Ask HN: Best Books Read in 2023?

[hazn]

I love HN's recommendations for topics like these. My favorite book read was: David Goggins - Never Finished: Unshackle Your Mind and Win the War Within [0]. No bullshit, motivating read.

[0]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63079845-never-finished

[chiefalchemist]

For completeness, this was last week:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38607276

[mindcrime]

Disclaimer: I read WAY fewer books in 2023 than what I normally read in a year. So there isn't a big trove to draw from. That said:

NON-FICTION:

The Blind Watchmaker - Richard Dawkins

Make Your Own Neural Network - Tariq Rashid

FICTION:

Black River Orchard - Chuck Wendig. Just an exceptionally well written horror story. Not necessarily super scary per-se, but well written and enjoyable to read. And I thought Wendig really "stuck the landing" with the ending.

Holly - Stephen King. King has written a LOT of novels and I've read the majority of them over the past 35 some odd years. And Holly may well be the most fucked up shit King has ever written. Note that it's not really horror, and there are no overtly paranormal / supernatural aspects to this. The "evil" here is purely human evil (which is arguably the most terrifying, since it's more real). Seriously though, not much bothers me and this was on the border of making me physically queasy in spots. And further,

SPOILER ALERT

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if anybody ever utters the expression "elf balls" in my presence, I may very well punch them in the throat.

[Dutchie987]

Fiction: Blindsight by Peter Watts

Non-Fiction: Classical Music for Dummies by David Pogue