Between books, need something to read.<p>What's the best, most unexpectedly-excellent book you've read lately?<p>Any genre goes. No text too niche or too odd.
Here's two books that will change the way you understand the non-Western world.<p>1. Coup d'Etat A Practical Handbook. I know, you never intend to organize a coup, why would you need a practical handbook? Well, coups or attempted coups are surprisingly frequent. Wikipedia has a list [1] of 60 attempted coups worldwide since 2010, a stunning 18 of which (30%) were successful.<p>2. The Dictator's Handbook. Yet another handbook. I think these titles, with their weird attempt of humor, are quite unfortunate. It's a shame. The content is great, but I wonder how many people don't buy the book because they feel insulted by the idea that they'd ever need a handbook to be a dictator. I know I felt that way. Well, don't take that title as an insult, just ignore it. The majority of the countries worldwide are led by dictators. It's quite important to understand how they think. This way it's easier to understand what's going on in the world.<p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_coups_and_coup_attempts_since_2010" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_coups_and_coup_attempt...</a>
If you are interested in cybersecurity, I thought these two books are fantastic:<p>- Tracer in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency by Andy Greenberg <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60471288-tracers-in-the-dark" rel="nofollow">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60471288-tracers-in-the-...</a><p>- This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race by Nicole Perlroth <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/49247043" rel="nofollow">https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/49247043</a>
Thus Spoke Zarathustra.<p>“Man is something that shall be overcome. Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman — a rope over an abyss. What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end.”<p>“You say 'I' and you are proud of this word. But greater than this- although you will not believe in it - is your body and its great intelligence, which does not say 'I' but performs 'I'.”
If you are open to fiction - I came across an entire genre called LitRPG which is combination of RPG-game style elements in the form of a book. It is mostly written by young gamers so the writing quality is pretty basic but various authors explore different gaming-related creative elements very well. Couple of books to start with in this genre are "Defiance of the fall" and "Dungeon Crawler Carl". The latter is even better as an audiobook vs regular book.
This one can make the trick, I guess: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thus_Spoke_Zarathustra" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thus_Spoke_Zarathustra</a>
<i>The Diamond Age</i> by Neal Stephenson. Recently got around to finally reading it. I know <i>Snow Crash</i> is considered his best sci-fi novel (and it’s amazing, too), but I think I liked this one even better.<p><i>Snow Crash</i> is funny and weird and action packed, but its light-hearted tone diffuses the tension. <i>The Diamond Age,</i> by contrast, had a lot of hair-raising moments and characters I was really invested in.
Murder Mysteries.<p>Agatha Christie's 'Hercule Poirot Series' books are always good. (Actually most of the Agatha Christie's crime series are good.) Bear in mind that most of those are set in the 1920s-1930s period.
I'd check the "Best book in 2022" <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33849267" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33849267</a> submission. There's actually 5-10 such submissions <a href="https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastYear&page=0&prefix=true&query=best%20book%202022&sort=byPopularity&type=story" rel="nofollow">https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastYear&page=0&prefix=tru...</a>
The Count of Monte Cristo, it is over 1300+ pages in the English translation I read, and it is fun and interesting read, almost every single page of it.
This book came out not too long ago and is really good.
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt<p>What does a misanthropic octopus have in common with Tova, a widowed aquarium employee? Not much, until a friendship develops following a daring tank rescue, and Marcellus McSquiddles happily uses all eight of his tentacles, his three hearts, plus his sharp brain, to solve the soul-scarring mystery of Tova’s son Erik’s disappearance thirty years ago. Utterly original, funny, wise, and heartwarming (be warned: there’ll be tears as well as giggles), Remarkably Bright Creatures will have readers falling hard for an acerbic invertebrate whose intervention in his new friend’s life sets her up for healing lessons in love, loss, and family. —Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Editor<p><a href="https://a.co/d/cKptjQl" rel="nofollow">https://a.co/d/cKptjQl</a>
The Ancient City - Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges<p>If you're interested in what life in ancient Greece / Rome was like. The author does a very good job at not going into too much detail and boring the reader, while still telling you all the important events and changes that took place.
