Top 1 or top 1-3 book you read this year (2025) that you would recommend to the HN community? Note: book itself doesn't need to have been published in 2025.
- A short stay in hell (sci-fi): A modern take on Library of Babel. Pretty dark. Quick read.
- The Burried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. Nominally fantasy, but not really. Great, like his other books.
- Small things like these (fiction). Set in 1900s Ireland, atmospheric. I learned about Magdalene laundries from this book.
- Parable of the Sawer by Octavia E. Butler, science fiction. Collapse of society, survival etc. Pretty bleak.
- Lonely Kind of War (biography). Author was a forward air controller during the Vietnam war. His job was to direct air strikes from jets and bombers on enemy positions and then confirm the kills. Interesting and depressing.
- Terminal Man - Michael Crichton
- The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss
- A short stay in hell (sci-fi): A modern take on Library of Babel. Pretty dark. Quick read.
- The Burried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. Nominally fantasy, but not really. Great, like his other books.
- Small things like these (fiction). Set in 1900s Ireland, atmospheric. I learned about Magdalene laundries from this book.
- Parable of the Sawer by Octavia E. Butler, science fiction. Collapse of society, survival etc. Pretty bleak.
- Lonely Kind of War (biography). Author was a forward air controller during the Vietnam war. His job was to direct air strikes from jets and bombers on enemy positions and then confirm the kills. Interesting and depressing.
Fantastic exposition of machine learning. The author does an amazing job of bringing a technical subject down to an easily readable level.
2. The Joy of Abstraction - Eugenia Cheng
Similar to the above review. I never thought Category Theory could be made so easily readable!
3. A Little History of Philosophy - Nigel Warburton
Small, compact book. A quick interesting jaunnt through the history of philosophy. Entertaining and educational!
Not specifically for the HN community but these are the only books I read this year that I would recommend without qualification.
Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- The Bright Sword, Lev Grossman Modern take on King Arthur, very fun, wild ride.
- The Courage to Be Disliked, Ichiro Kishimi Philosophy as a dialogue between teacher and student, lots to think about.