Born a Crime
by Trevor Noah · first published 2016
80% recommend20% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Warm, funny memoir of growing up mixed-race under apartheid South Africa, with a storyteller's voice and a clear view of apartheid's nuances. The author-narrated audiobook gets particular praise.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother—his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life. The stories collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a mo
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I would recommend most of the books I read this year: * Born a Crime by Noah Trevor * Half of a Yellow Sun by Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi * Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Alexievich, Svetlana * Ex-Formation by Hara, Kenya (best book I read this year) *…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. Highest possible recommendation. Everyone I've urged to read it has loved it.
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in 2017?” ↗…https://www.deepthoughtapp.com/packages/135/paul-kalanithis-... I'd recommend reading biographies because they can help you give perspective about how a person leads their life. The ones I found thoroughly fun was Trevor Noah's Born a Crime, Phil Knight's Shoe Dog.
on “Ask HN: Which books have made you introspect?” ↗I'm reading (well, listening on Audible) "Born a crime" by Trevor Noah (he does the narration). Fantastic story of growing up as a mixed-race child in apartheid and very entertaining narration.
on “Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?” ↗1. Born a Crime (audiobook) by Trevor Noah is an entertaining yet thought-provoking listen 2. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (just gives a different perception to success all together, at least did for me) 3. Mastery…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite non-fiction books of all time?” ↗…] Achtung Baby - Sara Zaske [Thumbs Up] The Reason I Jump - Naoki Higashida [Been in my queue for years. Two thumbs up] Small Fry - Lisa Brennan-Jobs [Neutral] Gut - Giulia Enders [Two thumbs up] Born a Crime - Trevor Noah [Two thumbs up. Learned more about the nuances of apartheid than I thought] I'm Proud of You - Tim Madigan [Thumbs down] Night - Elie Wiesel [Thumbs up]
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?” ↗Some books I've enjoyed in the past year: Wish to laugh? * Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah * Yes please! by Amy Poehler Think? * Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell * Where Good Ideas Come from, by Steven Johnson * The Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene: An Intimate History…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?” ↗Wright Brothers by David McCullough Bonanza King: John McKay by Gregory Crouch Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance My Life as a Goddess by Guy Branum Born a Crime by Trevor Noah The last two are especially good as audiobook autobiographies read by the author.
on “Ask HN: Biographies recommendations – both Westerner and Non-westerner” ↗Why we sleep - Deep-dive in why we sleep and what to do to sleep better Born a crime - Follow Trevor Noah in his early life in South Africa.
on “Ask HN: Favorite Nonfiction Books of 2019?” ↗…or a woman or white or straight or a man or neither a man nor a woman, or both-at-the-same-time (hermaphrodite), or be both black and white (Trevor Noah's autobiography of his childhood in S. Africa, "Born a Crime", is worth reading, IMO), or be a computer nerd in the locker room at the wrong time, or wear the wrong kind of hat. Mob-ism, with the pitchforks and torches, is a problem (this is hardly news though,…
on “Orthodox Privilege” ↗…container ship, a lot of these have a nautical bent but that’s an area of my personal interest as well. Looking for a ship, John McPhee, Book about a sailor looking for work and eventually catching a ship. Born A Crime, Trevor Noah, not about another career but Apertheid South Africa, I enjoyed it and wished I would have read it before traveling through S.A. For work. Don’t Tell mum I work on the rigs, she thinks I’m…
on “Ask HN: Recommend books that give you insight into other professions” ↗"Born a crime" by Trevor Noah. It is about his experiences growing up as the 'product' of an illegal liason between a black woman and a white man in aparatheid South African. Warm, funny and shocking in equal measure.
on “Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?” ↗Born a crime by Trevor Noah. It’ll make you laugh and cry, but it is so good and inspirational. The audiobook is also phenomenal. Untamed by Glennon Doyle is also great, though is more geared towards women. Also,…
on “Ask HN: What are some good inspirational and uplifting books?” ↗…have a fondness in my heart for "Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond, and I have always enjoyed "The Stand" by Stephen King although I think it requires being in a certain mood to listen to it. "Born a Crime" by Trevor Noah was really good, because I think he's a good storyteller, he has a good voice for narration, and just the right amount of "funny" without it being forced
on “Ask HN: Favorite audio book for long drives?” ↗…particularly like autobiographies read by the author. A great sun-genre is comedian autobiographies since they’re already good storytellers. Three fine ones are: Martin Short’s “I must say”, Trevor Noah’s “Born a crime” and Guy Barnum’s “My Life as a Goddess” Unrelated but well worth hearing is “On the road” by Jack Kerouac, read by Sean Penn.
on “Ask HN: What are your favourite audiobooks?” ↗