overcorrect and then have to correct that, and then correct that overcorrection, etc.
And the level of planning and training for the off-nominal scenarios is crazy. They picked the top 30ish most likely failure scenarios and practiced the responses to them in simulators until they're muscle memory, and have detailed checklists for hundreds of other ones (which they also practice, just not as much). For example, when Neil and Buzz land on the moon, they'd be awake for about 10 hours, so they had to decide whether the plan was for them to open the hatch and walk on the moon right after landing, or get a night of sleep and do it "next morning". The problem with doing it immediately was that, if something went wrong, they'd have to abort and get back to the command module, but then they'd end up being awake for 20 hours while handling an emergency. On the other hand, they realized that they wouldn't be able to get sleep right after landing on the moon anyways.
His writing style is awesome: it's easy to read, explains technical details in a really easy to understand way, and quite funny.
Sounds like trying to take lug nuts off a tire you've jacked off the ground. but in space the whole car is off the ground...
FWIW, my other favorite is 'Apollo: Race to the Moon', Murray and Cox, which focuses on the engineering and management effort, and the politics, behind Apollo. Their discussion of the development of the F-1 engine in the Saturn V's first stage is amazing, among dozens of technical and managerial excellencies.
I prefer junky fantasy books. I'm really too old and cynical to give a damn what y'all think of me.
I probably liked David Edding's Belgariad series, along with the Mallorean series, the most. I reread them, regularly, and go through all ten books, in a couple of weeks. They are an easy read.
Also, Glen Cook's Black Company books are awesome. It's a toss-up, between them. Eleven books, in that series. His Garret PI series are fun, but really kind of "filler."
I see a wide variety of answers ITT. Some are very "literary" fiction e.g. Ulysses, others are lighter fare like Harry Potter, there's also a wide variety of non-fiction works from self-help to electronics manuals to philosophy. Have you considered that other people might actually have different tastes than you, and aren't trying to "prove" anything?
https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2020/05/it-has-been-reveale...
Good point. I have to admit, I have some disdain for academic literary criticism, and I care very little about reading/liking the books one is "supposed" to like. Now of course I do in fact like some of those books, just by happenstance. But I don't define myself by seeking out the "blessed" books and reading and endorsing them.
And I like a lot of "low brow" / pulp-fiction stuff. Lots of horror (Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Clive Barker, etc), plenty of action/adventure novels by Lee Child, David Baldacci, Robert Ludlum, etc., and all sorts of sci-fi by authors of no particular note. And I don't mind admitting it. :-)
And then, as I got older, I started to realize that most of the "good guys", other than Garion, were deeply-flawed awful people who would not be nearly as funny or heroic in real life as they were made out to be in the book. (Picture Polgara smashing everything in sight as she has a tantrum. Belgarath's no better.) And then I couldn't read them anymore, which is a pity.
It's not that I "outgrew" the genre by the way. I read as much fantasy as ever. But not this.
The thing is, those books got a kid into reading. Now I've read thousands of books, but all my later pretentions to literacy started from that one experience which everyone else in the world would judge as junky.
I don't claim they're the best by most metrics. But as a catalyst for reading, they're right up there.
I'll have to add my other fantasy favourites : The Kingkiller Chronicles (though be prepared to be left hanging) and the Stormlight Archives are truly excellent.
I tend to not like stories where the crux of the plot is a god/wizard did it but that is more personal preference. I'm a big fan of character development and growth through struggle. Superman/Thrice Blessed Man stories don't really appeal.
Personally I thought the Blue-rose Saga/Sparhawk series was much better, and had characters you weren't sure you liked at first (gritty han-shot first types).
Ever read Echoes of the Great Song (bit of a one-hit wonder from the author)?
Kindle books like that are what fill in the gaps in my free time. One recent fantasy series I liked was The Good Guys/The Bad Guys by Eric Ugland. Somehow kept me turning pages.
some others (not fantasy) Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey; Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin;
But sometimes there is a lot of dreck to wade through.
Been thinking of making a "stop reading and discard book" list like:
- main character has unknown/dead parents, is secretly "the chosen one"
- no plot, character goes there, minimal opposition, gets all the stuff.
- anything harem
The Black Company is great, especially the first book.
Currently reading a huge series with easily digestible books by Ryk Brown The Frontiers Saga.
Also anyone remember the old Sten books? There’s a modern rip off that’s very good, amusing and has cartoon violence it’s called the Undying Mercenary series by BV Larson.
And finally, Taken to the Stars and Backyard Starship get honorable mentions but really there is pretty much infinite versions of this shiz.
These threads often end up, with everyone trying to prove they are literary scholars.
Anyway, if this is where to share our trashy fantasy guilty pleasures, I recently discovered and devoured the Cradle series by Will Wight. Fun if you're at all into "progression fantasy" (also known as LitRPG) where the characters go through a very clearly-delineated "leveling up" process.
Also the only books I've ever run across with outtakes at the end, which I thought was fun.
It is an incredible argument that will just utterly transform how you understand a walk down the street.
If you’ve been seeing references to the Land Value Tax (LVT) here on HN, this is the book that originated the concept. Like most conceptual breakthroughs, it didn’t emerge solely from George with no related ideas in the vicinity, but this is definitely “the book” behind it.
It is a profound synthesis of classical philosophy and personal reflection on the human condition. Boethius, writing in prison while awaiting execution, blends Stoic, Neoplatonic, and Christian ideas to address timeless questions of fate, fortune, happiness, and virtue. It transcends religious dogma and focuses on rational inquiry into how one can find inner peace and intellectual clarity amidst an almost total inversion of fortune.
Unlike Marcus Aurelius, writing at the peak of his power, Boethius wrote his at the bottom, and did so with more skin in the game. Marcus gave us Commodus and the Decline, Boethius gave us Aristotle and the Rebirth.
