Seeing Like a State
Seeing Like a State by James C. Scottby James C. Scott
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 15 of 152 nonfiction books by recommenders
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.
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.
13 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 13
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 13 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, 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
Explains how states lose sight of reality
“great overview of how states (and corporations) lose visibility into reality”
Comment from 29 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you reading?” “A great read that explains how hard is to create a city from scratch, how illegible community value is”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “Communities Are Not Fungible” Shows side effects of legibility
“The book is all about the unexpected side effects of improving the legibility of information for decision makers”
Comment from 19 Feb 2026 in “What is happening to writing?: Claude Code and the negative space around AI” “a non-infantile treatment on "seeing like a state"/totalitarian thinking seems to work”
Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “A Communist Apple II and Fourteen Years of Not Knowing What You're Testing” Useful for software and corporate operations
“essential reading, especially for anyone working in software or operations for a corporation”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “The gap in shared understanding of LLM capability is widening” “James C. Scott’s Seeing Like a State is a useful lens here.”
Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “AI Is Breaking the Moral Foundation of Modern Society” Covers state projects and their outcomes
“It discusses state projects and their outcomes.”
Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “A Communist Apple II and Fourteen Years of Not Knowing What You're Testing” “I recommend Seeing Like a State by James Scott for more discussion, including about street names”
Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “The Joy of Numbered Streets”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Examples could be swapped for others
“I enjoyed the book too, but as I read it, I felt more and more like he could have just as easily found examples”
Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you reading?”
Other nonfiction books people recommend
The four most recommended other nonfiction books, 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.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Cuckoo's Eggby Clifford Stoll | 40 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Amusing Ourselves to Deathby Neil Postman | 36 | 0 | 100% | 9 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| The Anxious Generationby Jonathan Haidt | 24 | 12 | 67% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Bullshit Jobsby David Graeber | 20 | 12 | 63% | 8 | — | — |
| Seeing Like a Stateby James C. ScottThis page | 13 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
What people said
11 of the 15 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“essential reading, especially for anyone working in software or operations for a corporation”
“I enjoyed the book too, but as I read it, I felt more and more like he could have just as easily found examples”
“great overview of how states (and corporations) lose visibility into reality”
“a non-infantile treatment on "seeing like a state"/totalitarian thinking seems to work”
“It discusses state projects and their outcomes.”
“I'm tempted to add 'seeing like a state' to your reading list.”
“I recommend Seeing Like a State by James Scott for more discussion, including about street names”
“"Two Cheers for Anarchism" and "Seeing Like a State" both seem to have influenced a lot of people”
“The book is all about the unexpected side effects of improving the legibility of information for decision makers”
“A great read that explains how hard is to create a city from scratch, how illegible community value is”
“James C. Scott’s Seeing Like a State is a useful lens here.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.