Top Hacker News Book Recommendations in History (all time)

All Time Past 6 Months

The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge

David McCullough

4.6 on Amazon

3 HN comments

Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base

Annie Jacobsen and Hachette Audio

4.5 on Amazon

3 HN comments

Dear Reader: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Kim Jong Il

Michael Malice, Marcus Freeman, et al.

4.5 on Amazon

3 HN comments

Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (King Legacy)

Martin Luther Dr. King Jr., Vincent Harding, et al.

4.9 on Amazon

3 HN comments

The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War

Malcolm Gladwell and Pushkin Industries

4.4 on Amazon

3 HN comments

Left of Bang: How the Marine Corps' Combat Hunter Program Can Save Your Life

Patrick Van Horne , Jason A. Riley , et al.

4.7 on Amazon

3 HN comments

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania

Erik Larson, Scott Brick, et al.

4.6 on Amazon

3 HN comments

A History of the World in 6 Glasses

Tom Standage

4.6 on Amazon

3 HN comments

Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs

Camilla Townsend

4.7 on Amazon

2 HN comments

Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway

Jonathan Parshall, Anthony Tully, et al.

4.8 on Amazon

2 HN comments

The Origins and History of Consciousness: Bollingen Series

Erich Neumann, R. F. C. Hull - translator, et al.

4.8 on Amazon

2 HN comments

Billion Dollar Loser: The Epic Rise and Spectacular Fall of Adam Neumann and WeWork

Reeves Wiedeman

4.4 on Amazon

2 HN comments

Hiroshima

John Hersey

4.4 on Amazon

2 HN comments

Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation

Silvia Federici

4.8 on Amazon

2 HN comments

Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II

Liza Mundy

4.5 on Amazon

2 HN comments

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comrhonDec 23, 2015

> Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson

Second this one. Larson can really write history to be a page turner.

ycom13__onDec 25, 2015

My 5 favorite ones I read this year

  In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick
  Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
  To the Last Man: A Novel of the First World War by Jeff Shaara 
  Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson
  The Wright Brothers by David McCullough

All 21 books I read are here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10785428

ycom13__onDec 23, 2015

Here are all the ones I read this year

  A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire) by George R. R. Martin
  A Feast for Crows: A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) by George R.R. Martin
  The Confident Speaker: Beat Your Nerves and Communicate at Your Best in Any Situation by Harrison Monarth
  House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewsk
  To the Last Man: A Novel of the First World War by Jeff Shaara 
  Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson
  Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by Brent Schlender
  George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution by Brian Kilmeade
  Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain by Steven D. Levitt
  Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
  Finders Keepers: A Novel by Stephen King
  The Guns of August: The Pulitzer Prize-Winning Classic About the Outbreak of World War I by Barbara W. Tuchman
  The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
  Seveneves: A Novel by Neal Stephenson
  The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson
  Hitler's Last Day: Minute by Minute by Emma Craigie
  The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
  Robopocalypse: A Novel (Vintage Contemporaries) by Daniel H. Wilson
  Robogenesis by Daniel H. Wilson
  In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick

My 5 favorite ones from that list are

  In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick
  Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
  To the Last Man: A Novel of the First World War by Jeff Shaara 
  Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson
  The Wright Brothers by David McCullough

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