
Books to read before I die - bookofjoe
https://www.cooksillustrated.com/features/8560-72-books-to-read-before-i-die
======
ericmcer
This list and others of its kind have always felt a little off to me. If you
read the most famous single book of three different authors I feel like you
wouldn’t get too much out of it. I would rather die knowing I read Shakespeare
and Faulkner than read Othello and As I lay Dying. This kind of list format
takes what should be an organic exploration of other humans who are praised
for their writing and turns it into a checklist of disconnected pieces. Maybe
you read half a play and hate it, maybe you devour Shakespeare’s entire body
of work?

I guess that is also why I dislike a lot of contemporary stuff, the aesthetic
life of the artist behind the work is harder and harder to connect with. This
all sounds super elitist but it’s hard to discuss books without straying into
that territory haha. The breadth of genre is so vast as well, Roald Dahl and
Richard Feynman on the same list? It just really lacks a depth of focus to
feel like more than ticking boxes.

~~~
dawg-
As a hardcore book lover, I have the deepest hatred for all lists of books.
They are pretentious wastes of time, usually written to make the author look
like an eclectic and well-rounded person and for no other purpose. This is
just about my only strong opinion in the world. I would die a thousand deaths
on this hill.

 _Publishing_ a list of books like this should be in the same category of
social bad habits such as name dropping celebrities you have met, or casually
mentioning the large amount of money you make per year ($two hundred _Kay_ ),
or having a PO Box in a rich neighborhood so you can have an address that
impresses people.

Ticking boxes is exactly what it is. If I can be a little overdramatic (yes,
now is where that starts), it's a betrayal of the very soul of reading.

~~~
jamesrcole
> _As a hardcore book lover, I have the deepest hatred for all lists of books.
> They are pretentious wastes of time_

How do you keep track of the books you want to read?

There are many books I've heard of, and heard people recommend, that I would
really like to read. The only way I can keep track of them is by noting them
down in lists.

~~~
criddell
I'd guess that person is talking about _published_ lists of books.

~~~
jamesrcole
Then I’d say to them, what is wrong with publishing your own list of books to
read? Others might get something from it. Or your list of book
recommendations?

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galkk
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsundoku](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsundoku)
should be mandatory reminder for every "list of books to read" list

~~~
marzell
I definitely relate to this, even if I no longer have a large physical
collection of books. I kinda cringe when I see lists like this of recommended
reading, and especially dread that a list might be very compelling, because I
already have a personal list that I'll never be able to finish before the end
of my life.

~~~
zwieback
Me too, the time required for my to-read list is getting longer than my
anticipated lifespan. What's the Japanese word for that?

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commandlinefan
I'd stop at the 71st just to be on the safe side.

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AdmiralAsshat
Can't seem to find a publish date, but this list almost certainly has to be a
couple years old, considering Christopher Kimball was ousted from Cooks
Country/Cooks Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen in 2015.

~~~
bookofjoe
July/August 2014 issue of Cook's Illustrated

[https://www.cooksillustrated.com/magazines/188-july-slash-
au...](https://www.cooksillustrated.com/magazines/188-july-slash-
august-2014/editorial)

[https://www.bookofjoe.com/2014/06/cooks-illustrated-
editor-c...](https://www.bookofjoe.com/2014/06/cooks-illustrated-editor-
christopher-kimballs-book-bucket-list.html)

------
masonic
All book links are affiliate links (tag=cpk-72books-20)

~~~
OJFord
Seems like as good a place to ask as any - is there an adblock list style
solution for stripping not just query parameters (and I suppose they're
sometimes needed, can't always strip them) but also e.g. /ref=blah paths that
some (Amazon for example) use as well?

~~~
dhosek
Why? I actually make a point of going to an affiliate link before buying
anything from the big river. Just doing my part to reduce their profits as
much as possible. (My current go-to is kottke.org although I wouldn't object
if people wanted to go to [http://don.dream-in-
color.net/books/](http://don.dream-in-color.net/books/) instead)

~~~
OJFord
The /ref= isn't from afiliate/referral links, it's just tracking.

~~~
dhosek
I don't think that's actually what's happening with that. ref=nosim is an old
thing (no longer necessary) for going to the product page directly. I can't
see any tracking that they can do with a URL component that they wouldn't have
anyway (e.g., knowing the referrer, IP etc.)

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diego
This is the type of title that I considered sensationalized. "Before I die" is
a cliche only used to grab attention, because obviously there are no lists of
books to read after one dies.

~~~
htk
Maybe you’re reading it too literally. To me it just means “I don’t want to
die without having read this books”.

~~~
saalweachter
I wonder how many different types of bucket lists there are. This is a "to-
read" bucket list; I've definitely seen or at least heard other people opine
on "to-visit" bucket lists. The more traditional "to-do" bucket list sometimes
includes places to visit, but also a more wide-ranging list of activities and
experiences.

I wonder what else warrants a full bucket list.

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hasbot
It'd be nice if he explained why he chose to include each book on the list. I
think the section where he lists books that he'd like to reread is the most
important section.

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bitzun
I love Cormac McCarthy and Blood Meridian is a fine way to get into his work,
but it was a hard read for me because of the pacing. NCfOM, The Road or Outer
Dark are easier to follow IMO. I hope this comment is considered useful enough
to pass the HN guidelines.

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zwieback
Middlemarch is one of my faves - can't believe he couldn't get through it.

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MadWombat
Hmm... I have read 9 on the "never read" list and 4 on the "never finished"
list. And never heard of most of the rest :)

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th0ma5
Somewhere I read he got this list from the America's Test Kitchen team.

~~~
ghaff
Given that this was presumably published when he was still in charge of the
business, it would hardly be surprising if a lot of the list were contributed
by others.

(Kimball's no longer involved with CI. He left a while back under acrimonious
circumstances.)

~~~
zwieback
I've always been split - he seems not nice but the show isn't quite the same
without him.

~~~
ghaff
I admit I haven't watched the show for a while. The new podcast (Proof) is
much better than the old ATK one though IMO. It also feels as if they've
gotten a bit more adventurous with recipes; they always felt rather
conservative mid-American under Kimball.

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AffineStructure
I read Kimball and assumed Ralph Kimball.

~~~
bookofjoe
diff'rent strokes: never heard of Ralph Kimball ;-)

~~~
twirlip
Xerox PARC alum, main designer of the sequel to the Xerox Alto computer, the
Xerox Star, which is the the first modern personal computer (GUI, mouse,
Ethernet, print & file servers, etc).

