Ask HN: What are some good book recommendations?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9598902

by ryanjodonnell • 11 years ago

4 6 11 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Going on vacation soon and I'll have some free time on my hands to read - what are books people recommend? Any topic welcome

talisman420• 11 years ago

You simply cannot go wrong with anything like The swrod of Truth or the Wheel of time novels as far as fantasy goes. Contemporary reality I would go Dean Koontz dragon tears or something like that. Non-fiction "Eat that Frog" or something similar. I guess it depends on WHAT your interests are

cdipaolo• 11 years ago

haven't been able to get enough Haruki Murakami (fiction). If you haven't read any of his books try either Norwegian Wood or Kafka On The Shore. Kafka is my favourite book of all time but Norwegian Wood is a close second. Seriously, this guy is a genius

zhte415• 11 years ago

I've recently read Michael Lewis's collection. Non-fiction finance narrated beautifully.

Brett Easton Ellis for fiction. Will Self if you'd like a lesson in vocabulary and uncommon usage.

vdaniuk• 11 years ago

Ian Banks. Culture series.

Vernor Vinge. Zones of Thought series.

Alastair Reynolds. The Revelation Space series.

I would recommend this list of sci-fi book series. All of the series belong to the space opera genre (though not the pulp fiction kind) with some hard sci-fi elements.

All authors incorporate many computer science and physics concepts and it's quite a rewarding experience to run into computational complexity used as a plot device without any glaring errors.

My first choice would be the Culture series. I've burned through 10 Culture books in one month and stopped only when there were no more books left. So good.

ryanjodonnell• 11 years ago

Ill check out the culture series - I've read Revelation Space and loved it, thanks for the rec!

brickcap• 11 years ago

I've enjoyed reading murder mysteries while travelling. Anything by Agatha Christie is good. Generally speaking short stories,essays or something with a strong narrative flow makes for a good travel book.

Another good idea is to make yourself read a book that you would never have read at home. While travelling, if you don't have other distractions(internet,music etc) and only a book to keep you occupied (when you are not busy sightseeing) you might actually finish it. I read The Republic in two days on a train-- a book which I wouldn’t have touched otherwise. And I am glad I did :) It made me discover a completely new class of books.

Ask HN: What are some good book recommendations?

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