Ask HN: What good books have you read in 2016? - ddxv
======
pramodbiligiri
"Deep Work" by Cal Newport. He emphasizes the need for deep intellectual work
to prosper in the knowledge economy and suggests ways to practice getting to
that level of work.

It is part rumination and part self help. I highly recommend it.

~~~
mantesso
interesting summary here:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX_2a_jsGYw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX_2a_jsGYw)

------
javipas
I'm finally starting to read "Don Quixote". A good way to celebrate the 400
anniversary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes (and Shakespeare). Disclaimer:
I'm Spanish, so it's about time :)

Available in English for free through Project Gutenberg

[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/996](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/996)

And for Spanish readers like me, here it is in several electronic formats:

[http://manybooks.net/titles/cervantesetext992donq10.html](http://manybooks.net/titles/cervantesetext992donq10.html)

~~~
ericzawo
This book should be required reading. One of the best experiences I've ever
had with fiction was reading this in high school. It's a massive read, I think
I got through it in like 8 days over Christmas holiday.

------
ohazi
Avogadro Corp: The Singularity is Closer than it Appears by William Hertling,
as well as the other three books in the series.

[https://www.amazon.com/Avogadro-Corp-Singularity-Closer-
Appe...](https://www.amazon.com/Avogadro-Corp-Singularity-Closer-Appears-
ebook/dp/B006ACIMQQ)

~~~
BostonEnginerd
I really enjoyed this series.

------
executesorder66
I'm still reading it but: Small Wars, Far Away Places. [0]

It's about how after WW2 lots of the empires started crumbling and how that
affected the smaller countries of the world. It is very well researched, and
incredibly interesting.

[0] [http://www.amazon.com/Small-Wars-Far-Away-
Places/dp/02307523...](http://www.amazon.com/Small-Wars-Far-Away-
Places/dp/0230752322/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463289805&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=small+wares+far+away+places)

------
vkb
The more I read, the more I realize that fiction has a way of teaching the
same lessons as nonfiction, only in a better, humane way that is not like
someone lecturing at you from a podium, but more like a friend sitting down
for a heart-to-heart conversation with you.

In this vein, I've started catching up on all the classics I haven't read yet,
and there are a lot of them. At first, I was hesitant to dive into classics,
because I thought they were hard to read and highbrow. This has mostly not
been the case (with the exception of Wuthering Heights, which I found
impossible to get through).

To wit, the best books I've read this year include:

A Tale of Two Cities - Impossible to get through the first several chapters,
but after that, you're off to the races between France and England in the 18th
century. Dickens used historical books as reference, but recreated the mood
entirely from imagination. A better primer than anything in the news about
Anglo-French relations, learning trust, and sacrifice.

No Country for Old Men - Want to understand the current fear of the Mexican
border that has so bolstered Trump's popularity, as well as the ramifications
of having a country full of veterans who don't have any medical support or
care? Read this book.

Farenheit 451, A Clockwork Orange, Handmaid's Tale - Much better and scarier
than any news clipping today about the possible future path for government
interference in thought and action. Takes things to their logical conclusions.

And one non-fiction book that I did enjoy, Bringing Up Bebe, which is about
the contrasts between child-rearing in France and America, but on a much
larger scale, about the different things that seem culturally obvious to us,
but are completely different to other cultures. This book made me really re-
examine American food culture in a way Michael Pollan's diatribes have not.

------
DanBC
Still mostly reading childrens books.

This is not my hat: [https://www.amazon.co.uk/This-Not-Hat-Jon-
Klassen/dp/1406353...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/This-Not-Hat-Jon-
Klassen/dp/1406353434)

Black dog: [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Dog-Levi-
Pinfold/dp/184877052...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Dog-Levi-
Pinfold/dp/1848770529)

FArTHER: [https://www.amazon.co.uk/FArTHER-Grahame-Baker-
Smith/dp/1848...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/FArTHER-Grahame-Baker-
Smith/dp/1848771339) (Sadly this book uses a stupid font. Other than that it's
lovely.)

Pirate Diary: [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pirate-Diary-Journal-Jake-
Carpenter...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pirate-Diary-Journal-Jake-
Carpenter/dp/0744594308)

I get these from the CILIP Kate Greenaway award. Once you know the name of the
writer, or illustrator, or even publisher, you can usually find more good
books.
[http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/greenaway.php](http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/greenaway.php)

CILIP is a UK librarian organisation. The US equivalent award is probably
something like the Caldecott Medal:
[http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmeda...](http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecottmedal)

------
brotchie
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia: A Novel - Mohsin Hamid. This is my book
of choice for the year: I read it cover-to-cover in a single day. Refreshingly
written in second-person perspective, totally engaging.

Finally read the Zones of Thought series by Vernor Vinge. Love his slight
twist on physics that allows for for both post-singularity tech and low-tech
to exist in the same universe.

The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu (second book in the Remembrance of Earth's Past
translated from Mandarin) had a bit of a slow start, but really built up to a
good finale.

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future - Ashlee Vance.
Good read and made me really appreciate what Elon has done through financially
to get Tesla and SpaceX up.

------
shoo
Picketty's "Capital in the Twenty-First Century".

If you have an interest in inequality of wealth and income, particularly how
it has evolved over the last hundred years or so in some developed countries,
it is certainly worth a read.

------
adam419
Currently reading: "The Information - A History, A Theory, a Flood"

I like it so far.

------
neilsharma
"This changes everything" by Naomi Klein. It's a very well-written, liberal
book on climate policy failures written by an investigative journalist.

I think it was written in 2014, so it doesn't cover the latest trends in
fracking or solar. I didn't know anything about the climate industry coming
from a silicon valley background, so this was an ingestible yet detailed
primer.

