Ask HN: What are you reading?

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Ask HN: What are you reading?

dan-bailey

Comments (283)

rdoherty
I love reading, here's a few meatier books I've read recently:* Seeing Like a State - great overview of how states (and corporations) lose visibility into reality due to the abstraction levels they operate at* Normal Accidents - all about how things like nuclear reactors, ships and large systems naturally have accidents* Managing the Unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty - great easy read about how high reliability organizations manage complexity and dangerous, high tempo situations.
mindcrime
Fiction:I'm on Book Two of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series.Non-Fiction:More than I can count, as far as "I've read at least some, put a bookmark in it, and intend to finish it eventually." But in terms of the books I'm really actively engaging with right now, the top one is:Neuroscience: Exploring The Brain[1] by Mark F. Bear, Barry W. Connors, and Michael A. ParadisoAnd sort of in parallel with that, isAnalog Computing: Development, Programming, Applications, and Future Directions[2] by Bernd Ulmann[1]: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0781760038/[2]: https://www.amazon.com/Analog-Computing-Development-Programm...
jppope
"Collapse" - A friend gave me the book in a bag he was going to donate. its been great. Theres obviously a huge undertone of preachy "humans struggle with sustainable resource utilization" but the views into failed societies are just fascinating. Really enjoying it, though I've slowed down and might not finish."7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy" - Recommended by @pc in an interview. I'm ~50 pages in and not really blown away. Its a nice accumulation of Alpha creating strategy... but I think its really missing some nuance. I do LOVE that they take an economist approach and actually provide the math/algorithms behind the concepts. Theres some good stuff in here but so far it feels like 30 pages stretched out to make a book."Monetizing Innovation" - dropped this book, do not recommend. I was expecting a really nice accumulation of how pricing should work with companies who are innovating... and it came no where near that hopeful concept. The case studies were weak, the hypothesis were weak, the writing was weak.
fasterik
George Orwell's essays. I love his simple, matter-of-fact prose style and I'm trying to absorb as much of it as possible to improve my own writing. Many of them are available online if you don't want a full book. "Politics and the English Language" is a must-read.https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwel...
creature_x
Oh I've got some recs for you if you want meaty! I've been reading classics this year. It started with East of Eden; if you've got a philosophical leaning and appreciate your characters deeply fleshed out, you owe it to yourself to read this book.The next one was Lonesome Dove, this was my first time reading a western and I didn't think I'd enjoy it as much as I did. The book is also absolutely hilarious and has one of my favorite characters in a book(shoutout to Gus).I'm currently reading The Count of Monte Cresto and, boy, it's turning out to be quite the epic tale of revenge(no spoilers please!).
le-mark
“Player Piano” by Vonnegut, his first novel which was sci-fi and explores the consequences of total and complete automation on society. Quite prescient for the current era.https://antilogicalism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/player...
pjmorris
'Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States', Alex Wellerstein.> "Over the course of this book, we have looked at some eighty years of this history. We have seen how the idea of nuclear secrecy was initially born out of a very specific fear—that the world’s worst nation could achieve nation-destroying power—that, over the course of many transformations, morphed into something more generalized. More than totalitarian regimes were the target of this secrecy: allied nations, private industry, democratic institutions, and “the public” more broadly became understood as targets as well, for reasons both justifiable and not. The secrecy problem moved wherever the problem of the bomb went, which was far indeed. The desirability of control over nuclear knowledge became totalizing because the threat of loss of control was tied to the almost unimaginable power of the bomb itself. These two forces—the desire for control, the fear of its loss—became locked in a vicious cycle, each driving the other."
adamcharnock
Two of Vernor Vinge's books in particular (science fiction): A Fire Upon The Deep, and A Deepness In The Sky.They have a special place in my heart. Vinge didn't write much, but what he did write I think is very special indeed.I've also taken to buying hardbacks of my favourite books from ebay.https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/77711.A_Fire_Upon_the...https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/226004.A_Deepness_in_the...
jerkstate
Just finished a David Foster Wallace kick. I listened to the new 30th anniversary audiobook of Infinite Jest (twice) and then The Pale King (twice). Then I listened to "Of course you end up becoming yourself" which is a long-form interview with Wallace by David Lipsky, traveling with him on the Infinite Jest book tour.I had to listen to the books twice because there are a lot of details that you won't get the first time through unless you're extremely intentional and detail oriented, but I found it was worth it to listen again. I'll probably listen to Infinite Jest again sometime soon, even though it's 64 hours long. IJ is actually really great sci-fi with some important questions for our time.
nomagicbullet
I'm jumping across several short story collections:- "Exhalation" by Ted Chiang - "Ficciones" by Borges - "I have no Mouth and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison.I'm also slowly plowing through "The Big Book of Science Fiction" edited by Jeff and Ann Vandermeer.I love short speculative fiction. And the above are among my favorites.
exposition
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman.About halfway through- it’s really good so far. He makes a compelling case for how our culture has changed in many ways, often for the worse, with the introduction of television.
