The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy

What Hacker News says

1. bArraySep 2025
   Re-reading a book is a lot like re-watching a film for me, I don't want to do it immediately, but there is value in doing it some years later where the details become less certain. I'm actively aware that even during tasks such as talking, my brain condenses and throws away most information. The import thing really is to develop and capture the right abstractions.

   There are a few books I have gone back and read simply for enjoyment, for example Hitch Hiker's Guide to the galaxy was a pleasure to read. Some more dense materials that I know I will gain a lot from, I find it difficult to muster the motivation to re-read.

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2. thanatos519Jun 2023
   The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
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3. rcarmoFeb 2022
   Definitely The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. If only so they would understand The Answer and the latent absurdity of our civilization.

   Although the bit about the plague from a dirty phone might be a little too close for comfort these days (but that just goes to show how fascinatingly “complete” the book is).

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4. thomNov 2021
   I treasure few objects more than my Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy box set, like this one:

   https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Douglas-Adams-Hitch-Hikers-Guide-...

   I don’t even have the ability to play it anymore, and I’ve no doubt the CDs are scratched and unlistenable. But I still consider it a beautiful object, and one that got me through various long dark teatimes of the soul.

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5. lprovenOct 2021
   > they're waiting until a big wealthy organization depends on it > before they can spring their trap

   I don't think they can any more. The principle of laches applies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laches_(equity)

   This is why Microsoft's threats against the Linux desktop in around 2007 failed: the IP that they claimed, the Windows 95 desktop look and feel -- Start menu, taskbar etc. -- is stuff that Microsoft 100% did invent, but 12 years later is...

   Well, _the Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy_ was published 42 years ago today, and it still rings true. To quote Chapter 3 of the Guide:

   "You've had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it's far too late to start making a fuss about it now."

   ZFS has been included in Ubuntu since 16.04. Oracle has known and has had five years to raise an objection. It has not done so. It is now too late, by the principle of laches.

   It may try, of course, but the lawsuit should be pretty brief because the defense is right there: why didn't Oracle file a complaint in 2016?

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6. rcarmoFeb 2019
   I can name

   - The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy (there is absolutely nothing quite like it, and it taught me to laugh - or at least giggle - at anything)

   - Dune (the notion of mental discipline, at least as idealized by Frank Herbert, made an impression on me)

   - Sherlock Holmes (focused awareness and logic)

   - Godel, Escher, Bach - The Eternal Golden Braid (multiple takes on awareness, logic and creativity)

   There are more, but I tend to avoid Malcom Gladwell style books (and Freakonomics uses a lot of the extrapolation-by-slingshot-logic approach) and the like because they play upon our biases and are often quickly disproved.

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