# You Can't Win by Jack Black

4 Hacker News commenters recommended You Can't Win by Jack Black and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Readers recommend it as an entertaining autobiography of an early 1900s criminal, especially in audiobook form.

## Why people recommend it

- Entertaining autobiography of early 1900s criminal (2 comments): "Awesome HN recommendation, an autobiography of an early 1900s criminal." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46403664)) "It's pretty entertaining!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46110375))
- Started reading after an HN recommendation (2 comments): "I read (and re-read, and re-read) the book You Can't Win on recommendation of a HN user." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46108853)) "I started reading this because of your comment." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46184928))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams](https://hackerapproved.com/p/careless-people.md): 106 recommend
- [Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl](https://hackerapproved.com/p/man-s-search-for-meaning.md): 13 recommend
- [Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard Feynman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/surely-you-re-joking-mr-feynman.md): 11 recommend
- [Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell](https://hackerapproved.com/p/down-and-out-in-paris-and-london.md): 9 recommend
- [Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kitchen-confidential.md): 9 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0486826805?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780486826806) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "You Can't Win by Jack Black", https://hackerapproved.com/p/you-can-t-win/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).