HN Explorer

Ask HN: What do you read?

13 points by ianthiel ↗ HN
I've recently gotten back into reading and I'm curious to hear what HN recommends.

I'm also working on a small side project that helps connect tech/startuppeople/nerds with books they'll love, and getting a gauge of what HN reads would be rather awesome.

What do you consider "essential reading" in the following categories:

Sci Fi Fantasy Classics Contemporary

19 comments

[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 25.7 ms ] thread
yason
Sorry, I can't answer you per se. But I have to explain something.

I don't read fiction anymore except for one particular author. I used to (and lots of it when I was young!) but for some reason that I still haven't figured out why I stopped getting anything from fiction. I just did and I really don't miss any of it.

I do read non-fiction.

I have a few topics ongoing at a time that I explore. The topics might last for months or years until I eventually branch into something else, often semi-related. The books describing these real world things or explaining new views or ideas or angles are, to me, so endlessly fascinating that I find myself totally immersed in these subjects that I haven't even considered borrowing or buying fiction anytime soon.

I just sometimes wonder if I'm the only one like this.

ianthiel
I would specify that I only read science fiction, and occasionally fiction that most would classify as "classics". Beyond that, I don't read any fiction.

Exploring one particular topic with a series of books sounds rather interesting to be honest. I think on HN in particular it wouldn't surprise me to find that most people are reading more non-fiction than fiction.

Can you give an example of a topic and some related books that you enjoyed?

yason
In the recent year or two I've been reading dozens of books about urban planning, suburbia, traditional neighbourhoods, modern neighbourhoods, traffic planning, pedestrian planning, cityscape and from there I'm slowly moving now especially to the roots of modernism and its various derivatives in architecture and city planning.

There are lots of books about the former, with a huge number of various angles. Dom Nozzi has a couple of books with critical analysis on traffic planning and suburbia; well, he's not against all that per se, he just carefully points out the planning patterns that do not work for humane living. Then everybody probably knows Kunstler who has been a vocal author on the subject for years; I can recommend his TedTalk[1] to sum up many of his books. On the contrary, a delightful book about the appeal and history of the British suburbia by Paul Barker is the book 'The Freedoms of Suburbia', to be enjoyed slowly over the cup of hot tea.

[1] http://www.ted.com/talks/james_howard_kunstler_dissects_subu...

dglassan
I'm the exact same way. I'm not sure why but I have a few topics at a time that I am interested in and want to learn more about. Sometimes learning a new angle or way of thinking about topics in real life are more fascinating than fiction books are.

Maybe it's just that I like to learn, I'm not real sure.

muruke
Totally agree, although I never actually enjoyed reading fiction. Never knew I enjoyed reading at all until I got older and discovered non-fiction.

As you I usually have a few topics on the go that I am interested in. Good to see I'm not the only one.

Luyt
In the classics category, I'm re-reading (for the tenth time or so) the memoires of Giacomo Casanova, "L'Histoire de ma vie" ("The History of my Life"), 12 volumes or so, in Dutch translation. Fascinating stuff and a interesting insight in the 18th century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casanova
Mz
Thank you for the link. I envy you your reading material.
m0nastic
I'm not sure about "essential reading", but I like most anything besides Science Fiction or Fantasy (probably the opposite of most folks here)

Some of my top choices would be:

Anything by Bulgakov (Heart of a Dog and Master and Margerita are both pretty widely available in English)

Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood

Burmese Days by George Orwell

Cakes and Ale by Somerset Maugham

Color of Summer by Reinaldo Arenas

Williwaw by Gore Vidal

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

jeffool
Hey good luck with your project.

Personally I'd love a good place to get recommendations on contemporary fiction. Good Reads just has a "ask for recommendations" section which I can do myself with friends, y'know?

That said, I recommend Arthur Nersesian. And I've been re-reading the old Fletch series lately. Man those were fun.

Also, I'm squarely in the aforementioned "nerd" demo.

pemulis
I'm on a David Foster Wallace kick right now: Working through The Pale King, his collected essays and his short stories. Already read Infinite Jest. It's hard to say what qualifies as "essential reading" when it's impossible for a human being to read even one tenth of the great, all-time classic books. There just isn't enough time. My advice would be to read at least a few books that have reputations for being difficult. War and Peace, Gravity's Rainbow, In Search of Lost Time, Ulysses, etc. (The reason I'm only listing near-undisputed classics here is because these books are difficult, and in some cases very, very long [looking at you, Proust], and the assurance that it is all worth it helps you keep going when your brain hurts.) These books survived despite their difficulty because reading them is a mind-expanding, sometimes life-changing experience. Reading shouldn't be essentially passive.
shii
There's a forum[1] that got started last night for reading Infinite Jest at a leisurely pace (75 pgs/wk) over the summer and discussing it weekly starting Juneish by anons in /lit/ on 4chan, if you're at all interested.

[1]: http://www.litinfinitejest.org/forums/

revorad
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
latch
I read a ton since getting a Kindle (and dumping my TV). Almost purely sci-fi.

Finished the Culture series, Hyperios Cantos, Ilium/Olympos, Book of the New sun. Gonna re-read the original 6 dune books at some point. Anything by Paolo Bacigalupi (up and coming) or Larry Niven.

ianthiel
Seconding the dumping of the TV. I've heard nothing but good things about the Culture series so that's something I'll have to get to soon. And I can never recommend the original 6 dune books enough, simply legendary.
latch
I'm just curious, why you wouldn't upvote me? (I don't mind, I'm just genuinely curious). It is possible you did upvote me and someone else downvoted..so apologies ahead of time if my assumptions are wrong.

Culture was meh...By the 2nd or 3rd book you realize that the Culture is so powerful that nothing presents a risk. It's like Superman without Kryptonite (or his lack of pragmatism). Aside from the first book, Consider Phlebas, Excession was probably the best - largely because it focused on ships rather than people. Just my $0.02 of course.

ianthiel
I upvoted you, not sure why someone would downvote though.
brudgers
I recently have been reading Hugo Award Novels and recommend Roger Zelazny's This Immortal which is good enough to have shared the award with Dune in 1965. Lord of Light is also a great read and won a Hugo in 1968. Clifford Simak's Way Station, Phillip K. Dick's Man in the High Castle, and Walter Miller's Canticle for Leibowitz are other great Hugo novels from the early 1960's that tend to be overshadowed by more famous authors from that period such as Heinlein (not that I wouldn't recommend The Moon is a Harsh Mistress if you haven't read it).