Rendello
Inventing the Renaissance by Ada Palmer [1].I don't tend to be great at finishing (or starting) books, and this is a big one. I've also never had any interest in Medieval or Renaissance history, for me it's been a black hole between the fall of Rome and the modern age.But recently I saw some Youtube videos of Ada, and her enthusiasm is totally infectious [2]. She's fun and paints these vivid pictures of Florence and renaissance Europe that are incredible, absurd, and relatable, which makes sense since given she's also an accomplished sci-fi writer. She also reminds me of one of my favourite high school teachers. So I ordered the book right away.The book is in the same tone as her videos, so it won't be for everyone, but I've really been enjoying it and now I'm fascinated by Renaissance Italy, Machiavelli, merchant republics, etc.1. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/I/bo246135...2. (My favourite example) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68p3jVQQdFk
BeetleB
Just got done reading The Wager - historical nonfiction - same author as Killers of the Flower Moon.It's quite good - not as good as Killers of the Flower Moon. I won't spoil anything you won't learn from the first few pages. The Wager was a British naval ship in the early 1700s that was lost to inclement weather. All were presumed dead. Some time later a boat arrives in England with a small number of survivors. Then a while later, another boat arrives with some more survivors. They each accuse the other of terrible acts.The book tells the story of what happened after the ship went down.It's a good read.
jeremyscanvic
I'm reading singer song-writer Lily Allen's 2019 autobiography My Thoughts Exactly. I really liked her last album West End Girl (2025) and I wanted to know more about her and her creative process and inspirations. She tells about lots of different things having happened in her life, her relationship with her parents, how she grew up like. Really enjoyable read so far!
latortuga
I stick mostly to fiction these days. Best books I've read this year:- The Women by Kristin Hannah- Jurassic Park by Micheal Crichton- Platform Decay by Martha Wells- The Dutch House by Ann Patchett- Left for Dead: Shipwreck, Treachery, and Survival at the End of the World by Eric Jay Dolin- All the Sinners Bleed by S A Cosby- Project Hail Mary and Artemis by Andy Weir- Cibola Burn and Nemesis Games by James S A Corey (the Expanse series)
rvshchwl
The Story of my Experiments with Truth - Mahatma Gandhi.I recently read another book (Autobiography of a Yogi) that included an excerpt from this book, and it piqued my curiosity into Gandhi’s struggles in India. So far I’ve found it different than other biographies I’ve read because the author is self-critical and reflective which helps in understanding him as a person and his actions.
SV_BubbleTime
Dostoevsky, the Brothers Karamazov!Oh hell, what truly great novel. It’s a long collection of people’s inner monologues, and it’s confusing as hell at first that every Russian has at least three names. But so good.
tobyjsullivan
The Nature of Economies by Jane JacobsPeople complain about how it's written, but it's nevertheless an interesting exploration of the parallels between natural ecosystems and human economies. As someone with no particular interest or background in economics (and who hasn't read anything else by Jane Jacobs), I find it a fascinating and easy read.
jcubic
Finally started reading "A Philosophy of Software Design". It was on my shelf for ages. I have the 1st edition; luckily, you can grab new chapters from the 2nd edition from the author's website.
asphodele
The Outsider (L'Étranger) will give you something to think about. Camus' idea with this novel was to see what would happen to a character who went through life only telling the truth.
electroweak
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Recently passed the bit where Ammianus complained the rich had bought up much of the property in Rome and turned so many into renters and gave stats to show it. Amongst his many other complaints.Sadly found I could have been reading a better abridgement, which I'll get for the 2nd reading now.
Avicebron
Simulacra and Simulation - Jean BaudrillardThe Logic of Collective Action - Mancur OlsonGardens of the Moon - Steven Erikson (finally started Malazan after years and years)
0xB0D
GnomonJust finished "there is no antimemetics division" an absolutely astounding read
spudlyo
So for my unofficial book club with a good friend, we're in the final act of A Passage to India by E.M. Forster, after having finished A Room with a View a few weeks before. I enjoy 19th and early 20th century literature for the prose quality quite a lot, and Forster does not disappoint on that score. It's also fascinating getting an inside view on Anglo-Indian relations during British rule. It's thematically similar To Kill a Mockingbird, in that both feature prominent "White Knight" type characters.I'm also reading some less highbrow, yet highly entertaining novels that I'm obsessed with. I'm currently on book 16 in in Lindsey Davis' Falco series[0], which are murder mysteries set in Ancient Rome. I've been enjoying them non-stop ever since HN user "vintagedave" recommended[1] them around 4 months ago.[0]: https://www.goodreads.com/series/42173-marcus-didius-falco[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48323766
pmg101
Middlemarch, finally!I'm 50% of the way through and it's good but I don't entirely see the hype. Brontë is more atmospheric, Austen funnier and more incisive, Dickens more immersive. But I've still got a way to go.
phugoid
Value(s): Building a Better World for All by Mark Carney, the current prime minister of Canada. He starts out with his perspective on the history of economics and money - it reads a bit like a textbook.He has a knack for being critical and optimistic at the same time. Funny too!
shawn_w
Like half the people here I'm in the middle of Dungeon Crawler Carl.Finished Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia yesterday, and also have been reading Robert van Gulik's Judge Dee mysteries - currently on The Haunted Monastery.
