# Chaos by James Gleick

9 Hacker News commenters recommended Chaos by James Gleick and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended as a good, quick introduction to chaos theory, emergent phenomena and the history of the field.

## Why people recommend it

- Good introduction to chaos theory (3 comments): "It's a great introduction to chaos theory and emergent phenomena." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46400160)) "Gleick's Chaos is a really good introduction to that." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49268273)) "a good quick introduction to complexity" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46400811))
- Inspired interest in physics and science (3 comments): "So I fell in love with Physics when I read Chaos by James Gleick" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49999541)) "Given what I learned from "chaos" by James Gleick" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49061653)) "two books that shaped my teenage years" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50004222))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter](https://hackerapproved.com/p/g-del-escher-bach.md): 47 recommend
- [Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/thinking-fast-and-slow.md): 17 recommend
- [Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows](https://hackerapproved.com/p/thinking-in-systems.md): 17 recommend
- [The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins](https://hackerapproved.com/p/selfish-gene.md): 14 recommend
- [Cosmos by Carl Sagan](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cosmos.md): 13 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0140092501?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780140092509) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Chaos by James Gleick", https://hackerapproved.com/p/chaos/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).