Fiction: Neuromancer
Non-fiction: The Selfish Gene
I read it when I was young, it really shaped my sense of humor and got me thinking about some of life and the universe's big questions.
Not because I remember anything about it, or believe anything it espouses, or even like it all that much, but because it's a useful filter for obnoxious people in meatspace.
If someone I don't know too well asks me what my favorite book is, I say Atlas Shrugged. If they react inappropriately, I'll be cordial and treat them with respect, but I don't want to be friends. If they're way too supportive - the same rule applies.
If they're critical in a way I can appreciate, then I know they can either tolerate ideas they hate or have the social accumen to not go too hard in the paint early on in a relationahip. Really, I'm just looking for people who won't jump down my throat on a faux pas.
Later on in the relationship I'll tell them my actual favorite book, "A Canticle for Leibowitz", or "Neuromancer", or "The Dying Earth" (my opinion changes based on my mood).
“Learn what is to be taken seriously and laugh at everything else.”
- The Lord of the Rings. It is the secret gateway for us nerds to get into literature and poetry (do not skip the poems!). Read all the reference materials like The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, J.R.R.'s letters, the books his son Christopher edited and published, etc. If the poems seem weird or don't make sense, research why they are worded and structured the way they are.
- The Master and Margarita. Obscure and very unique. Make sure to get a good translation (if you don't know Russian) that has some annotations to explain the "inside" jokes/references
- The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics.
This has been covered by CGP Grey and now has a Netflix adaptation, so I figure it lies well within the HN Zeitgeist already. There's a lot to debate in this book, but I fundamentally didn't understand political power before reading it.
- Why Does He Do That?: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men.
I have a more complicated relationship with this one, in fact I never finished it. It's about men (mainly) who are abusive in relationships, and how they are able to manipulate their partners. It hits close to home because I've seen a lot of that growing up, and I've seen a lot of women close to me end up in abuse in a predictable but devastating cycle.
The primary controversial idea is that domestic abuse can be from man→woman, man→man, woman→woman, but the author pretty much discredits woman→man abuse. I don't think I can reconcile that with my own experience. But, where it changed my thinking was a chapter about "it's not emotions, it's values". I'd grown up knowing the importance of emotions and being open and communicative, but I was never able to put to words the disconnect I was feeling. Emotions are secondary, it's what one values that determines their emotions and actions, whether it be in an abusive relationship, or in any other place or time in the world.
It really shifted how I think about the world, and let me sever connections to people I was kept in my life because they'd had a bad childhood or whatever. I realized that they would never get over their turmoil, because they valued using it to hurt others.
I'll give a few that haven't appeared yet: Fiction: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (Eliezer Yudkowsky) Non-fiction: Rationality - from AI to Zombies (Eliezer Yudkowsky)
Probably no books have impacted me quite as much as these two, barring early-childhood books that have impacted me from a young age.
Fiction: Worm (by Parahumans)
Best "superhero" fiction ever created. Just one of my favorite books in general.
Fiction: The Mistborn Trilogy - Brandon Sanderson. Best fantasy books ever, IMO.
I can go on for a long time, but I felt like these haven't been mentioned and absolutely deserve a place on this thread.
It's a science fiction series about aliens, space travel and the universe and they're easily the best books I've read in a while.
I genuinely can't remember the last time I got that absorbed in a series. I'd read until the early hours of the morning and sometimes just sit at the edge of my bed for like 20 minutes just contemplating the universe. Highly recommend.
The Engineers Notebook by Forest Mims really taught me the basics of electronics.
What do you care what other people think by Richard Feynman(1988) introduced me to the idea that nobody is really as much of an expert as you might think.
1632 By Eric Flint, and the subsequent series, got me thinking about the nature of civilization and all the things that go into making it.
There are a lot of books in this world, and they all helped author who I am.
The book is fractally intricate and intellectually puzzling in the best sense—something new and special to notice every time you pick it up.
But it also wears like old leather, and I find myself returning to favorite chapters simply to sink indulgently into the characters, dialog, and setting.
Anybody who says no one has actually read Ulysses is unknowingly half-right: You can certainly get to a point where you’ll never finish reading it.
As an adult, I've been very influenced by the late Daniel Dennett and his naturalist philosophy. Books like From Bacteria to Bach and Back or Darwin's Dangerous Idea.
I read a lot, fiction and non-fiction. When I read Tolstoy, I remember thinking "What sort of dark magic is this?" He drew characters in a way I haven't seen since. I _knew_ these people.
I remember this book, decades later. I remember a lot of what I've read, but Tolstoy was the man. I have no idea how or why his magic worked.
Yes, it borrows a LOT from existing stories. To the point that it's nearly a pastiche. But it is incredibly well done and you appreciate it more when you learn that it was the author's first novel. I recommend skipping all of the footnotes on the first read through and saving them for the second read, if you go back for more.
Stephen Ray Gould: Full House: The Spread of Excellence from Plato to Darwin: will both challenge every preconceived notion you've had, link seemingly impossibly unrelated phenomenon together using similar models and patterns, and leave with a much more intuitive understanding about complexity, randomness, and chaotic systems.
A Briefer History of Time: For those who truly would like to exalt their personal God of the Gaps to the small unit.
Fantastic early history of the people that eventually comprise the Manhattan Project. I feel any person who is interested in physics should read the book.
It is mindblowing the scale of the facilities that they had to build to generate a very small amount of the fissile material needed.
Strangely enough, I started on (a few times already) the second part, 'Dark Sun' [2], which is about the making of the Hydrogen Bomb focused on Edward Teller but I haven't been able to complete it yet.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Making-Atomic-Bomb-Richard-Rhodes/dp/...
[2] https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Sun-Making-Hydrogen-Bomb-ebook/d...
