Doomsday book
by Connie Willis · first published 1992
75% recommend25% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Time-travel novel set in medieval England during the Black Death, praised for its depth, technical craft and emotional weight; recommended to readers of science fiction and historical fiction alike.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Somewhere in the future, ordinary history students must travel back in time as part of their university degree. An award-winning best-seller in the United States, this is the first of Connie Willis' brilliant Oxford trilogy.Kivrin knows everything about the Middle Ages - she's read all the books. She knows it's dangerous: cutthroats in the woods, witch hunts, cholera, and millions dying in the plague. For a young historian, it's fascinating.When Kivrin's tutors in Oxford's history lab finally agree to send her on an on-site study trip, she jumps at the chance to observe medieval life first-han
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You realize not a single person has mentioned a female author? Let's fix that: The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis Among Others by Jo Walton Feed by Mira Grant The Hunger Games! The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin Grass by Sheri S Tepper Gate of Ivrael and Downbelow Station by CJ Cherryh…
on “What are your favourite sci-fi books?” ↗Here is my bell related science-fiction recommendation: Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. "The drop had been scheduled for noon. If she had come through on time and Probability was right about the slippage, it would be six o'clock in the evening, which was too late for vespers.…
on “The Sound of Bells – The acoustics, sound, tuning and history of church bells” ↗forgot Time Travel Connie Willis (To Say Nothing of the Dog, Doomsday Book) both great. anything by Ursula K LeGuin as well.
on “Ask YC: What's the most inspiring sci-fi book you've read?” ↗Connie Willis: The Doomsday Book, a winner of the 1993 Hugo for best novel. It's deep and wide and brilliant and there's a technical excellence to the storytelling that made the book as a whole satisfying. She leaves a few loose ends…
on “Ask HN: What is the best sci-fi you read this year?” ↗I've got really interesting perspective on how it could've been by reading (fictional) "Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Book_(novel)
on “Land-use changes across Europe linked to mortality during the Black Death” ↗The baroque cycle was great, if a bit long. Connie Willis, another great sci-fi author, has some good historical fiction like Doomsday Book
on “We are all nerds: The literary works of Neal Stephenson” ↗Great book. Some other historical fiction recommendations: - The "Welsh Princes" series by Sharon Kay Penman (same era, different perspective) - Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (Black Death) - The "Grail Quest" series by Richard Cornwell (Hundred Years War) - The "Last Kingdom" series, also by Cornwell (Viking invasion, Alfred the Great)
on “Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?” ↗Which books did you read at least twice? Please give author, title, and how often you have read it. For me the (probably incomplete list) is: Connie Willis: Doomsday Book (three times) Neal Stephenson: Cryptonomicon, Anathem, Quicksilver, The Confusion, The System of the World (twice or three times) Frank Herbert: Dune (three times) Tolkien: Lord of the Rings (three…
on “Ask HN: Which books did you read at least twice?” ↗…and ingrained. Just: part of life. You would grow up knowing and expecting it. Perhaps influenza was like this early 20th century. It would be remiss not to point other HN readers at Connie Willis's Doomsday Book: an amazing novel, Hugo and Nebula Award winner, which mixes both a modern day plague and the horrifying medieval one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Book_(novel)
on “A Tudor life in the time of plague (2020)” ↗In an SF context, Doomsday Book by Connie Willis is one.
on “A happy ending for King Lear? Trauma of plague caused Shakespeare to change it” ↗Recommendation: The Doomsday Book. Connie Willis. Heartbreaking.
on “Arizona resident dies from the plague” ↗It's weird that the lack of portable phones requires more suspension of disbelief than time travel. Maybe that's a testament to the writer. In Doomsday Book there are a few plot points where even an answering machine would have helped. Excellent books though, despite that.
on “Garry Kasparov: The Last Revolutionary Technology Was The Apple II” ↗“The Doomsday Book” by Connie Willis kind of has that feeling for a while. I couldn’t really get into it, though; it’s undeniably a well-written book, just not the kind of book I wanted to read.
on “A Lot of Damage in Grindavík” ↗…read. Then we went back to the first Hugos and tried to read them in order. We had to go on scavenger hunts through used book stores to find some of the titles. I think we finished our book club with The Doomsday Book.
on “On “A Canticle for Leibowitz”” ↗Wow, hadn't realized that A Fire Upon the Deep, Red Mars, Snow Crash, and Doomsday Book were all published in 1992. Awesome year for SF.
on “The Hypertext annotated version of “A Fire Upon the Deep” (1993)” ↗