
Ask HN: What is the best non-tech book you read this year? - developuh
Could be fiction or non-fiction. I am trying to expand my reading so please don&#x27;t hold back even if it is an obscure genre&#x2F;author.
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yesenadam
Zinsser's _On Writing Well_. (i.e. on writing non-fiction)

The first half of _To The Finland Station_ (1940) was absolutely fascinating
(the second half is the story of Marx, Lenin etc which I know more about so
didn't read) - about 19th C French historians, and the origins of socialism. I
had no idea that 'socialisms' was the name given to those experimental
farms/communities all over the US in the early-mid 19th C - that's what the
word meant at the time - there's a lot on the history of those. Brilliantly
written.

Scott McCloud's _Understanding Comics_ \- the history, science and philosophy
of comics. Plus it's a comic.

 _Crucial Conversations_ \- I added this to _You Just Don 't Understand_ on my
'Essential Guides for Anyone in a Relationship' list. Equally important for
other areas of life.

 _Deep Work_ on different ways people like/need to work.

 _On Not Being Able To Paint_ (1950) by Joanna Field (Marion Milner). I read
her _A Life Of One 's Own_ and _An Experiment in Leisure_ (both from the
1930s) 25+ years ago, and loved them dearly. _A Life Of One 's Own_ is about
her using her diary to learn about herself, something I'd started doing at the
time. I owned a copy of _On Not Being Able To Paint_ for many years, but never
read it through until very recently. It's surprisingly great. It's about her
learning to paint, or rather, learning what painting is, and I found she
learns pretty much exactly the things I learnt when I spent 5 years writing
orchestral music. (after having been a pianist and painter for many years)
Well, maybe I was too young to appreciate it before.

Books I'd read before, but read at least twice more this year: the Zanders'
_Art of Possibility_ , Austin Kleon's _Steal Like an Artist_ and _Share Your
Work!_. Various essays of G.K. Chesterton and Robert Louis Stevenson.

~~~
developuh
Thank you for your suggestions.

I have not read most of these. I am adding to my wishlist and will probably
start with Austin Kleon's books, they seem very interesting

