Slashdot Asks: What Are Some Good Books You Read This Year? 255
As we inch closer to the end of the year, we will be running a couple of year-ender posts in the next few days. We're starting with books. What were some books you read this year that you would recommend to others? (It could be from any genre.) Second, what were some books from this year that you read that you would recommend to others? And third, what are you reading now, or planning to read soon?
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (Score:4, Insightful)
This year I read
Don Quixote - by Miguel de Cervantes
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I was surprised how funny this was.
Boat? (Score:2)
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On the topic of humorous books... well, I could be tactless and shill to try to get my own sci-fi/humor books into the double digits reader-wise (or, since it's Christmas, the historical-sci-fi short story involving a robot Santa traveling back in time to meet Saint Nicholas), but instead I'll talk about a different series of books containing Latin humor, the Liturgical Mysteries series by Mark Schweizer.
In the Liturgical Mysteries books, Hayden Konig is the chief of police and church choir director in the
Seveneves (Score:4, Interesting)
It's not a new book but I just picked it out at random from my backlog to read on vacation. It's way easier to get into than some other NS books (looking at you, Baroque Cycle), and has really great emotional ups and downs throughout the first 2/3rds of the book with what I thought was a pretty interesting and satisfying conclusion.
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I had opportunity to read a lot of other stuff. A few picks:
- World Without End by Ken Follet. This is a sequel to Pillars of the Earth. Both recommended
- The Three-body Problem by Liu Cixin. A great SF read even if it suffers a bit from pacing here and there.
- I recently found out that Cory Doctorow also writes fiction so I picked up a bunch of his novels and short stories. Walkaway, Pirate Cinema, Down and Out in the Magic
Three Body Problem, Dark Forest (Score:2)
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Yeah I have no doubt, I've started Quicksilver like five times in paper and audio form and while the setting and subject matter is fascinating, I just kept getting bogged down with the ton of infodumps, and I'm one of the people who enjoys his frequent masturbatory multi-page deep dives into Captain Crunch and what not. I need to give it another go with a clear head one day.
An odd assortment (Score:3)
Last Stand of the Tin-Can Sailors by James D Hornfischer
The Night Land (again!) by William Hope Hodgson
The Lord of the Rings (for the umpteenth time) by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Sackett Brand by Louis L'Amour
The First World War by A.J.P. Taylor
The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss
The Greatest Knight by Thomas Asbridge
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First matches on Tolkien and Wyss. I did read different books from L'Amour and Taylor, too. However most of them were so long ago I don't remember many of the details...
Frankopan's Silk Roads (Score:3)
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan. It's a world history from the view point of central Asia, book-ended by the rise of Persia and the important role Iran now plays in world events. Especially fascinating is how Europe barely registers until the mid 20th century, and how British adventurism in Asia had major repercussions for the Americas. The Muslims, Mongols, and Han are the dominant players.
The Testament of Loki (Score:2)
The Testament of Loki by Joanne Harris. It's a sequel to The Gospel of Loki, a fantasy novel describing Norse myth from Loki's perspective, but goes pretty wildly off the rails, with Loki, Odin, Freya, and Thor inhabiting an awkward teenage girl, a wheelchair bound computer geek, a popular cheerleader, and a cocker spaniel, respectively.
Some SciFi / Fantasy (Score:2)
Peter Watts' Blindsight, after which I read the sequel Echopraxia, and another of his works 'Freeze Frame Revolution.'
Also by popular recommendation I read Hyperion by Dan Simmons, and am in the middle of 'Fall of Hyperion'.
I re-read Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles books (4th time, I think), and the Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson.
Pretty much all of them were thoroughly enjoyable.
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Match on The Fall of Hyperion , though I read it back in 2003 and was less impressed than by two of his books on Mars (if I'm remembering Illium and Olympos correctly).
Hosts file (Score:4, Funny)
This year I read APK's hosts file.
Read This Year (Score:2)
Wikipedia More Than Books (Score:3)
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Pretty much done me in as well, not just Wikipedia of course but the whole interactivity of the internet in itis; entirety. Have no read a book in years, only in Doctors office waiting for the appointment I turned up on time for but somehow still end up waiting a very long time. Books were a great escape but I found I no longer need that escape, unless I am trapped bored somewhere and I know I will be trapped bored somewhere. I filled my phone with books from http://www.gutenberg.org/ [gutenberg.org] specifically enjoyed h [gutenberg.org]
Winners Take All (Score:2)
This was not only the best book I've read all year, but the best book I've read this decade:
Winners Take All [amazon.com]: The Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridharadas [twitter.com].
