I would like to read more fiction, but don't know what I'd enjoy reading. Markets are the answer.
Thru-out 2024, I'll read books that either are highly ranked in this market or just catch my eye. I'll resolve to "yes" if I decide I enjoyed reading the book, "no" if I didn't, and "N/A" if I don't get to reading it by the end of 2024.
I'll add books here based on credible recommendations. I'll focus the options on fiction, but I reserve the right to add non-fiction books.
Notes about what I do or don't enjoy in comments.
Since I'm subjectively resolving this market, I'll refrain from betting.
Based on your comments regarding what you've liked and not liked, I'd recommend:
Quarantine - Egan
Schild's Ladder - Egan
The Fifth Science - Exurb1a
And I'd strongly recommend:
Axiomatic - Egan
Diaspora - Egan
Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
some sci-fi recs, since you seem to like those:
crystal society
children of time
Hyperion
the Martian
personally I love everything alexander wales wrote, but that's more fantasy and TTRPG-like
I'm enjoying Mad Investor Chaos, but i would not at all recommend it to most.
I'm willing to talk more about the recs, but am not yet in case you value going in blind
@DanielFilan Oh also Gypsies: The hidden Americans. And I have a copy of Escaping Paternalism that's somewhat tempting. But the non-fiction won't count for this market.
@Tumbles it has comparatively weak, or at least confusing, moments towards the end, but overall I think the ending is great and it makes a grown man like me shed a little tear every time I finish it
The fact that you enjoyed Too Like The Lightning makes me feel bullish about Almost Nowhere: the aspects that AN has in common with TLTL are the ones that have been most divisive among AN readers. If you liked (or even tolerated) that stuff in TLTL, there's a good chance you will feel the same way about it in AN.
Plus I just think AN is good in general, but then I would, that's why I wrote it :)
Daniel Filan is an AI safety person well above the 50th percentile, which strongly correlates with being glad they read Mad Investor Chaos/Planecrash (projectlawful.com).
Unlike HPMOR, it was mainly intended for AI safety, decision theory, advanced rationality, and forecasting people, specifically to find a good balance between casual entertainment and upskilling in those areas.
The drawback is that >90% of people bounce off the first page, and >99% of people only finish up to half to the first quarter, as some parts are slower than others; but the latter are generally glad they read that far.
Thoughts:
I recommended The Leopard. I don't really remember reading it except for thinking it was incredible. Daniel has been mentioning to me that it contains a bunch of references to Catholicism, which presumably he will like.
Invisible Cities somehow doesn't seem very Daniel, but he likes Borges/Chiang so that seems fairly promising. Also it is high on the "Objectively Good" latent
The Name of the Rose is really good, especially if you like Borges and/or theology. I remember quite enjoying the discussions on the licitness of laughter
Related: a market on how many of these I will resolve. https://manifold.markets/DanielFilan/how-many-books-will-i-read-this-yea-49d6a79b0203?r=RGFuaWVsRmlsYW4
@DanielFilan oh also: I bounced off of Mad Investor Chaos after a page or two but perhaps I should persevere.
Possibly the best of the Culture novels, as a bonus makes you understand what’s going on in a Grimes’ music video 😅 https://youtu.be/ADHFwabVJec (hope it doesn't spoil anything)
A world that makes much more sense than you assume, with characters having agency, by an author who wrote fiction Yudkowsky recommended (“Deadly Education”), with tropes changed in unpredictable ways and cute Eastern European mythology/entourage at the center of it
@DanielFilan Can you elaborate on what you did/did not like about HPMOR? Mad Investor Chaos is like HPMOR turned up to 11, you might really love it or really hate it.