# The Republic by Plato

11 Hacker News commenters recommended The Republic by Plato and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended as an approachable, lively dialogue that raises questions without settling them, and a sharp read on democracy and political decline. Translations vary a lot in readability, and one critic calls its recommendations fascist-like.

## Why people recommend it

- Lively dialogue, entertaining to read (3 comments): "It is written like a play where characters with real personalities have fierce and witty debates." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49078226)) "surprisingly entertaining to modern tastes" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46433089)) "learn a very invigorating strategy to keep conversations entertaining" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46424665))
- Insightful on democracy and political decline (3 comments): "Give Plato's "Republic" a read and you might find it concerning how closely we exemplify the last stages of political and social decline." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47724518)) "Both he and Socrates talked about the flaws of direct/pure democracy that would usually make it degenerate into mob rule." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49485311)) "In general I think Plato's views are highly insightful" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50177343))

## What people warn about

- Translations vary; cheap ones are opaque (1 comments): "the cheapest translations available of e.g. The Republic was a bit too opaque for me" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46534190))
- Recommendations seen as fascist-like (1 comments): "Its recommendations are kind of fascist-like tho." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49343354))
- Called among worst books for impact (1 comments): "Republic is easily one of the worst books written in human history in terms of its impact." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46436223))

## 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/1857150988?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781857150988) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Republic by Plato", https://hackerapproved.com/p/republic/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).