You Can't Win
You Can't Win by Jack Blackby Jack Black
Shares rank 12 of 25 memoirs by recommenders
Readers recommend it as an entertaining autobiography of an early 1900s criminal, especially in audiobook form.
Readers recommend it as an entertaining autobiography of an early 1900s criminal, especially in audiobook form.
5 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 4
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 80%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 4 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not 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
Entertaining autobiography of early 1900s criminal
“Awesome HN recommendation, an autobiography of an early 1900s criminal.”
Comment from 27 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” “It's pretty entertaining!”
Comment from 1 Dec 2025 in “Cartographers have been hiding illustrations inside Switzerland’s maps (2020)” Started reading after an HN recommendation
“I read (and re-read, and re-read) the book You Can't Win on recommendation of a HN user.”
Comment from 1 Dec 2025 in “Cartographers have been hiding illustrations inside Switzerland’s maps (2020)” “I started reading this because of your comment.”
Comment from 7 Dec 2025 in “Cartographers have been hiding illustrations inside Switzerland’s maps (2020)”
Other memoirs people recommend
The four most recommended other memoirs, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Careless Peopleby Sarah Wynn-Williams | 106 | 24 | 82% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Man's Search for Meaningby Viktor Frankl | 13 | 2 | 87% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!by Richard Feynman | 11 | 7 | 61% | 6 | — | — |
| Down and Out in Paris and Londonby George Orwell | 9 | 1 | 90% | 8 | — | — |
| You Can't Winby Jack BlackThis page | 4 | 1 | 80% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
6 of the 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It's fantastic, especially the audiobook version on Spotify.”
“it got a (poorly reviewed) movie adaptation this year”
“Awesome HN recommendation, an autobiography of an early 1900s criminal.”
“I started reading this because of your comment.”
“It's pretty entertaining!”
“I read (and re-read, and re-read) the book You Can't Win on recommendation of a HN user.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.