Breakneck
Breakneck by Dan Wangby Dan Wang
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 9 of 152 nonfiction books by recommenders
Readers praise it as a balanced, detailed look at China that broadens perspective. Critics note it is slightly outdated, about two years.
Readers praise it as a balanced, detailed look at China that broadens perspective. Critics note it is slightly outdated, about two years.
16 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 16
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 16 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, 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
Highly recommended, hard to put down
“is excellent and I highly recommend on this topic”
Comment from 16 Jan 2026 in “Canada slashes 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs to 6%” “hard to put down, highly recommended”
Comment from 1 Jan 2026 in “2025 Letter” “I highly recommend overall”
Comment from 22 May 2026 in “Blog ran on Ubuntu 16.04 for 10 years. I migrated it to FreeBSD” Balanced, detailed take on China
“Very interesting read, with a lot more depth and details to this short (but accurate) summary.”
Comment from 27 Jan 2026 in “U.S. government has lost more than 10k STEM PhDs since Trump took office” “A really balanced take on China that also digs deep into the perennial question”
Comment from 1 Jan 2026 in “2025 Letter” Broadens view of China and US
“do a good job of broadening one’s perspective on the global situation”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “Ask HN: What non-fiction do you read?” “to better understand China - and the United States”
Comment from 1 Jan 2026 in “2025 Letter” Explains cultural and process differences
“The books is amazing too, just finished reading it. Gives you peek into cultural dynamic of both countries”
Comment from 25 Feb 2026 in “Mac mini will be made at a new facility in Houston” “biggest takeaway from me was that China / Asian societies emphasize process knowledge”
Comment from 2 Jan 2026 in “2025 Letter”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Slightly outdated, about two years
“slightly outdated (by ~2y, which seems really breakneck), but still interesting take on modern China”
Comment from 26 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” Questioned take on the Communist Party
“Dan Wang's observation about China in his book is mostly accurate, except this part that he has some twisted view on CPP”
Comment from 2 Jan 2026 in “2025 Letter”
Other nonfiction books people recommend
The four most recommended other nonfiction books, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Cuckoo's Eggby Clifford Stoll | 40 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Amusing Ourselves to Deathby Neil Postman | 36 | 0 | 100% | 9 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| The Anxious Generationby Jonathan Haidt | 24 | 12 | 67% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Bullshit Jobsby David Graeber | 20 | 12 | 63% | 8 | — | — |
| Breakneckby Dan WangThis page | 16 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | Approved |
What people said
15 of the 17 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Felt like that gave me my first real insight into the relationship of the government and business in China.”
“I highly recommend overall”
“The books is amazing too, just finished reading it. Gives you peek into cultural dynamic of both countries”
“A good read in this area is Dan Wang's book - Breakneck”
“Very interesting read, with a lot more depth and details to this short (but accurate) summary.”
“do a good job of broadening one’s perspective on the global situation”
“is excellent and I highly recommend on this topic”
“biggest takeaway from me was that China / Asian societies emphasize process knowledge”
“Dan Wang's observation about China in his book is mostly accurate, except this part that he has some twisted view on CPP”
“hard to put down, highly recommended”
“A really balanced take on China that also digs deep into the perennial question”
“to better understand China - and the United States”
“slightly outdated (by ~2y, which seems really breakneck), but still interesting take on modern China”
“from Dan Wang's book Breakneck which I am very much enjoying”
“Both are excellent books and will probably appeal to a lot of Hacker News folks with an engineering/builder mindset.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.