analog31
Moby Dick. I'm further through then I've ever gotten before thanks to a long airplane ride.
mysterydip
I just finished Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics and it had so many “aha” moments for me. Definitely recommended if you have even a passing interest in reading or making graphic novels or comics.
jdfellow
On Audible, revisiting a childhood favorite: A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs.On my Kindle I have two ham radio books I'm reading, one is about grounding antennas, the other a General test prep.- Grounding and Bonding for the Radio Amateur - Ham Radio General Class License Study Guide
mkovach
J.L. Austin: Philosopher & D-Day Intelligence Officer.Austin worked for British Intelligence during World War II, running the Martians section and helping assess possible invasion sites for D-Day. After the war, as a philosopher of language, he helped bring ideas such as performative utterances and speech acts into the discussion.A fascinating overlap between intelligence work and philosophy of language.And because the Brewers are in the playoffs, "Catcher in the Wry" by Bob Uecker. Despite being a Cleveland fan, I have to admit the book is amazingly fun. Uecker was Uecker long before he became everybody's favorite baseball storyteller, and he was the Cleveland announcer in Major League.
PyWoody
I couldn't remember which Shakespeare plays I had or hadn't read, so I've spent the summer going through them alphabetically. It's been a blast!I knew many everyday expressions and phrases come from his work but I had no idea it was so many.I'm currently about halfway through at 3.2k pages.
edoceo
Taxation The Peoples Business by Mellon, Andrew W.https://archive.org/details/taxationthepeopl033026mbpIt's from 1924 and US centric, old new ideas in there.
nonethewiser
The Wheel of Time.I was very happy to find this. I heard complaints that it's just a Tolkien clone and Jordan doesn't portray women well. But what I found was kind of a relic. It's an excellent fantasy series that probably couldn't be written again. Wish we had more like it.
MattSteelblade
Working my way through Elle Cordova's sci-fi book club[1]. Currently on Hyperion, but have read "The Man In The High Castle," "Sea of Tranquility," "Exhalation," "Neuromancer," "The Power," "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep," "Parable of the Sower," and "I, Robot."[1] https://bookshop.org/lists/elle-s-sci-fi-book-club
jldugger
About two thirds of the way through "Flaw of Averages". Thankfully the chapters are short but it's written for business students and is aggressively anti-jargon, which can be annoying at times.It started off promising, with some hints about monte carlo methods implemented in spreadsheets, but kind of detours into statistics basics, layman summaries of the author's prior scholarly work, and various business consulting anecdotes. I did not, for example, expect to read a chapter on the FASB-II's flaws regarding options pricing. And a few are downright concerning a decade later. I would not, for example, brag about advising Wells Fargo executives on their employee incentive programs after the cross-selling scandal came to light.The final chapters, which I have not yet gotten to, supposedly cover the solution to the flaw of averages. Given the book is 15 years old, I'm expecting it to be pretty dated implementation wise, but I might be able to apply it to Prometheus histograms or t-digests. And I've learned a few things, like Jensen's inequality, and found a few sheets demoing a sampling approach.
gorgoiler
After my father died last year I’ve started going through his collection of popular-science paperbacks.Done: QED, Richard Feynman. Lectures on explaining quantum electrodynamics but with no more math than geometry.Currently: One Good Turn: A natural history of the screwdriver and the screw, Witold Rybczynski. The discourse goes into his references in depth. It has yielded an excellent list of museums to visit.On deck: Impossibility: The limits science and the science of limits, John Barrow. A re-read for me. Barrow discusses what we can never know in a way that’s like P vs NP but for the physical world.*
jameskylstra
The most recent book I read that I really loved was A Gentleman in Moscow: https://recleague.com/james/r/144458-a-gentleman-in-moscow. It got me on a Russia kick, which has been fun and enlightening.I keep track of all my favorite books here: https://recleague.com/james/collections/books(Full disclosure: I'm a cofounder of Rec League)
ojbyrne
Currently, “Football” by Chuck Klosterman. Basically about the cultural impact of (American) Football. Pretty good.
lbeckman314
Lord of the Rings — second read after ~15 years, excited to revisit!
ky-hy
I recently finished "Warbreaker" by Brandon Sanderson, now plan to go back to reading "Designing data-intensive applications" since it's been a long time (for me) since I read anything educational. Warbreaker was amazing, I still think about it, a week after finishing, about the characters and how much fun I had while reading it. It's one of those books that you smile when you read it because of how pleasant it is and how enjoyable the characters are.
