Ask HN: What is your 2019 book reading list? - jaoued
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raptorraver
I’m planning to avoid self-help and business books and try to read much more
fiction instead.

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burtonator
This is a big of a self plug but my goal for 2019 is to read more text books
and read more concurrently.

I started a project directly for this purpose:

[https://getpolarized.io/](https://getpolarized.io/)

It allows me to keep track of where I am in the text book, even if I jump
around through something called 'pagemarks'. Which are like bookmarks but for
a region of the book.

It also supports annotations, comments, highlights, and flashcards which can
be sync'd to Anki.

This way you can keep an important fact in your brain forever.

The goal is to reduce lower the "I'll probably forget it anyway" problem with
reading and text books.

This way I'm more encourage to read complex material s the chance of me
keeping it is higher.

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vkaku
I have had it with impractical books that give opinions masked as advice on
tech and business.

I'll prefer fiction any day.

Recommendations?

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a-saleh
Pick one of the Discworld Series from Terry Prattchet. I have read it as a
teen/tween, my wife discovered it a year ago, and we both really like it.

Depending on your tastes:

* if you like straight up fantasy parody, you can go from the beginning, and follow Rincewinds journey, a mage hapless at magic, running away from peril of mostly his own making.

* if you want different take at folk-tales, with a hint of Shakespear and a dash of, dare I say a dash of feminism, follow Witches of Lancre. Granny Weatherwax is an icon!

* if you like noir and urban-fantasy, follow Ankh-Morpork city watch led by daring Samuel Vimes and then continue with introduction of newspaper, resurection of post office, rebuilding of banking system and ushering in the age of steam.

I loved most of them. Didn't regret reading a single one. You might or might
not want to refer to a reading guide:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/8900fu/the_discwor...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/8900fu/the_discworld_reading_order_guide_30/)

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DrNuke
Topping my list: “Robot Builder’s Bonanza” 5th ed. by Gordon McComb and McGraw
Hill, out worldwide in mid Dec [https://www.amazon.com/Robot-Builders-Bonanza-
Gordon-McComb/...](https://www.amazon.com/Robot-Builders-Bonanza-Gordon-
McComb/dp/1260135012/)

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jjoe
I'm not reading any book in 2019. I usually find a moment of quiet during
lunch and I would read then. But it developed into an eating habit and, as a
side effect, a weight gain. I want to focus on building practical things this
year instead.

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segmondy
2018 is not over, we are not even in December.

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finfun234
I just about finished reading Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. Strongly recommend
it, to ponder over the human condition.

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methusala8
a) Crucial Conversations, Kerry Patterson

b) Way of the Wolf, Jordan Belfort

c) Never Split the difference, Chris Voss

d) Radical Honesty, Brad Blanton

e) Outthink the competition, Krippendorff

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corodra
Never split the difference is fantastic. Voss gives a good amount of tangible
conversation tactics that you can try out nearly same day on people. I got it
as an audio book too so I can listen to it every now and then in the car.

~~~
finfun234
+1

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jaoued
Thanks everyone with your personal suggestions. This will allow me to widen my
reading spectrum. Interesting that no mention about books on History.

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utam0k
I would like to know that it was good in 2019 for books related to OS.

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stuxnet79
My goal for 2019 is to be even more deliberate in what I spend my time
reading. This year I started being deliberate in my reading habits and read a
lot less than I would in previous years when I was just consuming books en
masse, but I find I'm retaining a lot more, or if nothing else, have less
Dunning-Kruger cognitive dissonance.

What I would really like, is a streamlined workflow for incorporating spaced
repetition into my reading. I usually read on my Kobo so not sure how feasible
it would be to integrate it with Anki. I would welcome any ideas.

Apart from that, I'd like to read some more Neal Stephenson. I LOVED
Cryptonomicon (read it 2 years ago) and I've been unable to find fiction books
with a similar style. Neal Stephenson has written a lot of stuff so I'm not
sure which book to attack next.

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elyrly
Don Winslow - The Border

