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.
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.
Godel Escher Bach is the best book I've read. Very interesting topics and the sheer creativity of the writing is amazing.
I prefer his autobiography (https://xkcd.com/917/).
Seriously though, this question is unanswerable, but your answer is probably one of the few books I'd get behind as an answer to this.
i have the book and tried to read it many times, but never grokked it tbh. ;-)
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Hofstadter is such a brilliant writer. All of his books are really on another level.
The truth is, if you ask me this 100 times, you'll probably get 100 different answers, because it's impossible to really pick just one (well two, separating by fiction/non-fiction). But for today I'll go with:
Fiction: Neuromancer
Non-fiction: The Selfish Gene
That's why it's an interesting question worth asking andbthinking about.
It's fine that it's hard to answer, or the answer changes. The goal is not to actually determine the correct answer but to explore the possible answers and the reasoning that produces them, and the differences that different people produce.
Came to say The Selfish Gene for nonfiction. Changed the way I thought about things.
Haven't read The Selfish Gene, but reading the summary it looks like it touches on some very similar themes as Stephen Pinker's How The Mind Works, which I thought was also a great book. Gave me a good intuitive understanding of how the human neural system evolved, and I found so much of the book to be prescient and timely in our current "AI era".
Taking “best” to mean, “About to be banished to a small, rocky island in the North Atlantic, can pack one book”: Ulysses, and it’s not particularly close.
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.
Good answer. Most people who answer the one X to take when banished pick don't take into account that in their banishment they might not be provided with anything intellectually challenging, and just pick their current favorite X which is often something that 6 months from now will rarely be revisited because they have a new favorite.
They are really usually answering "what one X would you take with you on a vacation?".
A good X for banishment might even be an X that has never been a favorite of yours. For example if I had one musical work and one book I'd seriously consider Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen and a German to English dictionary. Neither of those is anywhere near a favorite of mine--I do own a copy of Der Ring des Nibelungen but only occasionally listen and then only to the famous parts, and I don't think I've ever even looked in a German to English dictionary.
That's 15 hours of opera in a language I have close to zero understanding of. But much of the music is quite good, and trying to figure out enough German from the lyrics and the dictionary to follow the story could keep me occupied a long time.
'Bashō, dichter zonder dak' with the subtitle 'Haiku en poëtische reisverhalen' by professor Willy Vande Walle, a Belgian Japanologist. It's a translation of Basho's travel diaries with a lot of contextual information, kind of like Martin Gardner's 'The Annotated Alice', if you've read that one. It's an amazing intellectual tour de force by one of the foremost experts in his field, and it helps that the original works are of very high quality of well.
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.
The most impactful book I've come across? "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie. Yes, it's old, and the title sounds like clickbait from a LinkedIn influencer. Or worse, it reeks of self-help nonsense. But bear with me.
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:
The book's core thesis revolves around understanding human psychology. It emphasizes the importance of showing genuine interest, developing empathy, and refining communication patterns for maximum impact.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.
Henry George’s Progress & Poverty conducted what can only be described as a coup on my worldview, and I am not alone in that experience.
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.
The Consolation of Philosophy by Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius.
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.
Although I'm not generally into fantasy, I found "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" by Stephen Donaldson to be fantastic.
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.
The Boy's Second book of Electronics by Alfred Morgan(1957) introduced me to electronics in the 1970s, and lead to a technical mindset and lifestyle.
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 way things work", the book with all the woolly mammoths in it. Learned a lot from it
That is the literal pillar; physically and figuratively the foundation, of my knowledge corpus; aptly the bottom book in my corner-turned-library.
I spent hours as a kid, slowly parsing, contextualizing, researching every iota and minutiae of that book.
I had an encyclopedia just to help supplement that book.
Didnt recogize the english title before i read this comment and it immediately clicked. The copy i have is from the late 80s and even then it was a bit dated, but it didnt matter. Awesome book. Now 35 years later my kids and I sometimes spend hours looking through the same book. Even more dated now, but that probably makes it even more amazing for them and now they know how a tape recorder works \o/
Grew up with the original "The Way Things Work" [1] (found out later it was an English translation of the German book, "Wie Funktioniert Das").
[1] https://archive.org/details/waythingswork0000unse_p9x7/
The best book I’ve ever read is Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. It offers timeless insights on self-discipline, perspective, and inner peace, making it a powerful guide for navigating life.
And still succumbing to disastrous nepotism despite all of it.
Non-fiction: The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors by James Hornfischer. US Navy destroyers, escort carriers and destroyer escorts face off against Japanese cruisers and battleships. The Japanese had many times the firepower of the US, yet incredibly brave US sailors and airmen attacked anyway. Incredible story of courage under terrible conditions and odds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Stand_of_the_Tin_Can_... and https://www.amazon.com/Last-Stand-Tin-Sailors-Extraordinary/...
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/...
The Count of Monte Cristo -- I've read it a few times and I know I'll read it again. While there are a few books I've read more than once, I can't think of any I know I will read again.
Wonderful, wonderful book. One of my favorites.
It's old, but the beginning especially is just a non-stop adventure. It always drags a bit for me after the first third, but picks up again and continues to be great throughout.
Unless youve just read a handful of books in your life it is impossible to give a good answer to the question.
Books are not oranges.
"Books are not oranges."
As an aside, what do you mean by this? I would have an even harder time giving and answer to the best orange I've eaten.
The Hobbit. My brother read it to me when I was just starting to read. When he was done I asked him to read it again. he said no and I learned to read in earnest. I was often shooed out of the adult section of the library. I have read lots of books by now.
> what do you mean by this
That books are not a commodity.
It's also impossible to give a bad answer, what are you worried about? Go for it.
