Despite the fact that I'm "reading" permutation city, I'm finding it more aversive to pick up than the non-fiction I'm reading. I don't exactly dislike it, just finding it hard to get into.

I'm not going to change this half-way, but note to self: a future version of this market would be better if I resolved to percentage rather than binary yes/no.

@DanielFilan Just because it's more expressive of what I actually think about books.

OK, I'm starting Permutation City. Will see how it goes.

You might enjoy Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio. (Its strongest element is the epic scope of the series, but the first novel especially stands on its own.)

If you enjoy good worldbuilding, you might also like The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman.

I agree with others to recommend to Crystal Society and Diaspora.

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

Not quite sure what I'll read next. Top contenders are probably The Wind-up Bird Chronicle and Permutation City. There's also some non-fiction - Deep Utopia came out on my birthday which was nice, and I'd like to finish my re-read of Novelist as a Vocation.

@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.

Finished The Leopard, and ultimately I think I enjoyed it. It went a bit slow thru the second half, but perhaps due to the changing circumstance of my months, and ultimately the world-building and ambience were pleasurable.

Not on the list but I'm loving "Rituals of Freedom: Libertarian Themes in Early Confucianism" by Roderick T Long

The fact that you added this to the list means this is a safe bet. The only thing is it starts stronger than it finishes. But it's so short yet packed full of really cool stuff that I can't imagine you regretting the time spent reading it if it's something you already thought might be up your alley

@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

I'm currently reading The Leopard (am at page 37 of the Kindle edition), and some have expressed a desire to bet on whether I enjoy it. So far I'd say the imagery is vivid of the characters and also the scenery, and the writing feels quite rich, but it's still in the stage of setting the scene.

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

Here are things I haven't liked:
- Confessions of a Mask (a bit too much)
- The next Terra Ignota book

@DanielFilan oh also: I bounced off of Mad Investor Chaos after a page or two but perhaps I should persevere.

Here are things I've liked:

- Borges

- Haruki Murakami

- Y: the Last Man

- Terry Pratchett books (have read a small fraction of them)

- Ted Chiang

- Dune

- Too Like the Lightning
- HPMOR
- Unsong

@DanielFilan The Player of Games?

Also maybe something like Uprooted by Naomi Novik

@ms can you give me one sentence on both of those?

@DanielFilan OK player of games was recommended to me by someone else so it's getting added.

@DanielFilan

• 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.