A Man Without a Country
by Kurt Vonnegut · first published 2005
42% recommend50% neutral8% critical
Why HN recommends it
Short, personal essays and speeches in Vonnegut's wry voice. Readers single out his analysis of story shapes, his thoughts on Kafka, and his uncle's advice on noticing happiness. Suits fans of his fiction or newcomers.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
A Man Without a Country is Kurt Vonnegut’s hilariously funny and razor-sharp look at life ("If I die—God forbid—I would like to go to heaven to ask somebody in charge up there, ‘Hey, what was the good news and what was the bad news?"), art ("To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it."), politics ("I asked former Yankees pitcher Jim Bouton what he thought of our great victory over Iraq and he said, ‘Mohammed Ali versus Mr. Rogers.’"), and the condition of the soul of America today ("What has happened to us?"). Based on short essays and
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Vonnegut's book A Man Without a Country has his full analysis (with drawings) including his thoughts on Kafka and Hamlet.
on “Kurt Vonnegut explains drama” ↗I highly recommend Kurt Vonnegut's books. You should try A Man Without A Country.
on “Ask HN: Summer Reading Recommendations?” ↗…in the 90s. It was kinda surreal, as I wasn't sure about half of what he was talking about. Interesting though. I do enjoy reading his books, even as not much of a fiction reader. His essays in "a Man without a country". particularly the "shape of stories", where he visualizes plots on a graph. https://visage.co/kurt-vonnegut-shows-us-shapes-stories/
on “Kurt Vonnegut Museum Opens in Indianapolis” ↗Kurt Vonnegut has some good stuff. Slaughterhouse Five, Cats Cradle and I really liked A Man Without a Country. The Discworld series (Terry Prachett) is good if you liked HHG
on “Ask HN: What should I read next?” ↗Kurt Vonnegut made me more mindful before I even knew that was a word. In A Man Without a Country he relays some advice given to him by his uncle: > I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is. Since reading…
on “Mindfulness may have been over-hyped” ↗I don't have the Vonnegut quote and don't remember him saying this in his semi autobiographical A Man Without A Country (he wrote his first novel at 30), but here's a Bertrand Russel quote on the subject: “To all the talented young men who wander about feeling that there is nothing in the world for them to do, I should…
on “‘Emerging’ as a Writer After 40” ↗…references to his earlier works that you wouldn't want to make it an early read regardless. The short fiction/non-fic collections published during his lifetime are generally great. Big exception for A Man Without a Country which was pretty mediocre overall. Anything posthumous is suspect and should be deferred until you've worked through the earlier stuff, if not avoided entirely. Not that there's nothing good in there,…
on “How To Write With Style (1999)” ↗"The good Earth--we could have saved it, but we were too damn cheap and lazy." --Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country
on “'We're doomed': Mayer Hillman on the climate reality no one else will mention” ↗“That war only made billionaires out of millionaires. Today's war is making trillionaires out of billionaires. Now I call that progress.” ― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country
on “Microsoft wins $21.9B contract with U.S. Army to supply AR headsets” ↗…And that’s just the first author I checked. Vonnegut’s Deadeye Dick (less of a crowd pleaser than his handful of biggest books, but certainly not in the bottom tier of his works) is under a 4. The A Man Without a Country collection, which is more of interest as a curiosity than because much of it’s good, is over a 4. Yeah, you may as well flip a coin.
on “The murky math of the New York Times bestsellers list” ↗This was also in "A Man Without a Country", his last book. So it goes.
on “Kurt Vonnegut: I want to share with you something I’ve learned. ” ↗"Vonnegut’s First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college. (From A Man Without a Country)" - https://lithub.com/kurt-vonneguts-greatest-writing-advice/
on “The melancholy decline of the semicolon” ↗