Ask HN: What're You Reading?
Ask HN: What are you reading?
I'm currently plowing through the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, which is entertaining enough though not particularly challenging as sci-fi/LitRPG. I'm also wrapping up Doctorow's Enshittification, and I'm looking for something a little meaty to keep the brain working. What are you reading?
Inventing the Renaissance by Ada Palmer. 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. 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.
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 Emperor The 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.
This is my 13th round to recommend "The Soul of a new Machine" as well as "Showstoppers".
I’m reading The Well of Ascension, the second book of Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy I 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
Private Revolutions: Four Women Face China's New Social Order Not sure if this one qualifies as more meaty :)
Why Greatness cannot be Planned. The authors argue that rigid, goal-oriented planning and metric-driven objectives actively prevent true innovation and groundbreaking achievement.
- NDlurker
Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson. Pretty good world building. Haven't got too far into it yet.
- 1potato
I just finished Ra by qntm. It's available free on his website.
I'm guessing that many people here are familiar with this work already since HN was where I found out about qntm in the first place. If you haven't read Ra, though, I greatly enjoyed it and would strongly recommend it.
- 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. Paradiso
And sort of in parallel with that, is
Analog 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.
- 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.
- opesorry
I always have two books going, one ebook and one audible. Currently on a fantasy kick.
The Years of Apocalypse by UraniumPhoenix:
Timeloop fantasy that starts out in a magic university. It's quite a fun read and I'm enjoying how different the MC approaches the timeloop from how I expect I would. She seems quite empathetic which adds an excellent emotional element to the story that I'm enjoying.
Worth the Candle: Through Adversity by Alexander Wales:
I'm a big fan of Alexander Wales. He has an intelligent way of writing plots and characters that I enjoy. This is a meta narrative LitRPG(?) fantasy book. The basic premise is that the MC is sent to a world that has elements of his previous DnD creations. I'm not much of a tabletop RPG person but excited to see where Wales takes this series.
- 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!).
- upupupandaway
"The Memory Police", by Yoko Ogawa [1]. An island where things get disappeared by the Memory Police - physically from the world and from people's minds. A few people are immune to forgetting, so the Memory Police is on the case.
[1] - https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/37004370-the-memory-p...
- konaraddi
Storm of Steel - Written by a WW1 soldier about his experiences. His Wikipedia page is fascinating.
- Ancalagon
Finally getting around to reading the LOTR trilogy. I've read the Hobbit and the Silmarillion, just never got around to the main story.