Candide
Brought up in the household of a powerful Baron, Candide is an open-minded young man, whose tutor, Pangloss, has instilled in him the belief that 'all is for the best'. But when his love for the Baron's rosy-cheeked daughter is discovered, Candide is cast out to make his own way in the world. And so he and his various companions begin a breathless tour of Europe, South America and Asia, as an outrageous series of disasters befall them - earthquakes, syphilis, a brush with the Inquisition, murder - sorely testing the young hero's optimism.
Stats for nerds
28recommend
89mentions
80people
2009–2026years
37% recommend61% neutral2% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Are you really promoting the philosophy of Leibnizian Optimism in 2025?
I suggest reading Candide by Voltaire, first published 266 years as a critique to the philosophy you are currently espousing.
- Had to study this at school a while back, it was one of the first books (after Candide by Voltaire) that I found interesting at the time, and still have in my little library.
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candide
Only thing I’ve read by Voltaire but it slapped.
- Does it have to be old to be a "classic"?
If not, by far, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Marquez is my favorite novel by a Nobel winner. It's great, epic, and lovely to read.
If you include epics, Mahabharata is actually a grand, epic book with war, friendship, love, sex, politics, realpolitik, strategy, and has a reach story line with scores of great side-stories.
I also genuinely enjoyed Iliad and Aenied.
I was also surprised at how good Candide by Voltaire was to read. Had a ton of fun reading it.
- I expected Candide to be not-really-entertaining, but started it for Voltaire's thoughts, opinions, etc.
Boy, was I wrong!
It was actually funny and entertaining to read, had a great story, too.
- Fiction:
- "The Dark Forest" by Liu Cixin and the whole Three Body Problem/Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy. Truly massive, grand SciFi. Would recommend 10/10. [HN]
- "Anna Karenina" by Tolstoy. Made me face deeper parts of my mind. Attempted to answer some questions I had. Great story. Huge book. Historical fiction is something I like across languages.
- "Candide" by Voltaire. Genuinely fun and entertaining, besides it being- you know- Voltaire.
- "The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson. Very good story, world buulding, nice technology. Great thinking by the author.
Non Fiction:
- "Fermat's Last Theorem" by Simon Singh. Was very happy to see a Popular Math book where there are so many Popular Science books. Great book. Goes over FMT's solving history, with many many fun anecdotes, short biographies, etc. Truly enjoyable to read.
- "Code Book" by Simon Singh. Genuinely fun and learned a lot. Cryptography's history, progress, and so much more. [HN]
Self-Help:
- "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig. Truly marvelous book and nice to read. This book requires the reader to be of certain kind attaining a certain level. Without that, this book will seem a fluff and overrated hugely. Fundamentally changed my thinking. [HN]
- "Four Thousand Weeks" by Oliver Bourkeman. Thought this was about saner time management with some wisdom. But was much deeper than that. Will recommend.
Bengali:
- "Abhajaner Mahabharat" by Mahbub Lilen. A fun and serious retelling of the Mahabharata. Goes deep, too. Really fun to read.
- "Khana Mihirer Dhipi" by Bani Basu. An account of feminism in the light of female-dominated inner part of Bengali elite households- and that in the light of female dominated, fully maternalistic hunter-gatherers of early human history. Very thought provoking and unique.
[HN]- chose primarily because recommendation in some past HN threads.
Read 23 so far. Target is 25. Currently reading Snow Crash and Exhalation.