"An insider's groundbreaking investigation of how the global elite's efforts to 'change the world' preserve the status quo and obscure their role in causing the problems they later seek to solve."
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Thanks, that Winners Take All sounds like a book I need to read, though it isn't yet available in any of the local public libraries... (I have about 20 library cards now.)
If I understand the summaries correctly, then I think the solution approach involves ekronomics. As it applies to governments, it's in terms of pro-freedom anti-greedom taxation principles.
Seems like the only thing I can do is send out the ILL request and see if they can drag it in from somewhere...
I read non-fiction mostly ... (Score:5, Interesting)
... like:
NONFICTION
- Neanderthals Rediscovered: How Modern Science Is Rewriting Their Story (Revised and Updated Edition)
Dimitra Papagianni, Michael A. Morse (recommend)
- Almost Human: The Astonishing Tale of Homo Naledi and the Discovery That Changed Our Human Story
Lee Berger, John Hawks (recommend)
- The Edge of Physics: A Journey to Earth's Extremes to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe
Anil Ananthaswamy (recommend)
- Einstein's Dice and Schrödinger's Cat: How Two Great Minds Battled Quantum Randomness to Create a Unified Theory of Physics
Paul Halpern (recommend)
- The Quantum Labyrinth: How Richard Feynman and John Wheeler Revolutionized Time and Reality
Paul Halpern (highly recommend, 2017 publication)
- The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics
Leonard Susskind (recommend)
- Tales of the Quantum: Understanding Physics' Most Fundamental Theory
Art Hobson (recommend)
- Quantum Physics: What Everyone Needs to Know®
Michael G. Raymer (recommend)
- Just Visiting This Planet: Merlin Answers More Questions About Everything Under the Sun, Moon, and Stars
Neil De Grasse Tyson, Stephen J. Tyson (recommend)
- The Sky Is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist
Neil Degrasse Tyson (recommend)
- Merlin's Tour of the Universe: A Skywatcher's Guide to Everything from Mars and Quasars to Comets, Planets, Blue Moons, and Werewolves
Neil De Grasse Tyson (recommend)
- Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution
Neil deGrasse Tyson, Donald Goldsmith (recommend)
- Welcome to the Universe: An Astrophysical Tour
Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michael A. Strauss, J. Richard Gott (recommend)
- Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries
Neil deGrasse Tyson (recommend)
- The Muleskinner and the Stars: The Life and Times of Milton La Salle Humason, Astronomer (Springer Biographies)
Ronald L. Voller ( highly recommended. Humason was an "also mentioned," in a book about Hubble. What a guy! )
- Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
Neil de Grasse Tyson (recommend)
- Seven Brief Lessons on Physics
Carlo Rovelli (recommend)
FICTION
- 1984
George Orwell (recommend with reluctance. It's the most depressing goddam book I've ever read.)
- The Caves of Steel (The Robot Series Book 1)
Isaac Asimov (recommend)
- Dune
Frank Herbert (recommend)
- The Fountainhead
Ayn Rand (recommend)
- Best. State. Ever.: A Florida Man Defends His Homeland
Dave Barry (don't recommend, boring description of Florida tourist locations)
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... like:
NONFICTION
- The Fountainhead Ayn Rand (recommend)
Not to pick a fight or anything, but..... why?
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I don't view it as picking a fight. It's a valid question, and it's actually under FICTION.
The list I presented is for 2018. In late 2017, I also read, "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand.
Like some of the other fiction and a shitload of Robert A Heinlein, back in 2017 I re-read some of the stuff I absorbed when I was a young lad.
The Fountainhead made for a good movie, as well, though it fast-forwarded most of the story line.
I also read Ayn Rand's "The Virtue of Selfishness," which is a fucked up idea, but interest
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OK, good answer. I just asked because your list seems to be pretty well rounded and we encounter too many Rand readers regard her works as the Fount Of All Reason And If You Don't Agree You Are An Idiot Or Worse A Clinton Lover. In other words the opposite of well rounded. Recognizing fiction as fiction and not something else is an ability that is beyond too many people.
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Recognizing fiction as fiction and not something else is an ability that is beyond too many people.
Agree, as in Scientology.
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The only thing more irritating than those who say you should read Rand are those who say you shouldn't.
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I steered clear of the miniseries. There's no way in hell of transfering that story to a screenplay.
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Maybe it presents some interesting ideas in an easy-to-understand way. You don't have to agree with a point of view in order to recommend reading about it... In fact, approaching beliefs that differ from your own, with an open mind, is the best way to learn about what you believe.
