# Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty

12 Hacker News commenters recommended Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty and 6 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended as the canonical account of how wealth inequality arises, especially inheritance. Critics find the writing hard to follow and the r > g formula simplistic.

## Why people recommend it

- Comprehensive account of wealth inequality (3 comments): "Probably the most comprehensive (but at times also longwinded) outline on how wealth inequality comes to be" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48393774)) "I recommend you read "Capital in the Twenty-First Century" (Piketty) for the full argument" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47344025)) "Capital in the Twenty First Century by Piketty is the canonical pick" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48548199))
- Changes how readers see the world (2 comments): "the book changed how I see the world profoundly, I cannot recommend it highly enough" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49057737)) "the parts about inequality and inheritance shattered some long standing assumptions" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46346771))
- Convincing argument on growth and inequality (3 comments): "a major result from Piketty's Capital In The 21st Century that people interested in "grow the pie" vs "trickle down" really ought to be familiar with" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48531172)) "This is demonstrated convincingly in Piketty's work." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49733161)) "it is a compelling argument" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48394064))

## What people warn about

- Dense and hard to read (2 comments): "Probably the most comprehensive (but at times also longwinded) outline on how wealth inequality comes to be" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48393774)) "his writing is really difficult to grasp IMHO" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49716648))
- Accused of Marxist political bias (2 comments): "Piketty is just a marxist flailing around, backfilling data to fit his belief that communism is the solution for every problem." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48549294)) "If Picketty uses words like pie, share, transfer, concentration, etc., then his book is about as valueless as Das Kapital." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48394481))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson](https://hackerapproved.com/p/why-nations-fail.md): 9 recommend
- [Progress and Poverty by Henry George](https://hackerapproved.com/p/progress-and-poverty.md): 6 recommend
- [Free to Choose by Milton Friedman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/free-to-choose.md): 5 recommend
- [Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism by Vladimir Lenin](https://hackerapproved.com/p/imperialism-the-highest-stage-of-capitalism.md): 5 recommend
- [Trade Wars are Class Wars by Matthew C. Klein and Michael Pettis](https://hackerapproved.com/p/trade-wars-are-class-wars.md): 4 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Capital+in+the+Twenty-First+Century+by+Thomas+Piketty&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty", https://hackerapproved.com/p/capital-in-the-twenty-first-century/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).