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Zodiac

Zodiac by Neal Stephenson

by Neal Stephenson

Shares rank 53 of 122 novels by recommenders

Recommended as a very good Neal Stephenson novel, and a likely pick for readers who liked his other books.

Recommended as a very good Neal Stephenson novel, and a likely pick for readers who liked his other books.

4 people gave an opinion

recommend it
4
criticize it
0
approval share
100%
Each figure is one person. RecommendsCriticizes

Recommended in 3 of 13 months

  1. November 2025: not recommended
  2. December 2025: recommended
  3. January 2026: recommended
  4. February 2026: not recommended
  5. March 2026: not recommended
  6. April 2026: not recommended
  7. May 2026: not recommended
  8. June 2026: not recommended
  9. July 2026: not recommended
  10. August 2026: not recommended
  11. September 2026: recommended
  12. October 2026: not recommended
  13. November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)

Why it doesn’t carry the badge

  • 4 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
  • Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
  • Recommended in 3 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

  • Good fit for Stephenson fans

    “I like all of his stuff, personally, but the books "Zodiac"[0], "Interface"[1], and "The Cobweb"[2] ... I think would be a slam-dunk for you”

    Comment from 27 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?”
  • Called very good

    “even Zodiac and In the Beginning Was the Command Line are both very good”

    Comment from 28 Sep 2026 in “Neal Stephenson responds with wit and humor (2004)”

Other novels people recommend

The four most recommended other novels, 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.

Zodiac by Neal Stephenson compared with 4 alternatives
ProductRecommendCriticizeApprovalMonthsOwnedBadge
Crime and Punishmentby Fyodor Dostoevsky39981%6—Approved
The Brothers Karamazovby Fyodor Dostoevsky28878%5—Approved
Infinite Jestby David Foster Wallace26584%910 yrs6 ownersApproved
The Great Gatsbyby F. Scott Fitzgerald24973%6—Approved
Zodiacby Neal StephensonThis page40100%3——
See all 122 novels, ranked

What people said

3 of the 4 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.

“even Zodiac and In the Beginning Was the Command Line are both very good”

RecommendsComment from 28 Sep 2026 in “Neal Stephenson responds with wit and humor (2004)”

“a framework for inference-time compute scaling on frozen backbones”

RecommendsComment from 27 Jan 2026 on Hacker News

“I like all of his stuff, personally, but the books "Zodiac"[0], "Interface"[1], and "The Cobweb"[2] ... I think would be a slam-dunk for you”

RecommendsComment from 27 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?”

Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.