# The Friendly Orange Glow by Brian Dear

7 Hacker News commenters recommended The Friendly Orange Glow by Brian Dear and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as a well written, engrossing account of the PLATO system and the early days of cyberculture.

## Why people recommend it

- Engaging, hard to put down (1 comments): "Loved it, couldn't put it down." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50193100))
- Well written account (1 comments): "A well written book on it is" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49105020))
- Looks fascinating to readers (1 comments): "Your book looks like it will be fascinating!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50189581))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder](https://hackerapproved.com/p/soul-of-a-new-machine.md): 59 recommend
- [The Old New Thing by Raymond Chen](https://hackerapproved.com/p/old-new-thing.md): 31 recommend
- [Accidental Empires by Bob Cringely](https://hackerapproved.com/p/accidental-empires.md): 15 recommend
- [A History of Lisp](https://hackerapproved.com/p/technical-history-book-on-lisp.md): 11 recommend
- [Turing's Cathedral by George Dyson](https://hackerapproved.com/p/turing-s-cathedral.md): 10 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1101973633?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781101973639) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Friendly Orange Glow by Brian Dear", https://hackerapproved.com/p/friendly-orange-glow/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).