The Machinery of Life
The Machinery of Life by David Goodsellby David Goodsell
Shares rank 33 of 50 popular science books by recommenders
People recommend it for its illustrations and its patient, visual explanations of how the cell's molecular machines work.
People recommend it for its illustrations and its patient, visual explanations of how the cell's molecular machines work.
3 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 3
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 3 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 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
Illustrations that convey the cell's machinery
“full of illustrations like the ones show in the article and really gave me a sense of what k might imagine”
Comment from 30 Apr 2026 in “Biology is a Burrito: A text- and visual-based journey through a living cell” Patient, visual explanation of molecular machines
“for a patient and visual explanation of these baffling machines”
Comment from 13 Oct 2026 in “The baffling intelligence of a single cell (2024)”
Other popular science books people recommend
The four most recommended other popular science books, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gödel, Escher, Bachby Douglas Hofstadter | 47 | 10 | 82% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Thinking, Fast and Slowby Daniel Kahneman | 17 | 13 | 57% | 9 | — | — |
| Thinking in Systemsby Donella Meadows | 17 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| The Selfish Geneby Richard Dawkins | 14 | 5 | 74% | 8 | — | Approved |
| The Machinery of Lifeby David GoodsellThis page | 3 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
2 of the 3 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“for a patient and visual explanation of these baffling machines”
“full of illustrations like the ones show in the article and really gave me a sense of what k might imagine”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.