A Psalm for the Wild-Built
by Becky Chambers · first published 2021
91% recommend9% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Short, gentle solarpunk novella about a tea-making monk who befriends a wild robot, with hopeful, cozy conversations about purpose. Suits readers wanting an optimistic, comforting sci-fi pick-me-up.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend. One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered. But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how. They're going to need to ask it a lot. Becky Chambers's new series asks: in a world w
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There is a great book (a tiny novella) called Psalm for the Wild Built[0] that explores these ideas very beautifully. Highly recommend it. 0. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40864002-a-psalm-for-the...
on “What ever happened to the transhumanists?” ↗Becky Chambers - A Psalm for the Wild-Built
on “We're sorry we created the Torment Nexus” ↗'Psalm for the Wild Built' and 'Prayer for the Crown-Shy', both by Becky Chambers. They are a pair of sci-fi novellas that explore the idea of finding purpose (and much more) through a series of adventures and conversations between…
on “Ask HN: What are some of the best books you have read in 2022?” ↗Some recent favorites: - Children of Time (Tchaikovsky) - A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Chambers) - Project Hail Mary (Weir) - The Culture Series (Banks) - The Expanse Series (Corey) - The Red Rising Series (Brown)
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?” ↗…Theodore Sturgeon: More Than Human Ann Leckie: Ancillary Justice Chen Qiufan and Kai-Fu Lee: AI 2041 David Wellington: The Last Astronaut Nathan Lowell: Quarter Share Becky Chambers: A Psalm for the Wild-Built Octavia E Butler: Parable of the Talents John Scalzi: Kaiju Preservation Society David Brin: Kiln People Emma Straub: This Time Tomorrow Ursula K Le Guin: Left Hand of Darkness…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?” ↗Yep. I just recently re-read A Psalm for the Wild-Built, a sci-fi novella whose premise is basically: what if one day all the robots woke up and decided to leave human society, and we just let them? Sort of an optimistic take on this issue.
on “AI consciousness is inevitable: A theoretical computer science perspective” ↗For anyone else who feels similarly the genre "solarpunk" and specifically one of my favorite authors, Becky Chambers are worth checking out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Psalm_for_the_Wild-Built
on “Solar power is changing life deep in the Amazon” ↗Have you read, ‘A Psalm For The Wild Built’ by Becky Chambers? The protagonist is a monk that cycles around on a bicycle-camper making tea for people, and ends up making friends with wild robots. Touching...I've thought of serving coffee and…
on “Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money?” ↗The best book recommendation I have in mind is "A Psalm for the Wild-Built" by Becky Chambers. It's a small book, but it truly embraces the Solarpunk aesthetic in many cool ways. When friends ask me for fictional works with a Solarpunk vibe, here's my short list. Movies: Miyazaki's…
on “From Steampunk to Solarpunk (2008)” ↗Not sure if "the best", but one of the best was "A Psalm for the Wild-Built" by Becky Chambers. I was reading it out of curiosity for the solarpunk genre, it ended up helping me a bit on the self-acceptance side. Other than that, "Il deserto dei Tartari" by Dino Buzzati (in…
on “Ask HN: What were the best books you read this year?” ↗…from this year: * The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs. Classic urbanist book that changed the way I see my city, and elegantly described so many things I didn't know I knew. * A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers. Short, beautiful sci-fi story. * The first four Dune books by Frank Herbert, so full of intrigue.
on “Books I Loved Reading in 2024” ↗Becky Chambers’ “A Psalm for the Wild Built” is a nice dose of solarpunk fiction if you need a pick-me-up: https://bookshop.org/p/books/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built-beck... (Chambers’ entire body of work is just generally a nice cup of tea and a…
on “Solarpunk” ↗Becky Chambers’ A Psalm for the Wild-Built, its sequel, and to a lesser degree her Wayfarer series are very hopeful. Not exactly hard sci-fi so maybe not to HN’s taste but they check a lot of good tech boxes. A plot device in the former is their…
on “To 'Reclaim Future-Making', Amazon Workers Published Collection of SciFi Stories” ↗A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers. Very thoughtful and short read.
on “Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?” ↗…definitely the first place I look. The books drop ship from the actual seller, and it's remarkable that I've never had a problematic delivery, after a dozen or so. My favorite book I've gotten from them was A Psalm for the Wild-Built, which was previously a library book, funny enough.
on “Discarded delights: The joy of ex-library books (2021)” ↗