It’s kind of cliche for a white male nerd of a certain age, but it has stuck with me. How imaginative the book is, the huge mix of characters and stories in the book, and the style of writing are incredible. The pace of interesting ideas is very fast and engrossing, and the language used to describe things is complex but not overly so.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusions_(Bach_novel)
While I only made it halfway through, Atlas Shrugged had a big impact on me and my liberal, southern California upbringing, where I was under the assumption that certain things (food, healthcare, money, etc) were due to me by nature. I try to avoid preaching to others, but it considerably increased my self-resilience.
--
"A man travels many miles to consult the wisest guru in the land. When he arrives, he asks the great man:
'O wise guru, what is the secret of a happy life?'
'Good judgement,' says the guru.
'But, O wise guru' says the man, 'how do I achieve good judgement'
'Bad judgement,' says the guru"
Fiction:
Project Hail Mary is very enjoyable, don't read spoilers and you'll enjoy it even more. https://www.amazon.com/Project-Hail-Mary-Andy-Weir/dp/059313...
The Discworld City Watch series of books, starting with "Guards! Guards!" The characters are hilarious, there's so much humour yet still enough space for meaningful prose. Terry Pratchett was taken from us too soon. https://www.amazon.com/Guards-Discworld-Terry-Pratchett/dp/0...
Edited to add: non-fiction "Most Secret War" by Dr R V Jones. Funny, easily digestible short chapters, wonderful account of the author's work in WW2. "(the author's) appointment to the Intelligence Section of Britain's Air Ministry in 1939 led to some of the most astonishing scientific and technological breakthroughs of the Second World War." https://www.amazon.com/Most-Secret-Penguin-World-Collection/...
Unless you're actively working through a bunch of problems/examples, reading most books is a form of passive learning. That is, you are simply being told information. The Little Schemer is the only book I know of that is written almost entirely in the form of increasingly intricate questions to the reader (active learning). There are maybe about two dozen or so statements ("Laws" as the author calls them). Everything else is a question in an extended Socratic dialogue aimed at refining the reader's knowledge of Lisp, how computation arises from recursion, computation in general, and lambda calculus culminating in the y-combinator.
The Little Schemer is the most unique, most fun, most educational (in the sense that it _forces_ you to work your way through it) book that I've read. Moreover, it's a great way to grasp computation in a more abstract sense.
I didn't really understand what it was trying to tell me when I first read it, the ideas just sort of ruminated. I read it when I was either 19 or 20, was completely at odds with who I was then but helped me grow as a person
The way that we think about individual agency and self-interest in modern society is at odds with what our emotional needs are. He makes this point in many of his books
The way that he describes guilt is incredibly accurate. He's very good at seeing and describing emotional conflict
I also grew up as a non-religious jew but reading him made me realize that christianity has more ideological depth than what I initially thought
Its premise is extremely simple (simplistic even) and you can boil it down to “just listen to people”. But it did affect me - maybe because it finally made it “click” how humans work.
And further more, I did recommend it to my friends, and whoever managed to actually read it, changed too, sometimes literally overnight.
Honestly it was incredible to witness people who used to be jerks to transform into thoughtful and tolerant people right in front of my eyes.
Unfortunately I don't know if there's an English equivalent, and considering how awful of a language Dutch is to learn it may be easier to learn Japanese, read the originals, and look up all the references yourself.
It was the start of summer school holidays back in the late 1980s, in my teenage years. I went to my local library and, because I didn't know what I wanted to read, I decided to pick one book blindly from the fiction section. I didn't know what book I had borrowed until I got home. I had never heard about Bulgakov or that particular novel. I had no easy way to know who that writer was or if the book was good or not. I was tempted to return it. But I didn't.
I read the book over several weeks of a particularly boring (and lonely) summer. I enjoyed reading it although I didn't love it. Looking back, I suppose that book gave me something I needed in a completely random way.
Books are not oranges.
She was a great visionary and turned the Science Fiction genre upside down. This book is a thought provoking story; an "An Ambiguous Utopia" (this is the subtitle of the book. It really makes you think but also a mocking glass for our society. Close second is The Left Hand of Darkness from the same author.
While this book has its problems, it is a wide-ranging, engaging, and readable history of ideas from antiquity to about the turn of the 20th century. I'm finding it difficult to put any other book ahead of this one.
Harry Potter 4 was the first book I binged when I was a kid. Lord of the Flies was the first book that made me feel weird emotions, and I liked it. Snow crash is the book that made me think "Fuck, how can one write a book like that ?" and therefore started what I hope to be a lifelong hobby. I still think of Flatland from times to times, as I'm jealous and amazed of the brain of its author.
(You can see it for yourself in all it's glory here: https://www.wholeearth.info/p/the-next-whole-earth-catalog-f... )
Other than that I'd have to say the Tao Te Ching.
(The best fiction book I've read is almost certainly "The Book of the New Sun" by Gene Wolfe. It's in the league of Tolkien and Dune.)
I tried to start it twice and gave up (there are some disturbing elements) but once I got into it I was hooked. Loved that the hero wasnt into being a hero and was deeply flawed.
For non fiction, "Godel, Escher and Bach" is right up there, along with The Selfish Gene.
Fiction: I dunno but maybe "Anathem" by Neal Stephenson.
I read Feynman's 'Surely You're Joking', and that led to me becoming a physicist.
For software engineering, all the essays in Fred Brooks' 'Mythical Man Month' were formative.
Rand's 'Fountainhead' and 'Atlas Shrugged' were also thought-provoking.
For investing, reading Warren Buffet's 'Letters to Investors' shaped what I believe works.
The best business book I've read is 'Invent and Wander' and 'Working Backwards' about Amazon culture.
This book is written by a science historian with science background. It gives a real perspective about how scientists reached concensus about some of the nowadays well known facts in physics. It goee through some technical details and history including people involved and how personalities and the circumstances around these times affected the progress. If you read it you might find it somehow difficult with some technical details although he tried to simplify it. But once going through that you will find that each chapter is really a journey that you will enjoy.
