Ask HN: What were the best books you read this year?

I'm looking for inspiration for the Christmas holidays.

Mine were: – Helen DeWitt, The Last Samurai (2000) – William Cronon, Nature's Metropolis (1991) – John Ma, Polis (2024) – John Julius Norwich, A History of Venice (1982)

(Apologies if someone has posted something similar recently. I did a quick search and couldn't find anything.)

109 points | by christudor 3 days ago

78 comments

  • whacko_quacko 3 days ago
    The End of Race Politics by Coleman Hughes. Pretty good book. I used to be a bleeding heart liberal with pro social justice (read: pro affirmative action) sentiments, but he makes a compelling case against it. Also, it's very well written and fun to read
    • GaryNumanVevo 3 days ago
      It's funny you mention this because in Europe every bleeding heart liberal claims to be color (race) blind.
    • dantheman 3 days ago
      You might like: Discrimination and Disparities (2019) by Thomas Sowell
    • aaomidi 3 days ago
      The author of this book is against trans people being able to exist in this world.

      No thanks tbh. This isn’t identity politics. It’s just live and let live.

      • dispin 3 days ago
        No he isn't, here's a recent tweet of his that explains his position:

        "This also highlights the huge difference between the "LGB" and the "T''. The gay rights movement just asked society to leave them alone and let them get married. No impositions on my life. The trans movement demands that I adopt their new dialect (or I'm a bigot) and allow males to play in girls sports (or I'm a bigot). Big impositions."

        https://x.com/coldxman/status/1855303418975539394

        • aaomidi 2 days ago
          This is extremely similar what anti LGB people were also saying in how they were contrasting it to the civil rights movement.

          Also similar to what the anti-civil rights movement were saying when contrasting it to the end of slavery.

          Here, let me show it:

          "This also highlights the huge difference between the "Abolitionist Movement" and "Civil Rights". The abolitionist movement just asked society to leave them alone. No impositions on my life. The "civil Rights" movement demands that I accept they can share spaces with me (or I'm a bigot) and allow blacks to have access to the same systems in society (or I'm a bigot)."

          The only thing that has changed between these is that once these movements get set in stone, and legislation catches up - reactionary people such as Coleman stop attacking and othering it. This is why history is important. You get to see these patterns and realize its just the same shit happening all over again.

          • dispin 2 days ago
            Please could you explain in more detail why you think this is analogous? I'm not seeing it.

            All you've done is slot some different words into his tweet and asserted that the meaning is similar. How, exactly?

            Also, your original claim was that Hughes is "against trans people being able to exist in this world" which you haven't provided any proof of. That tweet I quoted shows his actual expressed views, which refutes this.

            • aaomidi 2 days ago
              Dictating to trans people about _how they get to live_ is the process of saying they can't co-exist in this world. It is the insinuation that they are _separate but equal_.

              We've been through this ride before. We're going through this ride again. Bigots, like that author, will lose and history will not look kindly upon them.

              However, for now, they get to act as an "enlightened rationalist", and sell books to people so people can justify their discomfort against trans folks.

              These enlightened rationalists aren't new. Again, I'm saying that what history provides us is seeing the patterns of behavior and speech.

              --

              Let me more specifically target that tweet you've sent. Trans people make up such a small number of people, and an even smaller percentage of those would be interested in professional sports. Spending this much time having a moral freakout over this, when there's practically no "unfairness" happening in any mainstream sports is telling.

              This moral outrage has now led to invasive "tests" women have to go through before they participate in multiple sports at an international level. This outrage has caused a proliferation of false claims lodged against women who just, simply do well in sports and don't fall within the very subjectively defined "gender identity".

              For example, what Imane Khelif went through is a damned outrage. Has this author taken responsibility of what their rhetoric might mean to so called "real women" that he's claiming to be so supportive of?

              --

              Now as for the language. As society shifts, and attitudes towards culture changes, our language also changes. It wasn't that far ago where words like the n-word were very common place in American culture. Now, if you're using that you will be considered a bigot. If I'm to take this author at face value, that's somehow supposedly a bad thing?

              This is similar to actively, and maliciously, misgendering someone. It's just not reached that level of understanding in society yet.

              Language is a living and breathing thing. The meanings of words change over time. How acceptable a phrase is changes over time. Folks crying about this are, at best just scared of change, at worst trying to monetize other folks' fear of change. I believe this author falls into the latter here.

              --

              It's not just his tweets, he's set his career around this issue (https://youtu.be/WDFXPlv-R_s). For someone who wants to be less _social justice_, he sure spends a lot of time talking about issues that ultimately are not relevant for 99% of the population, and is just part of the culture war himself.

              • dispin 2 days ago
                "Dictating to trans people about _how they get to live_ is the process of saying they can't co-exist in this world. It is the insinuation that they are _separate but equal_."

                This isn't about "how they get to live". For instance, if a male wants to dress in clothing designed for female wearers and adopt a name more commonly used by women and girls then the vast majority of people will live and let live, and happily co-exist. It's not a problem.

                However it becomes a problem when encroaching on the rights of others. The female category in sports is a great example because exclusion of males is the entire rationale, as this provides women and girls with a competitive space that is fairer and safer than if it is mixed-sex. Allowing males into the category - which effectively destroys it - has a negative impact on female athletes. So of course there is going to be opposition to this.

                "This moral outrage has now led to invasive 'tests' women have to go through before they participate in multiple sports at an international level. This outrage has caused a proliferation of false claims lodged against women who just, simply do well in sports and don't fall within the very subjectively defined 'gender identity'."

                Screening for sex can be done with a cheek swab. This is vastly less invasive than the anti-doping tests athletes must take, which involves having blood taken and urinating in a cup while someone watches.

