Child 44
A propulsive, relentless page-turner.A terrifying evocation of a paranoid world where no one can be trusted.A surprising, unexpected story of love and family, of hope and resilience.CHILD 44 is a thriller unlike any you have ever read."There is no crime."Stalin's Soviet Union strives to be a paradise for its workers, providing for all of their needs. One of its fundamental pillars is that its citizens live free from the fear of ordinary crime and criminals. But in this society, millions do live in fear... of the State. Death is a whisper away. The mere suspicion of ideological disloyalty-owning a book from the decadent West, the wrong word at the wrong time-sends millions of innocents into the Gulags or to their executions. Defending the system from its citizens is the MGB, the State Security Force. And no MGB officer is more courageous, conscientious, or idealistic than Leo Demidov. A war hero with a beautiful wife, Leo lives in relative luxury in Moscow, even providing a decent apartment for his parents. His only ambition has been to serve his country. For this greater good, he has arrested and interrogated. Then the impossible happens. A different kind of criminal-a murderer-is on the loose, killing at will. At the same time, Leo finds himself demoted and denounced by his enemies, his world turned upside down, and every belief he's ever held shattered. The only way to save his life and the lives of his family is to uncover this criminal.
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What Hacker News says
- Some titles I've recently read or at least have placed on my reading list.
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Philosohpy
Letters from a Stoic: Epistulae Morales Ad Lucilium - Seneca
Meditations - Marcus Aurelius (must read)
The Republic - Plato
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History
Five Chimneys - Olga Lengyel
The Gulag Archipelago - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (must read)
The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank
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Fiction
(particularly dystopian) 1984, Brave New World, Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451
(crime/action) Child 44, The Secret Speech, Agent 6 - Tom Rob Smith
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Economics
Capital in the Twenty-First Century - Thomas Piketty
Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty - Banerjee, Duflo
Why Nations Fail - Robinson
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Economics/Decision making/Psychology
Undercover Economist, Freakonomics, Nudge, Thinking Fast and Slow
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Random titles
The Selfish Gene, Self-Reliance, The Elements of Style (about writing), Slaughterhouse-Five
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Some links to inspire your reading (though you may want to checkout the websites first to get an idea of the topics they cover)
http://www.gatesnotes.com/Books
http://bookpickings.brainpickings.org/
http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/reading/
http://www.ryanholiday.net/reading-newsletter
I’m just a working-class guy trying to take part in the conversation that all the smart people are having. What books should I read? - http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/03/im-just-a-working-cl...
- 1) The Stories of Ibis by Hiroshi Yamamoto (my almost-annual re-reading)
2) The Collapsing Empire - John Scalzi
3) The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
I have a feeling the book I am reading now - Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith might have been on this list if I had finished it (and might still be tomorrow).
