# Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

8 Hacker News commenters recommended Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as a beautiful spiritual novel that reads differently at each age. One critic calls the Macmillan Collectors' Library edition a poor translation.

## Why people recommend it

- Meaning changes with reader's age (2 comments): "It might have had a bigger impact on younger me. Older me feels like I could have written it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46399096)) "it's a good book that younger me might have found more profound" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46399152))
- Beautiful, phenomenal writing (2 comments): "Sidhartha was beautiful so I wanted to try Glass Bead Game" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46440461)) "Hesse's books are phenomenal." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48418324))
- Leads to other Hesse books (2 comments): "Sidhartha was beautiful so I wanted to try Glass Bead Game" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46440461)) "I preferred Demian & Siddharta far over Glass Bead game" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46404325))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://hackerapproved.com/p/crime-and-punishment.md): 39 recommend
- [The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://hackerapproved.com/p/brothers-karamazov.md): 28 recommend
- [Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace](https://hackerapproved.com/p/infinite-jest.md): 26 recommend
- [The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://hackerapproved.com/p/great-gatsby.md): 24 recommend
- [Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand](https://hackerapproved.com/p/atlas-shrugged.md): 23 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1613820836?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781613820834) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse", https://hackerapproved.com/p/siddhartha/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).