# The Rise and Fall of American Growth by Robert Gordon

2 Hacker News commenters recommended The Rise and Fall of American Growth by Robert Gordon and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended for its economic data, which readers say informs discussion of investment and economics, and for plots comparing horsepower and kW per worker with output.

## Why people recommend it

- Economic data useful for investment discussions (1 comments): "All the discussion of investment and economics can be better informed by perusing the economic data in Rise and Fall of American Growth" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46967747))
- Interesting plots of horsepower and output (1 comments): "two of the most interesting plots in the book were of horsepower and kW per worker vs. output" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48374058))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Debt by David Graeber](https://hackerapproved.com/p/debt-the-first-5-000-years.md): 19 recommend
- [The Great Transformation by Karl Polanyi](https://hackerapproved.com/p/great-transformation.md): 3 recommend
- [The Origin of Capitalism by Ellen Meiksins Wood](https://hackerapproved.com/p/origin-of-capitalism.md): 3 recommend
- [The Almighty Dollar by Brendan Greeley](https://hackerapproved.com/p/almighty-dollar.md): 2 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1400888956?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781400888955) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Rise and Fall of American Growth by Robert Gordon", https://hackerapproved.com/p/rise-and-fall-of-american-growth/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).