                "For example, what Imane Khelif went through is a damned outrage. Has this author taken responsibility of what their rhetoric might mean to so called 'real women' that he's claiming to be so supportive of?"

                There's a significant amount of evidence that indicates Imane Khelif is actually male, with the athletic advantage that brings.

                "Language is a living and breathing thing. The meanings of words change over time."

                Right, but going back to the above point, if we can't use words like "man", "boy" or "male" to describe the category of people who are definitionally excluded from the female category of sports without being shut down and complained at, then how can anyone make the case for women's sports to those who disagree? Or indeed any aspect of anything relating to women.

                Perhaps that's the point - attempting to make it "bigoted" and "transphobic" to argue in favor of women's and girls' sex-based rights, rather than presenting any rational argument for taking them away.

                Anyway I think this shows quite clearly that your analogy doesn't fit when one digs into the detail. None of the above is anything like the struggle for racial equality.

                • basementcat 2 days ago
                  > There's a significant amount of evidence that indicates Imane Khelif is actually male, with the athletic advantage that brings.

                  Would it be possible to provide links to some of this evidence in a respectful way?

                  • dispin 2 days ago
                    As I understand it, these are the major pieces of evidence:

                    - Karotype testing of Khelif (and the other disqualified boxer, Lin) showing XY chromosomes, reported by sports journalist Alan Abrahamson who's seen the lab reports and covering letter that was received by the IOC from the IBA: https://www.3wiresports.com/articles/2024/8/5/fa9lt6ypbwx5su...

                    - A member of Khelif's training team, Georges Cazorla, revealing in interview that Khelif has problems with chromosomes and hormones, and has been under testosterone suppression to bring levels into the female range: https://www.lepoint.fr/monde/2024-olympics-imane-khelif-was-...

                    - Extracts from a medical report leaked to French journalist Djaffer Ait Aoudia, which state that Khelif has a disorder of sex development, 5-alpha reductase deficiency, which exists only in males: https://lecorrespondant.net/imane-khelif-ni-ovaires-ni-uteru...

                    There are other oddities as well, like Khelif choosing not to pursue a case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport after being deemed ineligible to compete in IBA events. And the head of the Spanish national team, Rafael Lozano, saying that when the Algerian team visited to train, they ended up matching Khelif with a male boxer to spar, as the upper body strength and punching power was too much for the female boxers.

                    Worth noting also that all this is consistent with Khelif competing at the Olympics in the women's boxing category, as they only ask for identity documentation and do not verify sex, unlike weight classes which are strictly controlled.

          • lofenfew 2 days ago
            Everything is the same as everything else if you rewrite all the words to different words. Regardless, "right to exist in the world" is a patently disingenuous description of the rights in question.
            • aaomidi 2 days ago
              No. This just shows that I know how rhetoric like this evolves.

              This is why I kept lamenting how important learning history, especially the history of bigotry is.

              • lofenfew 2 days ago
                Other people are similarly reading and reacting to your rhetoric. Lying about what your opponents say, regardless of what you think it might evolve into, does not reflect well on you.
        • FireBeyond 2 days ago
          > The trans movement demands that I adopt their new dialect (or I'm a bigot)

          I'm sure he similarly complained when women asked to be called Ms, not just Miss or Mrs, too.

          • dispin 2 days ago
            [flagged]
            • FireBeyond 2 days ago
              No, it's not. "Ms" was absolutely a new dialect, and was similarly scorned by many as it gained popularity, and those who chose to use it where often derided as lesbian, feminist, or otherwise.
              • dispin 2 days ago
                Right, so it's not analogous to women wanting to be called Mr, which is an already-existing word used to refer to men.
                • aaomidi 2 days ago
                  Then, simply, don't use Mr with them.

                  You're going to be called bigoted because that's simply where culture is heading. You either own up to that judgement others have of you, or you realize you live in a society and certain behaviors are _not okay_.

                  You have the freedom to be _subjectively_ a bigot.

                  • dispin 2 days ago
                    Culture seems to be heading away from this, not towards. At least according to polling of public opinion.
                    • aaomidi 2 days ago
                      Clearly not given the number of green usernames on this thread.
                      • dispin 2 days ago
                        That is a non sequitur.
        • slater 2 days ago
          Seems every day, HN gets a new green account that just so happens to be TERF or TERF-adjacent.

          I doubt you just chanced upon HN and made a new account, so why not just post with your regular account?

      • WorkerBee28474 3 days ago
        I think you're being disingenuous. I hadn't heard of that author before, so I went looking for writings that what you said. What I've found so far seems much more nuanced.
      • y33t 2 days ago
        Sounds more like he disagreed with trans ideology and it's literally killing all of them again.
  • mpbart 1 day ago
    The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro. Fascinating book about Robert Moses’ rise to power in New York and how he managed to exert considerable influence over the city and state for decades despite never being elected to office. Caro is an exceptional author who manages to present a huge amount of information without it feeling dry.
  • bemmu 3 days ago
    “Piranesi” by Susanna Clarke.

    Refreshing and beautiful because it’s a totally new kind of world for a story to take place in, essentially survival in a world of procedurally generated endless architecture.

    Most of the time there is just one or two characters among repetitive environments, which was relaxing as I get easily confused if there are 5+ characters to remember or extensive mental visualization required.

    • davidanekstein 3 days ago
      To provide another perspective, I read this book and it was unfortunately just not my thing. The whole plot seemed very clear from the beginning and I found myself eager to get to where the climax occurred. The journey there wasn’t all that compelling, partly for that reason.

      I do agree with your sentiment about number of characters though, that really helped. I find that my working memory for characters isn’t what it used to be.

