# Diaspora by Greg Egan

23 Hacker News commenters recommended Diaspora by Greg Egan and 4 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended for its ambitious, mind-expanding take on post-singularity humanity and uploading. Critics say it is very dense and hard to follow.

## Why people recommend it

- Favorite Greg Egan novel for readers (4 comments): "i got so inspired by reading diaspora this year" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48761740)) "Easily one of my favorite sci-do books to date" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46397849)) "Basically anything by Egan is gold, IMO." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47668789))
- Mind-expanding ideas about post-singularity humanity (3 comments): "one of the best explorations I know for the fates of various humanity factions in the age following a technological singularity" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49874984)) "Diaspora is mind-blowing, yet highly improbable and speculative" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48404721)) "maybe the two most stimulating scifi novels I have ever read" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46397345))
- Thoughtful take on uploading identity (2 comments): "The whole birth of an virtual identity part is so dense, I didn't understand half of what was "explained"." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47002766)) "Both having slightly different takes on uploading." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47001036))

## What people warn about

- Very dense, hard to follow (2 comments): "The whole birth of an virtual identity part is so dense, I didn't understand half of what was "explained"." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47002766)) "Egan is always dense. It's some mind bending physics/comp sci, but all cooked up in his brain so doesn't really apply to anything productive." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47002775))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir](https://hackerapproved.com/p/project-hail-mary.md): 117 recommend
- [There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm](https://hackerapproved.com/p/there-is-no-antimemetics-division.md): 98 recommend
- [Blindsight by Peter Watts](https://hackerapproved.com/p/blindsight.md): 96 recommend
- [Dune by Frank Herbert](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dune.md): 82 recommend
- [Accelerando by Charles Stross](https://hackerapproved.com/p/accelerando.md): 71 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0752809253?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780752809250) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Diaspora by Greg Egan", https://hackerapproved.com/p/diaspora/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).