Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?

Re:Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read? by travisjungroth on Monday October 07, 2024 @01:37PM (#41768627)

It’s not just liking a book, as if they named some cliche young adult novel. It’s the magnum opus of the author’s philosophy as a novel. They’re dismissing them for the philosophical views they’re celebrating.

It’s the other end of the spectrum from disliking someone because their favorite book is The Grapes of Wrath or A Brave New World. I actually agree with the values expressed in those books, and I can also understand someone not wanting to be friends with me because of it.

But at least if you’re going to have friends with a different philosophy, seems like a better move to reach across to people who believe in community and collaboration over self-interest and individualism. That’s just me, though.

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Re:Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read? by Y_Y on Monday October 07, 2024 @02:38PM (#41769401)

I can like a book without agreeing with it.

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Re:Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read? by travisjungroth on Monday October 07, 2024 @03:38PM (#41770074)

Absolutely. You could say the ideas are well presented or it provided a contrast that clarified your own thinking. But, if someone asks "What's your favorite book?" and you say "The best book I've ever read was Atlas Shrugged in 8th grade. Changed my life." then... come on. You either like it or are quite the tricky communicator.

"Someone dropped it off a bridge, hit my abusive step-dad and killed him dead. Soft spot for Ayn Ran ever since, beliefs aside." That's someone I'd want to be friends with.

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Re:Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read? by Y_Y on Monday October 07, 2024 @04:23PM (#41770624)

Tricky communicators make the best friends.

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Re:Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read? by cactacea on Monday October 07, 2024 @02:50PM (#41769542)

And have it change your life?

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Re:Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read? by dmitrygr on Monday October 07, 2024 @02:58PM (#41769637)

> And have it change your life?

Yes, a literary work can both be life-changing and not something you agree with.

EG:

I do not at all agree with Marx. Me and others reading his works changed my life irrevocably. Ditto for Hitler.

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Re:Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read? by travisjungroth on Monday October 07, 2024 @03:45PM (#41770155)

But you do get that if you said "The best book I've ever read was Mein Kampf in 8th grade. Changed my life." then some people very reasonably won't want to be your friend, right?

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Re:Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read? by Y_Y on Monday October 07, 2024 @04:15PM (#41770529)

Would you befriend someone who said, "The best book I've ever read was Mein Kampf in 8th grade. My life, however, was entirely unaltered thereby."?

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Re:Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read? by travisjungroth on Monday October 07, 2024 @08:37PM (#41772659)

I’d be mostly confused. How did the best book you’ve ever read not alter your life?

I was just quoting the actual question in the comment.

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Re:Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read? by dmitrygr on Monday October 07, 2024 @03:51PM (#41770209)

You had me until "reasonably". I'd rather friends who have read than friends who prefer ignorance.

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Re:Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read? by travisjungroth on Monday October 07, 2024 @08:38PM (#41772669)

I wouldn’t hold it against someone for having read it. Again, big difference between reading a book and saying it’s your favorite.

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Re:Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read? by BigGreenJorts on Monday October 07, 2024 @10:55PM (#41773422)

Ok but your favourite book?

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Re:Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read? by hgomersall on Monday October 07, 2024 @02:53PM (#41769570)

On a tangent, did you find brave news world describing a dystopia or a utopia? I find myself convinced of both depending on my mood.

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Re:Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read? by dmitrygr on Monday October 07, 2024 @03:16PM (#41769860)

Brave new world describes ... approximately the 21st century 1st world countries' upper-middle class. We are living it. TokTok/YouTube is soma.

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