MrDrMcCoy
Currently going through Bobiverse, Dungeon Crawler Carl. Recently finished the Dark Profit Saga (Orconomics). Highly recommend all of them.
aaronbrethorst
I’ve been reading about bureaucracy, power, and civic engagement:The Power Broker by Robert Caro.Recoding America by Jennifer Pahlka.The Time Tax by Annie Lowrey.
michaelmior
I recently discovered Charles Soule who started in comic books and ventured into novels. I read The Oracle Year recently and now I'm reading The Endless Vessel.
quuxplusone
You Gotta Have Wa, by Robert Whiting (1989), about baseball in Japan in the 1980s.Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley (1818/1831), https://frankendiff.com; and Tales of the Dead, by Mrs. Utterson (1813), https://archive.org/details/talesofdead00utteJust started Homer's Iliad (Fagles translation) and Christopher Logue's War Music (2015).Just finished re-reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams (1980). I think it holds up well. Last time I read it, I was much younger than Arthur Dent; now I'm much older. And now that we have computers with Genuine People Personalities, it's hard to remember what it was like in the Before Times.Recently finished Gaston Leroux's The Mystery of the Yellow Room (1908). For better or worse (no spoilers here), it kept me guessing.
arrowleaf
I'm reading Sagas of the Icelanders as prep for a trip there, but I can feel it pulling me down into a rabbithole of older Scandinavian medieval writing. I've already got an order placed for a saga that's not in this book, along with the Poetic Edda and Havamal to learn more about Norse mythology.
bgleb
Recently finished: - Tau Zero by Poul Anderson (Hard Sci-Fi) - Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (blew my mind)Reading now: - Hyperion by Dan Simmons (getting harder than two above, but enjoying it so far)
cleandreams
"What Happened to Liberal Democracy" by Daron Acemoglu (Nobel laureate).As someone who fled the desolation of the rust belt this book spoke to me and I found it credible and compelling. My book club spent 4 hours discussing this book.
ChrisMarshallNY
Glen Cook's Garrett P.I. series[0]. It's a perennial fave (I've read it many times, in the past).I'm reading Deadly Quicksilver Lies, right now.[0] https://www.goodreads.com/series/49491-garrett-files
GaryBluto
I've mostly been reading short SF stories recently, most of them from Dangerous Visions.Here's a few of the ones I've read and enjoyed:“The Jigsaw Man” by Larry Niven“The Night That All Time Broke Out” by Brian W. Aldiss“A Toy for Juliette” by Robert Bloch (although I was surprisingly not a fan of Harlan's continuation)“The Man Who Went to the Moon — Twice” by Howard Rodman“Flies” by Robert Silverberg
dcminter
Well in theory I'm reading "Blind Corner" by Dornford Yates, but it's so terrible I may not finish it. I adore Dorothy Sayers and have a sort of forlorn hope that another of the golden age crime writers will have something approaching her flair. In practice this is a third rate John Buchan-ish boys-own bit of tatt. So far. I suppose it might improve.Instead I'm sneaking off to reread a Pratchett novel (he had very few duds until the Alzheimers really got its teeth into him).After that/those I'm dithering between SS/GB by Deighton and some other re-read.
jeanpah
I'm reading the neuromancer triology. It makes me think that book ended up predicting (or maybe shaping) many things that really are happening right now.
ngokevin
Avatar: The Last Airbender books. Yangchen's series. Nothing you'd use to try to show off your knowledge over coffee, but fun well-written read with great world building.
lucb1e
> I'm looking for something a little meaty to keep the brain working...- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks comes to mind. I had no idea how rampant purposeful discrimination was so recently for example, but the point of the book is the HeLa cells - and biology is also not my forté so loads of new information there as well. It was very interesting in expected and unexpected areas for me- Daniel Suarez' Kill Decision has only gotten more relevant since its release in 2012. Not sure I'd call this meaty though, but his thrillers are always good (near-ish future tech) and the author iirc also said this particular one is meant as food for thought and not only entertainment
cheschire
I'm on book 3 of the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown.
ferguess_k
This is my 13th round to recommend "The Soul of a new Machine" as well as "Showstoppers".
RGS1811
I just finished Wilfred Sellars “Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind”I’m slowly rereading Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations.I am perpetually rereading the works of Richard Rorty.
dyauspitr
The pillars of the earth. It took me a while to get to it but what a book.
delichon
You've Been Pooping All Wrong by Trisha Pasricha MD. Get a bidet, eat more fiber and kiwis.
zem
I'm on book 3 of Romlyn Domingue's "Keeper of Tales" trilogy. One unusual touch I liked is that each book is written in a different person - book 1 is a second person autobiography written as the protagonist talking to her past self, book 2 is third person with a different protagonist, and then book 3 is a continuation of book 2 but with the voice switched to first person.
gb2d_hn
Ted Chiang's Stories of Your Life And Others. Just finished the short story behind Arrival, the way it frames free is something the film doesn't capture. Other stories in the book have been brilliant too.
pyyxbkshed
I recently enjoyed the Dark Profit Saga by Zachary Pike: https://www.goodreads.com/series/207236-the-dark-profit-sagaIt was a mix of fantasy & humor. It is a bit long but it is extremely funny & entertaining. It is the first fantasy book I have read other than the Harry Potter series (not sure if it is considered fantasy) but I loved it.One of the best non-fiction books I read this year was Doppleganger: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/138505710.
askvictor
Non fiction: The Dawn of Everything.Fiction: just finished The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott; about to read The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (for the 2nd or 3rd time)
NishanStepak
I am currently listening to VC An American History by Tom Nicholas, Audible 2019. I am reading Predictable Winners, A Handbook for Developing, Forecasting, and Launching New Products and Services, Stanford Business Books, 2025. I have cracked open, but not gotten very far in reading, The Rise And Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore, Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2026. The Jill Lepore book is very interesting.
sieste
Ready Player One, together with my 9yo boy.
weldu
I’m reading the gospel! It’s super interesting and accurate account to my understanding.I’m specifically talking about the New Testament.I’m currently reading Hebrews 6.
stevenwoo
On the Origin of Sex - real life examples that seem like science fiction. How to Make an Apple Pie from Scratch, I read last year but goes into most recent discoveries in physics.
