Between the World and Me
by Ta-Nehisi Coates · first published 2015
50% recommend47% neutral3% critical
Why HN recommends it
A letter from a father to his son about being Black in America, giving readers outside that experience a personal window into institutional racism and its fear and violence. For those wanting more than comment threads.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Between the World and Me is a 2015 nonfiction book written by American author Ta-Nehisi Coates and published by Spiegel & Grau. It is written as a letter to the author's teenage son about the feelings, symbolism, and realities associated with being Black in the United States. Coates recapitulates American history and explains to his son the "racist violence that has been woven into American culture." Coates draws from an abridged, autobiographical account of his youth in Baltimore, detailing the ways in which institutions like the school, the police, and even "the streets" discipline, endanger
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What Hacker News says
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…specifically, other me's, middle class white dudes who are bothered by this but don't even know how to start approaching the situation), this book is single-handedly the best resource I've ever come across - "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates. https://www.amazon.com/Between-World-Me-Ta-Nehisi-Coates/dp/... Give it a read/listen. It's incredible how many things will click into place, how drastically different you'll perceive…
on “The Fining of Black America” ↗…reading and would recommend, these are published in the past <5 years and are <150 pages (or <5 hour audiobook): - Discrimination and Disparities By: Thomas Sowell - A Colony in a Nation: Chris Hayes - Between the World and Me: Ta-Nehisi Coates (three very different takes on race relations in America) - Astrophysics for People in a Hurry: Neil deGrasse Tyson - Seven Brief Lessons on Physics: Carlo Rovelli - When Breath…
on “Ask HN: Good non-fiction books without filler?” ↗…white Americans growing up in a safer environment, being better educated, having more connections to other advantaged people, not being constantly violated (I highly recommend you read Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between the World and Me) the way blacks are -- I could go on and on. So of course whites will more often be "better hires" from a pure business perspective. So more whites get hired for better jobs. So guess whose children get…
on “Cognitive roadblocks to reconciling merit and diversity” ↗Sounds like you're putting the blame on black people. I recommend you read Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisis Coates.
I adored Between the World and Me by Ta-Nahisi Coates and Kazuo Ishiguro's The Buried Giant.
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗I am reading "Between the world and me" from Ta-Neshi Coates and I thought that I would like to recommend it to HN community and would love to see a discussion about it. I feel this community is perfect to recommend and discuss books (technical…
on “Ask HN: Is there some way to recommend books in HN?” ↗One of the great things about books is that it lets you see the world from a different set of eyes and experiences. I highly recommend, "Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates." It's worth every minute of your time.
You should check out Ta-Nehisi Coates' "Between the World and Me." It's an interesting discussion of the above -- and somewhat more nuanced than would be possible in Hacker News comments. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25489625-between-the-wor...
on “Could the Nuclear Family Be the Reason We’re All Miserable?” ↗1. Selected Essays of Warren Buffett 2. First, Break all the Rules 3. Between the World and Me
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2017?” ↗I read Ta-Nehisi_Coates' "Between the World and Me" right after Baldwin's "The Fire Next Time" and felt such shame that so little has changed in America between the two. I felt like I read the same book twice.
on “Jimmy Is Everywhere: On James Baldwin's FBI File” ↗Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Between_the_World_and_Me "It is written as a letter to the author's teenage son about the feelings, symbolism, and realities associated with being Black in the United…
on “Ask HN: What short books you read in 2018 that can be finished in one sitting?” ↗Between the World And Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Reading about the abject fear and death in which he grew up really helped me get a tiny insight into institutional racism's effects. I can't fully comprehend the entirety of the black…
on “Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?” ↗…fairly common and very well-documented in the US. > You're literally just describing a chicken-and-egg problem. If you want to understand this more deeply, I highly recommend Ta-Nehisi Coates' book "Between the World and Me". Yes, it's a chicken and egg problem, but our police and judicial institutions are actively sustaining/aggravating the problem.
on “Police are using AI to pull over drivers for 'suspicious' behavior” ↗…killings - consider the DOJ report on Ferguson.) Michael Brown, and the treatment of his body was the last straw, not the first one. I suggest you educate yourself on the question of race relations. Between the World And Me [1] is a good start, if you want to understand why so many encounters between African Americans and police end as poorly as they do. [1] https://www.google.com/search?q=between+the+world+and+me+pdf...
on “US startup Geofeedia 'allowed police to track protesters'” ↗…I've found most interesting over the last couple years are ones that expand my mind to a viewpoint or a perspective of another people group that is different than my own. Two very different books but, Between the World and Me, and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia both made me think in ways I cant quite describe.
on “Ask HN: What habits make a programmer great?” ↗