# The Letter S by Donald Knuth

5 Hacker News commenters recommended The Letter S by Donald Knuth and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** A playful, elaborate hack by Donald Knuth that readers admire, though critics find nine pages of formulae for one letter excessive and spot an error in Fig 9.

## Why people recommend it

- Playful hack in the tradition of hacks (1 comments): "I think this is in the finest tradition of hacks, even if it took decades." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48226310))
- Trusted author, Donald Knuth (1 comments): "All of his books have been great" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48222152))

## What people warn about

- Nine pages of formulae for one letter (1 comments): "To spend nine pages full of mathematical formulae just to write a single letter" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48219173))
- Fig 9 looks obviously wrong (1 comments): "Fig 9 stood out to me as obviously wrong." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48218351))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Programming as Theory Building by Peter Naur](https://hackerapproved.com/p/programming-as-theory-building.md): 32 recommend
- [Ur-Fascism by Umberto Eco](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ur-fascism.md): 18 recommend
- [Politics and the English Language by George Orwell](https://hackerapproved.com/p/politics-and-the-english-language.md): 14 recommend
- [Right to Read by Richard Stallman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/right-to-read.md): 12 recommend
- [Meditations on Moloch by Scott Alexander](https://hackerapproved.com/p/meditations-on-moloch.md): 11 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Letter S by Donald Knuth", https://hackerapproved.com/p/letter-s/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).