# Half a Second by Adrian Mastronardi

3 Hacker News commenters recommended Half a Second by Adrian Mastronardi and 7 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Free, honest book on the XZ backdoor that people find worthwhile despite quirks. Most common caveat: critics say it reads as AI-generated and adds little new.

## Why people recommend it

- Free and honest (1 comments): "I can tolerate the quirky style and AI signatures for something honest and free." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48967307))
- Worthwhile despite imperfections (1 comments): "Perhaps no masterpiece, but far from worthless." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48969302))

## What people warn about

- AI-generated text (6 comments): "with an LLM-generated text, these attempts at understanding will get you nowhere and only produce frustration" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48977551)) "Getting an AI to write about something is just diluting the signal for future researchers." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48967516)) "there is no author, no intent and no meaning there to understand" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48968778))
- Little new, inefficient to learn (2 comments): "this is just a very inefficient way to learn about the topic" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48968211)) "It's only going to recycle old news." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48966858))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cuckoo-s-egg.md): 40 recommend
- [Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/amusing-ourselves-to-death.md): 36 recommend
- [The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt](https://hackerapproved.com/p/anxious-generation.md): 24 recommend
- [Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bullshit-jobs.md): 20 recommend
- [Enshittification by Cory Doctorow](https://hackerapproved.com/p/enshittification.md): 19 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1925000206?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781925000207) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Half a Second by Adrian Mastronardi", https://hackerapproved.com/p/half-a-second/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).