  • Yawrehto 3 days ago
    Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott. If you're into Jewish history/legend, Baba Yaga, intergenerational trauma, or just good books, I would find it difficult to recommend it more. It's well-told and well-paced (note: do not read at night if you have something to do in the early morning the next day). As you would expect from a book drawing heavily on Jewish history, it can be difficult to read.

    Middlegame by Seanan McGuire. Excellent book that handles time travel and its implications reasonablly well. She also wrote a shorter, "children's" book series under a pen name; quotes from it appeared in Middlegame. It's called the Up-and-under series. I've only made it through book one so far, as I lost book two, but so far it's been good!

    Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. It's been on my list of books to read for ages and it is in fact excellent, if difficult. I'm planning on reading some of her--allegedly much less dark--books about the sea next, because I've heard she can be very poetic and in Silent Spring it shines through sometimes, but not often.

    • kreyenborgi 2 days ago
      Another vote for Silent Spring here. One of those books that stay with you.
  • bwb 2 days ago
    If you guys want to browse, I've had 1,300+ readers share their 3 favorite reads of the year here: https://shepherd.com/bboy/2024

    You can browse by a lot of different genres, etc.

    You can also submit yours here -> https://shepherd.com/bboy/my-3-fav-reads

    You can see my 3 here: https://shepherd.com/bboy/2024/f/bwb *Every submitter gets a page like that.

    What were my 3? 1. The Cold Cold Ground - Fantastic police procedural set in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. 2. The Aggressor - Near future Tom-Clancy-like sketch of a USA/China war. 3. Wounded Tigris - Amazing Nonfiction about a team traveling down the entire Tigris River. Heavy on environment, history, and people. Utterly fascinating.

  • mlsu 3 days ago
    I finally read Nabokov's Pale Fire. It is far and away the best book I have ever read. I think about it multiple times a week unprompted and I'm sad because I am certain that I will never find another book like it.
    • christudor 3 days ago
      Read a few years ago and agree with this assessment. A genuine work of genius, and probably in my top five books of all time.
    • number6 3 days ago
      I read maybe half. Didn't get it. Somewhere in the middle he starts to comment about all that happened? Is it part of the book?
  • montgomery_r 3 days ago
    Some politics books I've read or re-read this year:

    Fall Out - Tim Shipman, on of his astonishingly detailed quartet on Britain's exit from the EU;

    Robert Blake's biography of Disraeli, magisterial yet readable;

    Boris Johnson's memoir Unleashed, great fun if you like his tone;

    Colonialism, a Moral Reckoning, Nigel Biggar, an antidote to the more ahistorical versions of the BLM narrative.

    The Notebook - A history of thinking on paper, Roland Allen - a joyful romp through the notebook's history;

    Elusive - How Peter Higgs solved the mystery of Mass, Frank Close - a nice account of the discovery of the Higgs Boson, with perhaps too much biography of Higgs, who after all as a lecturer at Edinburgh was not a thrill-seeker.

    Carlo Rovelli's White Holes, implausible but beautifully written.

  • A_D_E_P_T 3 days ago
    Michel Houellebecq, Annihilation. A clear-eyed and direct novel about the meaning and measure of individual human life in our modern age -- and yet it concedes nothing to modern literary or social fashions, but instead goes for universality and timelessness.
    • more_corn 3 days ago
      I thought it was about cancer.
      • A_D_E_P_T 3 days ago
        That's part of it, and I would say a relatively small part -- something akin to a plot device. For the book is also about one's family, and one's labor, and about the dignity of individual man relative to the dignity of man's political society. (The latter comes off much the worse.) It is a remarkable book.
  • gnat 3 days ago
    Nuclear War: A Scenario, by Annie Jacobsen. It's a short book, with second-by-second description of the unfolding of a research-based hypothetical nuclear war that starts with North Korea launching an ICBM towards the United States. Alarming (as only the facts about the parlous state of detection and defence can alarm) and edifying in one.
    • christudor 3 days ago
      Read this earlier this year -– enjoyable!
    • mongol 3 days ago
      Read that one too. Chilling.
  • fredoliveira 3 days ago
    Read a lot this year — a lot more than most years. A few highlights:

    The making of the atomic bomb by Richard Rhodes was probably the best of the bunch. I read it because I see some parallels between the discovery of atomic power and the search for AGI, and wanted an insight on the ethics and decision making of the time. It didn't disappoint.

    The dawn of everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow was a solid read and retelling of how civilization began and evolved.

    The message by Ta-Nehisi Coates, I read in two sittings — it was that impactful. A reminder of how the oppressed becomes the oppressor again and again. "As it happens, you can See the world but never see the people in it"

    Other highlights: The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt; re-read Thinking in Systems by Daniella Meadows; re-read Wherever You Go There You Are by Jon Kabat Zinn; The light eaters by Zoe Schlanger; I don't want to talk about it, by Terrence Real.

    • christudor 3 days ago
      The Making of the Atomic Bomb is in my top three non-fiction books I have ever read.

      Will I like The Dawn of Everything if I didn't like Harari's Sapiens? (I loved Graeber's Debt: The First 5000 Years)

      • fredoliveira 3 days ago
        I'd say so. I didn't dislike Sapiens, but found The Dawn of Everything to be deeper in many ways.
  • sien 3 days ago
    A few of the books that stand out that I've read this year.

    Troubled - Rob Henderson. About how Henderson was in state care and wound up at prestigious universities and his thoughts on the world.

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/176444107-troubled

    Not the End of the World - Hannah Ritchie from 'Our World in Data' about the state of the planet.

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/145624737-not-the-end-of...

    Dictatorland - Paul Kenyon - About the dictators who have impoverished Africa.

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36260719-dictatorland

    Magic Pill - Johann Hari - About Semaglutide and how people got fat.

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/201319612-magic-pill

    On the Edge - Nate Silver - About how seeing the world in terms of risk and expected value can work.

