A Fire Upon the Deep
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vingeby Vernor Vinge
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 16 of 179 science fiction novels by recommenders
People recommend this science fiction novel for its ideas about alien intelligence, software and communication, and for being worth rereading.
People recommend this science fiction novel for its ideas about alien intelligence, software and communication, and for being worth rereading.
29 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 28
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 97%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 28 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 28 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 10 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Ideas on software systems and security
“in the book certain protocols for information communication can not be deterministic so if someone is too smart you get hacked”
Comment from 11 May 2026 in “How Fast Does Claude, Acting as a User Space IP Stack, Respond to Pings?” “If you like sci-fi takes on software systems, check out Vernor Vinge "A Fire upon the deep" and sequels.”
Comment from 6 May 2026 in “Vibe coding and agentic engineering are getting closer than I'd like” “Vernor Vinge hits on pretty much exactly this in A Fire Upon the Deep”
Comment from 29 Jul 2026 in “Running Kimi K3 on a M1 Mac” - Comment from 17 Apr 2026 in “Isaac Asimov: The Last Question”
Conceptualizes truly alien intelligence
“I feel this is one of the reasons I liked Fire upon the Deep with the group mind based Tines”
Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “Sins of the Children (Adrian Tchaikovsky)” “Fire Upon the Deep are really good for conceptualizing truly alien intelligence”
Comment from 25 Aug 2026 in “Octopus intelligence may be related to never-before-seen mutation” “balances the truly alien with the familiar just right”
Comment from 6 Mar 2026 in “Wikipedia in read-only mode following mass admin account compromise” Admired as a rare, special writer
“I respect Vinge more and more based on how well he seems to understand human tendencies”
Comment from 6 Mar 2026 in “Wikipedia in read-only mode following mass admin account compromise” “Vinge didn't write much, but what he did write I think is very special indeed.”
Comment from 29 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you reading?” “not every year gives us a Dune or A Fire Upon the Deep”
Comment from 16 Jul 2026 in “Book Prizes Don't Work How You Think” Enjoyable to reread again and again
“It's one of those books I can pull off the shelf every few years and enjoy from beginning to end.”
Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you reading?” “It's very short and from one of my favorite books.”
Comment from 5 Mar 2026 in “Wikipedia in read-only mode following mass admin account compromise”
Other science fiction novels people recommend
The four most recommended other science fiction novels, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project Hail Maryby Andy Weir | 117 | 24 | 83% | 12 | — | Approved |
| There Is No Antimemetics Divisionby qntm | 98 | 34 | 74% | 9 | 1.5 yrs6 owners | Approved |
| Blindsightby Peter Watts | 96 | 27 | 78% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Duneby Frank Herbert | 82 | 25 | 77% | 12 | — | Approved |
| A Fire Upon the Deepby Vernor VingeThis page | 28 | 1 | 97% | 10 | — | Approved |
What people said
21 of the 29 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Oooh those are really good!”
“It's one of those books I can pull off the shelf every few years and enjoy from beginning to end.”
“Vinge didn't write much, but what he did write I think is very special indeed.”
“Fire Upon the Deep are really good for conceptualizing truly alien intelligence”
“Vernor Vinge hits on pretty much exactly this in A Fire Upon the Deep”
“not every year gives us a Dune or A Fire Upon the Deep”
“I actually thought this made lots of sense.”
“Read the first-published one, and if you like it, read the other.”
“A Fire Upon the Deep would be a more enjoyable starting place for someone that likes the Culture series”
“in the book certain protocols for information communication can not be deterministic so if someone is too smart you get hacked”
“If you like sci-fi takes on software systems, check out Vernor Vinge "A Fire upon the deep" and sequels.”
“A Fire Upon The Deep is a fantastic novel for programmers to read”
“Ideas from "World War II on an alien planet around a variable star"”
“I respect Vinge more and more based on how well he seems to understand human tendencies”
“balances the truly alien with the familiar just right”
“It's very short and from one of my favorite books.”
“thank you for the book suggestion - I'm into those kinds of tales”
“more fun examples of how intra-galactic communication would be labeled, with routes & such”
“Haha yes, these are all fantastic.”
“I feel this is one of the reasons I liked Fire upon the Deep with the group mind based Tines”
“his classic "A Fire Upon the Deep" for another work of fiction”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.