Ask HN: What are you reading?

33 points by classicsnoot 11 years ago

That's right, its the Sixth Edition of the HN Bookclub. Don't you dare upvote or post.

5: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9543693

4: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9443897

3: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9394397

2: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9342886

1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8918181

Stoo 11 years ago

Accelerando by Charles Stross (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerando). I'm mostly enjoying his look into humanity's near and not so near future and his views on business, economics and technology. It's interesting and I like his writing style but sometimes it doesn't feel like much is going on story-wise.

MaysonL 11 years ago

Jo Walton's What Makes This Book So Great along with about half a dozen of the books it mentions (it's a collection of blog posts on books she's rereading) which I hadn't previously read. All of the previously unread ones I've now finally read are good, a couple great, ditto the ones previously read. One was enough of a downer that I didn't finish it (Random Acts of Senseless Violence).

Definitely recommended if you enjoy science fiction and/or fantasy.

rdc12 11 years ago

Fiction: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (loved the movie as a kid, but never got round to reading the book), will follow up with the Lost World.

Non-Fiction: Chaos by James Gleick.

Semester break reading, Real World Ocaml and Modern Compilers in ML (assuming they arrive in time)

faizmokhtar 11 years ago

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running - Haruki Murakami

blabla_blublu 11 years ago

[1] Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely (almost through with this one - highly recommend it) [2] Quantum Enigma by Bruce Rosenblum, et.al

  • burger_moon 11 years ago

    I started with the first one but got busy and forgot about it. This will be a good reminder to finish it.

burger_moon 11 years ago

Currently reading: Notes from the Underground, Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Usually don't read fiction, but this is good.

Enzolangellotti 11 years ago

To Mock a Mocking Bird by Raymond M. Smullyan. I'm having fun while my brain gets stretched.

freedevbootcamp 11 years ago

For pleasure: Backbone.js Blueprints by Andrew Burgess

For work: Stealing The Network, The complete series collectors edition

rendambathu 11 years ago

I wanted to read something about logical thinking and cognition. So just started with Godel Escher Bach.

  • classicsnoot 11 years ago

    Buckle up, my friend. You are in for a trip and like LSD, there is no guarantee of good or bad. I personally love it.

ggordan 11 years ago

The Violent Land - Would certainly recommend it for a non-technical read.

kelukelugames 11 years ago

I feel like we should do this once a month at most instead of every two to three weeks.

  • classicsnoot 11 years ago

    I have been doing it every time i finish a book or two, but once a month works too.

fmax30 11 years ago

The Grand Design - Stephen Hawking.

Should finish it by tonight.

After that, it is time for 1984 - George Orwell.

  • amarraja 11 years ago

    I'd love to completely wipe 1984 from my head, just for the pleasure of reading it again! You will not look at the world in the same way once finished.

    • classicsnoot 11 years ago

      How do you feel about Aldous Huxley's Brave New World? A juxtaposition between BNW and 1984 is very interesting in terms of what actually happened vs. what the authors portrayed.

      • Jacqued 11 years ago

        BNW has always seemed much more alien to me than 1984. When I first read it as a teenager it seemed incomprehensible and somewhat insane.

        Now as I get older and get to better understand (still very modestly!) people in general and the structures of power, it seems like a much better informed take on our society

mindcrime 11 years ago

Nominally, I'm "reading" 23 books that are in my Goodreads "currently reading" shelf. But of the ones that I'm really working on and will finish fairly soon:

1. Secret Societies - John Lawrence Reynolds

2. Black Wings of Cthulhu 3 - S.T. John (ed)

3. Unleash The Warrior Within - Richard Machowicz

4. Data Crush - Christopher Surdak

5. Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman

6. The Glass Cage: Automation and Us - Nicholas Carr

7. Future Shock - Alvin Toffler

8. The Balanced Scorecard - Robert S. Kaplan