I really recommend it for people interested in learning new stuff and also enjoy some reading down the line. And get a first hand look into how things are usually done in physics.
Book 1 is really hard to get into and doesn't reward as much. But if you stick with it, as early as the end of Book 2, you'll know what you're in for.
If I say best as in long lasting, “Master and Margarita” uniquely has the power to make me feel a kind of romance when I remember it, not just while reading.
The short story “Fumes the Memorious” changed in a literal sense how I perceived the world, at least for an hour or so.
“Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers” was the best self-help book I’ve ever read, and fundamentally changes my politics as well. I came to recognize the significance of true and perceived agency as a factor in mental health.
“Seeing like a state” was the worst written and edited book I’ve read that I nevertheless recommend to people because the ideas therein are fascinating.
It’s an impossible question, as the list of answers only gets longer with time spent on looking for answers. So I suppose Master and Margarita, as that was the first answer.
Currently reading Frank Ramsey by Cheryl Misak. Will appeal to philosophy nerds mostly. Fascinating how a kid of 26 changed the fields of philosophy, mathematics, and economics, but no one really knows of him.
Non-Fiction: Peopleware (opened my eyes when I was a young newcomer to the industry)
Has shaped my outlook on artificial intelligence more than anything else, and this was written in 1984, long before GPT-3 was a thing. Absolutely "mind-blowing" in that it deconstructs and then reassembles your understanding of what a mind is.
Best short story: "The Egg" (by Andy Weir); just read it, is very short, no spoilers.
Best entertainment/fiction: "Murderbot Diaries"
Is highly entertaining, very unique protagonist, raises some very interesting ethical/philosophical questions and does far-future sci-fi worldbuilding insanely well.
A lot of my current knowledge about the game industry comes from things I learned in this book (or used as a base for further research later on). Each chapter is a vignette into a different era, technology, and country, up to the indie boom of the 2000s. It's not a life-changing read by any means, but it's an extensive and memorable one.
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. Long and sometimes tedious, as his books can be, but the characters are so memorable. Bobby Shaftoe is one of my all-time favorites. The book takes place on two timelines, involving two generations of characters, that have interesting parallels. The audio book narrator does a great job, if you're into audiobooks.
Runner-up would be Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson. His best, IMO.
See also https://ncase.me/trust/ for a really nice 30-min interactive summary of the ideas presented in the book.
My rough definition of "best" here is "most potentially impactful to humanity" (see also Andrew Breslin's Goodreads review).
But that's a useless answer, as the purpose of such a question is to generate recommendations, and that's unlikely to be a new one to anybody.
One of the books that's impacted me the most in the last few years is Homer's Illiad. I used to wonder why we read The Odyssey in high school and never talked about The Illiad, but I don't wonder now! I think all the violence in Illiad would warrant more than a PG-13 rating. ;) But it is a great story about men and gods and struggle and war, with a lot to say about what mankind is and what it can be, and a lot of heroes to want to grow up to be someday. The introduction to my copy includes the quote, "It is a good thing that war is so terrible, otherwise we would grow to love it too much." That quote will make no sense to most people; if it resonates with you, this book is your kind of book.
I am currently reading through Heidegger's The Question Concerning Technology, as I am looking for wisdom on how to navigate the highly technological time I find myself in. I haven't finished it, but I find the insights profound, and I see the ideas everywhere. I think it may prove to be the best thing I've ever read on the topic of what it means to interact with technology and remain human.
Shakespeare is legendary for a reason. I haven't read one of his plays yet that that I didn't deeply enjoy. They never hit right in high school, but as an adult I find them profound. I giggled my way through A Comedy of Errors recently and it still makes me smile.
A Christian recommendation - I've very much enjoyed Jeremy Taylor's 1650 Holy Living and Dying. Probably the best book on Christian life I've read, and I've read quite a few - and it's a book that rarely makes people's short lists. It's long and I haven't finished it, but as much as I've read so far continues to impact me.
Edit: I almost forgot! I read The Princess and the Goblin several years ago. It is a fairy tale intended for children, and is yet one of the best books I have ever read on the subject of girlhood, and I have spent a lifetime searching for them. If you have (or are, or find yourself in an occasion to love) a girl, I can't recommend it highly enough.
I'm actually a bit surprised to not see "Brave New World" mentioned yet. That was a life-changing experience to my teenage self
And since someone else has already picked Steppenwolf by Hesse, I'll mention Demian instead.
Nominally about improvisation theatre, but has many insights about human behavior you will not find anywhere else, especially about status hierarchies.
Maurice Nicoll: Psychological Commentaries On The Teaching Of Gurdjieff And Ouspensky, Parts 1-6
This book is probably the best introduction to the teachings of Gurdjieff that have quite literally changed my life. Gurdjieff was a spiritual teacher whose approach is quite different from organized religions, new age gurus and such.
This approach is for people who have experienced or have a sense that there is something that the materialistic world view cannot explain, but feel that existing religions are lacking, for example they require you to believe in things that do not make sense.
In this approach there is no need to believe anything. You become convinced by your own experiences about some fundamental truths about human organization and capabilities, allowing you to start learning more.
You could say that it is "preparatory work", allowing you to learn enough to be able to discern helpful teachings from those that are less helpful.
The book is out of print. To get a physical copy you need to order it used from Amazon. Usually they are sold one book at a time. Just get any one book, there is no need to buy the full set. The books record individual discussions, and the same topics repeat in all the books. If the book resonates, I recommend that you continue with In Search of Miraculous by Ouspensky.
Non-Fiction: The Feynman lectures on Physics.
It's the only textbook I really read during my university education (sad to admit). Even though I consider it a textbook and not pop-sci, it's incredibly approachable and teaches a framework about dynamical systems which was completely missing from all other courses I took.
Sounds like a humble brag. But it being the only book I managed to read really makes it stick out for me!
