Babel-17
by Samuel R. Delany · first published 1966
67% recommend33% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Short, exciting science fiction that explores how a language shapes perception and thought, with lyrical prose and dense ideas. Often named as a good first Delany novel, more approachable than Dhalgren.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
During an interstellar war one side develops a language, Babel-17, that can be used as a weapon. Learning it turns one into an unwilling traitor as it alters perception and thought. This is discovered by the starship captain Rydra Wong. She is recruited to discover how the enemy are infiltrating and sabotaging strategic sites.
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…Brave New World But the Absolute Best would be anything by: Stanislaw Lem (Cyberiad, Futurological Congress, Solaris) Alfred Bester (The STars my Destination, The Demolished Man) or Samuel R. Delany (Babel-17, Dhalgren, Trtion, Nova) oh and Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light and This Immortal are both great. Some of Philip K. Dick's stuff is great, but everyone recommends him. :) almost forgot John Brunner, check…
on “Ask YC: What's the most inspiring sci-fi book you've read?” ↗Read the award winning Babel-17 by Delany for a bit of science fiction that explores this idea that language and particularly the notation of the language affects one's perception of the world.
on “Notation as a Tool of Thought” ↗…recommend (for some classic sci-fi), also Roadside Picnic (Strugatsky brothers) is very good. Keeping with the theme of the other books listed above, I'd recommend Bruce Sterling's "Holy Fire", or maybe "Babel-17" by Samuel R. Delany (although I prefer his youth fantasy novel "Neveyona" which deals with some of the same themes). Also, you can't go wrong with his "The Einstein Intersection". Finally, if you haven't…
on “My Summer Reading List” ↗John Christopher's Tripod Trilogy: "The White Mountains", "The Pool of Fire", "The City of Gold and Lead" Robert Heinlein "Podkayne of Mars","Tunnel in the Sky", or "Beyond this Horizon" Samuel Delany "Babel-17" or "The Einstein Intersection" Roger Zelazny "Lord of Light"
on “Science fiction for the young” ↗Hardwired Water John Williams Proto /early CP Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep - Philip K Dick Babel 17 - Delany Fury - Kutner/More Tiger! Tiger! (The stars my destination) - Bester And Arguably Gravity's Rainbow
on “Neuromancer, 30 years old this month” ↗Oh yes, the so called Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, the beloved myth of the speech police. It makes great science fiction (read Babel-17 by Delany, it's a classic) but unfortunately as a practical idea that states there's scientific proof that if we use words like "blacklist" it makes us prejudiced against dark-skinned people (but banning…
on “The use of "blacklist" is offensive” ↗Babel 17 - different language enables us to think, looked into ithkuil for a few weeks, helped a lot with analytical thinking.
on “Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?” ↗The ability to express thoughts more concisely in various languages is kind of sort of a plot point in the science fiction novel Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany, published in 1966. Picked up a few of his novels to read and I've been enjoying them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babel-17
on “How would you say “She said goodbye too many times before.” in Latin?” ↗…stories ("I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream", "Jeffty Is Five", etc.) are simply masterfully written. * Samuel Delaney. He's an acquired taste and certainly gets a bit self-indulgent, but novels like Babel 17 are often beautifully written. * Ursula LeGuin, e.g. The Left Hand of Darkness. * Gene Wolfe. Increasingly also recognized as a genius, I also particularly like his short stories. Start with The Fifth…
on “The Essential Philip K. Dick” ↗I have a list I've put together for fans of sci-fi that have only read the standard stuff (asimov, clarke, niven, heinlein) 1. The Cyberiad 2. Babel-17 3. The Stars My Destination 4. The Sheep Look Up 5. More Than Human 6. Lord of Light 7. To Your Scattered Bodies Go 8. Earth Abides 9. Gateway 10. City
on “Found: first amino acid on a comet” ↗I started with Babel-17 and then read Nova and Stars In My Pocket... before getting into the short stories a bit (Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones was the first, I think). He's a master, and his works are…
on “Samuel Delany and the Past and Future of Science Fiction” ↗…liked the parallel betweens the bad guys' language, which was manipulative to the extreme, and the good guys' language, which was of course less extreme but still contained deceiving vocabulary (i.e. Babel 17 is critiqued because the good guys are called "who are invading", yet the bad guys are themselves called "invaders" in English ...)
on “Googlespeak – How Google limits thought about antitrust” ↗Babel-17 and Empire Star are both excellent and were the first things of his I read. I've tried to read Triton, Stars in My Pocket, Dhalgren, Nova, and Fall of the Towers and every single one of them has failed…
on “Samuel Delany and the Past and Future of Science Fiction” ↗I'd say start with Babel-17. It's short, exciting, and dense with both lyricism and great ideas. The first book of his I read was Dhalgren though, and though I couldn't really break into it until the third try, once I did it was…
on “Samuel Delany and the Past and Future of Science Fiction” ↗I totally agree. Plus, it keeps job interesting. Language is important and its expressivness. Babel 17 is must read.
on “Making the move from Scala to Go” ↗