Ask HN: What book should I read next?

10 points·matthodan··6 comments

I'm looking for a new book to read. Any genre is OK, but above all I want to read something that will give me a new perspective on an old problem.

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I would heartily recommend "The Mezzanine" by Nicholson Baker. It is an excellent written account of an unnamed mid-level corporate employee riding the escalator to his office after getting some lunch. The large majority of the novel is set inside his thoughts as his ruminates over the minutiae of everyday life.

What makes the book so brilliant is that Baker has an incredibly inquisitive mind. Ordinary things like straws or shoelaces become the subject of several pages worth of digression on manufacturing processes, design decisions, economics, human relationships, and so on and so forth. He is really able to look at devices that we take for granted and explore the history behind them and what makes them so interesting yet so forgettable despite being ubiquitous.

It is a beautiful book and splendidly written. I read it in one sitting I was so captivated by it.

Guns, Germs and Steel

http://www.amazon.com/Guns-Germs-Steel-Fates-Societies/dp/03...

Life of Pi

http://www.amazon.com/Life-Pi-Yann-Martel/dp/0156027321

Billions and Billions

http://www.amazon.com/Billions-Thoughts-Death-Brink-Millenni...

The Ancestor's Tale

http://www.amazon.com/Ancestors-Tale-Pilgrimage-Dawn-Evoluti...

Sorry for suggesting so many, I couldn't help myself

The Checklist Manifesto, recommended by multiple HN participants. I read it and learned a lot, and it's an enjoyable read besides giving you new perspectives on old problems.

http://www.amazon.com/Checklist-Manifesto-How-Things-Right/d...

James Joyce, Ulysses.

Seeing like a state

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0300078153

Riches for the poor: The Clemente course in humanities

http://books.google.com/books/about/Riches_for_the_Poor.html...

http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Te-Ching-Lao-Tzu/dp/1613822421/?_e...

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