# The Book of Why by Judea Pearl Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/book-of-why/ 5 people recommended The Book of Why by Judea Pearl in Hacker News comments and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 12 months, in 5 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Recommended as a layman-friendly introduction to causal thinking, with graphical explanations of direct and indirect effects and the history of statistics. Summary written by Claude from 7 comments. ## Why people recommend it - Accessible introduction to causal reasoning (2 comments in the sample): "See The Book of Why, by Judea Pearl for an introduction to how that works." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47063267)) "something layman friendly like Pearl’s Book of Why" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46163000)) ## Other mathematics books people recommend - [Elements by Euclid by Oliver Byrne](https://hackerapproved.com/p/elements-of-euclid/): 14 recommend, 2 mixed, 9 criticize - [Fermat's Last Theorem by Simon Singh](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fermat-s-last-theorem/): 11 recommend, 0 mixed, 0 criticize - [Gödel's Proof by Nagel and Newman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/g-del-s-proof/): 9 recommend, 0 mixed, 1 criticize - [Mathematica: A Secret World of Intuition and Curiosity by David Bessis](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mathematica-a-secret-world-of-intuition-and-curiosity/): 8 recommend, 0 mixed, 0 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, "The Book of Why by Judea Pearl", https://hackerapproved.com/p/book-of-why/ (5 recommend, 0 mixed, 1 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.