DazWilkin
On the recommendation of a friend, the spiral wars series (https://spiral-wars-shepherd.fandom.com/wiki/Spiral_history).It started slow (booting) but I'm enjoying the books (currently on #3), the universe-building and the length (10 books) of it.
WillAdams
Re-reading C.J. Cherryh's Chanur books and various other Alliance-Union novels from her Humble Bundle.I'd be re-reading Tolkien's _Old English Exodus_, but proofreading the typos got to be too much.
mon_
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang.It's an autobiographical history which recounts the lives of the author, her mother, and her grandmother throughout an extremely transformational century in Chinese history.I went into this knowing little to no Chinese history, and it has opened my eyes to this fascinating country. I hope to visit China for the first time in 2027. Before I go, I'm doing a deep dive into Chinese history. Open to recommendations on what to read next!
mcv
I've taken a hiatus in my journey through Iain M. Banks' Culture novels to reread 1984.
trinsic2
I just finished "The Emergency". Heard about it on Reading Hannah Arendt with Roger Berkowitz [0]. Is a fictional story about what it might be like if a modern government empire collapses. Im interested in writers that are thinking about the future.[0]: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-emergency-with-geo...
johnobrien1010
Actually, Nevermind: Essays by Taylor Tomlinson
euthymiclabs
The Score, by C. Thi Nguyen.It explores why we love metrics in games, but hate them at work.
vwake
I am reading The dream of enlightenment by Anthony Gottlieb.My goal is to read the history of ideas from Renaissance period till 2000s. Started with The Florentines by Paul Strathern. Then read The Clockwork Universe by Edward Dolnick. Now at the enlightenment era. It has been eye opening to read about the life and times of some of the great minds like Kepler, Galileo, Newton, Locke and more.
ElCapitanMarkla
I just finished the full cast Harry Potter audiobooks and they were fantastic.Currently reading and recommending - Endurance by Alfred Lansing. Sir Earnest Shackleton’s attempt to cross the Antarctic.
paulorlando
One of the books I'm reading now is Ask the Fellows Who Cut the Hay, by George Ewart Evans. Set in 1957 Suffolk county, England. I often read in a theme and this theme is about cultural and technological transitions.
Oscalemor
I've got a history of picking up the 2 top books of the airports best sellers. Have been my strategy for a while, right now it's FLESH. Feels like I'm being part of the mainstream, reading something everyone else reading.
coldstartops
Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimgar_of_Fantasy_and_AshI have grown playing MMORPG's and this one brings the nostalgia vibes without investing the time into grinding for gear.
john_strinlai
the fionavar tapestry by guy gavriel kay.nearing the end. i've found it a bit complicated to follow in some spots (there are several 'main' protagonists and it switches between them without much warning or introduction) but overall it's scratched the fantasy itch.(i suppose it's actually 3 books, but i have the omnibus version)
dang
Just for fun—past examples with > 30 comments:Ask HN: What Are You Reading? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45283087 - Sept 2025 (42 comments)Ask HN: What are you reading Feb 2024 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39248780 - Feb 2024 (92 comments)Ask HN: What are you reading these days? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38237730 - Nov 2023 (281 comments)Ask HN: What Are You Reading? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21457827 - Nov 2019 (49 comments)Ask HN: What books are you currently reading? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16160091 - Jan 2018 (43 comments)Ask HN: What books are you currently reading? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14859274 - July 2017 (80 comments)Ask HN: What books are you reading? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14608397 - June 2017 (36 comments)Ask HN: What books are you reading? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10175465 - Sept 2015 (79 comments)Ask HN: What are you reading? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9636361 - June 2015 (37 comments)Ask HN: What book are you reading right now? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8108932 - July 2014 (86 comments)Ask HN: What Books Are You Reading? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7968124 - June 2014 (80 comments)Ask HN: What books are you reading right now? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4596721 - Oct 2012 (40 comments)Ask HN: What are you reading? What've you read lately? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3335496 - Dec 2011 (41 comments)Ask HN: What are you reading right now? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3230965 - Nov 2011 (59 comments)Ask HN: What books are you reading - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2615647 - June 2011 (53 comments)Ask HN: What are you reading right now? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1865350 - Nov 2010 (298 comments)What are you reading? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=797070 - Sept 2009 (214 comments)
ItsMattyG
if you're into litrpg, have you tried the wandering inn? it's not so meaty but it's above almost all other litrpgs in that department and the storytelling is great
fk_fk
"A man in the Maze" by Robert Silverberg. Don't know why but I felt the urge to re-read it, last time I read it 30 years ago and remembered the plot very well.
almost_usual
Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life by Nick Lane.
danielheath
Radiant Star (the new Ann Leckie book, in the “Ancillary Justice” series). Not as good as her earlier books in the series, but very worthwhile if you enjoyed them.