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/204236707-on-the-edge

    Orbital - Samantha Harvey - Booker Prize winner about people on the ISS and the world.

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123136728-orbital

    Build, Baby, Build - Bryan Caplan on why YIMBYism is a good idea. This is a graphic novel. It's really fun.

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/181564537-build-baby-bui...

  • sevensor 3 days ago
    Foucault’s Pendulum (1988) by Umberto Eco. A novel about how easy it is to build meaning around the meaningless.

    The Last of the Wine (1956) by Mary Renault. Athens on its way to losing the war with Sparta. You know what’s coming for Athens, but the characters do not. The atrocity at Melos echoes through the whole book.

    Strong recommendation for both; they feel very much of the present, age notwithstanding.

  • k__ 3 days ago
    My reads this year with my personal ratings:

    Greg Egan, Diaspora (7/10)

    Dan Simmons, Hyperion 1-4 (9/10)

    James S.A. Corey, Leviathan Wakes (6/10)

    Scott Alexander, Unsong (7/10)

    Qtmn, Ra (7/10)

    Qtmn, Fine Structure (6/10)

    Andy Weir, Project Hail Mary (6/10)

    Wildbow, Worm (8/10)

    • GeoAtreides 3 days ago
      Worm mentioned wooooo

      amazing how a niche webserial from 10 years ago is still being read and having an impact

      also, the ride doesn't have to end, lots of Worm fanfictions out there, some of them are really good

    • berbec 2 days ago
      The Hyperion series is spectacular and a must-read for any scifi enjoyer.
      • k__ 2 days ago
        I knew about it for over a decade, but didn't read it because the premise sounded quite dumb, lol.

        Pilgrims?

        A random monster?

        WTH?!

        But it was very sci-fi-y in the end. Interesting concepts, not too soft on the science.

        Loved it.

  • gangstead 3 days ago
    Reentry by Eric Berger. It came out in October. It's a follow up to his book Liftoff from 2021. Great books for space nerds. Makes me really admire what Space X has accomplished while also eliminating any desire I had to work for them.
    • computerdork 3 days ago
      Liftoff was super interesting. The start of SpaceX and the Falcon 1 is an incredible story. Didn't know about "Reentry", will have to check it out!
    • christudor 3 days ago
      Liftoff is already on my list, actually! Thought I'd read that one first before deciding whether to get Reentry.
      • gangstead 3 days ago
        Definitely read Liftoff first. Reentry picks up at the next chapter of SpaceX right where Liftoff wraps up.

        Both great books.

  • satvikpendem 3 days ago
    Shogun, after having watched the show. I also read the other books in Clavell's series, I thought Tai Pan and Gai Jin were interesting but not as much as Shogun. Gai Jin in particular felt like it had lots of filler.
  • Cloudly 3 days ago
    Mathematica: A Secret World of Intuition and Curiosity- David Bessis

    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/200128457-mathematica?ac...

    Excellent book on mathematical thinking in the true sense - what needs to happen in the mind's eye to really grapple with abstract mathematics. Definitely a eye (mind?) opener for someone who has some graduate level math education but couldn't gel with the crazier stuff.

    Came across the book from this article which was on HN a little bit ago: https://www.quantamagazine.org/mathematical-thinking-isnt-wh...

    • edanm 3 days ago
      It's on my list, really looking forward to reading it.

      I actually ran into it a few weeks before that article, then again when the article came out.

    • teleforce 3 days ago
      +1 this book is on my reading list for this year.
  • kreyenborgi 2 days ago
    On the Calculation of Volume, by Solvej Balle.

    It's a septology, curiously self-published by an established author, which she started on decades ago. Books 1 through 5 are out in Danish. The main plot device is superficially reminiscent of Groundhog Day, but with a completely different execution. Starts out kind of claustrophobic, then goes through these waves of revelations and disappointment and hypothesizing and hopefulness and rebuilding. I find it hard to compare to anything.

  • apignotti 3 days ago
    Benjamín Labatut - The Maniac, a novelized biography about the mathematician and computer science pioneer John von Neumann.

    The story of his life was absolute fascinating for me, unfortunately the last part of the book attempts a connection with the development of Alpha Go / reinforcement learning that should have been avoided.

  • giaour 3 days ago
    Highlights so far this year are:

    - Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesch -- really phenomenal pacing and psychological terror in a sci-fi action novel.

    - The Golem of Brooklyn by Adam Mansbach -- good portrait of different strains of American Judaism in a book structured around a quest

    - Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters -- great characters and structured revelation. This was sitting unread on my shelf for years because I thought it would be preachy, but it wasn't.

    - The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman -- tales from Camelot in the aftermath of Arthur's defeat at Camlann. Excellent mixing of round table legends from different points in history.

  • mike978 3 days ago
    A couple of my favorites from this year, I read a lot (50 to 100 a year)

    Fiction:

    - What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver

    - Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky

    - A Man with One of Those Faces by Caimh Mcdonnell

    - Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

    - A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

    - Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton

    - Where the Body Was by Ed Brubaker and Sean Philips

    Nonfiction:

    - Exiles by Preston Sprinkle

    - Jesus and the Powers by N. T. Wright & Michael F. Bird

    - With All Its Teeth by Joshua S. Porter

    - In Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki

    - A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz

    Copenhagen(play) by Michael Frayn done by BBC Radio, not really a book, but it's great. https://archive.org/details/michael-frayn-copenhagen

    • teleforce 3 days ago
      Asking for myself, is there any trick or strategy to achieve reading 100 books per year, are you retired, or part-time employee. Is hard to imagine a full-time employee to read that many books in one single year?
      • edanm 3 days ago
        Not the parent, but I am a full-time employee (I run a software business but work at it full time). I also read usually 90+ books a year.

