A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
by Mark Twain · first published 1889
31% recommend66% neutral3% critical
Why HN recommends it
Satirical time-travel novel about a 19th-century engineer rebuilding technology in medieval Britain; an early example of the genre, funny yet surprisingly dark, suited to engineers and fans of industrialization stories.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
A blow on the head transports a Yankee to 528 A.D. where he proceeds to modernize King Arthur's kingdom by organizing a school system, constructing telephone lines, and inventing the printing press.
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Two really good literature treatments of your fantasy are Mark Twain's Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and Jules Verne's Mysterious Island. They both have as major plot elements a character who has a lot of knowledge of fabrication techniques, and recreate their technology in a primitive situation (one…
on “Why It Took So Long to Invent the Wheel (2012)” ↗…"fix" non-rational fiction. Eliezer Yudkowsky and his take on Harry Potter is the prime example. I can also recommend Alexander Wales who also made original fiction. Probably the oldest related work is A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain. Another name mentioned often in this genre is Brandon Sanderson and especially his Mistborn series, but I have not read it personally.
on “A History of the Silmarils in the Fifth Age” ↗…stupid and eventually they figure this out: "Ninety percent of most magic merely consists of knowing one extra fact." Then they just need to work out those facts. Have you read Off to Be the Wizard or A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court? I wouldn't call them children's stories, but maybe young adult.
on “Ask HN: Help me weave in STEM topics for a children's book” ↗…(https://librivox.org/) has free audiobooks for many of these public domain books. They're recorded by volunteers, so the quality is a grab bag. Some of them are quite good though. Most recently I listened to A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court read by John Greenman (https://librivox.org/a-connecticut-yankee-in-king-arthurs-co...) Goofy book, but very entertaining.
on “Project Gutenberg – Library of over 60k free eBooks” ↗Have you read Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court"? http://bulfinch.englishatheist.org/yank/86-h.htm Audio book: http://librivox.org/a-connecticut-yankee-in-king-arthurs-cou...
on “Survival tips if you find yourself in the Middle Ages?” ↗And for a cynical take on the "modern engineer brings advances to middle age" also taking into account social aspects, Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/86) is good reading.
on “Are We Losing the Secrets of the Masters?” ↗…just accept these as part of the landscape. We accept the constant intrusion of private enterprise to influence our thought, which is strange indeed. Mark Twain wrote a remarkable little book called "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court", which to me is the quintessentially American book on capitalism as it is fetishized by Ayn Rand etc. The man travels back in time, and proceeds to use his technical knowledge to enrich himself, and…
on “Without morality, the market economy will destroy itself” ↗A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain North of Boston by Robert Frost Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle (+ the other Sherlock Holmes') Candide by Voltaire (was reminded by other posting…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?” ↗A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court. A novel by Mark Twain. it is really fun.
on “How much did a tunic cost in the Roman Empire? (2021)” ↗Read Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. I think someone educated in science and engineering would do quite well, a dolt fully addicted to the entertainment industry, probably not so well.
on “Guy makes a knife from scratch. He has to make a smelter first.” ↗Mark Twain’s “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court” remains my favorite (and very funny) exploration of this.
on “Why did we wait so long for the bicycle?” ↗…good example. Loosely also his Emberverse (basically the flip side of the Nantucket series) although I lost interest as I often do with long-running series. Lucifer's Hammer by Niven and Pournelle. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is probably the classic of the genre (Mark Twain). Most of these books are probably overly optimistic about what one or a small group of smart people who just happen to have to right skill sets could…
on “1632 by Eric Flint (2000)” ↗Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court is about this as well. I thought it would be a silly story about a guy who get sent to the past but it is incredibly dark and pessimistic. The Yankee’s knowledge wows everyone, he’s put in charge of…
on “How much did a tunic cost in the Roman Empire? (2021)” ↗…curiosity while navigating a magical world. 2. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg- Mystery about independence where two kids hide in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 3. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain- A time-travel pioneer + clash between modern thinking and medieval traditions. 4. My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George- survival story of a boy living in the wilderness, promoting…
on “Ask HN: What book had a big impact on you as a child or teenager?” ↗Also, if you want even further back precedent for this kind of plot device, I highly recommend reading a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court by Mark Twain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Connecticut_Yankee_in_King_A...
on “Historical Tech Tree” ↗