godzillafarts
I just wrapped up the Murderbot Diaries series and am starting in on Dungeon Crawler Carl.I normally read a lot of nonfiction and history and am trying to make a point to read more fiction this year.
akkartik
Lots of scifi and fantasy.The Works of Vermin. Exceptionally well written. Not an ounce of flab anywhere.The Carryx series, 2 books so far. Best villains ever.Tainted Cup and sequel. Sherlock Holmes meets Godzilla.Goblin EmperorThe Prophet (Gibran)Los Alamos (Kanon)Hyperion (reread)Finally, a shout out to the best book I read in 2025: Terra Ignota. Yes, the whole series.
lp92
Currently reading "Beyond Tube-and-Wing: The X-48 Blended Wing-Body and NASA's Quest to Reshape Future Transport Aircraft".Its a pretty good history of the X-48 program.Edit: also reading the "The Anduril Thesis" in parallel.
pykello
- "Foundations of Analysis" by Belding & Mitchell- "On Writing Well" by Zinsser
apt-apt-apt-apt
I'm reading tons of Claude, all I do everyday is read all day
hackernud3s
Iain Banks - Excession - 5 stars and the most optimistic series on AIDungeon Crawler Card - Not for me but I might give it another chanceBukowski - Post Office - Worth reading, Gen-Z might get triggered
arwhatever
Gouged: The End of a Fair Price—and What That Means for Your Wallet by Lindsay Owens became available today, and I have purchased ebook and will begin reading today.
gyre007
I finished Quantum Radio last week and Im quite far in Rainbows End. I think the former is ok, not great; the latter is a better book (with AR future vibes), but still lacking something that makes u never drop it before u finish it.
largePanda9
Currently on the final book of James Clavell’s Asia Saga, it’s been a long road and I’m frankly kind of over it but 90% through the final book and I’m glad I read them. First read Shogun maybe ~10 years ago but read the other four back to back. Gai-Jin wasn’t very good but the others have been pretty solid overall. A bit long winded and sometimes I wish he’d’ve had a more aggressive editor, but happy with em enough to finish them all.
kurttheviking
I read a lot so I'll toss out some fiction titles you might like if you're a DCC fan:* Ode to the Half-Broken by Suzanne Palmer -- post-apoc dystopian, somewhat cozy, told from a robot's perspective (who is joined by a companion cyborg dog)* Blacktongue Thief by Chris Buehlman -- witty and snarky fantasy, solid character development and world building; and, if you like it, book 2 in the series (book 3 if you count a prequel) comes out soon* Mortedant's Peril -- Fantasy mystery in a world where magic allows the "detectives" to touch the dead and sense their final thoughts/words; in that world, someone learns a dark secret from a victim...* Trade of Blood -- Another fantasy mystery that is exceptionally well told; it's Book 3 in a series so I'd start with Tainted Cup if you haven't read that already* The Infinite State -- new SciFi by Richard Swan (usually a fantasy author); a universe where ultra wealthy can establish colony planets, someone attempts to start a democracy.
tantalor
The Cuckoo's Egg, by Cliff Stoll
loganfrederick
Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will by Robert Sapolsky
axus
Rereading Pale, slowly:https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/
losvedir
Book 2 of Hyperion Cantos. Really enjoying it, but am unsure if I want to do books 3 & 4. Anyone read them and recommend either way?
mattmar96
Boom Town by Sam Anderson. Its an intertwined history of Oklahoma City and its basketball team, the Thunder. I'm about halfway through, and I'm loving it so far.
firefax
Eichmann in Jerusalem
robertkoss
Just finished:- Selected Stories - Anton Chekhov- Death in Venice - Thomas Mann- The Burnout Society - Byung-Chul HanCurrently I am reading an Austrian economics classic - Economics in one lesson by Henry Hazlitt
jrop
An Introduction to General Systems Thinking by Gerald Weinberg. I've found his writing style to really land with my brain.
neverkn0wsb357
Three books.These two feel especially relevant:Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered - E.F. SchumacherTools for Conviviality - Ivan IllichandThe Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows - John Koenig
DamnInteresting
Fiction I recently enjoyed: The Ana and Din series by Robert Jackson Bennett. Sherlock Holmes vibes, with Kaiju. Also The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North.Currently reading and enjoying: Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel.Next to Read: Hollywood, Ending by John Green.
amadeoeoeo
"Correction" from Bernhard. Wow. This is in its own league of weirdness and yet it flows...
