Oranges

What Hacker News says

1. markbnjApr 2026
   The John McPhee article that the author references was expanded into a book, and it's a great read for anyone that finds this story interesting: https://www.amazon.com/Oranges-John-McPhee-ebook/dp/B005E8AN...
   thread
2. lamedaMar 2026
   This is very cool, thank you for building it! I remember reading about the mess of citrus genealogy in John McPhee's Oranges (wonderful book).
   thread
3. kraussvonespySep 2023
   McPhee is truly a national treasure. If you're interested, that article was one of several published in his book Uncommon Carriers which includes a train and river barge voyage. Looking for a Ship is also great as it follows a merchant marine through various stages of that job.

   The Curve of Binding Energy is a fascinating study of Theodore Taylor, the engineer behind the smallest nuke warhead in the world, and his concerns that terrorists may be able to build warheads themselves.

   Pretty much any McPhee book or article is fascinating. His book Oranges is all about farming oranges, processing orange juice so it can sit in refrigerated vats for months (and how it is reconstituted through "flavor packs" that give it back the OJ flavors after long storage) and all kind of other orange stories. No matter what rabbit hole McPhee jumps down, his research and writing are nothing short of engrossing.

   Show morethread
4. dreamcompilerDec 2021
   Go read any book by John McPhee (the writer in question) and if you are not delighted I will donate $20 to the charity of your choice.

   I recommend Oranges but they're all quite good.

   thread
5. blakesterzAug 2019
   Read absolutely ANYTHING by John McPhee! He's the best nonfiction writer alive today, he can make anything into an interesting story. Oranges, canoes, geology, fishing...
   thread
6. bcbrownDec 2016
   Language in Thought and Action, S.I. Hayakawa

   How to Read a Book, Mortimer J. Adler

   Gilgamesh

   Beowulf

   Snowcrash

   High Output Management, Andy Grove

   Hell's Angels by Hunter S Thompson

   Programming Pearls, Jon Bentley

   Walden, Thoreau

   Autobiography of Red, Anne Carson

   Letters from a Stoic, Seneca

   Three Body Problem, Cixin Liu

   Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, Wittgenstein

   Tyranny of Words, Stuart Chase

   Golden Mean, Annabel Lyon

   Disrupted, Dan Lyons

   Big Data, Nathan Marz

   Practical OO Design in Ruby, Sandi Metz

   Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

   Duino Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus, Rainier Maria Rilke

   Anatomy of a City, Kate Ascher

   Language and Thought by Chomsky

   Hero of a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell

   Language and Responsibility by Chomsky

   Magic, Science, Religion by Malinowski

   Meditiations by Marcus Aurelius

   Oranges by John McPhee

   The Dream of the Enlightement, Anthony Gottlieb

   Nonexistant Knight/Cloven Viscount, two novellas by Calvino Italo

   Deltoid Pumpkin Seed by John McPhee

   Infrastructure by Brian Haynes

   I'd recommend almost all of them, but especially the first two, and Autobiography of Red(poetry).

   Show morethread