# The Golden Road by William Dalrymple 4 Hacker News commenters recommended The Golden Road by William Dalrymple and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Recommended for explaining India's cultural, economic and religious influence across Eurasia before and during the Middle Ages, and for making history enjoyable to read. ## Why people recommend it - Explains India's Eurasian cultural influence (1 comments): "It explains the crucial cultural, economical, and religious influence that India had in Eurasia before and during the middle ages." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46397056)) - Better than Frankopan's similar book (1 comments): "succeeds at Frankopan's objective and I found it much better in general" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47873451)) - Enjoyable history writing (1 comments): "Makes reading history enjoyable." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48900973)) - Good follow-up to Frankopan (1 comments): "I think I'll need to read Dalrymple to be fully sated" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47874877)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dawn-of-everything.md): 23 recommend - [Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cadillac-desert.md): 18 recommend - [The Box by Marc Levinson](https://hackerapproved.com/p/box.md): 16 recommend - [Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sapiens.md): 13 recommend - [Chip War by Chris Miller](https://hackerapproved.com/p/chip-war.md): 13 recommend ## Where to get it - [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1639734147?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link) - [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781639734146) (affiliate link) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "The Golden Road by William Dalrymple", https://hackerapproved.com/p/golden-road/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).