The Lord of the Rings
Originally published from 1954 through 1956, J.R.R. Tolkien's richly complex series ushered in a new age of epic adventure storytelling. A philologist and illustrator who took inspiration from his work, Tolkien invented the modern heroic quest novel from the ground up, creating not just a world, but a domain, not just a lexicon, but a language, that would spawn countless imitators and lead to the inception of the epic fantasy genre. Today, THE LORD OF THE RINGS is considered "the most influential fantasy novel ever written." (THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FANTASY) During his travels across Middle-earth, the hobbit Bilbo Baggins had found the Ring. But the simple band of gold was far from ordinary; it was in fact the One Ring - the greatest of the ancient Rings of Power. Sauron, the Dark Lord, had infused it with his own evil magic, and when it was lost, he was forced to flee into hiding. But now Sauron's exile has ended and his power is spreading anew, fueled by the knowledge that his treasure has been found. He has gathered all the Great Rings to him, and will stop at nothing to reclaim the One that will complete his dominion. The only way to stop him is to cast the Ruling Ring deep into the Fire-Mountain at the heart of the land of Mordor--Sauron's dark realm. Fate has placed the burden in the hands of Frodo Baggins, Bilbo's heir...and he is resolved to bear it to its end. Or his own.
Stats for nerds
59recommend
277mentions
235people
2007–2026years
24% recommend74% neutral2% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Which books did you read at least twice? Please give author, title, and how often you have read it.
For me the (probably incomplete list) is:
Connie Willis: Doomsday Book (three times)
Neal Stephenson: Cryptonomicon, Anathem, Quicksilver, The Confusion, The System of the World (twice or three times)
Frank Herbert: Dune (three times)
Tolkien: Lord of the Rings (three times)
Stephen King: Salem's Lot, The Shining, It (three times each)
Stephen King & Peter Straub: The Talisman (twice)
Vernor Vinge: A Deepness in the Sky, A Fire Upon The Deep, Rainbow's End (each twice)
Tracy Kidder: The Soul of a New Machine (twice)
Larry McMurtry: Lonesome Dove (twice)
Ross Thomas: Chinaman's Chance (twice)
William Gibson: Neuromancer, The Peripheral, Agency (each twice)
- J.R.R. Tolkien: The lord of the Rings (lost count)
Philip K. Dick: Ubik, Flow My Tears The Policeman Said, A Scanner Darkly, etc. too many to count (many more than twice)
William Gibson: everything at least twice
Neal Stephenson: Snow crash (three times, I think)
Clifford D. Simak: City
H. P. Lovecraft: everything at least twice. There is a French compilation of The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, The Silver Key, and Through the Gates of the Silver Key that I've read countless times. I've used two editions and I'm at my third.
Maurice G. Dantec: Babylon Babies (three times)
Possibly many others.
- “Amazing code”… who cares?
that’s like saying a book is only worth reading if each sentence is beautiful
To me I couldn’t care less as long as the overall story is coherent, and I care more about the idea density in the book.
Lord of the rings is a great book because of the ideas, not because Tolkien is the best writer ever.
Same with AI. I couldn’t care less if some of its code is crap, if it is dense with ideas and generally good execution. If it writes crap code sections I can “beautify” myself.
Plus LLMs are only going to improve… they have improved so much since ChatGPT 3. It’s insane.
And the arguments saying they haven’t can’t be taken in good faith
- _A Tolkien Compass_ is pretty affordable, and _The Lord of the Rings: A Readers Companion_ is quite a worthwhile text which is readily available --- see if your local library can provide?
- Lord of the Rings
- A few come to mind, over the course of my childhood up to and including high-school.
The "Mad Scientist's Club" series
The Great Brain
Those "Encyclopedia Brown" stories
The "The Three Investigators" series
The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne
The original Doyle "Sherlock Holmes" canon
The Soul Of A New Machine by Tracy Kidder
The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien
Nineteen Eighty Four