I got to thinking -- a handful of books is approximately one book.
And who ranks their oranges?
Depends on the books of course but the old pulp paperbacks were such you could hold 5 to 10 maybe. Today a tablet could hold 1000s (? how many I don't know ?)
I was very influenced by Kurt Vonnegut when I was a teenager. Coming of age is a perfect time to learn that the fact that life is absurd doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't laugh, just the opposite. Sirens of Titan and Slaughterhouse Five are some of my favorite books of his.
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.
Great choices!
I've read Vonnegut sporadically and decided this year to read through all his books. Sirens of Titan is an old favorite I've read multiple times, but I reread it about two weeks ago, and Slaughterhouse Five a few months ago.
One of the previous posts mentioned that it changes for them frequently, and I'm pretty much the same way. But for right now:
Fiction: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Non-Fiction: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
To be clear, both are fiction, it’s just that one is fantasy and the other is set in modern reality.
Fiction: Independent People by Halldór Laxness or Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Non-Fiction: The Feynman lectures on Physics.
Anything from Sagan: Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God could convert the Pope to agnosticism.
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.
Sagan’s Demon Haunted World was probably the reason I ended up going into the sciences!
After seeing Carl Sagan's Cosmos I got and read the coffee table book "Cosmos" I really liked it at the time(about 10-12 yo). It was pretty influential but I do not know if I could sit through the book again.
Nonfiction: "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable" by Taleb has had the biggest influence on me.
Fiction: I dunno but maybe "Anathem" by Neal Stephenson.
For fiction it would be Dan Simmons’s Hyperion for me, it would be a great short stories anthology, but is far more than that.
Regarding Non-Fiction, my current bet would be Antifragile by Taleb.
The absolute best for me: The Malazan book of the fallen.
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.
Fiction: Hyperion by Dan Simmons (especially The Consul's Tale)
Non-Fiction: Peopleware (opened my eyes when I was a young newcomer to the industry)
House of Leaves
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.
For me, it's The Grapes of Wrath. Simultaneously raised my bar for what I consider good writing and made me much more empathetic to the plight of those at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder through no fault of their own. As relevant today as when it was written.
I've moved enough times to have thinned my book collection down quite a bit. Books that I can't quit, the original "The Boy Mechanic" books, "The Complete Tales of Uncle Remus", "Jingo Django" (I have quite of few of Sid Fleischman's books, actually), a set of "The Book of a Thousands Nights and a Night" (the Arabian Nights) ... to name a few.
Several immediately come to mind.
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)
Nonfiction: Thinking, Fast & Slow
Fiction: Project Hail Mary
Fiction: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.
Non-fiction: Pilates Anatomy by Rael Isacowitz - it changed me and changed my body.
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
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.
Non-fiction: Pale Blue Dot. Fiction: The Diamond Age.
There are always better books than the ones I read, and there will never be the best. I’ve tried selecting a few that I can remember at all times, the most interesting book to me, and I’ve listed them on my website at https://brajeshwar.com/#books
If I had to return and re-read, I’d re-read “Leonardo da Vinci.”
Introducing Lacan: A Graphic Guide, by Darian Leader and illustrated by Judy Groves.
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.
For nonfiction I think about Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets and The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood by David Simon (and Ed Burns for The Corner) a lot. They are very funny and very sad and really changed how I see the world. So I cheated, two books.
"The book of joy" by the Dalai Lama and Desmund Tutu (they were lifelong friends)
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman.
If ever I’m struggling with something I pick it up and open to a random leaf and just read until I feel better.
There are too many…
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)
My favourite fiction is Ready Player One. Great story and very nerdy!
Fiction - [Trouble on] Triton by Samuel Delaney. It just has so many relevant big ideas told in a very subdued way via a not very likeable but appropriate character.
The Once and Future King by T.H. White. Fantasy fiction.
Fiction : the history of love Non fiction: start with why
Best book: Snow Crash
Best short stories: Borges
I am That - talks with Nisargadatta Maharaj. Best for me.
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. When you are young, it is a remarkable book to read.
This book is one I re-read religiously, but the first time was as a young adult and I agree with you, remarkable. It seems to have a correcting effect on my psyche when I stray too far into anxiety and burnout.
Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker
The better angels of our nature is also a good one from Pinker
John McPhee's "The Curve of Binding Energy".
One Hundred Years of Solitude -- Gabriel Garcia-Marquez.
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.
Dungeon Crawler Carl (series)
Sinusoidal Circuit Analysis
Breakfast of Champions by Vonnegut. Like others could change any day you ask. Social commentary is probably at the top followed by well researched recent historical works.
Growing up ‘The Brothers Lionheart’.
As an adult, ‘The Idiot’.
The best book I've partially read is the New Testament. The best book I've actually read is Taleb's Antifragile.
The best book I've ever read is perhaps "cheating" because it's "The Next Whole Earth Catalog" and, as the name says, it's a catalog of (mostly) books.
(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.)
To each their own. Mine likely 3 body problems: dark forest book
> I think it's an excellent question.
Because?
I think this is as meaningful as the question "what's the best food you've ever eaten?", which is to say, it's not a very meaningful question.
Sure, but for the rest of us it might suggest a food we had not yet tried.
Fair enough. I feel like I've been seeing a lot of questions on Reddit along this line that comes off as very low effort to generate engagements so that's really the reason behind my comment but I see how my response also comes off as snarky.
I know what you're saying. It must work though — it engagad both of us for different reasons, rose to front page of HN. (Perhaps you would rather it did not though.)
You're absolutely right on both accounts - it did work to engage us and that I would rather that such posts don't get upvoted.
Thanks for your understanding. :)