Going Postal
Going Postal by Terry Pratchettby Terry Pratchett
Hacker ApprovedRanked 6 of 41 fantasy novels by recommenders
People recommend it as a sharp, funny Discworld novel with a satirical edge, and several suggest it as a good entry point to the series.
People recommend it as a sharp, funny Discworld novel with a satirical edge, and several suggest it as a good entry point to the series.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Funny satire of corporate and CEO culture
“seems particularly apropos these days as we have Reacher Gilts aplenty in tech news headlines”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: What fiction books would you recommend for programmers?” “it was a glorious rant against a CEO's interview in the newspaper”
Comment from 6 Mar 2026 in “Workers who love 'synergizing paradigms' might be bad at their jobs” Excellent Sky One miniseries adaptation
“Sky One's 2010 adaptation (two part miniseries) was excellent by the way. Highly recommended.”
Comment from 23 May 2026 in “I Miss Terry Pratchett” “I think the three mini-series did a fairly decent job.”
Comment from 23 May 2026 in “I Miss Terry Pratchett” Amazing, brilliant, great book
“going postal & the truth are amazing”
Comment from 27 May 2026 in “I Am Begging You to Read Terry Pratchett” “going postal was a great book”
Comment from 23 May 2026 in “I Miss Terry Pratchett” “"Going Postal" was brilliant.”
Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “Hacker News front page now, but the titles are honest”
Other fantasy novels people recommend
The four most recommended other fantasy novels, 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 | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Lord of the Ringsby J.R.R. Tolkien | 66 | 11 | 86% | 12 | 15 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| The Hobbitby J.R.R. Tolkien | 49 | 13 | 79% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Dungeon Crawler Carlby Matt Dinniman | 48 | 6 | 89% | 11 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationalityby Eliezer Yudkowsky | 19 | 17 | 53% | 7 | — | — |
| Going Postalby Terry PratchettThis page | 11 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | Approved |
What people said
9 of the 12 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“going postal & the truth are amazing”
“I recommend starting with Going Postal tho”
“Sky One's 2010 adaptation (two part miniseries) was excellent by the way. Highly recommended.”
“going postal was a great book”
“I think the three mini-series did a fairly decent job.”
“it was a glorious rant against a CEO's interview in the newspaper”
“my two favourite works of his are "night watch" and "going postal"”
“"Going Postal" was brilliant.”
“seems particularly apropos these days as we have Reacher Gilts aplenty in tech news headlines”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.