# Valuable Humans in Transit by qntm

10 Hacker News commenters recommended Valuable Humans in Transit by qntm and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Short story collection that readers call one of their favorite pieces of short fiction, praised for being compact and high in impact.

## Why people recommend it

- Excellent short fiction (2 comments): "One of my favorite pieces of short fiction." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46330092)) "both were great, if short" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47000233))
- Appealing core ideas (2 comments): "that I like quite a bit which hinges on this subject" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46329179)) "Maximum cool per gram of paper." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47000351))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Exhalation by Ted Chiang](https://hackerapproved.com/p/exhalation.md): 21 recommend
- [Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang](https://hackerapproved.com/p/stories-of-your-life-and-others.md): 15 recommend
- [Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ficciones.md): 6 recommend
- [The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio](https://hackerapproved.com/p/decameron.md): 6 recommend
- [Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cosmicomics.md): 6 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=9798359296069&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9798359296069) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Valuable Humans in Transit by qntm", https://hackerapproved.com/p/valuable-humans-in-transit/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).