If you have kids, an interest in gardening, or a curiosity about Native American culture, this book will hit you in all three.
I got it on audiobook, and felt like I wanted to use a highlighter on every fifth sentence. So I bought a paper copy so I can just open to random pages and start reading.
- The beginning of infinity by David Deutsch.
This book really ignited my love for epistemology in general, and the nature of scientific progress and understanding.
Another notable book for me :
Finite and infinite games by James Carse.
I find the book fascinating if only because the concept the author is describing is both intuitive and counter - intuitive at the same time.
Taught me everything I needed to know about being a painter.
Perhaps not the 'best' book ever, but certainly one of the most impactful for me as a common-or-garden 18-year-old realising for the first time that our political and economic systems aren't some sort of almighty edict and could be critiqued.
- The Goal, Eli Goldratt - changed the way I thought about getting things done. The Theory of Constraints is important to anyone who makes things.
Fiction:
- Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - I love me some Sherlock Holmes, and nothing is more Sherlock Holmes than Hound of the Baskervilles. Terrific writing, great story, spooky setting. Love it.
[0] https://bcantrill.dtrace.org/2019/02/10/reflecting-on-the-so...
The chapters about Turkey can be skipped since they don't seem to fit in with the rest of the book. I found them boring.
For non-fiction, by far the one that had the most novelty factor and effect of my worldview probably Chomsky - Understanding Power. Not 100% because it's almost a tie with Manufacturing Consent - this one being much darker.
Non-fiction: Pilates Anatomy by Rael Isacowitz - it changed me and changed my body.
- The Man Without Qualities - Robert Musil
- The Gospel According to Jesus Christ - Jose Saramago
- Moby Dick - Herman Melville
- The War of the End of the World - Mario Vargas Llosa
- The War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
etc.
I can't do "The" xD
https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/taocp.html
History, Philosophy, Mathematics, and more!
Funny how as I grew older, I found myself understanding more and more about what the older characters were saying, without me sacrificing what made what Holden Caulfield ring so true to me.
Fun fact: in university at the bookstore they had a written poll as to what your favorite book was (before the Internet). I was one of the first ones and wrote down Catcher in the Rye. A month later I read in the school paper that Catcher in the Rye was the winner that year, and it was the first time that the Bible didn't come in first place.
I find a lot of my successes are driven by building powerful and convincing narratives about my own life and circumstances. Unfortunately, the anti-smoking messaging that comes form every website, doctor and other resource all parrots the same tired arguments I had been hearing since the 90's. My earnest efforts to find new perspectives hit the same wall of propaganda every time. This book offered me multiple new perspectives, it relieved me of the shame placed on me by other resources and social stigmas, and it acted as an upbeat and optimistic cheerleader.
I quit 7 years ago when I finished the book and haven't had the urge to smoke since.
The central thesis of the book is that eroticism and death are inextricably linked - that the most intense erotic experiences often involve elements of sacrifice, and the transgression of taboos. The author argues that this connection between Eros and Thanatos - the drives of life and death - is a fundamental part of the human condition which he sees as a means by which humans confront their own mortality and the limits of their existence.
The conclusions are often questionable but the scope of the work and the historical deep dive makes for quite a ride.
I'll plug Scandal by Shusaku Endo. It is by a Japanese Catholic novelist and was written near the end of his career (lifetime achievement award timeframe).
It is about a Japanese Catholic novelist near the end of his career, who is accepting an award when he is accosted by reporters asking about rumors that he has been seen carousing in the red light district. He decides to investigate the rumors, but he isn't ready for what he's going to find.
It's a kind of meta, semi-autobiographical interrogation of the author and the pillars on which he built his life, that in some ways would be impossible to adapt to any other medium.
Antifragile for nonfiction. It really changed the way I think about how both the natural world and human institutions function.
Best book I ever read (for myriad other reasons) probably remains Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- never has a book amused me like that. I don't think much about my sensibility, beliefs, way of looking at the world would be quite the same if that book hadn't have come along when I was eleven and said, "you're okay, you're not alone. Don't panic."
It's really hard to describe what the book's about. It's an epic, through and through, and all epics are hard to detail precisely. Inter-generational trauma? Handling one's "sin"? Making a livelihood after repeated failure, be it yourself or external factors?
Contrary to my first sentence, there is one character that I would describe as pure evil. But I feel that just supports one of the conflicts; however incredibly rare, what can an individual do when they come across a bonafide force of evil?
It is dripping with Biblical imagery, and Steinbeck's prose is rambling and tangential for some (though poetic for me), and his characters are not "realistic" and larger than life (but that's what makes them pop off the page for me and so memorable. I guess it's always a balance).
"Now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good."
In the fiction department, I've never encountered anything to match HPMOR, even though I disagree with half of what it says nowadays.
Making a distinction between intelligence and consciousness was interesting and I think applies to current AI systems, at least that what came to mind when seeing ChatGPT for the first time.
Also vampires being real apex predators brought back from extinction with a decent explanation as to why they don't like crosses is just entertaining to me.
Last few books I read (non-{technical,programming,electronics}) were in college. Perhaps a few for fun, mostly for class.
I work all day, when I am done with work, I have house work to get done. Every single time I grab a book and think "I will read this book", heck even technical,programming,electronics books I _want_ to re-read, time vanishes, I put it up and get too busy.
Reading these comments, seems like a lot of people read books. I have no idea how you all find the time.
But on the lighter side i consider the Murder Bot series by Martha Wells having a charm that i just find lovely
Best short stories: Borges
Regarding Non-Fiction, my current bet would be Antifragile by Taleb.
Seveneves is an amazing book, just make sure you skip the last part.
If you are into history I can recommend The last days of the Incas by Kim MaqQuarrie, it's just an insanely interesting description on how the Incas was conquered, it feels like you're there man.
If you like evolutionary biology/phsycology then check out The Red Queen - Sex and the evolution of human Nature by Matt Ridley.