You're never going to learn anything if you only read material you agree with...
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Interesting that I also read a lot of nonfiction but, near as I can tell (without a bunch of searches), I've missed all of your authors. However I've read (but not this year) all of the fiction you mentioned. Not sure about that specific Dave Berry, though I've read many of his books.
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Fountainhead is a lot better than people might think, based on the hate for Atlas Shrugged. In the world Ayn created, I side with her. Not necessarily in this world.
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I didn't read Ayn Rand to get a point of view. I read, and enjoyed, the story line. For the most part, her fiction was not formulaic.
In the Fountainhead, her use of architecture as a vehicle was very unusual when I read it as a kid.
Atlas Shrugged was a spellbinder with unique perspectives.
I think of both books as period pieces.
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Looking at my list, do you see your suggestion being even somewhat related to my interests?
Skin in the Game - Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Score:3)
Also recommend Antifragile, also by Taleb - but I read that one last year.
Also read most "Memoirs of Service Afloat" by Admiral Raphael Semmes, but haven't finished it yet. Good stuff though.
Battlefield Earth (Score:2)
I read Battlefield Earth out of morbid curiosity. It was horrible.
The first third of so corresponds to the movie, and is the part that reads the best. Not good by any means, but the least awful. From there, it's all downhill. First, there's the defeated Terl and some random handicapped jerk from Johnny's village vs Johnny, then it's Johnny vs Intergalactic Banking, which is about as exciting as that sound.
Hubbard apparently made some noise about writing good scifi with paying attention to the science, but t
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I read Battlefield Earth out of morbid curiosity. It was horrible.
The first third of so corresponds to the movie, and... Oh, and there's a guy named "Arsebogger" in it.
Now I wanna read it! >:-(
Mostly non-fiction (Score:3)
Bad Science by Ben Goldacre
Freakonomics by Levitt & Dubner
How Not To Be Wrong by Jordan Ellenberg
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Khaneman
Leadership and Self-Deception by The Arbinger Institute
I've still got The Black Swan by Taleb on my shelf waiting for me. Each so far has profoundly changed the way I think, in distinct but related ways.
My own (Score:3)
A couple (Score:2)
My list is modest this year but I'll mention a few:
-> The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult. I read this because my stepmother was reading it. If you like Lifetime-TV-for-Women you will like this. Noble/naive/underappreciated woman up against Evil Man type of stuff. It gets into holocaust stories including a first-person narration of the conditions in Auschwitz.
-> Uncompromising Honor by David Weber. Like anyone else who is reading this we have followed the series from the beginning. I think it i
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I read Uncompromising Honor, it really suffered from 'wrap it up' syndrome, I thought.
The thing to remember about the Vatta universe is that it's Moon's Traveller campaign written down, much like Deed of Paksennarion is her D&D campaign written down.
I like Fung's work; make sure you read The Obesity Code too, for his take on the science and research into this stuff.
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Yeah, same thing with the last Safehold book the year before. I have heard that Weber has some serious health problems. I assume he's going to let Eric Flint do the heavy lifting to wrap up the Alignment aspects of the story using Zilwicki et al as protagonists.
Facebook (Score:5, Funny)
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I'd give you the funny mod if I ever had a mod point to give, though there's also a bitter edge of insightful in there. Lot of very fractured reading going on these years.
I even have a theory that it's starting to affect the authors, too. For example, I read a couple of David Crystal's books this year, and I noticed that the older one had much larger chapters. (My swansong was teaching a course on technical writing.)
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Well, in German we have a kind of joke about "Mantafahrer", drivers of a certain car brand/model. I adapt it a bit:
A guy asks the other "What did you do last years?"
"Oh, 'Im reading a book!"
"You read? Oh I did not think you are into reading! How thick was it, did you like it?"
"Oh, only few dozen pages, yes I like it, I guess I finish it in a year or so."
"Whow, you are taking your time!"
"Well, the back cover says: from 6 to 99 years!"
My list (Score:2)
Hampton Sides "On Desperate Ground" - US Korean War battle, non-fiction
Delia Owens "Where the Crawdads Sing" - murder mystery, fiction
Brad Thor "spy master" - Scot Harvath novel, spy v. spy fiction
Notable reads, previously published
Stephen King "11-22-63" - Kennedy assassination, King Horror style: one of his best
Winston Churchill "The Gathering Storm & other volumes
JW Rinzler "the Making of Star Wars" ebook edition - great bio of George Lucas, sag
My list: (Score:2)
Fiction ... reading this right now. Lightweight near-future post-scarcity cyberpunk. Nice. Recommended.
