Das Glasperlenspiel
by Hermann Hesse · first published 1943
33% recommend67% neutral
Hesse’s most highly acclaimed book, The Glass Bead Game is set in a fictional state in Central Europe in the 25th Century. The state of Castalia is the home of an austere order of intellectuals who run a group of boarding schools for boys but also make it their life’s work to extend their knowledge and prowess of the Glass Bead Game, a mysterious game whose rules are never revealed. The story chronicles the life of Magister Ludi, the man responsible for administering the game. Although educated in Castalia he has spent a significant length of time in the outside world and as he reflects on his
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I loved HPMOR for what it is, but I would suggest The Glass Bead Game ("Das Glasperlenspiel") by Hermann Hesse. I read it around the same time as HPMOR and it works its way back into my thoughts more frequently. If you like novels of ideas, consider this endorsement of it from the 1946 Nobel…
on “Github Copilot Wants to Play Chess Instead of Code” ↗…was getting repetitive with its other works, and I didn't share the author's fascination for Indian religion and philosophy. Der Steppenwolf was a disappointment. A few years later, a friend lent me Das Glasperlenspiel (The Glass Bead Game). I was deeply surprised, because it was so different from his previous works. It's a dystopia, but the focus is elsewhere. The book is much less romantic than usual, more subtle…
on “Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?” ↗If you ever read The Glass Bead Game(Das Glasperlenspiel) by Hermann Hesse, you'll see that Hesse was able to get a lot out of this overlap of terms.
on “The Joyful, Illiterate Kindergartners of Finland” ↗This strongly reminds me of The Glass Bead Game (Das Glasperlenspiel) by Herman Hesse[1]. The idea of simplifying and restricting the creative space into a grid, but then assigning abstract value to the grid (e.g. game of life, minesweeper) seems to be a persistent meme…
on “I keep making things out of checkboxes” ↗…https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~lekheng/interviews/ANKolmogoro... > K.: ... it must be possible to return to a more basic and child-like joy in living. Do you know the German writer Hesse? > M.: Yes. > K.: In Das Glasperlenspiel, Hesse depicts such a society, and quite brilliantly, I would say. grātiās tibi agō, vīnny̅vīchī!
on “On Self-Respect (1961)” ↗…thereof shall be postponed to a later margin :) If the pontiff is chief designer*, and bean counters the cardinals.. *In other contexts, I'd have used the term "Designor", to inspire interest in Hesse's Das Glasperlenspiel) >Hesse frequently mentioned his understanding of the Taoist philosophies of Laozi (老子) and Zhuangzi (庄子) in letters to his friends, and Taoist ideas such as 'Tao' (道) or 'One' and 'polar opposites and…
on “Transparent Ambition” ↗