# Simple Made Easy by Rich Hickey

22 Hacker News commenters recommended Simple Made Easy by Rich Hickey and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People recommend this talk for clarifying the difference between simple and easy and for changing how they think about software design. One critic says readers often wrongly treat simple and easy as the same idea.

## Why people recommend it

- Clarifies simple versus easy (4 comments): "systems become better when we aim for simplicity (few intertwined parts) rather than ease" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47259714)) "I think Rich Hickey's talk about simple is great for defining these terms (literally)." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47247364)) "I really like how Rich Hickey’s “Simple Made Easy” clarifies simplicity here" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47595319))
- Changed how people think about software (3 comments): "Few things, concepts and ideas have changed as much of my programming mind as Hickey's talk" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49599033)) "One of the most impactful things in my career was watching Simple Made Easy by Rich Hickey" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47219051)) "had a huge impact on the way I think about writing software" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47590996))
- Classic talk that still holds up (4 comments): "Classic talk that still influences my design decisions today." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48752569)) "the first half is the philosophical part and a classic" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48072535)) "really interesting and insightful and I still love it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47591750))
- Named a personal favorite (3 comments): "I'm a fan of Clojure author Rich Hickey's "Simple Made Easy" talk" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45792751)) "Simple Made Easy is one of my favorites" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46507423)) "This is just my favorite talk" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46427770))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Porting Linux to Apple Silicon by Asahi Linux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/asahi-linux-porting-linux-to-apple-silicon.md): 8 recommend
- [Hammock Driven Development by Rich Hickey](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hammock-driven-development-talk.md): 7 recommend
- [The Root of the Root of All Evil by Casey Muratori](https://hackerapproved.com/p/root-of-the-root-of-all-evil.md): 7 recommend
- [Children of the Magenta Line](https://hackerapproved.com/p/children-of-the-magenta-line.md): 6 recommend
- [Preventing the Collapse of Civilization by Jonathan Blow](https://hackerapproved.com/p/preventing-the-collapse-of-civilization.md): 6 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Simple Made Easy by Rich Hickey", https://hackerapproved.com/p/simple-made-easy/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).