- Walkaway (Cory Doctorow)
- The Windup Girl (Paolo Bacigalupi) ... fresh generation cyber/biopunk, got the print edition but started listening to the audibile audiobook. Recommended.
- Foundation Cycle (Isaac Asimov) - never read it, planning to finally catch up as per recommendation by Elon Musk and due to my desire to up my general education, on my list, just got the first one in paperback
Non-Fiction
- The
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Only a few matches in your list, but I've gotten too overwhelmed to comment... However, you did remind me that I forgot to mention this one:
Fire in the Valley by Freiberger et al. I was motivated to read it when Godbout was killed in the Camp Fire in California.
The Invention of Hugo Caberet (Score:2)
It's a kid's book (8+), but it's an amazing story with incredible artwork (over 100 pages of black and white sketches, like a silent movie). It's also a bit sci-fi/tech with automated machines in 1931 Paris. The hardback edition is awesome.
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/... [thriftbooks.com]
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It made a fantastic movie too. One of the few 3D movies where the effect is used as a proper cinematic tool. I still have yet to read it, but my wife owns the hardcover. Might happen in 2019.
Here is a few on kindle unlimited (Score:2)
Weaving Man: Book One of The Prophecy Series
https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod... [amazon.com]
Unsouled (Cradle Book 1)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod... [amazon.com]
Western:
Grizzly Killer: The Making of a Mountain Man
https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod... [amazon.com]
Sci-Fi:
30,000 B.C. Chronicles: Bordeaux
https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod... [amazon.com]
Earth Fall: Invasion
https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod... [amazon.com]
Teeth Of The Sea
https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod... [amazon.com]
Action:
The Jakarta Pandemic: A Pandemic Survival Thriller
https://www.amazo [amazon.com]
Inside the AS/400 (Score:5, Interesting)
A book written by one of the architecture creators. The AS/400 is totally alien compared to the computer architectures we've been using for decades. Definitely worth a read if you're into hardware.
"The World Is Quiet Here" (Score:2)
Lemony Snicket series, including "Series of Unfortunate Events" and "All the Wrong Questions" - At first look, they are just children's books, but the world created by the author is clever, well-written, and slowly revealed. Sophisticated in its analysis of right and wrong, good and bad that is missing in the world.
I'm still not sure about that vague, f
The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett & S. Baxter (Score:4, Interesting)
It was taking a new approach to Sci Fi, but I started with the Long Mars by mistake and I think it got even better
The Long Earth is the first novel in a collaborative science fiction series by British authors Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
My Reading list 2018 (Score:4)
Dennis E Taylor, All These Worlds, For We Are Many, We Are Legion
EmmA Newman, After Atlas, Before Mars, PlanetFall
Ian Douglas, Alter Starscape, Darkness Falling
Jack McDevitt, Coming Home, MoonFall, The Hercules Texts, Eternity Road
John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire, The Consuming Fire, The Dispatcher
Briandon Sanderson, Calamity
Victoria Schwab, City of Ghosts
Vernor Virge, A Fire on the Deep
Bill O'Reilly, Killing the SS, The Day The World Went Nuclear, Killing Patton
Michael McCloskey, Trilisk Ruins, Trilisk AI, Trilik Hunt, Trilisk Superstructure
Jason Levine Miss Nucleus (Reading)
I reread Alan Dean Fosters The Spell Singer Series and The Damned
James S.A. Corey, Persepolis Rising
James Calvell, Shogun
This is just what I can determine with on my Ereader. There are probably a few that I missed and more short stories that I care to mention. I have subscriptions to Analog and Asimov's. I'm not really including the books that I've reread, except the Spellsinger and The Damned books, or audio books. So this is no where near a complete list.
Red Rising series (Score:3)
By Pierce Brown was a good read. One of the few books out there that actually kept me guessing on stuff.
The Mythical Man Month (Score:2)
Got to read that every few years, trust me, it's worth it.
Well... (Score:2)
The most interesting thing I've read this year was the nutrition facts from a box of Rice Krispies. Didn't know it had so much sodium in it!
How many female readers? (Score:2)
I am heartened to see how many readers are here - even this small amount is encouraging after seeing all the grammar and spelling errors usually here and obviously made by people who came along after dead tree media was cool...or maybe after seeming to know your own language became passe. For me, demonstrating ignorance and illiteracy pretty much means I won't hear your argument. Yes, I cut plenty of sl
If we knew how to read females we wouldn't be here (Score:3)
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Into tech? (Score:2)
Go back over the years of Snowden documents.
