# The House of Asterion by Jorge Luis Borges

4 Hacker News commenters recommended The House of Asterion by Jorge Luis Borges and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend this short story for its beautiful writing and for how its context gives it more weight in hindsight. Critics raised no complaints.

## Why people recommend it

- Beautifully written, praised as exceptional (2 comments): "the most beautifully written thing I have ever read" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46767537)) "It's such a beautiful tale." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46768049))
- Gains meaning with added context (1 comments): "it's now beautiful in hindsight with the context" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46770811))
- Strong emotional reaction on first reading (1 comments): "Holy cow, that was amazing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46767831))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Last Question by Isaac Asimov](https://hackerapproved.com/p/last-question.md): 50 recommend
- [There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury](https://hackerapproved.com/p/there-will-come-soft-rains.md): 27 recommend
- [They're Made Out of Meat by Terry Bisson](https://hackerapproved.com/p/they-re-made-out-of-meat.md): 17 recommend
- [Lena by qntm](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lena.md): 16 recommend
- [The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster](https://hackerapproved.com/p/machine-stops.md): 15 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=The+House+of+Asterion+by+Jorge+Luis+Borges&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The House of Asterion by Jorge Luis Borges", https://hackerapproved.com/p/house-of-asterion/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).