# After the Spike by Dean Spears and Michael Geruso

2 Hacker News commenters recommended After the Spike by Dean Spears and Michael Geruso and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Readers recommend it for its honest, perspective-giving look at falling birth rates, and for ending with open questions rather than false certainty.

## Why people recommend it

- Ends with questions, not false certainty (1 comments): "The thing that made the book a true 5/5 for me is that they end with questions, not false certainty." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48421094))
- Puts falling birth rates in perspective (1 comments): "which put a lot of this in perspective which made the thought of having kids less daunting somehow" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46449487))
- Makes having kids feel less daunting (1 comments): "which put a lot of this in perspective which made the thought of having kids less daunting somehow" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46449487))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cuckoo-s-egg.md): 40 recommend
- [Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/amusing-ourselves-to-death.md): 36 recommend
- [The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt](https://hackerapproved.com/p/anxious-generation.md): 24 recommend
- [Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bullshit-jobs.md): 20 recommend
- [Enshittification by Cory Doctorow](https://hackerapproved.com/p/enshittification.md): 19 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1668057344?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781668057346) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "After the Spike by Dean Spears and Michael Geruso", https://hackerapproved.com/p/after-the-spike/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).