#50 in the ranking · ideas · 1998
Seeing Like a State
Seeing Like a State, by James C. Scott, published in 1998, is cited by 54 people in conversations on Hacker News. It shows up in 14 of the 20 years, from 2013 to 2026, with the most mentions in 2021. People who cite it also cite Thinking, Fast and Slow, Code Complete and The Mythical Man-Month.
Year by year
Peak: 8 mentions in 2021
Mentions per year: 2007: 0; 2008: 0; 2009: 0; 2010: 0; 2011: 0; 2012: 0; 2013: 1; 2014: 2; 2015: 3; 2016: 1; 2017: 3; 2018: 6; 2019: 7; 2020: 3; 2021: 8; 2022: 5; 2023: 6; 2024: 5; 2025: 5; 2026: 3.
Where it’s cited
What people write
From a text search; it doesn’t yet tell recommending apart from just mentioning.
“Seeing like a state” was the worst written and edited book I’ve read that I nevertheless recommend to people because the ideas therein are fascinating.
Hacker News · 2024 · in “Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?” · see comment ↗
re: traditional vs electronic medical records, if you haven't read Seeing Like a State, I highly recommend checking it out.
Hacker News · 2026 · see comment ↗
Seeing Like a State is a great book diving into this topic if you haven't read it.
Hacker News · 2025 · see comment ↗