Hacker News Books

40,000 HackerNews book recommendations identified using NLP and deep learning

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shrikantonJune 7, 2010

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini gives a great look into the 'then-and-now' of Afghanistan. An excellent read as well.

codegeekonJuly 8, 2013

This reminds of the book The Kite Runner. It describes a very different Afghanistan in the 70s before the Soviet intervention.

sidcoolonDec 22, 2016

I now I am late on reading this one, but Pragmatic Programmer.

Then there was The Kite Runner
Also, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintanence
Then Becoming a Technical Leader by Gerald

I wish I had read more.

ovatsug25onDec 13, 2013

Agreed. Fiction lets me say some things that would be ignored otherwise. There is something insidious about it. My stories would be off-putting in a frank manner. But through fiction, you can rest your case and expose a world that would otherwise be ignored. For example, The Kite Runner is probably the only way to learn about Afghanistan for many people.

tcopelandonFeb 3, 2017

Yup, official military reading lists include a fair bit of fiction. Recent ones that I can think of are Ghost Fleet, Starship Troopers, Enders Game, Red Badge of Courage, The Orphan Master's Son, The Kite Runner.

The really nice thing is that since many of those lists are refreshed yearly, they are an ongoing fountain of interesting books. Good stuff!

iuguyonDec 6, 2010

It's a toss up for me between Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

Ender's Game is one of those books I never got round to reading and I thought it was incredible what they put that boy through. I got the main twist a bit earlier than I should've done but it was such a good story that it didn't affect me too much. I loved the manipulation of political debate by the other children, it reminded me of Fox news for some reason.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is the tale of two Afghan women, one in Kabul and one from outside. It's incredible, harrowing and keeps you in a vice-like grip from start to finish. I loved it so much I bought a copy for my Mother in Law as I kept raving about it. If you liked the Kite Runner then you'll love this (it's by the same author).

tcxonNov 7, 2017

Jared Diamond - "Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed" (non-fiction)

Iván Repila - "The Boy Who Stole Attila’s Horse": short intense novel about 2 boys who are trapped in a well

Margaret Atwood - "The handmaid's tale"

Khaled Hosseini - "The kite runner"

Agatha Christie - "The murder of Roger Ackroyd" (very surprising plot)

Andy Weir - "The Martian"

Charles Dickens - "David Copperfield"

Clare Mackintosh - "I let you go"

Carlos Ruiz Zafón - "The Shadow of the Wind"

M.R. Carey - "The girl with all the gifts"

shawndumasonDec 21, 2010

37. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini

javajoshonDec 10, 2012

>This almost exactly describes what the Taliban did. Except in their moral system, the One Rule is different than in your moral system.

Read The Kite Runner for a gripping insight into what the Taliban was. There was no rule, only naked force in the name of religious fundamentalism. Enforcement was (and is) arbitrary and brutal.

The One Rule is totally, completely compatible with Islam. However, it is incompatible with any any belief, religious or otherwise that values anything above non-destruction. The big problem in the Muslim world is, in my view, that they are confused on this point. Enforcing a prohibition of the expression of blasphemy instead of enforcing a prohibition of violence and destruction is a critical mistake, and the entire nation pays the price in perpetuity.

If the universe has anything approaching a built-in moral standard, it's this, and it's implied strongly by the second law of thermodynamics. It's far easier to destroy than to create, and so any culture that doesn't give creation asymmetrical importance is going to relegate it's followers to a life of squalor and violence.

And I don't want that for anyone.

javajoshonDec 8, 2012

Thanks, I know it wasn't always like this. And I don't think there's something genetically wrong with the Afghans. Heck, I've read the Kite Runner (which was heart-wrenching). And I've seen first-hand that they seem to do just fine in other parts of the world, and are particularly fun-loving (as hinted at in the OP's post).

My instinct says, "just leave 'em alone for a few generations, they'll figure it out". And that's what we tried, but then the Taliban set up a safe-haven for Al-Queda and we got 9-11. And then we got an 11-year-long war, the longest (and probably the most expensive) in US history.

Perhaps, though, that remains the best option. Just somehow keep an eye on money and arms that flow into the nation, and strike any training camps we detect. E.g. exactly what it seems like Israel does with the West Bank and Gaza. Of course that sucks, but our options are few.

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