This book completely changed how I view my city and other urban areas. I am now much more in-tune with my urban environment and understand how different aspects of it affect me emotionally.
It also led me to going back to graduate school for a degree in urban design and sustainability, and my focus is now how I can use my computer science background to improve my environment.
I read this in my early 20s and it had a huge impact in changing the course of my life, sending me traveling over a Christmas break, and changing my entire perspective. He is an amazing author and this book is beautiful.
It saved my life, two times. First time inspiring me, second time literally.
The complexity of the structure, the humor, and the painful exhibition of human stupidity makes it a book for the ages.
If I had to return and re-read, I’d re-read “Leonardo da Vinci.”
It describes the collapse of a rectiligne society (The City) based on hyperconnectivity and hyperinformation and poses the base of The Circular Foundation.
It has been written in the end of XX century and seems to have anticipated issues of our society related to communautarism and the loss of some part of our memory.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/606849.Dead_Memory
Aside this album, the author made a great série inspired by the readings of Kafka, Julius Corentin Acquefacques, and explore way to take avantage of code of narration found in comics.
In terms of the book that's perhaps made me think and reflect the most, Daniel Keyes Flowers for Algernon has probably had the greatest effect on me.
Thinking Fast and Slow. This book discusses how we think and at what level and where some of the shortcuts we use when thinking occur and what impact they have on us. It really was one of the best books I've ever read; and like many books on that subject, you don't have to read the whole thing to get a lot out of it.
The Dictator's Handbook. This is the book that spawned the video essay series by CGP Gray: Rules of Rulers ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rStL7niR7gs ). It has been a strong recommend for me on how and why the political world is the way it is.
Brain Lock: This is a book about OCD and it discusses a method of helping manage the symptoms and manifestations of OCD that creates a measurable and material change on the brain itself. Like self-help books, it does repeat itself quite a bit over the second half of the book. If you struggle with OCD, I do recommend it.
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (and the great TA I had teaching the course) got me to change my major to English as a college freshman. I was just hit with a thought like, “I’ve never read anything like this and I’ve never heard a teacher want to talk about books this deeply.”
Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell showed a voice that I’d never heard before — knowledgeable about history, indie rock, cult movies, rural living, and very funny. It was like, “This is exactly who I want to be.”
Then I spent my whole life thinking I was a disorganized person and through the power of a really good memory I was able to hold things together at work. Then I read Mindset by Carol Dweck and Everything In Its Place by Dan Charnas that convinced me that a) I was holding myself back by thinking I was a disorganized person and that b) I could become an organized person. Maybe the best professional decision I’ve ever made because it turns out that being organized is really really useful.
My favorite music album is "Fun House", by The Stooges. "Um copo de cólera" has the same chaotic fury of "Fun House", but transposed to literature - and "Um copo de cólera" is the same, but it was written 20 years earlier, is even stronger, and it touches lots of tabboo topics.
I don't know if there are decent translations of them from Portuguese to other languages.
My favorite book _that is available in English_ is "The Lives of Animals", by J.M. Coetzee: <https://tannerlectures.utah.edu/_resources/documents/a-to-z/...>.
Fiction: Project Hail Mary
You could read it as just a fun first contact adventure coming of age book that involves some hard science and some fun space stuff.
However, it also touches on some very core concepts of nominalism vs. realism, quantum mechanics and how it affects our lives, what consciousness entails and it does so as part of its plot.
It's very fun and very interesting.
Freudian theory really was just a way to psychoanalyze Freud and his complexes.
Lacan jettisoned the weirdly specific Freudian stuff and had a more general template, with a focus on the relationship between language and the subconcious.
Check out "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston - it's about the Ebola virus and a strain that wound up in a primate facility just outside of Washington, D.C.
Stephen King called the first chapter "one of the most horrifying things I've read in my whole life." It's so true. Preston caught some flak from CDC scientists for sensationalizing the effects of hemorrhagic viruses, but I think he painted a fairly accurate picture for the layman in all of us: they turn your flesh into soup.
The Once and Future King.
I was on summer vacation while camping and fishing and I read the entire book in a couple of days in the evenings. Maybe it was the lack of distraction, but the Arthurian legend of that book has influenced a ton of modern fiction.
Fiction - Ender's Game
Horror - Voices from Chernobyl. I'm currently read it. I need a pause on every 2-3 pages to refresh my mind.
Biography - "The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town". This is only Grisham book that wasn't fiction and based on true event.
For now, though, I really enjoyed Plutarch's Parallel Lives. He compares the life of an ancient Greek and Roman - EG Alexander vs Caesar.
It's so big you can reread it as many times as you want and still be surprised by the details you no longer remember. In the end I've read it 2 times in Russian, 3 times in English and 1 time in Dutch - and I'm not going to stop.
As for non-fiction I just bring out the classics that taught me Lisp and Lispy things: Simply Scheme, SICP, On Lisp.
Short stories: The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories (Ken Liu); Stories of Your Life and Others and Exhalation (Ted Chiang); The Martian Chronicles (Ray Bradbury)
Novels: The Monk (Matthew Gregory Lewis); Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)
But I’ll pick The Psychology of Money. There are few books that have so drastically changed my view of reality and affected my behavior.
(Bonus because I couldn’t help myself: Getting things done, Man’s search for meaning, Surrounded by idiots)
A truly epic date-driven summary of how the industrial and political revolutions of the 19th transformed the world.
“A precious book … a work that is in the highest degree pedagogical which stands above the conflicts of parties and opinions.” – Albert Einstein
If you are still hungry, Propaganda by Eduard Bernays would be the second.
It's mostly from the perspective of primitive humans being studied by aliens while the aliens teach them various topics like math and science. The aliens are studying these lost tribes because out in space they're at war with humans and cannot figure out how the humans are able to fight each other and still be winning the war with the aliens.