JoeAltmaier
Terry Pratchet's entire corpus
SplitVengeance
Just started Dark Tower Series Book 4: Wizard and Glass. I crushed the first 3 books, then took a break to read dungeon crawler carl.
jeffnv
"Lost Worlds" - by Patrick Wyman, fascinating prehistory about meso and neolithic 'civilizations', their lives, their rises and downfalls. Really amazing stuff
arialdomartini
The first volume of Software Foundations, and the first volume of À la recherche du temps perdu, Proust. Both very very slowly.I guess it will take me years to have reason of both.
no-dr-onboard
The Intellectual Life by AG Sertillanges. Note that it does presuppose a Christian worldview, so ymmv depending on your belief.
black_puppydog
Iain M Banks' Culture series. It's hilarious (not really) how badly these books are mis-read by wannabe tech dictators.
bityard
Airframe by Michael Crichton. It's riveting.
jtagrgh
Helliconia Summer
1-more
The Overstory is rad fiction. Just started listening to Ordinary Men which is about a Polish police battalion responsible for a great many murders during the Holocaust. The members of that battalion were, I guess, welcomed back into society afterwards? Idk, I just started. I'll tell you one thing, though: it's weird to absorb facts about the Shoah as digestible statistics fun facts (for lack of a better term) but those little snippets are very necessary to get my arms around the scale of things such as it. It's the same as happened when I listened to Late Victorian Holocausts. So now I have stats like- Most Jewish victims of the Holocaust died by gunshot in the occupied USSR- In March 1942, 80% of Holocaust victims were still alive and by February 1943 80% were dead.- Per capita incomes were equal in the first and last years of the British Raj- Indian grain exports increased in the 1880s and 90s and there were 3(?) different famines at that timerattling around in my head in the same part that holds on to "Pakistan has never had a PM finish a 5 year term," "The Lions, Falcons, and Bills (non-exhaustive) have never won a Super Bowl," "There are no surviving contemperaneous attestations of Hamilcar and Hannibal Barca" and "the first drummer of the Beatles was called Pete Best and made an album called Best of the Beatles"
bix6
Carl was hilarious, can’t wait for the final booksNettle and Bone I really enjoyedSome desperate glory also enjoyedEast of Eden very meaty if you want an epic
dmillar
London Falling, fascinating story about a piece of London's underbelly. Same guy that wrote Say Nothing, which is also great.
focusedone
"On the Road" by Jack Kerouac. My first time though this one and it's...well...a trip.
andsoitis
Why Greatness cannot be Planned.The authors argue that rigid, goal-oriented planning and metric-driven objectives actively prevent true innovation and groundbreaking achievement.
imperialdrive
Half way through Dungeon Crawler Carl book 8, really got hooked on the whole universe haha.
arch_deluxe
A bleak and appalling nuclear triptych:- Hiroshima- The Doomsday Machine- Command and ControlHighly recommended if you’re feeling too happy and full of faith in humanity.
perrygeo
"A Darwinian Survival Guide: Hope for the 21st Century" - really enjoying the modern take on Darwinian natural selection (the first part of the book). In short nature diversifies in good times, to stock resilience for weathering the bad times. Just a few chapters in, waiting for that hope to kick in any minute..."The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst" - This story is about the first round-the-world solo yacht race, and the one contestant who died at sea. His story is really strange - an anti-hero tragedy with a touch of mental illness. The author does a great job bringing the reader on this descent into madness."Protocols" - Andrew Huberman's recent book. Like his podcast, it's full of solid advice backed by published science - but also with some repetitive filler and product name drops. The sections on exercise and diet were not very informative to me, mainly because I've already incorporated most of that into my life already. The sections on light exposure and its relationship to sleep, melatonin and cortisol is the most fascinating new-to-me info. I've started morning/evening walking without my sunglasses to get those sweet sweet photons.
abstash
The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh. A book which depicts tale of a family across the East and West Bengal amidst Partition of India. This book is very renowned and well written. Being a programmer, its better to read on different topics(which is rarity these days)
tobadzistsini
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, the manga adaptations of The Shadow over Innsmouth and The Shadow out of Time, Progress and Poverty.
jlengrand
Le Comte de MonteChristo, an African history of Africa and Hold me tight
softwaredoug
I’m reading The Well of Ascension, the second book of Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogyI like how he has the slow, almost clinical way of revealing interesting worlds and systems. It’s not the kind of book that’ll make me cry, but I really like world building with fun enough characters
andy_ppp
The output of LLMs, largely :-/
ssttoo
Binging on Barbara Ehrenreich: Nickeled and Dimed, Dancing in the Streets, Natural Causes
nozzlegear
I'm reading A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine, it's the sequel to A Memory Called Empire. I'm enjoying it!
nottorp
Arkady Martine right now. Pretty good.
dgellow
„Practical Engineering for Inventors“. It’s not really made to be read from beginning to end but I do like to le
whyage
Currently listening to I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter. A fascinating exploration of consciousness written 20 years ago but very relevant in the age of AI.
Razengan
Nothing currently, but most recently, the various audiobooks of The Wind in the Willows to fall asleep, and Diana Wynne Jones' (of Howl's Moving Castle fame) Chrestomanci series while awake.
kidnoodle
Is a river alive by Robert McFarlaneA beautifully written travelogue/nature book/eco activist screed that tours the world visiting rivers and the people engaged in living with and protecting them. Fascinating, hopeful, heartbreaking and lyrical. Really enjoying it (evidently)!
sanswork
Non-Fiction(on breaks): IndistractableFiction(before bed): Quicksilver Neal StephensonAudio(during chores): Dungeon Crawler Carl(Up to book 6)Next up:Non-Fiction: Ten things I wish I knew about raising boys, Outdoor kids in an indoor world, Intentional(Chris Bailey)Fiction: The rest of the Baroque Cycle, then moving onto The Laundry Files by Charles Stross, then the rest of DiscworldAudio: The rest of DCC then I'm going to switch to podcasts for a while nothing else planned after this right now.
