# A Paradise Built in Hell by Rebecca Solnit

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/a-paradise-built-in-hell/

3 people recommended A Paradise Built in Hell by Rebecca Solnit in Hacker News comments and none criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 12 months, in 3 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People recommend it for its account of how communities care for each other in disasters, and why they rarely turn on themselves.

Summary written by Claude from 2 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Shows communities caring for each other (1 comment in the sample): "Read "A Paradise Built in Hell", when push comes to shove, communities care for each other." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48431816))
- Argues disasters don't turn communities on themselves (1 comment in the sample): "In disasters, it never benefits a community to turn on itself." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47191743))

## Other nonfiction books people recommend

- [The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cuckoo-s-egg/): 38 recommend, 1 mixed, 0 criticize
- [Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/amusing-ourselves-to-death/): 30 recommend, 5 mixed, 0 criticize
- [The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt](https://hackerapproved.com/p/anxious-generation/): 21 recommend, 1 mixed, 11 criticize
- [Enshittification by Cory Doctorow](https://hackerapproved.com/p/enshittification/): 18 recommend, 1 mixed, 1 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "A Paradise Built in Hell by Rebecca Solnit", https://hackerapproved.com/p/a-paradise-built-in-hell/ (3 recommend, 0 mixed, 0 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.