# A Mathematician's Lament by Paul Lockhart

7 Hacker News commenters recommended A Mathematician's Lament by Paul Lockhart and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it for making mathematics feel fascinating and creative; the main caveat is that it treats maths only as art.

## Why people recommend it

- Changed how readers see mathematics (2 comments): "it fundamentally reshaped math from something that I happened to be good at to something I was deeply fascinated by" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48395438)) "This paper really got me into mathematics even more." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48416005))
- Passionate, enjoyable writing (2 comments): "I remember reading Lockhart's Mathematician's Lament and loving it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49781567)) "I also love A Mathameticians Lament." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48397182))

## What people warn about

- Treats maths only as art (1 comments): "I love this essay, and book, but by focusing on maths as art, it focuses on only one aspect of meaning." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48395840))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Programming as Theory Building by Peter Naur](https://hackerapproved.com/p/programming-as-theory-building.md): 32 recommend
- [Ur-Fascism by Umberto Eco](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ur-fascism.md): 18 recommend
- [Politics and the English Language by George Orwell](https://hackerapproved.com/p/politics-and-the-english-language.md): 14 recommend
- [Right to Read by Richard Stallman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/right-to-read.md): 12 recommend
- [Meditations on Moloch by Scott Alexander](https://hackerapproved.com/p/meditations-on-moloch.md): 11 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1934137170?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781934137178) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "A Mathematician's Lament by Paul Lockhart", https://hackerapproved.com/p/a-mathematician-s-lament/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).