Fiction: Death in Venice (Der Tod in Venedig) by Thomas Mann[0]
Nonfiction: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard[1]
Illustrated: The Insect God by Edward Gorey
* Mindset by Carol S. Dweck
* Innovating: A Doer's Manifesto for Starting from a Hunch, Prototyping Problems, Scaling Up, and Learning to Be Productively Wrong by Luis Perez-Breva
* Fall In Love with the Problem, Not the Solution: A Handbook for Entrepeneurs by Uri Levine
These three books really changed my viewpoint and I've been rereading them every year.
The first 90% of this box is awesome (I think the last part is a little too hand wavy). However, it helps you understand so much of how people think, including you. I think it also explains much of how we shorthand so much of our "thinking". It implies a lot of how tribal humans are in our actions and beliefs which bleeds into religion and philosophy. There is no book I recommend more and the implications and understanding this highlights can be life transforming.
It was good. A modern (well, 1951) detective solves a historical mystery while bedbound.
As for things that might be "Best" with a capital B I Loved pretty much everything by Umberto Eco.
Neal Stephenson used to feature an NYT quote on his website that described his works "bogging down into lectures like Umberto Eco without the charm", so if you like the historical lectures in Neal Stephenson, check him out.
In high school, 1984 hit me hard.
As an adult, I'd pick Pojken som fann en ny färg (literally translated "The boy who found a new color"). I really liked it's ultra-short chapters, making up snapshots of a romance and family being built and falling apart.
Not sure I can write anything here that has not been written a million times already, but suffice to say there is a reason why it’s in every “best of all time” lists. It’s a deeply human story with lots of twists and turns and told masterfully. The closest to a “perfect” book that I can think of.
P.S. Just wanted to throw a bonus recommendation here, on a completely different tone: Blood Meridian (best enjoyed without spoilers).
The Tempest was my way in. Hated him as many did at school, but when my path was my own I decided there must be something to the extraordinary reverence in which he was held so I decided to have another go.
I had to plough through for a while rereading until I finally "got" the flow.
After that it was a long journey through some of the most beautiful words and thoughts I'd ever encountered, my life genuinely deepened and enriched.
10 of the best novels in translation into English
https://www.deseret.com/entertainment/2024/10/06/best-books-...
It’s a fanfic in LOTR universe, and it wasn’t very interesting when I was reading it but it revolved around a twist that helped me develop critical thinking skills.
In short and without too much of a spoiler - it’s about relativism of everything, including history and importance of narrative in shaping perspectives.
Somewhat similar to much later Indoctrination Theory in Mass Effect games.
VALIS, Philip K Dick
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance + also Lila, Robert Pirsig
Naked Lunch, William Burroughs
Immortality, Milan Kundera
Catch-22, Joseph Heller (pair with The Deserters, Charles Glass -- In fact a lot of the stuff in Catch-22 is actually toned down from reality)
Mastering the Core Teachings of Buddha, Daniel Ingram (but ignore 80% of it)
In my early 20s, I noticed a peer who seemed to have cracked the social code. Their ability to navigate complex interpersonal dynamics and sway opinions was remarkably consistent. He always seemed to get what he wanted, and people seemed to love him for it.
Intrigued, I asked about their secret. The initial response? Denial and a hint of offense. Classic information hiding.
An hour later, they circled back with an unexpected recommendation: this book.. But he asked me not to tell people around us that he recommended it.
Carnegie's work is essentially a manual for optimizing human interaction. It's really just written as a set of antidotes from his experience, with some commentary.
Key areas include:
1. Techniques for effectively dealing with people (social engineering techniques)
2. Methods for building a positive reputation ("making people like you")
3. Strategies for persuasion ("win people to your way of thinking")
4. Leadership approaches that don't trigger resentment
While the examples are dated (first published in 1936), many find that the core principles remain surprisingly relevant. The ideas scale across various contexts, from one-on-one interactions to large organizational structures.
Word of caution: Some may view these techniques as manipulative. Using it ethically is important, but really, it just provides some good examples on how not to be an ass.
A very rich, very human story generally about what drives people, with a river as an unrelenting foe. I think.
The War of Art - Pressfield Outlive - Attia The Fourth Turning - Strauss
With this criterion, Based on a True Story by Norm Macdonald is the best book. Each time I reread it, I find a new nugget! And as a bonus, this book is also available as an audiobook narrated by the author himself.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Leaves
You must use a physical book, it's full of typographical and color changes to impress context different then just the words. Every time I re-read it, I look though a different lens and get something different from it.
Tech: Code the hidden language of computer hardware and software
Non Fiction: Talking to My Daughter
Other corners don't really have a best book, for me. Recently read 'Emperor of all maladies' and found it a fascinating journey through cancer, both as an illness and as a research subject.
Also recently read 'The Grand Chessboard' which was also fascinating for a completely different reason.
Before the English took New Amsterdam, it was a thriving settlement full of interesting economic ideas and gripping narratives. I can't recommend this book enough. The audiobook is great, so I bought the paperback. 10/10
I'd also recommend Robert Bringhurst's _The Elements of Typographic Style_.
Apart from pop-sci like Dawkins, I'd say the "Discworld" series by Pratchett. Probably the Watch/Sam Vimes books
Even wrote a review in case: https://krishna2.com/munger
It's technical, mathy, economics, and business all wrapped together.
Might not be a "good book", but it was certainly memorable.
Moby Dick by Herman Melville.
The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson.
The Aubrey–Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian.
https://www.louiscordier.com/the_3_book_of_louis/
;p
Orson Scott Card's Maps in a Mirrors comes to mind.
"A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved."
Fiction: The Gods Themselves Asimov.
These are the book I always recommend to friends and colleagues. There are runners up based on taste, such as Zero to One,The Making of the Atomic Bomb, and Anathema.
