# How Not to Study a Disease by Karl Herrup

3 Hacker News commenters recommended How Not to Study a Disease by Karl Herrup and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Readers recommend it as a well-argued, readable account of why Alzheimer's research has made little progress, and say it is really good.

## Why people recommend it

- Contrarian argument some readers find convincing (1 comments): "He did not win many friends but I think he is right." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47906218))
- Called a great and really good read (2 comments): "I'm now about half way through. It's really good." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47972587)) "This is a great read about the reasons why" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47907921))
- Explains reasons for slow progress (1 comments): "This is a great read about the reasons why" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47907921))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter](https://hackerapproved.com/p/g-del-escher-bach.md): 47 recommend
- [Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/thinking-fast-and-slow.md): 17 recommend
- [Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows](https://hackerapproved.com/p/thinking-in-systems.md): 17 recommend
- [The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins](https://hackerapproved.com/p/selfish-gene.md): 14 recommend
- [Cosmos by Carl Sagan](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cosmos.md): 13 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0262546019?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780262546010) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "How Not to Study a Disease by Karl Herrup", https://hackerapproved.com/p/how-not-to-study-a-disease-the-story-of-alzheimer-s/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).