Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/12/05/boing-boings-28-favorite-boo.html
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I can only comment on The Testaments. It is a worthy follow-up. I listened to audible’s version, which feature different actors, which was very well done. One I can recommend to others who sometimes find they have more ear-time available than eye-time.
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How to Do Nothing is great! (And it should be higher on the list.)
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If you are taking books from this year and previous years, how about Ada Palmer’s Terra Ignota Quartet (3 of 4 published) : The series consists of Too Like the Lightning, Seven Surrenders, The Will to Battle, and Perhaps the Stars. I’m on #3 and it is some of the best writing and ideas I have read in a long time.
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This is a nice list, but is Amazon the only option to buy books in the US ?
We see enough articles on Boing Boing to know it’s maybe a good idea to refrain from buying everything from them.
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Seeing all those Amazon links reminded me of this article in the Guardian:
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Lotsa options here:
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Nice list !
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I clicked through on one of those links, “Elements: A visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe” by Theodore Gray. The top negative review complains the book is too “political” . Anyone read the book and can comment?
This review?
I like that the elements are presented in order, however, I do NOT like that this doesn’t just present the facts of the elements. The author puts in his personal opinions about evolution and politics into this book. It’s a book about elements, there are too many base facts about them for personal opinions to be included. When my children and I got to silicon, almost the entire page was about evolution. It also gets into the political, so annoying.
In another review they capitalised the g in godsend. My guess is that they are a evangelical Republican. I expect that the “personal opinions” about politics are mostly about the climate crisis.
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I agree on both the book and the Audible version. My wife and I listened to about two-thirds of it on a recent car trip and I read the final third.
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Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries isn’t on this list?
I found out about it from BoingBoing and it is awesome. Definitely worth reading.
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My local (as in chain, but has only like five or six locations) bookstore lets me order online, and ship to home or my local store, and if I pick my local store, I don’t have to pay until I pick them up, so I don’t have to use my credit card.
Since I live in an apartment, anything like books would require me to pick up at the post office anyway (or worse, UPS) so it’s six-of-one-half-a-dozen-of-the-other on distance, and the bookstore is in the mall with the Mongolian grill, so I can grab dinner. And it’s open on weekends. Better than Amazon, for me. And they’re partnered with Libro.fm, so audiobooks, too.
I only use Amazon if I literally cannot find a product anywhere else.
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Ya, I should have realized…I’m not from the U.S. so it didn’t strike me at first. I expect the school board will be hearing all about it as well 
You don’t have to buy the book from Amazon. You can look at the book, read the reviews, and then go somewhere else to buy it. I don’t think BoingBoing needs to tell you this in the article.
For years, people used to go into bookshops to look for ideas, and then go to Amazon to actually buy them. It’s not like they (Amazon) haven’t earned that sort of treatment.
Maybe we should start a BBS X-mas/Hanukah/Winter solstice recommendations list?
Okay, that’s what I did!
Feel free to add recommendations that are not already on the various end of year lists on the BB main page!
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I know that, and I get it. My problem in in the fact that Boing Boing give only links to the amazon pages, not offering any alternatives.
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Any other options would be very local. I am lucky: I can walk out of work and be in Foyles in a few minutes. In fact, that is probably what I will do. But that’s only a good address for a few people in the world. I think BB can use the Amazon site to give the book, previews and reviews, the ISBN code, and the expected cost. And, yes, you can buy it there too if you are a fan of poor working conditions and billionaires /s 
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Yeah well, BB is a bizness after all, isn’t it.
As you’ve both been demonstrating, we happy mutants are quite capable of working around that.
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Yeah, or they just can link to the publisher’s page. BTW this answer my first question, while in France I can buy new books online with Chapitre or Fnac, in the US you don’t have any real alternative.