The Odyssey; David Copperfield; Moby-Dick; Anna Karenina; Borges' short stories, in particular Ficciones & The Aleph
Best Sci-fi: The Commonwealth Saga
Best Fantasy: The Wheel of Time
Easy to read, he explains difficult concepts in a simple manner. I felt smarter when I finished it.
I can also see the works of Arthur Schopenhauer being of great interest to many HN readers. His reconciliation of Western philosophy (especially Kant and British Empiricists) with Buddhism and Hinduism is unique and for me the most interesting overall system. His work is entirely worth reading for the quality of writing alone. For me, his works evoke the experience of mathematical beauty. I would recommend gaining a basic understanding of Kant, Buddhism, Hinduism, and then reading his work "Essays and Aphorisms," followed by "The World as Will and Idea."
"Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes" by Jacques Ellul is the book I have read that best explains the human experience in the modern media environment. Like "The World as Will and Representation," it also forms a sort of complete system, which can be read as an organic whole as well as with self-referential parts. I believe most of the "alienation" we experience from technology, which is often blamed on the internet, is really a much older and broader phenomenon, which Ellul attributes to the development of the radio, "technique," and broader phenomenological experience within 20th-century totalitarian societies.
"Simulacra and Simulation" is another that I have enjoyed. It is the work I have read that, in my opinion, best provides a model for living in a post-modern, post-industrial society, and my intuition is that it will also prove authentic in the age of artificial intelligence.
He hid a rabbit made of gold and jewels somewhere in the UK and then wrote a book filled with clues and pictures on how to find it.
If ever I’m struggling with something I pick it up and open to a random leaf and just read until I feel better.
As a Systems Engineer, I've always been fascinated by systems both for computation and involving people. Concepts in business process design/implementation have quite the overlap with automation, and this book provides one of the best discussions I've seen, where its first properly defining the problem, and then moving on to failure modes via a priori reasoning (which is fairly conservative) in relation to centralized hierarchical systems, or bureaucracies.
The title aside, the structural analysis is quite impressive and in the process also explains the basis for many failures within bureaucracies involving people, including corruption, and trends concentrating staff production value towards a least common denominator (negative production value), through social coercion, within the institutions.
This book arguably is a very dense read though, and requires an old dictionary (from around the same time). Many of the words have changed meanings since the writing (towards more ambiguity and more contradiction).
It comes from a time where hyper-rationalism and its principles were followed and respected, and falsehoods and liars ignored or rejected outright; something we can use more of today.
The book also is useful in describing why Socialism, and its various forms is a failed system, and indirectly but inevitably fails in ways that allow no accountability through deceit, and how those supporting and promoting such systems are both supporting their own destruction as well as others (incl family, friends etc).
The systems discussed are safety-critical systems, and its not hard to reason that when you support a system that will inevitably fail (causing death/harm), where you can't transition off the system or know beforehand, then you promote and support the given outcome. Indirect, but still rational and principled.
Potentially a bit dated now, but A New Kind of Science by Wolfram was pretty eye opening.
(so hard to pick just one, and I may be affected by recency bias, but that's my finalist right now)
As an adult, ‘The Idiot’.
etc.
There's a good reason why it's still in print.
Sinusoidal Circuit Analysis
Best Scifi: The World of Null-A A. E. van Vogt
Best Childrens: Swallowdale Arthur Ransome
Antimemetics Division is a fantastic read if you're at all a fan of the SCP Wiki -- being the author of some of the foundational entries in the wiki, like SCP-055 (https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-055), qntm shows a deep understanding and appreciation for the SCP universe and uses it to tell a compelling story about ideas, memory, and sacrifice.
It's worth noting that you can't currently buy a physical copy of this book anymore, but the original story is still available to read for free on the SCP wiki. https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/antimemetics-division-hub
[light spoilers in this paragraph] This book caught me during a particularly difficult part of my life, when I was struggling with depression and self-doubt. Reading something that framed ideas as being things that are not only infectious and mind-altering, but killable was comforting for me, and gave me hope that I could climb out of the hole that I was in.
Ra, on the other hand, is a book set in a completely different universe, one in which magic not only exists, but is a bona fide scientific study, having been discovered in the 1970s. It starts out by exploring the ramifications of magic's use as self-defense, but evolves into mystery when the main character witnesses her mother performing magic that by all accounts should be impossible, compelling her to devote her life to uncovering the phenomena's true nature and origin.
This one is considerably longer, and paced slower than Antimemetics Division, but in my opinion is no less satisfying. The parameters by which magic works in-universe feel believable and self-consistent, and so do the reasons behind why some mages are able to bend them. The ending does feel slightly unsatisfying when the book is taken as a complete work, but when considering that Ra was originally released as a web serial over the course of years, I feel it's a bit more forgivable that the landing wasn't stuck perfectly.
What's particularly interesting to me about Ra is that after completion, the author hosted a Q&A thread on their site where people were able to ask questions about how certain mechanics of magic work in-universe, and the answers given by qntm show just how much thought and care they put into making magic feel less like a hand-waved deus ex-machina and more like a complete system.
Highly recommend both of these, as well as qntm's other works if you're looking for something that scratches a particular sci-fi itch.
No other book has made as significant a difference in both my personal and professional life. Concepts like the emotional bank account and seeking first to understand (then to be understood) have been the key things that have helped me find a partner, develop a relationship with her, and develop a great career where I'm given a lot of autonomy and trust to solve problems in my own way.
I find myself teaching concepts from the book to coworkers while mentoring them through work-related interpersonal problems and without fail they come back ecstatic about what a difference it made in their work relationships.
I genuinely can't recommend it highly enough.
It's the entire basis for the western world.
Easy and accessible
Will take me my whole life to read
Never Split The Difference.
The Gift of Fear.
Those 3.
Non fiction: Maus
ie. the best and worst that humans can be.
EDIT: Oh wait, or maybe it's "The End of the Affair", or "Je l'aimais".
Fiction: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Non-Fiction: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Because?