        The main "trick" is that the majority of books I read are audiobooks, usually at 2x or even 3x speed. And I'm just always reading, or listening to a podcast. There is a lot of slack time in which you can't be doing something else, and I use it for books. E.g. getting up in the morning and arranging food for my kids for school, or doing the dishes, or walking to/from work, or going to the gym, running to buy groceries, etc.

        It really doesn't take that much time to read a lot. Say you want to read 52 books a year - that's a book a week. Depending on what you read, the average book is 10-20 hours on Audible, so let's say 15 hrs on average. If you read at 2x speed that's 7.5 hours of listening time per week, or roughly an hour a day. For most people that is easily achievable just with their commute to work.

      • paulcole 3 days ago
        I’m 42 with a full-time job and am at 103 books read so far this year.

        The tricks are to put a lot of time in it and always have a surplus of interesting books on hand. I spend around $2k a year on Kindle books (if I talk to someone and they mention a book they like, I’ll usually just buy it) and make reading a daily habit.

        I read on average an hour a day on weekdays and two or more hours on weekends. Reading is one of the things I enjoy the most and has been for my entire life.

        • edanm 3 days ago
          Out of curiosity, do you also listen to audiobooks?

          And dammit, I thought I read a lot, and here you are beating me.. I'm only at 101 this year... :)

          • paulcole 3 days ago
            Audiobooks very rarely. Only if I’ve heard the “performance” of it is good. The last couple I remember were Great Gatsby read by Jake Gyllenhaal and Devolution read by Judy Greer. I live in the Pacific Northwest and listened to that one while trail running.

            I do really like podcasts though and am at 360 hours listened this year, almost exclusively while running, walking, or doing chores around the apartment.

      • mike978 2 days ago
        I'll do audiobooks while I do the grocery shopping or drive. And some of the books are kind of cheating as there are always a few graphic novels or 90 or 150 page books. But even as a parent I can find some time by cutting down screen time.

        Also even though I enjoy reading a lot, I find more isn't always better, but I've been trying to survey some topics - fascism, Christian Nationalism, etc. If I really want to get something out of what I'm reading or if it is a complex topic I have to slow down.

      • cinntaile 2 days ago
        They don't read, they listen. The title specifically asks for books you read so I'm not sure why they mention them.
    • edanm 3 days ago
      I also read A Tale of Love and Darkness this year, it was great.

      And A Desolation Called Peace, or really that series, is one of my favorite SF reads of the last 10 years, I've recommended it often.

  • znpy 3 days ago
    Not sure if "the best", but one of the best was "A Psalm for the Wild-Built" by Becky Chambers. I was reading it out of curiosity for the solarpunk genre, it ended up helping me a bit on the self-acceptance side.

    Other than that, "Il deserto dei Tartari" by Dino Buzzati (in english: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tartar_Steppe). Gave me some different point of view when thinking about time passing by. This was actually an audio-book, but I don't think there's any difference.

  • rasulkireev 1 day ago
    When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut.

    It is about scientists that are fully consumed by their work, going mad somtimes. Their work is making a world a better place, but at the same time is used to kill lots of people.

    This is the first book for me that I can say is beautifully written. Even though the subject was heavy at times, I couldn't stop reading it.

  • perrygeo 3 days ago
    Origin - A genetic history of the Americas by Jennifer Raff. Recent evidence of how humans came to the Americas; it's a significantly different story than our conventional wisdom account.

    Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches by Marvin Harris. How cultural norms establish collective behavior.

    The Extermination of the American Bison. Written in the late 1800s as the tragedy was unfolding. Lots on great detail on how and why we decimated a keystone species in a matter of a few decades.

    Plato's Revenge by William Ophuls. A concise manifesto on societal change. Lays out a vision for a new post-growth, post-oil, ecological consciousness that incorporates modern science, religion and philosophy.

    Four Thousand Weeks. Far from a self-help time-management book, this is more a philosophy book on human's relationship with time. Delightful read.

    Breath by James Nestor. Modern humans are breathing incorrectly due to factors of modern life. An exploration of the science and art of breathing properly.

    Bernoulli's Fallacy by Aubrey Clayton. In the statistical wars, this book takes a strong stance: Bayesian is unequivocally better. He exploses the racist/colonial history of frequentist statistics, as well as the fundamental flaws in their math. Posits that mis-applied frequentist methods are to blame for the reproducibility crisis in science.

    How the World Really Works by Vaclav Smil. A no-nonsense, factual account of the systems that keep our modern globalized society running.

    Elements of Clojure by Zach Tellman. A concise, high-level philosophy about how we build and compose abstractions. One of those books where every sentence is gold. My only wish that the book wasn't tied to Clojure (most of the book is applicable to any language, despite the title).

    Tidy First? by Kent Beck. How and when to make structural changes (refactoring, architecture, paying down tech debt) vs behavioral changes (new features, bug fixes). You need both, and you can use economic theory as a guide for when to invest in one or the other. But you need to treat them differently.

    Numerical Linear Algebra for Programmers by Dragan Djuric. A code-centric introduction to common linear algrebra routines, Using Clojure and the neaderthal library - a high-level API for fast math optimized for CPU and GPU hardware.

  • internet_points 3 days ago
    Hm, the one I enjoyed the most this year was Susanna Clarke's Piranesi – engrossing, awesome and beautiful.
  • mock-possum 3 days ago
    I read a very sadly sweet near-future-sci-fi book, very much in the vein of Bradbury, called “Klara And The Sun,” by Kazuo Ishiguro.

    It very credibly tells an agonizingly familiar human story, from the perspective of a inescapably inhuman android protagonist - by seeing the world through her eyes, you also learn who she is, and what her experience of consciousness is - you in fact are offered a precious insight into the nature of artificial consciousness that no one else in the book is quite properly aware of.

