# A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry (ACOUP)

8 Hacker News commenters recommended A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry (ACOUP) and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Deep, expert-written history articles by an ancient history professor, covering castles, armies, feudal societies and ancient collapses, that correct popular misconceptions.

## Why people recommend it

- Expert history on castles and feudalism (2 comments): "regarding castles and their strategic importance, especially on how they were essential to local control of the area" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46248654)) "ACOUP has a good number of posts on the workings of feudal societies" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49743300))
- In-depth, long-form articles (2 comments): "excellent series explaining premodern iron and steel production" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49919106)) "for very in depth articles about this subject" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48995784))
- Expert author corrects popular misconceptions (2 comments): "I enjoy having my misapprehensions acquired from pop culture corrected by an expert." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48429175)) "which is written by ancient history professor" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47412457))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Simon Willison's blog](https://hackerapproved.com/p/simon-willison-s-blog.md): 21 recommend
- [acoup.blog](https://hackerapproved.com/p/acoup-blog.md): 19 recommend
- [gwern.net](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gwern-net.md): 19 recommend
- [Julia Evans blog](https://hackerapproved.com/p/julia-evans-blog.md): 11 recommend
- [computer.rip by J.B. Crawford](https://hackerapproved.com/p/computer-rip.md): 9 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry (ACOUP)", https://hackerapproved.com/p/a-collection-of-unmitigated-pedantry/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).