~~~
shoo
You might also be interested in reading "Windfall: The Booming Business of
Global Warming" by McKenzie Funk.

------
therealasdf
Currently reading "Utopia for Realists" [https://www.amazon.com/Utopia-
Realists-Universal-Borders-Wor...](https://www.amazon.com/Utopia-Realists-
Universal-Borders-Workweek-ebook/)

An interesting big picture look at the world. It questions what we understand
and do about work and life.

------
exolymph
I really enjoyed Brian Krebs' Spam Nation and I think it would appeal to the
HN crowd. [http://www.amazon.com/Spam-Nation-Organized-
Cybercrimefrom-E...](http://www.amazon.com/Spam-Nation-Organized-
Cybercrimefrom-Epidemic/dp/1501210432)

------
Futurebot
"Listen, Liberal!" by Thomas Frank. A must-read if you care about politics in
America

------
mindcrime
Reading _The Meaning of Science_ by Tim Lewens right now. It's an introductory
"Philosophy of Science" book, and I'm enjoying it so far. Up to where I'm at
now, the author has covered Karl Popper and his falsification oriented
framework, and Thomas Kuhn and the "scientific revolution / paradigm shift"
model.

A couple of other ones from this year that stand out to me:

 _Disrupted_ by Dan "Fake Steve Jobs" Lyons

 _It 's Not The Big That Eat The Small, It's The Fast That Eat The Slow_ by
Jason Jennings

In terms of fiction, this years haul includes:

 _The Bazaar of Bad Dreams_ by Stephen King

 _The Last Mile_ by David Baldacci

------
panic
_Understanding Computers and Cognition: A New Foundation for Design_ by Terry
Winograd and Fernando Flores. Highly recommended if you're interested in how
people interact with computers (and how computers interact with people, and
how both interact with the world in general).
[http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Computers-Cognition-
Foun...](http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Computers-Cognition-Foundation-
Design/dp/0201112973)

------
superflit
I know it is not "productivity" but I had a real good time reading was
"Dungeon Hacks: How NetHack, Angband, and Other Roguelikes Changed the Course
of Video Games" [1]

It talks about the creation of rogue games (rogue, nethack, adom) and its
authors and co-authors.

Well written made me play nethack again. So your productivity will decrease :)

[1] - [http://amzn.to/1spSott](http://amzn.to/1spSott)

------
ddxv
I will add a couple books I've read so far in 2016, both of which are not from
2016:

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. This book was an unexpectedly amazing overview
of the history, current status and possible future of human beings.

The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee. I put this off because
I'm not very interested in medicine. It was a mistake, this is one of the most
well written non fiction books I've ever read.

------
massung
Gettysburg The Final Fury by Bruce Catton.

[https://www.amazon.com/Gettysburg-Final-Vintage-Civil-
Librar...](https://www.amazon.com/Gettysburg-Final-Vintage-Civil-Library-
ebook/dp/B00AUSCOWO?ie=UTF8&ref_=dp_kinw_strp_1)

I'm not much of a reader. I like short, concise, non-fiction, and this was
perfect! Highly recommended.

If anyone can recommend similar books for me, please do.

------
max_
Its an old book. But has a lot of interesting aspects.

Business @ The Speed Of Thought By Bill Gates and Collins Hemingway

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_@_the_Speed_of_Though...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_@_the_Speed_of_Thought)

------
brudgers
Reread _Blood Meridian_. The newness of good books twenty years later is one
of the benefits of getting older.

~~~
nekopa
That is an excellent, though fucking brutal book.

------
TheAlchemist
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman: [http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-
Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-
Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374533555)

Great book about the way humans think.

------
drikerf
Letters from a Stoic Getting Real Cambodia Noir Vagabonding

All great reads!

------
willbank
Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom, one of the leading minds analysing and
developing AI as it relates to human civilisation.

------
tmaly
Linchpin by Seth Godin. cool take on why we need to all be artists instead of
cogs in a machine.

------
monroepe
I started the Wheel of Time series and am currently through book 3 and I am
loving it.