Political (Score:2)
the good ones this year (Score:2)
Adrian Tchaikovsky
Salvation: A Novel
Peter F. Hamilton
Elysium Fire
Alastair Reynolds
The Green Child
Herbert Read
Robots Have No Tails
Henry Kuttner
I've also been rereading all of the discworld novels to my kid.
A solid history of American capitalism (Score:2)
Change Agent (Score:2)
The Code Book by Simon Singh -- history of Cryptography
Click Here to Kill Everybody by Bruce Schneier
many others.
Andre (Alice) Norton (Score:3)
From Gutenberg.org or other free sites like free-ebooks.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
The Time Traders (1958)
Galactic Derelict (1959) - here at the moment
The Defiant Agents (1962)
Key Out of Time (1963)
Actually I read everything from her, till I switch to the next author, but likely intermix one or two their books that i have started but not finished.
Rationalfic (Score:2)
Last time we did one of these, a few people recommended 'Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality'. It's longer than 'War & Peace' but I wholeheartedly recommend it; it's by far the most brilliant work of fiction I've ever read. Even if you don't normally read fanfiction, you'll like it if you've ever felt dismayed at fiction being written to be conveniently dramatic, with unrealistically-written characters that act in such a way so as to enhance the drama.
On that note, I've read other 'rationalfic'
Neal Asher (Score:2)
I haven't seen him mentioned so far, but this year I'm reading the books from Neal Asher: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
This is hardcore science fiction: basically a paradise of a million planets called the Polity, where humans are ruled by AI. When shit hits the fan, problems get solved by boosted humans working together with good-natured war drones and humongous space ships captained by AI.
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How does this compare to the Culture novels, given these sound similar?
Re: Neal Asher (Score:2)
Anonymous Coward already gave an answer and I pretty much agree with it. The Culture novels are much more paced, there are more characters and they are described more thoroughly and the scenarios more encompassing. The Polity novels have more up and close action, more humor (sorry humour), the storyline is more to the point. However since there are more Polity books, the world feels bigger to me.
Seriously, they're both pretty awesome. If you like Banks, you like Asher.
Them: Why We Hate Each Other (Score:2)
A good non-fiction policy/essay book by Sen. Ben Sasse. Wish they were all this thoughtful in Congress.
"Endurance" (Score:2)
By Scott Kelly
Slow reader (Score:2)
The Book Smugglers of Timbuktu - the (ongoing) story of the history of Timbuktu and all the intrigue around its famed manuscript collection, and the threat from Al Qaeda.
The Water Kingdom - an analysis of China as a civilization revolving around water and flood managment, written by Philip Ball who was an editor for Nature at one point.
I Contain Multitudes - fascinating look at just how much we don't know about the role of bacteria in all aspects of life.
one "old" one new (Score:2)
New book about an author with a similar perspective: Decker's bio of Hermann Hesse, just published by Harvard U. Press. If like me you grew up reading Steppenwolf and Siddhartha and Demian and Magister Ludi, this bio
Been busy writing a book (Score:2)
On the topic of using Systems Analysis techniques to resolve psychological abuse from Sociopaths.
Those people are on the cusp of being anti-social or what we commonly know as psychopaths and they use an array of psychological techniques to abuse high functioning people with high I.Qs. It was the most sobering experience because my own personal experiences with someone who liked to make the people around me suffer, until I figured out how they play their game.
I recruited a small team of psychiatrists a
Ulysses (Score:2)
I read a number of books this year, but one of the ones that stayed with me was James Joyce’s Ulysses. I found Mr. Bloom to be a compelling character, the picture it gave of 1904 Dublin and its residents was fascinating, and the writing was engaging. I didn’t understand a lot of it so I’m going back and rereading it with some reference materials.
Before I started rereading Ulysses, I read the Odyssey for the first time in decades. I was captivated by the intimate look at a culture and physi
en Français (Score:2)
Currently:
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
2018:
Courrier Sud - Antoine de Saint Exupéry
Vol de Nuit - Antoine de Saint Exupéry
Maigret - Georges Simenon
Vingt mille lieues sous les mers - Jules Verne
Dracula (Score:2)
It took me over two months of before reading to get through Dracula. It's good, but full of archaic language and very slow plot movement. Literally finished reading it last night. Going to satay a round of non-fiction because I have a huge backlog thati never get to.
