# Seeing Like a State by James C. Scott

13 Hacker News commenters recommended Seeing Like a State by James C. Scott and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended for explaining how states and corporations lose sight of real conditions, and how well-meant simplification backfires. One reader felt its examples could have come from anywhere.

## Why people recommend it

- Explains how states lose sight of reality (2 comments): "great overview of how states (and corporations) lose visibility into reality" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49901257)) "A great read that explains how hard is to create a city from scratch, how illegible community value is" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46979651))
- Shows side effects of legibility (2 comments): "The book is all about the unexpected side effects of improving the legibility of information for decision makers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47068289)) "a non-infantile treatment on "seeing like a state"/totalitarian thinking seems to work" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47777975))
- Useful for software and corporate operations (2 comments): "essential reading, especially for anyone working in software or operations for a corporation" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50063239)) "James C. Scott’s Seeing Like a State is a useful lens here." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46149021))
- Covers state projects and their outcomes (2 comments): "It discusses state projects and their outcomes." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47776720)) "I recommend Seeing Like a State by James Scott for more discussion, including about street names" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47625592))

## What people warn about

- Examples could be swapped for others (1 comments): "I enjoyed the book too, but as I read it, I felt more and more like he could have just as easily found examples" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49905464))

## 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/0300078153?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780300078152) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Seeing Like a State by James C. Scott", https://hackerapproved.com/p/seeing-like-a-state/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).