The Last Quiet Thing by Terry Godier
Shares rank 37 of 60 articles by recommenders
Recommended as a reflective essay that readers say puts their own thoughts into words, with a plaintext version offered alongside the web format.
Recommended as a reflective essay that readers say puts their own thoughts into words, with a plaintext version offered alongside the web format.
8 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 63%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: 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
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 3 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
Offers plaintext and visual formats
“I found it neat to be given the choice. Both formats were good.”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “The Last Quiet Thing” “It has a plaintext version which I appreciate”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “The Last Quiet Thing”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Hard to read as body text
“less legible for body text in my experience, my eyes start just glazing over”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “The Last Quiet Thing” Reads like AI-written prose
“genuinely miserable to read with all the worst tells of AI writing”
Comment from 7 Apr 2026 in “The Last Quiet Thing” Low contrast link text
“That link text has unacceptable contrast”
Comment from 7 Apr 2026 in “The Last Quiet Thing”
Other articles people recommend
The four most recommended other articles, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Programming as Theory Buildingby Peter Naur | 32 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Ur-Fascismby Umberto Eco | 18 | 2 | 90% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Politics and the English Languageby George Orwell | 14 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | Approved |
| The Grug Brained Developer by Carson Gross | 13 | 1 | 93% | 9 | — | Approved |
| The Last Quiet Thing by Terry GodierThis page | 5 | 3 | 63% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
8 of the 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Here’s a very short list of visual essays I like”
“genuinely miserable to read with all the worst tells of AI writing”
“That link text has unacceptable contrast”
“I found it neat to be given the choice. Both formats were good.”
“less legible for body text in my experience, my eyes start just glazing over”
“It has a plaintext version which I appreciate”
“I've never seen something put words to my thoughts more accurately than this has”
“See perhaps the essay 'The Last Quiet Thinkg' by Terry Godier on his Casio (and tech generally)”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.