# The Open Society and Its Enemies by Karl Popper

3 Hacker News commenters recommended The Open Society and Its Enemies by Karl Popper and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Worth reading as a whole, since its ideas are often used and abused out of context. One commenter calls its Plato interpretation weak.

## Why people recommend it

- Worth reading in full (2 comments): "It's well worth to read as a whole, given how often it is used and abused out of its surrounding context in the book." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46962162)) "Honestly, the entire book - The Open Society and its Enemies - might be a good read." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46191962))
- Often used out of context (1 comments): "It's well worth to read as a whole, given how often it is used and abused out of its surrounding context in the book." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46962162))

## What people warn about

- Weak Plato interpretation, per scholar (1 comments): "from a purely Plato-scholarship/interpretation perspective, it's trash" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47090306))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Tao Te Ching by Laozi](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tao-te-ching-translated.md): 32 recommend
- [Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig](https://hackerapproved.com/p/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance.md): 24 recommend
- [Meditations by Marcus Aurelius](https://hackerapproved.com/p/meditations.md): 17 recommend
- [I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter](https://hackerapproved.com/p/i-am-a-strange-loop.md): 16 recommend
- [Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard](https://hackerapproved.com/p/simulacra-and-simulation.md): 12 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0691158134?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780691158136) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Open Society and Its Enemies by Karl Popper", https://hackerapproved.com/p/open-society-and-its-enemies/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).