undopamine
Just started Quantum Break: Zero StateHighly recommend the game for anyone who liked Dark or Primer (or any other fiction that features stable time loops).
rearview
Just recently started watching Reacher S1 and it was absolutely amazing so started reading the book and wow - like its absolutely amazing
buckhx
Infinite Jest. Enjoying it so far, but the length keeps on killing me. I'm like 5% of the way in after a couple of weeks...
sim04ful
Samuel Butler's adaptation of Homer.
bcrosby95
City of Stairs
herpdyderp
I haven't read books in years. I read an incredible amount of code, does that count?
black6
Olaf Stapledon's Star Maker
azaras
For keep the brain working and sci-fi I recommend you "EVO - Padres" by Ignacio Fernandez Moreno, spanish only but easy to read with B2 level or upper. It's a science fiction novel exploring politics based in evolution in a far away planet.
lbrito
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, by Shoshana Zuboff. Can't recommend it enough
leandot
The Immortal Great Souls from Phil Tucker. Very enjoyable fantasy with unique world and characters.
david927
Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita.
leandot
The Immortal Great Souls by Phil Tucker. Very enjoyable fantasy with great world and characters.
AbbeFaria
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
dvh
15,000 miles in a ketch
snicky
Private Revolutions: Four Women Face China's New Social OrderNot sure if this one qualifies as more meaty :)
PaulHoule
In my bag right now I have: The Fox and the Jewel by Karen A. Smeyers and The Spiral Dance by Starhawk.
theflyinghorse
Finally got to Dostoevsky's Brother Karamazov. This will take a while.
checkyoursudo
The Nerd Reich
Tomte
Back issues of The London Review of Books.
pyjarrett
Discourses by Epictetus
tonymet
Reading a number of books on the Manhattan Project / Cold War / Soviet Nuclear Program* Dead Hand* Atomic Accidents* Hiroshima* Command and Control
gAI
The Neverending Story by Michael EndeAlways.
atlasunshrugged
I'm reading Purge (not to be confused with the film franchise), by a Finnish-Estonian writer about two women with dark pasts during the waning days of the Soviet Occupation of Estoniahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purge_(novel)
mertbio
Right now I’m reading Biological War. Before this one I finished reading:- The Left Hand of Darkness- The Nerd Reich- What Happened to Liberal Democracy?
SubGenius
The Rouse by China Miéville, great read so far.
ex-aws-dude
Reading Gödel, Escher, Bach but I've been stuck on the MU puzzle for days
josters
A copy of Resurrection by Tolstoy I found on the street. Really enjoying the way he is able to portray characters in such profound ways.Also still working through Civilization and Capitalism by Fernand Braudel.What I finished recently and was really surprised by: Der Geisterbanner by Karl Friedrich Kahlert from 1792.
28304283409234
"Escape from Capitalism", by Clara Mattei
ekjhgkejhgk
I'm about 100 pages into "Dune Messiah" (the 2 movies out are both for the first book, the 3rd movie is going to be this book), 50 pages into "Analysis I" by Terence Tao, 100 pages into "Thinking in bets"
misiti3780
President Lincoln by William Lee Miller about the magnanimity of LincolnGod's Middle Finger: Into the Lawless Heart of the Sierra Madre by Richard Grant about hiking through cartel-run Mexico alone
bowsamic
Antigone by Sophocles
pringk02
I just got done with a second read of 2666 by Bolaño.There was an article on HN a month or two ago about how some books drive people to the kind of madness that would make them do a degree in literature. This is probably the one for me. Excited to read it again in 5 years and see it differently again.
kevinor
Material world and chip wars. Both brilliant. Material world highlights our human ingenuity with an optimism for the future as it outlines our exploitation of the worlds resources over history up to the present time.Chips wars, for me as a dev without a strong hardware background is a fascinating read into the history of Silicon Valley, from the 50s right up to nvidia and Taiwan semiconductor.
chistev
Thanks for this question!I'm not reading anything at the moment since I'm taking a break and watching season one of Deadwood and also re-watching season one of Boston Legal.But when I'm done, I plan to re-read "The Cold War A Very Short Introduction" by Robert J. McMahon. I read it about five years ago and it's time to read it again.Having said that, I can't pass on this opportunity to share the books I've read (some are re-reads) thus far this year that I recommend. I'll just list them while saying that they all come highly recommended by me.In the famous words of Frank Zappa - So many books, so little time.1. The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris2. Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris3. Lying by Sam Harris4. The Road by Cormac McCarthy5. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe6. Cosmos by Carl Sagan.7. The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins8. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson9. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl10. Mortality by Christopher Hitchens11. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling12. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling13. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander14. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka15. Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium by Carl Sagan16. Outgrowing God: A Beginner’s Guide to Atheism by Richard Dawkins
judicious
Blank Space: A Cultural History of the Twenty-First Century by W. David Marx. A fascinating and approachable read.
louwrentius
Palo Alto by Malcolm Harris - a re-read about the history of Silicon Valley, highly recommended.