Dark Matter
by Blake Crouch · first published 2016
74% recommend19% neutral7% critical
Why HN recommends it
Fast-paced techno-thriller about parallel universes and alternate lives, with twisty plotting and fun SF ideas. Easy to read, with no physics background needed. Suits sci-fi fans wanting a gripping page-turner.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
One night after an evening out, Jason Dessen, forty-year-old physics professor living with his wife and son in Chicago, is kidnapped at gunpoint by a masked man, driven to an abandoned industrial site and injected with a powerful drug. As he wakes, a man Jason's never met smiles down at him and says, "Welcome back, my friend." But this life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife; his son was never born; and he's not an ordinary college professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something impossible. Is it this world or the other that's the dream? How can he possibly make it
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PHM is excellent. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch is also a good read. Fast paced and interesting ideas.
on “New sci-fi and fantasy books to check out this August” ↗…seem to meander about with not too much purpose. https://www.goodreads.com/series/170872-wayfarers Recently ploughed through The Expanse series. https://www.goodreads.com/series/56399-the-expanse Dark Matter was a good read if you like parallel universes. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27833670-dark-matter The Rho Agenda series was a surprisingly good read. https://www.goodreads.com/series/61746-the-rho-agenda…
on “Ask HN: What is the best sci-fi you read this year?” ↗Dark Matter: A Novel (Fiction) - One of my favorite SF story so far. https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Matter-Novel-Blake-Crouch/dp/110... Principle: Life and Work, Ray Dalio (Business & Decision- Making) - Very interesting…
on “Ask HN: What is the best book you read on 2017?” ↗I recommend the book "Dark Matter" by Blake Crouch for a fun techno-thriller take on the idea of "alternative lives". Great read!
on “What If You Could Do It All Over?” ↗…style, humor and the whole story line is a must-read for sci-fi fans The "Silo" series by Hugh Howey is excellent, I read it after watching the TV series from Amazon, and no regrets. "Recursion" and "Dark Matter" by Blake Crouch is also really great
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2023 and recommend for 2024” ↗Dark Matter by Blake Crouch Be prepared to have your mind blown to hell up. No you don't have to be a geek or hold a doctorate in quantum mechanics to enjoy this book. This is something that you will find impossible…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗…seem to meander about with not too much purpose. https://www.goodreads.com/series/170872-wayfarers Recently ploughed through The Expanse series. https://www.goodreads.com/series/56399-the-expanse Dark Matter was a good read if you like parallel universes. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27833670-dark-matter The Rho Agenda series was a surprisingly good read. https://www.goodreads.com/series/61746-the-rho-agenda…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗"Dark Matter" by Blake Crouch is an excellent read that has a lot of twists and turns. It's quite dark in places. "We Are Legion" by Dennis Taylor is a very light hearted and easy to read. "The Collapsing Empire"…
on “Ask HN: Best scifi of 2017? (Vernor Vinge/Larry Niven style)” ↗If you like sci-fi, I would recommend Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. It really had some weird twists ! :)) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27833670-dark-matter
on “Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?” ↗I really enjoyed this SciFi book - Dark Matter: A Novel In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated…
on “Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?” ↗For anyone wanting to have a fictional take on this subject, I'd recommend reading Dark Matter by Blake Crouch.
on “What If You Could Do It All Over?” ↗Recommendation: "Dark Matter" (https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Matter-Novel-Blake-Crouch/dp/110...)
on “Books I loved reading this year” ↗> Perhaps consciousness has the ability to affect how wavefunction collapse occurs, perhaps it even has the ability to influence the observed outcome. This is a major part of “Dark Matter” by Blake Crouch. Great book.
on “Our conscious experience of the world is a memory, says new theory” ↗My fav sci-fi books are: Ubik by Philip K Dick Dark Matter by Blake Crouch Recursion by Blake Crouch Highly recommended
on “Permutation City (1994)” ↗I think top prize has to go to the first book I read in 2024 - 'Dark Matter' by Blake Crouch. It's a little different from the sci-fi I usually read like Liu or Banks, as it reads more like Stephen King and is weirdly terrifying in places. Cherry on the cake was finding out…