# Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff

13 Hacker News commenters recommended Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended as a foundational account of how customer data shapes modern business and surveillance. One caveat: it was written before the recent AI boom.

## Why people recommend it

- Strongly recommended by readers (3 comments): "If you're interested in developing a more robust view of this topic, I highly recommend" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49288870)) "For anyone that didn't read that book, I can't recommend it highly enough." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49236345)) "Can't recommend it enough" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49900165))
- Explains scale of data surveillance (3 comments): "might not change your mind, but you're likely to end up realizing customer data hovering is more of a driver of modern business decisions than you realize" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46263691)) "the book "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism" is rather revealing of the sheer scale of this" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47807961)) "The second, and arguably more direct and fascinating, is The Age of Surveillance Capitalism" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47542456))
- Key reading on surveillance capitalism (3 comments): "This comes straight out of Shoshana Zuboff's Surveillance Capitalism book. If you haven't: read it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49611883)) "There are whole books about it (check out "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism" by Shoshana Zuboff)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48053339)) "books like Privacy is Power and Surveillance Capitalism" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47529637))
- Concepts still relevant today (2 comments): "a successor to manufactured consent in my humble opinion" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45820208)) "this isn't a new phenomenon" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50229923))

## 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/1541758005?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781541758001) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff", https://hackerapproved.com/p/age-of-surveillance-capitalism/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).