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The Persistence of Vision

The Persistence of Vision by John Varley

by John Varley

Shares rank 10 of 13 short story collections by recommenders

Recommended for entertaining stories that present societies different from our own without condescension or fear.

Recommended for entertaining stories that present societies different from our own without condescension or fear.

3 people gave an opinion

recommend it
3
criticize it
0
approval share
100%
Each figure is one person. RecommendsCriticizes

Recommended in 1 of 13 months

  1. November 2025: not recommended
  2. December 2025: recommended
  3. January 2026: not recommended
  4. February 2026: not recommended
  5. March 2026: not recommended
  6. April 2026: not recommended
  7. May 2026: not recommended
  8. June 2026: not recommended
  9. July 2026: not recommended
  10. August 2026: not recommended
  11. September 2026: not recommended
  12. October 2026: not recommended
  13. 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 1 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

  • Entertaining without condescension toward unfamiliar societies

    “giving me a good time without condescension or fear of presenting societies different from my own”

    Comment from 15 Dec 2025 in “John Varley has died”

Other short story collections people recommend

The four most recommended other short story collections, 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.

The Persistence of Vision by John Varley compared with 4 alternatives
ProductRecommendCriticizeApprovalMonthsOwnedBadge
Exhalationby Ted Chiang210100%7—Approved
Stories of Your Life and Othersby Ted Chiang150100%6—Approved
Valuable Humans in Transitby qntm100100%4—Approved
Ficcionesby Jorge Luis Borges60100%4——
The Persistence of Visionby John VarleyThis page30100%1——
See all 13 short story collections, ranked

What people said

1 of the 3 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.

“giving me a good time without condescension or fear of presenting societies different from my own”

RecommendsComment from 15 Dec 2025 in “John Varley has died”

Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.