# Lord of the Flies by William Golding

6 Hacker News commenters recommended Lord of the Flies by William Golding and 8 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as a vivid, philosophically rich literary work that works for readers of any age. Critics say it is a fictional story that misrepresents how real children and humans behave.

## Why people recommend it

- Insightful, philosophical literary masterpiece (2 comments): "I think it is a masterpiece of literature, providing insightful and frightful expressive splashes of sound, fury and color" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46348590)) "It's a deeply philosophical book." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46346700))
- Simple, engaging story for any age (2 comments): "a short book telling a simple story in which lots of very identifiable stuff actually happens" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45834555)) "They're good stories regardless of age." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45837372))

## What people warn about

- Misrepresents real human nature (5 comments): "Everyone seems to think that Lord of the Flies depicts human nature, when in reality teen boys on a deserted island are more likely to form a band than kill each other" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46701711)) "A fictional novel purporting to shed light on real human nature. In that respect it has been shown to be, at a minimum, significantly mistaken." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46347233)) "Lord of the Flies was a fictional novel, it never happened, it's not real and shouldn't be used to inform your thinking." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48021101))
- Children act differently than depicted (2 comments): "gets shown to be completely factually wrong on children, the appropriate amount of self-reflection for the literary world" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46345873)) "the kids just collaborated and survived fine" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49404461))
- Pessimistic, misanthropic view of people (2 comments): "misanthropic trash that has done more harm than most people seem to realize" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49404362)) "That point has been shown to be overly pessimistic." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46346226))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://hackerapproved.com/p/crime-and-punishment.md): 39 recommend
- [The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://hackerapproved.com/p/brothers-karamazov.md): 28 recommend
- [Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace](https://hackerapproved.com/p/infinite-jest.md): 26 recommend
- [The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://hackerapproved.com/p/great-gatsby.md): 24 recommend
- [Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand](https://hackerapproved.com/p/atlas-shrugged.md): 23 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143129406?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780143129400) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Lord of the Flies by William Golding", https://hackerapproved.com/p/lord-of-the-flies/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).