Ask HN: What was the best book you read in 2016? - andreygrehov
======
mutor
A similar discussion:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13235767](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13235767)

------
mindcrime
Of the books I finished in 2016, I'd nominate a couple as contenders for "best
of 2016":

1\. _Mastering the Compex Sale_ , by Jeff Thull. If you're interested in B2B
selling, I highly recommend this book. Thull's approach is dramatically
different from the old-school "Alec Baldwin rant in Glengarry Glen-Ross" stuff
you may have been exposed to. He encourages a model where you act more like a
doctor, or a detective, and practice "Always Be Leaving" instead of "Always Be
Closing".

2\. _It 's Not The Big That Eat The Small, It's The Fast That Eat The Slow_ by
Jason Jennings. The title is a good summary. Jennings makes an argument for
the importance of "speed" as the primary driver of competitive advantage.
There's more too it that that, so just read the book.

3\. _Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software_ by Charles
Petzold. If you didn't take, or have forgotten, classes like Computer
Architecture or Digital Logic, this is a great book for getting your head
around the low level details of what's happening in side a digital computer.
Petzold starts from VERY basic examples (using a flaslight to morse code
messages to your friend across the street) and slowly builds up to a full-
fledged (if somewhat minimalistic) CPU.

Edit: some unlucky soul commented _Atlas Shrugged_ and got downvoted / flagged
/ whatever to death. I didn't read AS in 2016, but I have read it, and I do
recommend it to everyone. It has its issues, but it's absolutely a book
everyone should read, whether you agree with Rand's ideology or not. And if
you aren't familiar enough to Rand's ideology to know if you agree or
not,that's all the more reason to read _Atlas Shrugged_ (or _The Fountainhead_
).

------
hartror
The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1) by Patrick Rothfuss.

Wonderful fantasy that treats the reader as an adult and doesn't over explain.
It has perfected world building, doing so organically rather than through
exposition as is common in the genre. A lot of people I know came out of the
woodwork as fans when I posted about this book. They mostly wanted to lament
the delay of the third book, something I wasn't aware of when starting #1!

~~~
mindcrime
_They mostly wanted to lament the delay of the third book_

Yeah, waiting for book 3 of this series is starting to remind me of waiting
for book 4 of Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series back in the day. :-(

Anyway, at least he isn't up to "waiting for the next Christopher Snow (by
Dean Koontz) book" territory.

------
chrisanthropic
I really enjoyed _A Burglar's Guide to the City_ -
[https://www.amazon.com/Burglars-Guide-City-Geoff-Manaugh-
ebo...](https://www.amazon.com/Burglars-Guide-City-Geoff-Manaugh-
ebook/dp/B00V35U0TM/)

The premise of the book is a study of high-profile heists and how the crimes
themselves were heavily influenced and determined by the surrounding
infrastructure. Where it shines though is driving home the fact that the
infrastructure of a place is meant to define how that place is used &
criminals are often people who use it in a way other than the way it was
designed to be used - such as burglars who choose to enter through a ceiling
or maneuver through the HVAC system like hallways.

It's simply the best non-technincal description of hackers and IT security
I've ever seen.

------
paraschopra
2016 was the year I ended up reading most books that I have ever read in any
year of my life so far! These are the ones I liked the most:

1\. _The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World_ by
David Deutsch. It makes a bold claim that we will always be at the beginning
of the infinite progress that lies ahead. History has proven again and again
that whenever people said all progress has been made, so much more progress
unfolds. I liked this book so much that we gifted this book at my startup to
the entire team of 170 people!

2\. _The Innovator 's Solution_ by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E.
Raynor. This is a sequel to the popular Innovator's Dilemma book. I like the
sequel much better because it tries to give solutions to the dilemma. The book
packs tons of counter intuitive insights. Highly recommended.

3\. _The Big Picture_ by Sean Carrol. The best cosmology book I have read in a
long while

4\. _First break all the rules_. If you are a first time manager, I highly
recommend reading this book.

5\. _Deep Work_ by Cal Newport. This book changed my working habits and life.
I was constantly distracted before, and now I am able to focus a ton.

6\. _Feeling Good_. This classic is again a must read. Even if you are not
depressed, it will help build your mental immunity against future depression.

7\. _Our Mathematical Universe_ by Max Tegmark. A very interesting book that
makes the claim that our universe is actually just mathematics. No physical
reality exists because physics and mathematics are interchangeable.

There were many other interesting books I read (I read a total of 60 books in
2016!) For those who are interested, here's my entire list of books that I
read in 2016: [http://shelfjoy.com/paraschopra/books-ive-read-
in-2016](http://shelfjoy.com/paraschopra/books-ive-read-in-2016)

~~~
kpabijanskas
Came here to mention Deep Work by Cal Newport specifically, and glad someone
else already has. If anything it should be a required reading for everyone in
the current society imho. While it does not explain anything ground breaking
that has not been written before, it does give a perspective as to how much
the digital world and our addiction to it distract our lives. Many people are
guilty of this without ever realising it.

