The Library of Babel
The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borgesby Jorge Luis Borges and Nestor Ibarra and Raymond Gid
Hacker ApprovedRanked 6 of 32 short stories by recommenders
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.
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.
14 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 79%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, 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
Strong recommendations for reading
“definitely check out his 'Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius' and 'Library of Babel' as inspiration”
Comment from 7 May 2026 in “Show HN: Hallucinopedia” “You will love reading Jorge Borges The Library of Babel.”
Comment from 10 Jun 2026 in “ΠFS” “One of the best I have seen in my life”
Comment from 21 Feb 2026 in “Mathematics in the Library of Babel” Thought experiment about information and understanding
“It's about many things, but perhaps the most relevant idea here is that no information matters without understanding.”
Comment from 20 Sep 2026 in “Why do we need human mathematicians anymore?” “it's not really effective at compression, just a fun thought experiment”
Comment from 10 Jun 2026 in “ΠFS”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Not effective at compression
“it's not really effective at compression, just a fun thought experiment”
Comment from 10 Jun 2026 in “ΠFS”
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 |
| The Library of Babelby Jorge Luis Borges and Nestor Ibarra and Raymond GidThis page | 11 | 3 | 79% | 7 | — | Approved |
What people said
5 of the 14 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It's about many things, but perhaps the most relevant idea here is that no information matters without understanding.”
“You will love reading Jorge Borges The Library of Babel.”
“it's not really effective at compression, just a fun thought experiment”
“definitely check out his 'Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius' and 'Library of Babel' as inspiration”
“One of the best I have seen in my life”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.