From Third World to first

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• dominicq · Sep 7, 2026 · Recommends

  Good post! I spent my vacation reading From Third World to First by Lee Kuan Yew. And I have a couple of university textbooks (Physics and Biology) lying about, waiting for me to keep working on them. I concur with the general feeling of it being difficult to plan…

  on “De-Brainrot Vacations” ↗
• javajosh · May 7, 2022 · Recommends

  It's nice to get the benefit of the doubt, and I'm tempted to let it remain, but let me clarify: I'm serious. I was impressed with Lee Kwan Yew's "From Third World to First" and it seemed to me he wasn't bashful about talking about the times he made an illiberal, dictator move. Both from the outcome and his telling, he made these moves as rarely as possible and didn't relish…

  on “Singapore Government Tech Stack” ↗
• eru · May 6, 2024 · Recommends

  …graph of casualties of war over time for my previous comment, but couldn't find one that was recent enough, sorry.) The founding Prime Minister of my own adopted home of Singapore wrote a book called 'From Third World to First'. And he's right.

  on ““Meta spent almost as much as the Manhattan Project on GPUs in today's dollars”” ↗
• crdb · May 4, 2015 · Recommends

  …Statistics showed that one in every eight bombs was genuine." [2] http://www.amazon.com/The-Singapore-Story-Memoirs-Kuan/dp/01... - a worthy read if you love history, but if you are short on time, read "From Third World to First" instead. [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_race_riots_in_Singapore

  on “PM of Singapore Shares His C++ Sudoku Solver Source Code” ↗
• eru · Jan 17, 2020 · Mentions

  I live in Singapore. We don't have a minimum wage. It's a neoliberal fantasy-land, yes. Lee Kuan Yew's autobiography was called "From Third World to First" for good reason.

  on “What DoorDash pays, after expenses, and what’s happening with tips” ↗
• eswat · May 25, 2019 · Mentions

  …thinking when I went through the first page of results. I pretty much read all the books listed except two and it didn’t dawn on me until I started reading more non-fiction books from Asian authors – From Third World to First by Lee Kuan Yew, many books from the Japan Library series, etc. – that I had a very narrow view of how business and personal productivity works in the grand scheme of things.

  on “Founder Books” ↗
• cl42 · Mar 27, 2022 · Mentions

  …leaves enough leeway to enable each community to optimize their specific situation on their own. I don't know if Singapore does that or not. Do you have a POV? I've been meaning to read Lee Kuan Yew's "From Third World to First" to learn more but haven't found the time.

  on “Ask HN: Which book can attract anyone towards your field of study?” ↗
• crdb · May 3, 2015 · Mentions

  …accumulate the physical volume and electronic formats are just much more convenient. Usually, it's long tail (specialist), older books. Sometimes, surprising ones: Lee Kuan Yew's arguably most famous book, "From Third World to First" is only available in paperback or hardback (some of his later writings are available for Kindle).

  on “Ask HN: Do you still purchase physical books?” ↗
• isoos · Oct 5, 2015 · Mentions

  > The world wars had nothing to do with trade. Future peace may be. An interesting quote from Lee Kuan Yew (From Third World to First, p. 534): "October, 1985. […] During my official visit, I was given the honour of addressing a joint session of the US Congress. […] I spoke on an issue then at the top of the American agenda - protectionism…

  on “Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Deal Is Reached” ↗
• Barrin92 · Jun 2, 2019 · Mentions

  …which Beijing finds easy to dismiss as western propaganda. In contrast to the man in the audience Singapore was one of the first countries to normalise relationships with China, and in his biography From third world to First, Lee Kuan Yew actually seems somewhat supportive of it because he contrasts China's handling of the situation with the collapse of the Soviet Union. And realistically a country like Singapore is always…

  on “Tiananmen Square: China minister defends 1989 crackdown” ↗
• scrlk · Apr 4, 2025 · Mentions

  …bobbing around since under a general policy of "managed decline", and matters have now come to a head. "How did you go bankrupt?" "Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly." Lee Kuan Yew commented upon it in From Third World to First: "As Britain’s worldwide influence shrank, so did the worldview of its younger parliamentarians and ministers. Some old friends, British commanders who had fought in the last world war and had served…

  on “Why does Britain feel so poor?” ↗
• DanielVZ · Sep 7, 2026 · Mentions

  > I spent my vacation reading From Third World to First by Lee Kuan Yew. Will add this to my reading backlog! Was looking for something exactly like this.

  on “De-Brainrot Vacations” ↗
• crdb · Jul 25, 2015 · Mentions

  …police force inspired in great part by the martial law he had observed run by the Japanese, thus securing individual rights in the street. His economic programme - at least according to the aptly named From Third World to First - consisted of attempting to attract foreign companies so that they would both invest, and train the local workforce. Both foreign and local companies could do business safely and fairly. Looking at…

  on “NUMMI 2015 – Why are most American cars still not as good as foreign cars?” ↗
• eru · Jul 17, 2024 · Mentions

  I grew up in (now former) East Germany, and the autobiography of the first leader of my adopted home is literally called 'From Third World to First'. Though I'm not sure what you are trying to say? I guess you are agreeing with me? Yes, if there are many companies that compete for your services and can put them to productive use, you have a lot…

  on “Women who make Samsung semiconductors are striking” ↗
• fiatpandas · Sep 30, 2026 · Mentions

  - Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre - From Third World to First Last finished: Human Use of Human Beings

  on “Ask HN: What are you reading?” ↗