------
micro_cam
Yanis Varoufakis "And the Weak Suffer What They Must?: Europe's Crisis and
America's Economic Future"

Varoufakis fascinates and inspires me in that he studied math and mathematical
statistics at a high level and moved into Economics at a high level (he's a
professor and recently he was greek finance minister) yet resists the tendency
to reduce everything down to a shity mathematical model.

He does a better job than most at exploring the factors that contributed to
our current political and economic situation (the book was published before
trump's win but deals with analogs in greece and europe).

And it opens with his childhood memories of hiding under a blanket to hide the
sound of democratic radio from fascist ears.

------
andreygrehov
Since I started the thread, I'll name my best read first. It was "Mastery" by
Robert Greene.

[https://www.amazon.com/Mastery-Robert-
Greene/dp/014312417X](https://www.amazon.com/Mastery-Robert-
Greene/dp/014312417X)

~~~
tedhoryczun
Mastery by Robert Greene, just looked at that link and I'm putting that on my
reading list!

Thanks Andrey

------
oneexcitingacct
_The New Jim Crow_ by Michelle Alexander. Evidence-packed investigation of how
the War on Drugs and mass incarceration have been leveraged to disenfranchise
and oppress black people in America. It is infuriating and upsetting and
inspiring to read (and provides excellent context for Black Lives Matter and
the protests over police brutality).

More than anything else, the statistics Michelle Alexander bring together make
the racism behind the system incredibly plain. If 6.4% of whites and 6.4% of
blacks use illegal drugs in any particular year (and similar numbers for other
minorities), and people tend to purchase drugs from people of their own race,
it's insane that black people are incarcerated at a rate over 6x that of white
people.

The chilling part is that, once you are convicted of a felony, you essentially
become a second-class citizen. In 31 states, ex-felons cannot vote (or it's
very difficult to do so). 13% of African American males are disenfranchised
for this reason.

This is a pale summary of her book, I highly recommend reading it.

------
laddng
Resilience - Eric Greitens

Pretty much changed a lot of things about how I view my motivation and self
discipline. You'd think it's just another "Navy SEAL" book, but it's actually
very philosophical and motivates you in different ways.

[https://www.amazon.com/Resilience-Hard-Won-Wisdom-Living-
Bet...](https://www.amazon.com/Resilience-Hard-Won-Wisdom-Living-
Better/dp/0544705262/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483325086&sr=8-1&keywords=resilience+eric+greitens)

~~~
mohaine
Didn't realize the soon to be governor of Missouri was an author.

