# The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges

11 Hacker News commenters recommended The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Borges's short story imagining a library holding every possible book; people recommend it as inspiring fiction and a fun thought experiment, though it is not really effective at compression.

## Why people recommend it

- Strong recommendations for reading (3 comments): "definitely check out his 'Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius' and 'Library of Babel' as inspiration" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48052993)) "You will love reading Jorge Borges The Library of Babel." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48483450)) "One of the best I have seen in my life" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47105643))
- Thought experiment about information and understanding (2 comments): "It's about many things, but perhaps the most relevant idea here is that no information matters without understanding." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49775530)) "it's not really effective at compression, just a fun thought experiment" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48482379))

## What people warn about

- Not effective at compression (1 comments): "it's not really effective at compression, just a fun thought experiment" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48482379))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Last Question by Isaac Asimov](https://hackerapproved.com/p/last-question.md): 50 recommend
- [There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury](https://hackerapproved.com/p/there-will-come-soft-rains.md): 27 recommend
- [They're Made Out of Meat by Terry Bisson](https://hackerapproved.com/p/they-re-made-out-of-meat.md): 17 recommend
- [Lena by qntm](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lena.md): 16 recommend
- [The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster](https://hackerapproved.com/p/machine-stops.md): 15 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/024163086X?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780241630860) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges", https://hackerapproved.com/p/library-of-babel/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).