Valuable Humans in Transit
Valuable Humans in Transit by qntmby qntm
Hacker ApprovedRanked 3 of 13 short story collections by recommenders
Short story collection that readers call one of their favorite pieces of short fiction, praised for being compact and high in impact.
Short story collection that readers call one of their favorite pieces of short fiction, praised for being compact and high in impact.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 10
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 10 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 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
Excellent short fiction
“One of my favorite pieces of short fiction.”
Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “Hacker News front page now, but the titles are honest” “both were great, if short”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “MMAcevedo aka Lena by qntm” Appealing core ideas
“that I like quite a bit which hinges on this subject”
Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “Hacker News front page now, but the titles are honest” “Maximum cool per gram of paper.”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “MMAcevedo aka Lena by qntm”
Other short story collections people recommend
The four most recommended other short story collections, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exhalationby Ted Chiang | 21 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Stories of Your Life and Othersby Ted Chiang | 15 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Valuable Humans in Transitby qntmThis page | 10 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | Approved |
| Ficcionesby Jorge Luis Borges | 6 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| The Decameronby Giovanni Boccaccio | 6 | 1 | 86% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
5 of the 10 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“works a bit better for me”
“Maximum cool per gram of paper.”
“both were great, if short”
“One of my favorite pieces of short fiction.”
“that I like quite a bit which hinges on this subject”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.