------
latenightcoding
My linear algebra was rusty so I bought "Linear Algebra and Its Applications"
by David C. Lay. from a college student. The book is amazing, I highly
recommend it.

~~~
laddng
Side note, the 4th edition is exactly the same as the 5th, so it's much
cheaper to get that on Amazon if anyone's looking to get it.

Great book that explains the major concepts concisely.

------
ChuckMcM
"The Vital Question: Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Life" \- It
connected a lot of interesting dots and provided for me what I consider the
first plausible process by which life could arise out of the soup. There is an
interesting twist about the 'one thing' that, had it not happened, we'd
probably still be separate bacteria cells.

And adds an interesting twist to the more provocative Buckminster Fuller
question which is whether or not we actually exist or are we just a bunch of
co-operating cells. Sort of the ultimate bee hive where our constituent worker
cells are constrained to hold on to each other rather than fly about.

------
unimpressive
_Helen Keller 's Teacher_ \- [https://www.amazon.com/Helen-Kellers-
Teacher/dp/B00411LE6S/r...](https://www.amazon.com/Helen-Kellers-
Teacher/dp/B00411LE6S/ref=sr_1_2/156-5496948-4997144?ie=UTF8)

I can't remember if I read this in 2016 or late 2015, but it's the best book
you're not going to see on a recommendation list in one of these threads.

It's for children, and it tells the story of a little girl who catches a
disease largely forgotten in the first world and loses her eyesight, then is
sent to to the literal poor house as a child. I don't want to spoil too much,
but the thing that makes this book so good is that it tells a story that is
deeply deeply tragic in language that is plain and simple so that a small
child can understand it. Taking this in contrast to the sheer _horror_ of what
the protagonist is experiencing makes it a harrowing spiritual experience.

I found it volunteering for a booth giving away books to kids at an event. The
line got slow and I didn't have anything to distract myself with, so I
rummaged through the books and picked out something that looked interesting.
The booth didn't get much work out of me after that because I couldn't put it
down, reading it all day and into the night until I was finished.

I'd recommend it to anybody, especially people who like to reflect on the bad
old world we've largely escaped from.

------
careersuicide
I realize the topic says "book" not "books" but I've got two:

"Hard-Core: Life of My Own" by Harley Flanagan

I've been a huge fan of the Cro-Mags for a long long time. I've had the
extreme pleasure of seeing them about eight times now. But never with Harley.
And until I read this book I never really knew why he wasn't there. I mean,
you hear people talk, but they weren't there, they don't know what went down.
This book is an absolute must read for anyone who has even a passing interest
in punk. It's a look into the life of one of the most colorful and talented
musicians the genre has produced. It's written in a very casual conversational
style and consists mostly of string of anecdotes told from Harley's point of
view as he's remembering his life from his toddler years up until early 2016.
Even if New York Hardcore isn't really your thing I still highly recommend it.
He manages to capture in a very raw and visceral way the NYHC era he is
largely responsible for ushering in. And if you've never heard "The Age of
Quarrel" pause whatever you're listening to now and go find it on YouTube or
something.

"The Dark Forest" by Cixin Liu

I would include the first book in this series, "The Three-Body Problem", but I
read that in December of 2015. All I want to say about this series of books is
that you should go into them without knowing anything. Don't read a plot
synopsis. Don't even read the little blurb on Amazon product page. Someone
recommended I go into it blind, only telling me "It's good.", and I'm so glad
I did just that. The moment you find out what the title is referring to gave
me goosebumps.

------
elwesties
Seveneves - Neal Stephenson

~~~
cschmidt
Loved that a thinly veiled Neil deGrasse Tyson was the hero out to save earth.

~~~
rubayeet
You forgot to say Spoiler Alert!

~~~
sn9
That's really not a spoiler. It's apparent as soon as the character is
introduced and the plot takes off in the beginning.

------
ikeboy
Zero to One by Peter Thiel.

------
whirl-wind
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

~~~
phodo
+1

------
tedhoryczun
My favorite books I read in 2016:

How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie

The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure - Grant Cardone

Hack Upwork: How to Make Real Money as a Freelancer - Danny Flood

What are your favorite books of 2016 Andrey?

~~~
hartror
> How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie

Great book. The advice is rather obvious but it really gets you thinking about
how you interact with people. For example I've learnt to be vastly better at
people's names now, it still take conscious effort but it is fairly habituated
now.

~~~
tedhoryczun
Have you seen any positive things in your life after reading Dale Carnegie's
book?

~~~
hartror
Subjectively yes, I feel more confident. I've re-listened to the book every
couple of years as it helps me focus on continuously improving what I see as
an important skill set.

------
da1chy
Pale blue dot - Carl Sagan

Fundamentally altered my worldview and the way I perceive stuff.

------
cjbprime
Three Body Problem trilogy.

~~~
iandanforth
This extended my boundaries of what a 'big problem' encompasses by several
orders of magnitude. It also paints a terrifying picture of society, one which
is entirely alien to my culture. Specifically the narrative of 'if we can't
live everyone should die' / anti-escapism was both shocking and bizarre. My
christian cultural tradition dictates that the proper reaction to near-
extinction is to build an Ark. My sci-fi experience has numerous examples of
this trope, and to find it so rigorously and repeatedly rejected was
disturbing to say the least.

------
amrtgaber
Daemon by Daniel Suarez

(and also the second book in the series - Freedom)

Excellent present day info sec realism. Deeply explores the concept of
technological disruption in several interesting and unique ways.

------
DanBC
Here are some kids books that I enjoyed reading. Getting a book that a child
will want to read again and again, and that the parent won't hate, is
impressive.

"The Book With No Pictures" by BJ Novak is fun.
[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-No-Pictures-B-
Novak/dp/0141361...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-No-Pictures-B-
Novak/dp/0141361794)

"Pirate Diary" (Illustrated by Chris Riddel) is fun and has the right amount
of gruesomeness to encourage my kid. [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pirate-Diary-
Histories-Richard-Plat...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pirate-Diary-Histories-
Richard-Platt/dp/1406352659)

"Maps" (Aleksandra Mizielinska, Daniel Mizielinski) is a fun sort of atlas,
especially if you combine it with Youtube etc clips.
[https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1848773013](https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1848773013)

My current strategy to find books is look at illustrators who've won the
Greenaway award, or writers who've won the Carnegie award, and then look at
their other books or books that amazon recommends alongside these.

------
markbnj
For various reasons I didn't read as many books in 2016 as I normally do, but
"Flash Boys" by Michael Lewis was a standout.

------
Deckard256
2016 is the year I began focusing my reading on subject histories and anything
that places the western canon in clearer context, so reading Ceasars journal,
Plato, stoics, and later writings from Hobbes have been influential.

Histories of accounting (Double Entry, a history of accounting, probably the
best thing I read this year), general math (Taming the unknown, a history of
algebra), management (A history of management thought) statistics (The lady
tasting Tea), computing (The Innovators) education (anything John Taylor
Gatto) and recently business law.

The change in my reading from latching onto whatever is
new/popular/recommended to delving into the development of basics is one of
the better changes I made to my readings, it's creating a richer, more clear,
much more useful mental model of the world over the onslaught of articles and
books that have X amount of tips on doing Y.

------
holmboy_
Grokking Algorithms by Aditya Y. Bhargava (I believe he's on HN). Highly
recommend, easy read and really enjoyable.

