Ask HN: What was the best book you read in 2021?
18 comments
Love Daemon and Freedom, some of the few books I’ve read twice. Strong recommend
"The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind" by Julian Jaynes
Stories of Your Life by Ted Chiang
I finished reading the last book in Iain M. Banks The Culture series. Not perfect but the series overall turned out to be my favorite fiction across any medium.
Similar to a written version of Star Trek.
Similar to a written version of Star Trek.
Oh, lord no. The Culture series is grand in scope and imagination.
I think I’m the only one who doesn’t like his Culture books. I think The Algebraist is amazing though.
Set in a different universe where physics works as we currently understand it to, but with beings that have had billions of years to perfect all the technology you can have in it. Much cooler than he lazy rich people in space of the culture series.
Set in a different universe where physics works as we currently understand it to, but with beings that have had billions of years to perfect all the technology you can have in it. Much cooler than he lazy rich people in space of the culture series.
Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir
Honestly enjoyed this more than The Martian, which was already one of my favorite reads.
Already optioned to be a movie with Ryan Gosling to star. I do hope they keep true to the book.
Be Here Now by Ram Daas.
Haven't finished it but reading: The Charisma Machine
About the One Laptop Per Child computers
Fiction I enjoyed reading:
- Sourdough/24hr library
- Nick Webb legacy fleet series
- Long way to a small angry planet
About the One Laptop Per Child computers
Fiction I enjoyed reading:
- Sourdough/24hr library
- Nick Webb legacy fleet series
- Long way to a small angry planet
The Heart of Buddha's Teachings by Thich Nhat Han
This is one of the life changing book!
How Emotions Are Made - Lisa Feldman Barrett
Augustus: A Novel, by John Edward Williams
A Man and His Symbols by Jung and others.
Nim in Action
These Truths (Jill Lepore)
Attack Surface - Cory Doctorow
Non-Fiction:
Engineering General Intelligence Vol 2 - Ben Goertzel
Honorable Mention - Fiction
Daemon - Daniel Suarez
Freedom - Daniel Suarez
Billy Summers - Stephen King
Elsewhere - Dean Koontz
Honorable Mention - Non-Fiction:
We See It All - Jon Fasman
Integrating Rules and Connectionism for Robust Commonsense Reasoning - Ron Sun
Talking Nets: An Oral History of Neural Networks - James A. Anderson
The Soar Cognitive Architecture - John Laird