# Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned by Kenneth O. Stanley and Joel Lehman

3 Hacker News commenters recommended Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned by Kenneth O. Stanley and Joel Lehman and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it for its core idea that in open-ended problems you only know which actions were good in hindsight. One critic says it is padded and could be half as long.

## Why people recommend it

- Changes how you view the world (1 comments): "Next read the Architects paradox, Why Greatness cannot be planned and Understanding Variation and your views of the world will be forever altered." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46629542))
- Core idea about hindsight in open-ended problems (1 comments): "The core idea is that in open-ended scenarios you don't know what action was good except in hindsight" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48477848))
- Called a neat read on the topic (1 comments): "There's a neat book about this" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47077406))

## What people warn about

- Padded; could be half as long (1 comments): "it is still needlessly padded; could have been half the pages and not miss anything" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49586949))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cuckoo-s-egg.md): 40 recommend
- [Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/amusing-ourselves-to-death.md): 36 recommend
- [The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt](https://hackerapproved.com/p/anxious-generation.md): 24 recommend
- [Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bullshit-jobs.md): 20 recommend
- [Enshittification by Cory Doctorow](https://hackerapproved.com/p/enshittification.md): 19 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/3319155237?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9783319155234) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned by Kenneth O. Stanley and Joel Lehman", https://hackerapproved.com/p/why-greatness-cannot-be-planned/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).