<i>Mastering the Art of Japanese Home Cooking</i>, Masaharu Morimoto<p>Homemade dashi, ftw.<p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31823606-mastering-the-art-of-japanese-home-cooking" rel="nofollow">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31823606-mastering-the-a...</a>
Personally I’m a sucker for a beat-the-odds survival story and 438 days is in a tier of it’s own. It takes a special kind of human to survive in the open ocean for over a year.<p>With no exaggeration, everyone I’ve recommended it to finished it the same day they started it.
_The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo_ by Tom Reiss, and Gabriel Stoian (Translator)<p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13330922-the-black-count" rel="nofollow">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13330922-the-black-count</a><p>It was an interesting look at this period of history, and even more fascinating insight into the wellspring from which Dumas drew for his stories.<p>It's esp. interesting when contrasted w/ the pastiche of _The Count of Monte Cristo_ by Steven Brust, _The Baron of Magister Valley_, which I also highly recommend if you're interested in literate fantasy.
I read a lot, usually history but I've been getting back into fiction<p>I really liked <i>The Three Body Problem</i>, I've over a thousand pages in the last month in this series. I also enjoyed <i>The Poppy War</i> and <i>Dune</i>.<p>The best nonfiction I read recently was <i>Blackshirts and Reds</i> and <i>A People's History of the Supreme Court</i>.<p>It's not quite HN material, but I also absolutely loved <i>The Nix</i>. It's a book I described to my friends as "nothing happens" by which I mean all character stuff.
After numerous attempts at getting through Snow Crash (pretty good), finally finished it last night.<p>Next is Blindsight by Peter Watt [0], which looks interesting.<p>[0] <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/Blindsight-Peter-Watts/dp/1250237483" rel="nofollow">https://smile.amazon.com/Blindsight-Peter-Watts/dp/125023748...</a>
<i>Shattered Sword</i>, by Anthony P. Tully and Jonathan Parshall. An in-depth analysis of the battle of Midway, primarily from the Japanese perspective, covering everything from the organizational culture of the IJN and its impact on Japanese doctrine and planning to the minute-by-minute events of the battle.
Fantasy:<p><pre><code> Patrick Rothfuss - Kingkiller Chronicles
Naomi Novik - Scholomance
Michael J. Sullivan - Riyria
Ilona Andrews - many books
</code></pre>
Caution: Be aware that the last book of the Kingkiller Chronicles "the doors of stone" is not out yet and may never happen[1], so although it is one of the greatest fantasy books of all time (in my opinion), it's kind of unsatisfying after part 2 :-)<p>[1]: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/wdoiq2/in_december_readers_donated_over_700000_to/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/wdoiq2/in_december_r...</a>
The Selfish Gene by Dawkins is a fascinating (to me mind-blowing) look at biology and evolution. There are some subtle popular misunderstandings about evolution that he thoroughly debunks.<p>Thinking Fast and Slow by Kahneman is basically a summary of his life's research in behavioral economics and is super fascinating. There has been some scrutiny about some of the claims but still an amazing, enlightening book.<p>Expecting Better by Osler is basically a summary of things to expect with pregnancy but she takes skeptical view to any and all conventional wisdom and summarizes the actual research behind various recommendations. Very educational and refreshing read for me.
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30659.Meditations" rel="nofollow">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30659.Meditations</a>
<i>The Universe Speaks in Numbers: How Modern Math Reveals Nature's Deepest Secrets</i>[1]<p>[1]: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Speaks-Numbers-Reveals-Natures/dp/0465056652" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Speaks-Numbers-Reveals-Natur...</a>
Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency by Andy Greenberg<p>The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War by Craig Whitlock.<p>Enjoyed both a lot over the Christmas break.
Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo had a big impact on me when I read it recently. I wouldn't call it horror, but it's a disturbing and yet compelling read.
Stealth of Nations<p>Nudge<p>Thinking Fast and Slow<p>Without Remorse<p>Cuckoo's Egg<p>The Intellectual Lives of Children<p>Why Johnny Still Can't Read or Write or Understand Math<p>Technopoly<p>Amusing Ourselves to Death<p>Leviathan (Dolin)