If anyone is looking for a reading list, or even just a book-downloading-binge list, I pulled 18 titles off of this one. There are, of course, even more, but if you're doing that then you probably already have the McCarthy and Dick titles. Usually HN loses on any given day, but with a score like that I doubt all the other sites I skim will be able to beat it even together.

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robot-wrangler 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Agreed, good list for HN. Especially Calvino, Cormac, and PKD tend to be popular with math nerds. Also if PKD qualifies as difficult enough, maybe Borges can fit here too.

Not fiction or difficult, but I suggest Calvino's "Six Memos for the Next Millennium". It's novella-length lecture series for writers/readers, but I'd say it's really a critical/creative framework that's as relevant for math as it is for myth, or novels, or code.

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robot-wrangler an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Brainstorming more on this and checked my shelf, I got a few more. If not difficult per se, I remember them at least as experimental or otherwise postmodern.

Pynchon short stories: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Learner

Delilo has many short ones including some of his best: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Noise_(novel), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americana_(novel)

Haddon's breakthrough: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curious_Incident_of_the_Do...

DFW's breakthrough (maybe pushing it on "short" though) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Broom_of_the_System

Ludwig still the reigning champ of short/difficult: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tractatus_Logico-Philosophicus

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4ndrewl 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Agreed. I've read about half the books on this list and wouldn't consider them difficult. But I've got some new books to buy now, which is always a good thing.

If you like Ubik, Martian Time Slip might also pass as difficult.

	▲	robot-wrangler 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		PKD's VALIS, Transmigration, and Stigmata are the ones people usually propose for the postmodern canon. I honestly think stuff like this will probably age better than say, DFW's Infinite Jest. The Exegesis[1] is less known and difficult in a different way since he really lost his mind and isn't even aiming for a narrative.. pretty just much unedited journal entries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exegesis_of_Philip_K._Dick

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NoMoreNicksLeft 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I've been working off of the Penguin Classics list found on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Penguin_Classics) for the Borges stuff. It's a bit of a slog, and not everything is on libgen (I'd guess about 70% is, at best), but it was a quick (hah!) way to add a few thousand books to my library.

>Not fiction or difficult, but I suggest Calvino's "Six Memos for the Next Millennium".

Thanks for the recommendation. Grabbed it too. Now back to the Fs in my Penguin Classics list...