Half a Second
Half a Second by Adrian Mastronardiby Matthew Michalewicz
Shares rank 91 of 152 nonfiction books by recommenders
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.
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.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 3
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 30%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 3 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not 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
Free and honest
“I can tolerate the quirky style and AI signatures for something honest and free.”
Comment from 19 Jul 2026 in “Half a Second – a book about the XZ backdoor” Worthwhile despite imperfections
“Perhaps no masterpiece, but far from worthless.”
Comment from 19 Jul 2026 in “Half a Second – a book about the XZ backdoor”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
AI-generated text
“with an LLM-generated text, these attempts at understanding will get you nowhere and only produce frustration”
Comment from 20 Jul 2026 in “Half a Second – a book about the XZ backdoor” “Getting an AI to write about something is just diluting the signal for future researchers.”
Comment from 19 Jul 2026 in “Half a Second – a book about the XZ backdoor” “there is no author, no intent and no meaning there to understand”
Comment from 19 Jul 2026 in “Half a Second – a book about the XZ backdoor” - Comment from 20 Jul 2026 in “Half a Second – a book about the XZ backdoor”
- Comment from 19 Jul 2026 in “Half a Second – a book about the XZ backdoor”
- Comment from 19 Jul 2026 in “Half a Second: a free book on the XZ backdoor and the labor beneath open source”
Little new, inefficient to learn
“this is just a very inefficient way to learn about the topic”
Comment from 19 Jul 2026 in “Half a Second – a book about the XZ backdoor” “It's only going to recycle old news.”
Comment from 19 Jul 2026 in “Half a Second – a book about the XZ backdoor”
Other nonfiction books people recommend
The four most recommended other nonfiction books, 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 Cuckoo's Eggby Clifford Stoll | 40 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Amusing Ourselves to Deathby Neil Postman | 36 | 0 | 100% | 9 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| The Anxious Generationby Jonathan Haidt | 24 | 12 | 67% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Bullshit Jobsby David Graeber | 20 | 12 | 63% | 8 | — | — |
| Half a Secondby Matthew MichalewiczThis page | 3 | 7 | 30% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
12 of the 13 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“unlike this author it is entirely human written”
“with an LLM-generated text, these attempts at understanding will get you nowhere and only produce frustration”
“unimportant facets get an equally profound sounding prose like the really important bits”
“Perhaps no masterpiece, but far from worthless.”
“there is no author, no intent and no meaning there to understand”
“I find it very annoying to read.”
“this is just a very inefficient way to learn about the topic”
“Getting an AI to write about something is just diluting the signal for future researchers.”
“I can tolerate the quirky style and AI signatures for something honest and free.”
“it seems like it was written by AI to me”
“It's only going to recycle old news.”
“little more than LLM output”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.