Cell Biology by the Numbers
Cell Biology by the Numbers by Ron Milo and Rob Philipsby Ron Milo and Rob Philips
Shares rank 42 of 47 popular science books by recommenders
Recommended for building intuition about cell sizes, measurements and processes through order-of-magnitude calculations.
2 people recommended Cell Biology by the Numbers by Ron Milo and Rob Philips in Hacker News comments and none criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
1 of the 2 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “Size of Life”.
Summary written by Claude from 2 comments.
2 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 2
- mixed feelings
- 0
- warn against or regret it
- 0
The record
Recommended in 2 of 12 months
In 2 different threads.
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 2 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
- Recommended in 2 threadsNeeds 5 or more, not met.
- The biggest thread supplies 50% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 2 of the 2 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Builds intuition about size and measurement
“has a similar intuition-building fun sense about size as well as various other measurements”
Comment from 11 Dec 2025 in “Size of Life” Full of order-of-magnitude calculations
“full of order of magnitude calculations of about the processes of the cell”
Comment from 30 Apr 2026 in “Biology is a Burrito: A text- and visual-based journey through a living cell”
Other popular science books people recommend
The four most recommended other popular science 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 | Mixed | Criticize | Approval | Months | Had for | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gödel, Escher, Bachby Douglas Hofstadter | 37 | 9 | 10 | 79% | 9 | — | Approved |
| The Selfish Geneby Richard Dawkins | 13 | 1 | 5 | 72% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Thinking, Fast and Slowby Daniel Kahneman | 13 | 2 | 13 | 50% | 7 | — | — |
| Thinking in Systemsby Donella Meadows | 13 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Cell Biology by the Numbersby Ron Milo and Rob PhilipsThis page | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
Also compared with A City on Mars by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith.
What people said
All 2 opinions about it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“full of order of magnitude calculations of about the processes of the cell”
“has a similar intuition-building fun sense about size as well as various other measurements”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.