Learning to Be Me
Learning to Be Me by Greg Eganby Greg Egan
Shares rank 18 of 32 short stories by recommenders
Recommended for its insight into consciousness and a hard-to-put-down read with a sublime ending.
Recommended for its insight into consciousness and a hard-to-put-down read with a sublime ending.
4 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 4
- 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: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not 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
- 4 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
Insightful about consciousness
“Egan is perhaps the only contemporary author who actually _gets_ consciousness”
Comment from 30 Jan 2026 in “Project Genie: Experimenting with infinite, interactive worlds” Gripping, hard to put down
“You won't be able to put it down and the ending is sublime.”
Comment from 30 Jan 2026 in “Project Genie: Experimenting with infinite, interactive worlds” Sublime ending
“You won't be able to put it down and the ending is sublime.”
Comment from 30 Jan 2026 in “Project Genie: Experimenting with infinite, interactive worlds” Deeper take on familiar theme
“is an even better exploration of the same theme”
Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “The Gentle Seduction”
Other short stories people recommend
The four most recommended other short stories, 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 Last Questionby Isaac Asimov | 50 | 2 | 96% | 6 | 52 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| There Will Come Soft Rainsby Ray Bradbury | 27 | 3 | 90% | 4 | — | Approved |
| They're Made Out of Meatby Terry Bisson | 17 | 4 | 81% | 4 | — | Approved |
| Lenaby qntm | 16 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Learning to Be Meby Greg EganThis page | 4 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
3 of the 4 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Egan is perhaps the only contemporary author who actually _gets_ consciousness”
“You won't be able to put it down and the ending is sublime.”
“is an even better exploration of the same theme”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.