  • codazoda 3 days ago
    Here are a few I enjoyed this year...

    Walts Way, Andrew Lock Busy Doing Nothing, Hundred Rabbits The Art and Business of Online Writing, Nocolas Cole

    If you want to be a writer and publish your own book I've written a short how-to guide. I'm updating it right now, building a site to promote other authors, and I'll release the new version in the coming days. My email address is in my profile if you're interested.

  • gangstead 3 days ago
    Neal Stephenson has a brand new book out this month called Polostan. It's my favorite Stephenson book in a while. It's historical fiction in the Cryptonmicon genre.
  • shpx 3 days ago
    The Machinery of Life by David S. Goodsell - it's a short microbiology book with paintings and renders of molecules and molecular processes. It's easy to read and imagining biology is straightforward when you can just see the molecules. I heard about it from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40103590
    • a_tartaruga 3 days ago
      ^^ This book is the best

      I heard about it from the same HN post

  • predictand 3 days ago
    Daemon series by Daniel Suarez: I can’t believe I slept on this book for so long. It would have altered my worldview fundamentally if I had read it at a younger age.

    Mind Hunter: Somehow even better than the show.

    A Brief History of Intelligence: Packed with so much knowledge about the evolution, mechanics, and different forms of intelligence. One of the best non-fiction books I have read in a long time.

  • dimbulb321 1 day ago
    Two books by Ty Gagne:

    - The Last Traverse; Tragedy and Resilience in the Winter Whites

    - Where You'll Find Me: Risk, Decisions, and the Last Climb of Kate Matrosova

    Each book covers a wintertime climbing tragedy in the NH White Mountains but they're really about human nature, risk management, and decision making. I found both books riveting, devoured each in a few evenings of reading.

  • mindcrime 3 days ago
    Seeing this reminds me of something I'm not proud of. I've done effectively no reading this year. At least not by my normal standards.

    I generally read between 30-50 books a year (mix of fiction and non-fiction). But this year I knew my focus was going to be more on research, reading papers, writing code, etc. so I set my reading goal lower than normal (I usually set it to like 75, knowing that that's a bit aspirational). This year? I set it to like, 30. And I won't come close to hitting that. Right now I'm at 7 books for the year. So I don't have a big sample set to choose from. :-(

    That said...

    Of what I did read, a couple were pretty good:

    Non-fiction:

    Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age, in Five Extraordinary Hacks- Scott J. Shapiro

    Readings in Agents - Huhns, Singh (eds)

    Programming Multi-Agent Systems in AgentSpeak using Jason - Bordini, Hubner, & Wooldridge

    Fiction:

    In Too Deep (Jack Reacher, #29) - Lee Child

    • edanm 3 days ago
      You know, I misread your opening sentence at first and thought you said you are proud of this.

      And I gotta say, I've considered a few times lowering my "target" books read per year, to make more time for studying, reading articles, etc. And I totally thought that's what you were doing since you mentioned reading papers, research etc. And I was super proud on your behalf for doing that.

      So anyway, just popping in to say that maybe there's a bright side to lowering your goal.

      • mindcrime 2 days ago
        Yeah, no doubt. I mean, don't get me wrong: I'm proud of the work I've done this year in total. I'm just not pointedly proud of having to say "I've only read 7 books this year", especially in light of my traditional norms in that regard.
  • MarcelOlsz 3 days ago
    Best one was Something Happened by Joseph Heller (Catch 22 guy). Worst one was 1Q84 by Murakami (so far).
    • computerdork 3 days ago
      Catch 22 is one of the funniest (while still having depth) books ever! Have never looked into his other books, will have to check it out
      • MarcelOlsz 3 days ago
        If you thought Catch 22 was funny this book will split you in half. I had to take it at only a few pages a day and re-read them a few times. I will say though, I might be misremembering how good it was, it's been a few years. I'm going to make a go of it again. I remember feeling at the time that I was reading the diary of a sort of "4chan patient zero".
  • tmaly 3 days ago
    I usually come across one book a year that I really enjoy if I am lucky.

    The Wall Speaks by Jerr was that book this year.

    A very interesting perspective on masculine vs feminine frame.

    The biggest takeaway is working on the external to improve the internal.

  • everyone 3 days ago
    We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor

    Very entertaining sci-fi. I tore through it a a couple of days.

    • Hikikomori 3 days ago
      Expeditionary force series by Craig Alanson is good if you want more fun sci-fi.
    • grujicd 3 days ago
      It's just a first one, there are more books in Bobiverse series.
      • la_bruin 3 days ago
        There are 5 Bobiverse books, all of which are marvelously read by Ray Porter on audiobook if you listen in the car on long, long drives like I do.

        The 5th book is an "audiobook only" release until January 2025 (I think) called, "NOT TILL WE ARE LOST".

        And the Bobiverse series has recently been optioned to Universal!

        http://dennisetaylor.org/status-of-things/

        • k__ 3 days ago
          The last one was a bit off.
          • number6 3 days ago
            It just stops in the middle of the book... I hope the Missing parts follow quickly
            • k__ 3 days ago
              I mean, I get it, the story got bigger with every book and he hand to ground it again.

              But somehow this "let's go on an adventure and do some beaver shenanigans" felt strange, lol.

    • greedylizard 3 days ago
      Great series. I still think about Archimedes often.
  • snapplebobapple 1 day ago
    The orthogonal trilogy from Greg Egan really stands out (Clockwork rocket, eternal flame and the arrow of time) for fiction.

    For non fiction "Why nations Fail" by Daron Acemoglu was quite well done.

  • massung 3 days ago
    My reads this read, which I enjoyed:

    - Dead Mountain by Donnie Eichar (an examination of the Dyatlov Expedition).

    - Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (fantasy).

    - Be Useful by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

    - Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden.

    Hopefully the other responses here give me something good to read for Christmas break. :-)

  • mat41 3 days ago
    Olaf Stapledon, Last and First Men (1930)

    Olaf Stapledon, Star Maker (1937)

    Rather difficult reads for me as a non-native english speaker, but it was worth it. It is hard to imagine a more epic science fiction scenario than "Star Maker".

  • WheelsAtLarge 3 days ago
    The End is Always Near, Dan Carlin

    A quick read on many points in history when things looked grim and it must have seemed like the end of society was coming --an interesting read not necessarily mind-blowing.

  • computerdork 3 days ago
    Grendel by Gardner (so playful and creative), Jane Eyre (a classic with wonderful language and intense story), Sapiens (extraordinarily interesting survey of human history)
  • runjake 2 days ago
    Replay by Ken Grimwood.

    Don’t read anything about the plot, it will spoil it. Don’t read the Wikipedia article.

    It’s a science fiction novel. Relatively short.

    The book will hit you differently, depending on your age.

    It’s messed with me for weeks and it’s still messing with me.

    https://a.co/d/frMZHPq

  • tmtvl 3 days ago
    53 days ago there was a thread about the best book we've ever read. As I have re-read the book this year I will link my comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41758060

    For a general recommendation for a book to buy for Christmas I'd say the Annotated Alice by Martin Gardner is quite wonderful, if you'll pardon the pun.

  • Pedder 3 days ago
    Flatland 1884 by Edwin A. Abbott
    • computerdork 3 days ago
      when I first read it, felt like it was written in the modern era. Was surprised to find afterwards that it was written in the victorian period.
  • igor47 3 days ago
    The Deluge -- a darker take on climate change than Ministry for the Future, but also felt pretty realistic.

    This is how you lose the time war -- took me a long time to start this book, and then I couldn't put it down.

    Non fiction, I really enjoyed Slouching Towards Utopia. I'm a sucker for narrative history like that, and I got a few useful concepts from the book. I also really liked The Prince of Peace, a biography of Keynes.

  • asicsp 3 days ago
    I mostly read progression fantasy books these days. Here are some series that I enjoyed a lot:

    * "Beware of Chicken" by CasualFarmer

    * "The Immaculate Collection" by havlo

    * "The Runic Artist" by Ellake

    * "The Broken Knife" by SilverSidhe

    * "Immovable Mage" by ImmovableMage

    * "The Gorgon Incident and Other Stories" by John Bierce

    * "Quest Academy" by Brian J. Nordon

    * "The Weirkey Chronicles" by Sarah Lin

  • hiyer 2 days ago
    Cemetery of Forgotten Books series by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. The stories are very dark and affecting. His descriptions are evocative, and the writing is absolutely beautiful even in translation.
  • I_complete_me 3 days ago
    Murder in the Crooked House by Soji Shimada According to some, one of the great locked room mysteries. Recommended but I am guessing it's better in the original.

    The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell Not as amazing as I thought it would be but memorable nonetheless.

    Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent Something nice about this book. Not for everyone. What is?

  • sgt 3 days ago
    Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (Walter Isaacson)

    Highly recommend it. Don't waste your time with Franklin's autobiography.

    • istultus 3 days ago
      Also read it this year - very good.
  • parallax_error 3 days ago
    I found “Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" - Autobiography about Richard Feynman very interesting
    • ivan_ah 1 day ago
      I recently learned[1] that he didn't write this book. He was telling stories to Ralph Leighton, who then wrote the books, and there is reason to believe many of the stories were embellished/enhanced. I'm kind of disappointed now that he didn't write the book himself, but I remember enjoying it when I read it as an undergrad.

      [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwKpj2ISQAc

    • more_corn 3 days ago
      That was a good one.
  • royka118 3 days ago
    Empire World An amazing read that really opened my eye to the legacy of empire

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Empireworld-British-Imperialism-Sha...

  • neofrommatrix 2 days ago
    I discovered Noam Chomsky last year. Read “How the world works”, “Understanding Power” and “Manufacturing Consent”. Absolutely blown away.
  • mike503 3 days ago
    If audiobooks count, so far enjoying the hell out of Project Hail Mary, I possibly got turned on to it by a mention on HN (I like The Martian movie, so I gave it a shot, and maybe decide to get that on audiobook too, now)
  • cannibalXxx 1 day ago
    as a programmer the best were recommended by a user in this post https://chat-to.dev/post?id=147
  • 1-2-3-5-8 3 days ago
    On top of my list of best books this year is The Golden Road by William Dalrymple
  • max_ 3 days ago
    The Pocket Oracle and the Art of Prudence by Baltasar Gracion

    This is going to be a life time companion for me.

    It's a book of 300 maxims.

    If you want be be better person, wiser. Get a copy.

    • WorkerBee28474 2 days ago
      Another title (possible more common in English) for the book is 'The Art Of Worldly Wisdom'.

      It's a great little book.

  • needSomeCoffee 3 days ago
    Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes. Probably the best expose about the vileness of politicians and command ladder climbers within the service as they related to Vietnam.
  • dontknowmuch 3 days ago
    Either David Copperfield by Charles Dickens or Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. Both are very long novels that get better and better with every page.
  • hexis 3 days ago
    Helen DeWitt wrote another novel after The Last Samurai, Lightning Rods. It's a very different book, but definitely worth a try! Good luck!
  • mongol 3 days ago
    I only read two books. Lost in Maths by Sabine Hossenfelder, and Nuclear War A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen. Both were worthwhile. I want to read more.
  • greedylizard 3 days ago
    I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom - Jason Pargin. It’s about what happens when individually radicalized people collide.
  • sandy_coyote 3 days ago
    I caught up with some science fiction this year.

