The Art of Insight in Science and Engineering
The Art of Insight in Science and Engineering by Sanjoy Mahajanby Sanjoy Mahajan
Shares rank 19 of 28 computer science textbooks by recommenders
Commenters call it a useful successor to Street-Fighting Mathematics and praise it alongside that book. It is free through MIT OpenCourseWare.
Commenters call it a useful successor to Street-Fighting Mathematics and praise it alongside that book. It is free through MIT OpenCourseWare.
3 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 3
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 3 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not 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
Successor to Street-Fighting Mathematics
“Which is, I think, the successor and quite useful.”
Comment from 1 Jan 2026 in “Street-Fighting Mathematics (2008)” Praised alongside Street-Fighting
“Even in such goodness as Sanjoy Mahajan's Art of Insight and Street-Fighting”
Comment from 16 Sep 2026 in “Gemini 3.8 Live and 3.8 Live Extended Thinking” Quite useful
“Which is, I think, the successor and quite useful.”
Comment from 1 Jan 2026 in “Street-Fighting Mathematics (2008)”
Other computer science textbooks people recommend
The four most recommended other computer science textbooks, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programsby Abelson and Sussman | 55 | 5 | 92% | 12 | — | Approved |
| The Art of Computer Programmingby Donald E. Knuth | 28 | 6 | 82% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programsby Abelson and Sussman | 12 | 0 | 100% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Quantum Computation and Quantum Informationby Nielsen and Chuang | 12 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| The Art of Insight in Science and Engineeringby Sanjoy MahajanThis page | 3 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
2 of the 3 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Even in such goodness as Sanjoy Mahajan's Art of Insight and Street-Fighting”
“Which is, I think, the successor and quite useful.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.