Hacker News Books

Not tech related, but I loved Devil in the White City by Larson and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Pirsig.

Also, I reread Rework about 3 times this year. Always a good and quick read.

I don't cry often. But a common types of cry I have is in narratives when someone achieves something.

For example, I cried reading The Devil in the White City when the Ferris wheel started moving for the first time.

Last Spring I read Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America. It's about the same 1893 World's Fair in Chicago.

It's non-fiction, but written in a novelistic style. I absolutely loved it, I can't recommend it enough.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_in_the_White_City

Peter Seibel's Practical Common Lisp which is a really nice albeit long tutorial with interesting case studies.

Peter Norvig's Paradigms of AI Programming which is quite dense (in a good way) and extremely interesting.

I just bought and started the Land of Lisp for something light to pair with PAIP.

I'm also off-and-on reading Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (which needs no introduction), GEB (the same), and Coders At Work (which is humbling).

And Erik Larson's The Devil In The White City which is pretty entertaining.

I joined local book clubs to help combat this. The book clubs help me get motivated to read books. I don't always finish them, and sometimes work or other commitments prevent me from going out and discussing the book, but it does help motivate me to sit down and read a book again (often when I'm in line waiting for things is a good time for me to make progress on the book. I try to do that instead of checking Facebook updates, but I also read before going to bed also).

The main problem with this, is they often choose books that I'm not that interested in reading. Sometimes I plow through it anyway and sometimes I just skip that month. That's why I'm in multiple groups, so I can see what each group is reading and pick the one or two books that look the most interesting from those.

But sometimes the books I'm really into. Like I got excited when The Devil and the White City was one of them, and one of them is currently reading the Deep Work book, which I'm finding interesting and wanting to incorporate some of its ideas in my own life.

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

LOTR

Kafka on the Shore (Haruki Murakami)

Blood Meridian (Cormac McCarthy)

Devil in the White City (Erik Larson)

>"Is he saying that sometimes he does choose what's on the bestseller list?"

Is that a problem for you? Does it make your hipster friends angry?

Let's see what I read from the bestseller's list this year, off the top of my head: Quiet, Thinking Fast and Slow, Devil in the White City, Steve Jobs, and yes, 1 or 2 of the Game of Thrones books. I also read The Corrections, which wasn't on the best-seller list this year, but was definitely hyped in its day (Oprah Book Club! How mainstream!)

In fact, I make an effort to read the bestsellers lists for ideas. It makes me more well-read, not less.