#25 in the ranking · fiction · 1999
Cryptonomicon
Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson, published in 1999, is cited by 187 people in conversations on Hacker News and Stack Exchange. It shows up in all 20 years, from 2007 to 2026, with the most mentions in 2012. People who cite it also cite Snow Crash, Gödel, Escher, Bach and Dune.
Year by year
Peak: 19 mentions in 2012
Mentions per year: 2007: 3; 2008: 10; 2009: 12; 2010: 5; 2011: 6; 2012: 19; 2013: 11; 2014: 5; 2015: 17; 2016: 9; 2017: 13; 2018: 13; 2019: 15; 2020: 13; 2021: 19; 2022: 13; 2023: 8; 2024: 16; 2025: 4; 2026: 1.
Where it’s cited
What people write
From a text search; it doesn’t yet tell recommending apart from just mentioning.
I read a lot of fiction across many genres, but my long-time favourite is Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon.
Hacker News · 2022 · in “Ask HN: Which books you have read till now that were worth investing time in?” · see comment ↗
It's not a breezy quick read, but my favourite sci-fi is always likely to be Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson.
Hacker News · 2019 · in “Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?” · see comment ↗
Also Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson might be one of my favorites
Hacker News · 2018 · in “Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?” · see comment ↗