This year's Sci-fi (Score:2)
Becky Chambers: Record of a Spaceborn Few
Emma Newman: Before Mars
Kim Stanley Robinson: Red Moon
John C Wright: The Golden Age
Lois McMaster Bujold: The Flowers of Vashnoi
Nnedi Okorafor: Binti - The Night Masquerade
John Scalzi: Head On An Novel of the Near Future
Scott Meyer; Fight & Flight
Aliette de Bodard: The Tea Master and the Detective
Nathan Lowell: Suicide Run
3 Body Problem (Score:2)
I cant believe I havent seen 3 Body Problem on here. It starts as a weird very chinese sci-fi about physics researchers, and then grows into an incredible epic tale about all of humanity. I cant recommend it enough, its absolutely mind blowing.
Classics (Score:3)
I like classic, well-aged literature. This year I read Middlemarch by George Eliot, expecting it to be something my wife would like because of its similarity to Jane Austen. But I loved it so much and found it so theologically deep that it's probably one of my favorite books ever now--I even bought a hardcover to peruse for good quotes. My wife, however, hated it.
For a shorter, more casual read I also read Dracula, which I liked a lot more than I thought I would. The best part is at the beginning, though, and it starts to drag on after halfway. It is also not very deep.
Recommend (Score:2)
A disturbing read.
https://www.amazon.com/David-Talbot/e/B0034Q2618/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1
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"Outstanding read. First in a series. It won the Prometheus Award for 2018."
OK, I'll believe you. I downloaded just now, because it's free on kindle unlimited, which I use because I read a book or 2 a day, being retired and there's nothing ever on TV.
I've been reading more the past few years (Score:2)
Here's a few recent books I've read:
The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
Koevoet! by Jim Hooper
Secrets and Lies by Marléne Burger & Chandré Gould
The Push by Tommy Caldwell
Five Past Midnight in Bhopal by Dominique Lapierre and Javier Moro
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
A Novel and Efficient Synthesis of Cadaverine by SA Scoggin
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Me, too (regarding the Subject:). Over 100 this year (though that's down from last year and I still need to port that database to a more modern system). However, it's kind of hard for me to pick favorites. A few that are related to Slashdot are:
Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom
Phishing and Countermeasures by Jacobsson and Myers
Mobile Suite Gundam: The Origin 1 by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
Feynman by Jim Ottaviani
The Internet is Not the Answer by Andrew Keen
Payo
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This has been life changing for him, and turned him into quite the bibliophile.
Good luck, and may you as well find a simpler workaround.
Re: Read Books? (Score:2)
That's a long title for a book. Who is the author?
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Yes, but at whom?
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You should read that one again - a bit more carefully.
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Strangely enough, no one has made a porn with a moss covered 3 handled family gradunza yet.
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Hmm... Not sure I should count such easy matches as Neuromancer , though it was mentioned in another book I read just recently.
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This is probably not a coincidence. I was told, years ago, by Bill Ellern [wikipedia.org] that Lucas had wanted to film the Lenseman series, but that Smith's older daughter wouldn't give permission.
Re:Das Capital (Score:4, Interesting)
Or is it you that was brainwashed?
Communism was a failed experiment, it falls apart after a few hundred people, and turns into more or a tyrannical system, where we see today, where the leaders exploit the working class even further under the guise of being for the public good.
While Capitalism has its problems and we should work on finding these problems and addressing them, vs just calling anyone who states such problems as a communist, it spans well to a larger community, of millions to billions of people. With its own forces more or less naturally keeping things in place.
Now that being said, while unbridled capitalism will work, it isn't optimal, because capitalism is inherently a brutal form of economic system, where paid of failure is the driving force to succeed. That is why appropriate controls and safety needs to be in place.
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what you recommend then?
Re: Das Capital (Score:5, Insightful)
what you recommend then?
Not the gp, but I will take a stab at it.
People should absolutely read Karl Marx, but also read opposing views like Milton Friedman or Thomas Sowell. If one just reads Marx, one will remain ignorant of why he was so wrong on economics.
Re: (Score:2)
I'd suggest that a more useful book to start with would be On Liberty by John Stewart Mill, and then Existentialism and Humanism by Sartre. Economics is a tool, and being right or wrong largely depends on what you are trying to do with it.
Re: (Score:2)
my mind is blown. (just adding resolution to this universe's entropy generator) :)
Re: (Score:2)
From the sounds of some of those, you might like the Legend of Zero series. I did, but read them last year so I didn't mention them.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod... [amazon.com]