Large Language Models
by John Atkinson-Abutridy
Shares rank 13 of 15 reference books by recommenders
Recommended as a reference that people say makes it easier to start and keep going on LLM work; critics note it is not an entertaining narrative history.
Recommended as a reference that people say makes it easier to start and keep going on LLM work; critics note it is not an entertaining narrative history.
2 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 2
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not 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
- 2 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 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
Useful as a reference
“it's not an entertaining narrative history, more of a reference”
Comment from 3 Jun 2026 in “Ask HN: A Brief History of LLMs” Makes starting and continuing work easier
“LLMs do is collapse the activation energy. They don’t replace the hard work, they make it more likely you’ll start and keep going”
Comment from 15 Jan 2026 in “I Learned Everything I Know About Programming”
Other reference books people recommend
The four most recommended other reference 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Encyclopaedia Britannicaby Jan Morris | 29 | 8 | 78% | 11 | — | Approved |
| 507 Mechanical Movementsby Henry T. Brown | 12 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| The Ashley Book of Knotsby Clifford Ashley | 8 | 1 | 89% | 4 | — | — |
| World Book Encyclopediaby World Book | 5 | 1 | 83% | 4 | — | — |
| Large Language Modelsby John Atkinson-AbutridyThis page | 2 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
All 2 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“it's not an entertaining narrative history, more of a reference”
“LLMs do is collapse the activation energy. They don’t replace the hard work, they make it more likely you’ll start and keep going”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.