# Range by David Epstein

7 Hacker News commenters recommended Range by David Epstein and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Readers recommend Range for its engaging, well-written look at how generalists and specialists learn and solve problems, with vivid examples of specialists' experiences.

## Why people recommend it

- Engaging, well-written, highly praised read (3 comments): "Anybody who reads this stupid poem and gets a sinking feeling in their chest should pick up a copy" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49016794)) "That book is so good it inspired a blog post three years before it was published!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50234889)) "Fantastic book called Range that talks about this phenomenon." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46895597))
- Insight into generalists and specialists (3 comments): "it displays so many different scenarios of people engaging with specialized fields and interacting with them in ways that relate to their past experiences" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46486706)) "groups of people with very mixed backgrounds leads to much faster rates of problem solving and innovation" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49319511)) "David Epstein calls this "desirable difficulty" in the book Range." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46299560))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cuckoo-s-egg.md): 40 recommend
- [Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/amusing-ourselves-to-death.md): 36 recommend
- [The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt](https://hackerapproved.com/p/anxious-generation.md): 24 recommend
- [Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bullshit-jobs.md): 20 recommend
- [Enshittification by Cory Doctorow](https://hackerapproved.com/p/enshittification.md): 19 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0735214506?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780735214507) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Range by David Epstein", https://hackerapproved.com/p/range/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).