    The Murderbot diaries books by Martha Wells - 6/10. Mixed on these. They're fun to read. The setting is cool and the worldbuilding is shallow but effective (i.e., don't read it if you want game of thrones in space). Each novella takes an afternoon to read. I think "snarky violent droid" is overcooked these days and lost interest after book 5.

    Light by M. John Harrison - 7/10 excellent prose; great multiple-storyline plot; the journey was better than the destination, but it kept me thinking

    Far from the Light of Heaven by Tade Thompson - 7/10 Fun. If "near future Nigerian/British post-colonial frontier action with guns, robots, and psychic aliens" sounds cool to you, check it out. I liked his Rosewater Trilogy just as much.

    Blindsight and Echopraxia by Peter Watts - tough to rate these. brilliant ideas, VERY challenging plots. I wish I didn't get so confused by the end of each book.

    Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir - 6/10 - this and the Martian read like blog posts pasted together. The grand dilemma is spelled out on page one and never gets any deeper. Pro: the plot is in your face on every page and you will never be confused when reading; Con - there is zero internal character development. Read if you like stories driven by applied science, not comparative moral decision-making.

    The City and the City by China Miéville - 9/10 - you will invariably see something like "Kafka meets [some affected crime novelist] to describe this book, and that ain't wrong. Kind of SF, kind of fantasy.

    Railsea by China Miéville - 8/10 - great good vs evil YA SF about, well, imagine if trains were like boats. Good character writing, tight plot.

    The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi - 8/10 - loved this. More "realist" near-future fabulism than Gibson, but if you love cyberpunk, read this.

    The Shipbreaker Triology by Paolo Bacigalupi - 6/10 - near-future YA science fiction with a lot of blood and guns. Pretty good stories.

    Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers - 9/10 - reread. I had to go back. This gets a near perfect score because of its style, setting, and plot.

    The Sprawl Trilogy (Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive) by William Gibson - 9/10 - I had read Neuromancer 3 times but never the next two. I was pleasantly surprised to find the second and third novel easier to read* but just as enjoyable as Neuromancer.

    The Bridge trilogy by William Gibson - 8/10 so far. I am in the second book. Can't believe I slept on these for the last couple decades.

    non-SF:

    Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991 by Michael Azerrad - 9/10 - if you like punk/hardcore from the 80s, this is a great read.

    * Every time I read Neuromancer, Gibson's literary footguns --holograms, false memories, hallucinations, and drug-addled unreality--make me feel crazy for not being able to follow the plot at times. I'm okay with believing that was the intended effect.

  • spencerchubb 3 days ago
    Hunger Games Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

    you don't have to have read the other Hunger Games because it is set about 60 years before the others

  • blockwriter 2 days ago
    A few of this year's highlights for me and my notes on the books, where available.

    Fiction -

    Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky - https://papertrail.biblish.com/books/2ab29d16-0cb1-4ef8-8cde...

    Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - https://papertrail.biblish.com/books/65214629-29ac-45a6-b474...

    Bleak House by Charles Dickens

    The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy - https://papertrail.biblish.com/books/bd090cb4-bc9a-41cb-9833...

    Nonfiction -

    The House of Government by Yuri Slezkine (my luckiest find of the year)

    Stalin: The Court of The Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montefiore - https://papertrail.biblish.com/books/13ebec0d-0859-4858-864a...

    Vienna by Richard Cockett - https://papertrail.biblish.com/books/c0e1d1fb-dea7-456b-a95e...

    The House That Madigan Built by Ray Long (an interesting history of a legendary figure in Illinois state politics)

    Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe

  • Hikikomori 3 days ago
    Haven't read it yet as it comes out in a week but it will be Wind of truth, book 5 in stormlight archive series.
  • rumblestrut 3 days ago
    “On Tyranny,” by Timothy Snyder
  • pm2222 3 days ago
    by Tariq Rashid

      https://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Own-Neural-Network-ebook/dp/B01EER4Z4G
      https://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-First-GAN-PyTorch-ebook/dp/B085Z96M9P
  • lowbloodsugar 3 days ago
    qntm, There is no antimemetics division.

    Tamsin Muir, Gideon the Ninth

    Iain M Banks, The Algebraist

    D F Jones, Colossus

    James S A Corey, The Mercy of Gods

  • anandpdoshi 3 days ago
    Firefighter Zen by Hersch Wilson

    Nine lies about work by Marcus Buckingham

    How to know a person by David Brooks

  • e3a8 3 days ago
    Signature in the cell - Stephen C. Meyer

    The Divine Reality - Hamza Andreas Tzortzis

  • aEJ04Izw5HYm 3 days ago
    'Built to fail' by Alan Payne painted such a richer picture than the binary "netflix came along" argument. The writing had alot of emotional investment since the author owned so many shops in the blockbuster franchise.

    A little more dense: "Chip War" by Chris Miller... a macro economic/political picture of silicon valley growth that fills in so many holes in popular lore.

  • mcv 3 days ago
    I finally read Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harari. Powerful ideas.
    • more_corn 3 days ago
      I’m reading Nexus, also pretty great.
  • AnonimousCoward 2 days ago
    The art of clear thinking, by Hasard Lee.
  • gtsnexp 3 days ago
    I Want to be a Mathematician: An Automathography

    Paul Richard Halmos

  • dlkf 3 days ago
    Concrete Island by JG Ballard

    Libra by Don Delilo

    Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith

  • brudgers 3 days ago
    Creative Way of Being, Rick Rubin
  • Duckyroad 3 days ago
    [dead]
  • Pedder 3 days ago
    Flatland 1884 by Edwin A. Abbott.
  • blutech 3 days ago
    I can give you some information about UK most selling books. Follow the link below https://britishauthor.uk/the-book-people-uk-top-5