What's the best, most unexpectedly-excellent book you've read lately?
Any genre goes. No text too niche or too odd.
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.
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.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_coups_and_coup_attempt...
- Tracer in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency by Andy Greenberg https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60471288-tracers-in-the-...
- This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race by Nicole Perlroth https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/49247043
“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.”
“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'.”
Snow Crash is funny and weird and action packed, but its light-hearted tone diffuses the tension. The Diamond Age, by contrast, had a lot of hair-raising moments and characters I was really invested in.
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.
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
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.
Homemade dashi, ftw.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31823606-mastering-the-a...
With no exaggeration, everyone I’ve recommended it to finished it the same day they started it.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13330922-the-black-count
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.
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 really liked The Three Body Problem, I've over a thousand pages in the last month in this series. I also enjoyed The Poppy War and Dune.
The best nonfiction I read recently was Blackshirts and Reds and A People's History of the Supreme Court.
It's not quite HN material, but I also absolutely loved The Nix. It's a book I described to my friends as "nothing happens" by which I mean all character stuff.
Next is Blindsight by Peter Watt [0], which looks interesting.
[0] https://smile.amazon.com/Blindsight-Peter-Watts/dp/125023748...
Patrick Rothfuss - Kingkiller Chronicles
Naomi Novik - Scholomance
Michael J. Sullivan - Riyria
Ilona Andrews - many books
[1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/wdoiq2/in_december_r...
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.
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.
[1]: https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Speaks-Numbers-Reveals-Natur...
The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War by Craig Whitlock.
Enjoyed both a lot over the Christmas break.
Nudge
Thinking Fast and Slow
Without Remorse
Cuckoo's Egg
The Intellectual Lives of Children
Why Johnny Still Can't Read or Write or Understand Math
Technopoly
Amusing Ourselves to Death
Leviathan (Dolin)