Life of Pi
After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, one solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild, blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a female orang-utan… and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary works of fiction in recent years.
Stats for nerds
17recommend
33mentions
31people
2007–2026years
52% recommend48% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I wrote my story and titled it, "My experience at work with an automated HR system". I sent it to a few friends, only a couple of them read it.
A week later, I renamed it to "The Machine Fired Me". That seemed to capture it better. The goal wasn't to make it click bait, but it was to put the spoiler, and punch line right up front. It blew up!
I had just read Life of Pi, and one thing I like about that book is that you know the punch line before you even pick up a copy. A boy is stuck with a bengal tiger in a boat. Now that the punch line is out of the way, the story has time to unfold and be interesting in its own merit. That's what I was trying to recreate with my own story.
- >I had just read Life of Pi, and one thing I like about that book is that you know the punch line before you even pick up a copy. A boy is stuck with a bengal tiger in a boat. Now that the punch line is out of the way, the story has time to unfold and be interesting in its own merit. That's what I was trying to recreate with my own story.
For me this is a perfect example of what I hate about clickbait.
A boy trapped in a boat with a tiger is interesting. But the rest of the story really wasn't worth the read.
- Those were just the ones I remember reading as a kid/teenager. There are others that I read later in life which I'd also recommend such as the Foundation series by Asimov, Moby Dick, Dune, Life of Pi, works by Jules Verne, Edgar Allan Poe, Terry Pratchett, Stanislaw Lem, Pierre Boulle, etc.
- - The Harry Potter series. My teacher in school said if I finish my work quickly, I can sit and read whatever I want. I read the Goblet of Fire at least a half a dozen times in 4th grade
- Lord of the Rings, same reason as above
- Life of Pi. The story is so good, the emotions are so real, and the air of absurdity and comedy throughout are so well done
- The Martian, it’s again such a good story and fantasy novel
- Bartleby, the Scrivener. Something about Bartleby as well as his boss spoke to me, as a young professional early in his career. I also loved the imagery of a clerical office in a Manhattan high rise in the 19th century
- Probably Life of Pi by Yann Martel.
The message of choosing the better story is at the heart of the book, and I apply it in so many areas of my life.
- Life of Pi was very memorable in my childhood. The imagery in that book captured my young imagination. I thought about that book a lot. I feel like it contributed something meaningful, in that it’s ok to not take life too seriously.
