Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

What hackers pick instead

• Project Hail Mary by Andy WeirA fun, hopeful science-driven sci-fi story about friendship, with an acclaimed audiobook and a faithful film adaptation; critics find the plot too convenient and the movie simplified.117recommend
• There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntmRecommended for its strikingly original premise and brilliant opening, a page-turner full of twists; many feel the second half meanders and repeats the same gimmick.98recommend
• Blindsight by Peter WattsA dense hard SF first-contact novel recommended for its unsettling exploration of intelligence without consciousness; many find the prose hard to follow and the vampires and plot distracting.96recommend
• Dune by Frank HerbertInfluential science fiction admired for its deep world-building, fresh voice and ideas about power and machines. Critics find it long and dense, and say the later books decline.82recommend
• Accelerando by Charles StrossReaders praise its prescient ideas about digital minds, space travel and the future. Critics most often say the characters feel thin or unlikeable.71recommend

Every quote

The 40 most detailed of 68 comments. Each links to the original.

1. Books definitely have natural writing, read more fiction! I recommend Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

   Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “No, it doesn't cost Anthropic $5k per Claude Code user”

2. Children of Time is a incredible book. It's the first Sci-Fi book that I read and I enjoyed it thoroughly

   Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “ISBN Visualization – Annas Archive”

3. I absolutely love the "humans meet weird alien intelligences" genre of sci-fi (e.g. Children of Time)

   Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Sex, AI, and the Apocalypse”

4. Children of Time is a remarkable book, one of the best science fiction stories in a very long time.

   Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Sins of the Children (Adrian Tchaikovsky)”

5. That series or Fire Upon the Deep are really good for conceptualizing truly alien intelligence

   Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “Octopus intelligence may be related to never-before-seen mutation”

6. he does an excellent job of extrapolating from the actual quirks of each animal into a culture

   Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Woman who rescued injured crow keeps getting 'thank-you gifts' from birds [video]”

7. Great sci-fi series about spiders, crows, and squid evolving and traveling into space.

   Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Woman who rescued injured crow keeps getting 'thank-you gifts' from birds [video]”

8. Children of Time is fantastic! I ended up totally rooting for the spiders in the end.

   Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Newly discovered spider builds spring loaded snare to catch ants”

9. Tchaikovsky has written some of the best books I have ever read like Children of Time

   Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Rendezvous with Rama”

10. Children of Time is one of the best books I've ever read, it's honestly amazing.

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Newly discovered spider builds spring loaded snare to catch ants”

11. recommended, if just for the amount of metaphors on consciousness it gives you

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “When Dawkins met Claude – Could this AI be conscious?”

12. When I first read that it was fascinating because it seemed so alien

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Mind-reading devices can now predict preconscious thoughts”

13. I absolutely love the "humans meet weird alien intelligences" genre

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Sex, AI, and the Apocalypse”

14. the most interesting other minds that I've encountered in sci-fi

    Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “Humanity has the debate about AI consciousness backwards”

15. I wish he could write people as well as he could write spiders

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Sins of the Children (Adrian Tchaikovsky)”

16. Tchaikovsky is excellent at portraying alien/non-human minds.

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Sins of the Children (Adrian Tchaikovsky)”

17. Children of Time (first one) is maybe my favorite book ever.

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Sins of the Children (Adrian Tchaikovsky)”

18. Read Children of Time for a great exploration of this theme.

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “What's Earth's dominant species by mass?”

19. Good sci-fi based book exploring morality + intelligence

    Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Book Review: There Is No Antimemetics Division”

20. it is in the top 5 of my favorite books of all time

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Sins of the Children (Adrian Tchaikovsky)”

21. has an interesting take on game theory at the end

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “This is not the future”

22. found him to be completely unengaging as a writer

    Criticizes · Mar 2026 · in “Rendezvous with Rama”

23. very shallow and mainstream writing

    Criticizes · Feb 2026 · in “Curating a Show on My Ineffable Mother, Ursula K. Le Guin”

24. If that's the type of writing prompt that interests you, you may enjoy the Children of Time Series

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “Earth is now heating up twice as fast as in previous decades”

25. If you find this kind of thing interesting and are a fan of sci-fi, I highly recommend the book.

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Newly discovered spider builds spring loaded snare to catch ants”

26. Yes! I learned about them reading Adrian Tchaikovsky's excellent scifi book "Children of Time".

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Newly discovered spider builds spring loaded snare to catch ants”

27. what if we use genetic engineering to forcibly evolve monkeys towards human intelligence?

    Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Book Review: There Is No Antimemetics Division”

28. Highlights include Leviathan Wakes/The Expanse, The Three-Body Problem, Children of Time

    Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “Where did all the starships go?”

29. Another great book that I usually reread right before rereading Children of Time

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Newly discovered spider builds spring loaded snare to catch ants”

30. I thought Children of Time was very good, although the third book was out there.

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Science Fiction Is Dying. Long Live Post Sci-Fi?”

31. If you read fiction you might find The Children of Time to be interesting.

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Scientists now know that bees can process time, a first in insects”

32. That's definitely the premise Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time haha

    Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “Magnolias Are So Old That They're Pollinated by Beetles, Not Bees”

33. That's the same feeling I had about the first half of Children of Time.

    Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “They're Made Out of Meat (1991)”

34. Great series! Give Children of Time a go next if you haven't already.

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Ask HN: What are you reading?”

35. one thing I enjoyed about The Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “The Silurian Hypothesis (2020)”

36. more of an evolution as the landscape of sentient beings expands

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Rendezvous with Rama”

37. I just get all excited whenever anyone brings these books up

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Sins of the Children (Adrian Tchaikovsky)”

38. you will encounter a very fascinating form of computation

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Ask HN: What fiction books would you recommend for programmers?”

39. The perfect thread and comment to recommend this book!

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “A spider web unlike any seen before (2025)”

40. which I've done most recently for Children of Time

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “ISBN Visualization – Annas Archive”