Dandelion Wine
by Ray Bradbury · first published 1946
60% recommend40% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A lyrical, nostalgic coming-of-age story about a boy's summer, written in a prose-poem style with a childlike view of the world. It rewards a return visit as an adult.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The summer of '28 was a vintage season for a growing boy. A summer of green apple trees, mowed lawns, and new sneakers. Of half-burnt firecrackers, of gathering dandelions, of Grandma's belly-busting dinner. It was a summer of sorrows and marvels and gold-fuzzed bees. A magical, timeless summer in the life of a twelve-year-old boy named Douglas Spaulding—remembered forever by the incomparable Ray Bradbury. Dandelion Wine is unique amongst the works of the popular author Ray Bradbury, in that it provides us with perhaps the clearest insight into the thoughts and feelings of the author. The b
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My favorite Bradbury book is Dandelion Wine. It's not sci-fi, but great authors are not limited to a single genre.
on “R.I.P. Ray Bradbury, Author of Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles ” ↗Dandelion Wine
on “Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?” ↗Dandelion Wine is one I bounced off of during my initial Bradbury infatuation around age 11 or 12, but in my 30s have found to be excellent. It is, in part, about experiencing the world as a child, but is probably not…
on “The Toynbee Convector” ↗Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury slotted in a place like you are in for me when I was a teen, good luck.
on “Ask HN: What are some good inspirational and uplifting books?” ↗This reminds me of a great passage in Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine; I remember reading it 50 years ago! It captured the feelings I had about getting a new pair of shoes, the main character is musing over how to explain to his dad why he needs new shoes: > Somehow the…
on “How the Nike Vaporfly War Was Lost” ↗Dandelion Wine - Ray Bradbury Murder in the Cathedral - T. S. Eliot Our Town - Thornton Wilder
on “Ask HN: What book changed your life?” ↗To each his own, I suppose. I particularly like Bradbury's style. It reads very prose poetic. One of my favourite is Dandelion Wine, which you will probably hate.
on “There Will Come Soft Rains [pdf]” ↗Dandelion Wine was the story that taught me that sci-fi didn't need space ships or robots to deliver its essential explorations of humans and their relationships with technology. I must have read it 15 years ago, but…
on “R.I.P. Ray Bradbury, Author of Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles ” ↗…pipes up with a different set of books they disliked in school and they therefore think no one should have to read. I loved reading Julius Caeasar in high school and hated The Catcher in the Rye. I loved Dandelion Wine and hated Absalom, Absalom. Them's the breaks. 2) Part of the point of reading literature is to see things from a different perspective. i.e. to read things that are not necessarily "relatable", and…
on “Book people think they know why 9-year-olds stop reading for fun” ↗…and be content for long periods of time. Happiness comes later, naturally almost. It comes in small packets sometimes. Sometimes I don't even notice. It's a concept that I read once in Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine, where the grandmother did not want to go into this box and see the world, because if she saw things she wanted but couldn't attain, she'd be unhappier than she currently was. This concept can be explained…
on “Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life” ↗…you’re all to yourself that way, you’re really proud of yourself for a little while; you get to thinking things through, alone. Gardening is the handiest excuse for being a philosopher." - Ray Bradbury, "Dandelion Wine"
on “So Long, Traditional Lawn. Conventional grass is costly, high-maintenance” ↗What are you referring to by "the question of wine?" Searching online didn't help, unless you meant Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury?
on “AI is killing some companies, yet others are thriving – let's look at the data” ↗"Gardening is the handiest excuse for being a philosopher." - Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine
on “Introducing tmux-rs” ↗…history/meaning of energy and least action Einstein - Sidelights on Relativity (early expository papers) The Fisherman, The North Water (both just ok) Two Kobo Abe novels Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451, Dandelion Wine Paul Bowles' books (I have one left) Popular lectures of Lord Kelvin Oppenheimer - The Open Mind
on “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” ↗…the unofficial but somewhat widely-implemented HTTP status code "451", which denotes unavailability for political—i.e. censorship—reasons] Other major novels include Something Wicked This Way Comes and Dandelion Wine. He wrote a fairly famous short story collection that functions something like a concept album—it's sometimes classed as a kind of structurally-unconventional novel, in fact—in that all stories are related…
on “The Toynbee Convector” ↗