~~~
ddw
Seconded

------
magic_beans
The Neapolitan series by Elena Ferrante was some of the most beautifully
written fiction I've ever read in my life.

------
brapse
The Stack: On Software and Sovereignty, Benjamin Bratton.

~~~
krenoten
This is a great one to remind us that we help to shape the world that politics
have to operate within. We are not just subject to politicians.

------
icomefromreddit
1\. _Industrial Society and Its Future_. Ted Kaczynski, 1995
([https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/fc-industrial-
societ...](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/fc-industrial-society-and-
its-future)).

------
discr3t3
Catch-22. I read it once back in high school and didn't really understand it,
but I read it again a few days ago and found it to be both an absolutely
hilarious and sobering book.

------
pranay01
Favorite of the books I read in 2016:

1\. Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

2\. Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson - What was interesting
for me to learn was that even though he was a great scientist, he was very
humane in other aspects - and you can easily relate to.

3\. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - Fun read which is
also deeply philosophical at the same time. Got me interested in science
fictions as a genre.

4\. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - Great intro to stoic philosophy

------
karmelapple
Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari discusses what the war on drugs has caused
all over the world, with a focus on Central America and Europe. Learn about
the origins of the drug wars in the USA, how that flowed around the world, and
promising developments on what to do next.

Spoiler alert: let's stop the war on drugs.

------
muratk
Work the System, by Sam Carpenter.

Put into words what I intuitively tried to grasp: That a business (and our
lifes, really) is comprised of systems that can be optimized independently of
the rest, allowing for kaizen-style incremental, steady improvement of
everything.

------
rak00n
A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William B. Irvine.

I found this book on HN. It talks about an ancient philosophy to live life;
how to stop seeking and be complacent with what life already offers oneself.
It made me a happier person.

------
razin
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight [https://www.amazon.com/Shoe-Dog-Memoir-Creator-
Nike/dp/15011...](https://www.amazon.com/Shoe-Dog-Memoir-Creator-
Nike/dp/1501135910/).

------
bqe
Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro

If you're interested in the complex history of LBJ, the Senate, or America
during that time, I'd recommend this (or really, any) Robert Caro book.

------
hdkmraf
Space-Time Structure, by Erwin Schrödinger. Great read to understand complex
systems, manifolds and tensors.

And...

A History of Warfare, by John Keegan. Great analysis of various cultures and
how they have approached war across history.

------
brudgers
_Blood Meridian_ Cormac McCarthy.

I bought a used copy and reread it for the first time in about fifteen years.
As soon as I finished, I turned around and reread it again just to enjoy the
detail.

------
saurabhjha
I will name two: Remote and Rework, books by BaseCamp founders

------
jimmaswell
I didn't read many things packaged as books in 2016, but I did read Atomic
Accidents: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters which was interesting.

------
ddw
Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein

Incredibly well written, touching and also an insider look at a period of
American music that I'm really interested in.

------
sardamit
1\. The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz 2\. Elon Musk by Ashlee
Vance 3\. Inspired by Marty Cagan

------
anotherarray
The Scapegoat, René Girard.

------
nooron
Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail in '72.

------
travmatt
The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt.

~~~
grzm
I'd love to see _The Righteous Mind_ as required reading for HN! I picked it
up originally for its subtitle: aptly subtitled _Why Good People Are Divided
by Politics and Religion_. Probably had the most impact on me of any book I've
read in the past few years.

------
vskarine
Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss

------
palehose
Disrupted by Dan Lyons

------
preordained
Confident Ruby

------
shinta42
Siddhartha

------
dorianm
Hackers And Painters - Paul Graham

