If on a Winter's Night a Traveller

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What Hacker News says

• seanhunter · Mar 9, 2021 · Recommends

  Love Italo Calvino. For people interested in getting into it, "If on a winter's night, a traveller" is probably the best place to start and isn't a tough read.

  on “Italo Calvino, The Art of Fiction No. 130 (1992)” ↗
• hprotagonist · Feb 7, 2019 · Recommends

  …here. - Anathem has a distributed network of libraries of most knowledge with an interesting time-limited distirbution scheme. - Snow Crash has A Librarian -- and also a hypercard knowledge system. - If On A Winter's Night, A Traveller by Italo Calvino features books and libraries prominently. They're not exactly magical, but they're not...not magical, either. edit: it's not a novel, but the library in the sands in Avatar is another…

  on “Novels with giant, possibly magical, libraries” ↗
• imrehg · Dec 26, 2012 · Recommends

  …just a whole different level, Tolstoy's writing in a way I don't feel many contemporary writes could. Feels creepy how similar the people's lives in the 19th Century was to ours. Creepy but fun too. If On A Winter's Night A Traveller - Italo Calvino will just punch you in the face, this is a book for people who love reading books. The Magicians - adult magic fiction, and somehow it feels that if magic was indeed real, it would be…

  on “Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012” ↗
• DubiousPusher · Mar 29, 2020 · Recommends

  The collected short stories of Jorge Luis Borges. Particularly: "The Library of Babel", "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" and "The Immortal". Italo Calvino's, "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller". Melville's "Moby Dick" (I do not think this is a good book but it had a significant impact.) Cormac McCarthy's, "Blood Meridian". Together these works revealed a vanity in traditional intellectualism…

  on “Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?” ↗
• jdale27 · Dec 4, 2007 · Recommends

  …especially "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle" - Joan Didion, "Where I Was From" - Richard P. Gabriel, "Patterns of Software" - Durbin, Eddy, Krogh, and Mitchison, "Biological Sequence Analysis" - Italo Calvino, "if on a winter's night a traveller"

  on “Ask YC: favorite books” ↗
• hprotagonist · Sep 2, 2018 · Recommends

  The author of this piece is, himself, eminently worth reading. “If On A Winter’s Night, A Traveller” is just amazing.

  on “Why Read the Classics? (1986)” ↗
• jamesgreenleaf · Mar 11, 2022 · Mentions

  "You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a winter's night a traveller."

  on “What makes a great opening line?” ↗
• DubiousPusher · Mar 16, 2023 · Mentions

  Yeah, I think it's very clear that Calvino is having a blast sending his reader on a ludicrous "fetch quest" type conspiracy of misunderstanding in, "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller..."

  on “The Worlds of Italo Calvino” ↗
• simonsarris · Apr 11, 2026 · Mentions

  As a fan of Calvino I will say that If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller is somewhat more enjoyable after you've read a bunch of other Calvino, since it has a somewhat cheeky, self-referential feel and the more you sympathize with the author the more you may like it. Numbers…

  on “Italo Calvino: A Traveller in a World of Uncertainty” ↗
• kelseyfrog · Apr 11, 2026 · Mentions

  If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller gives the reader the impression that there must be a system at play and gives up some of its secrets easily. However, the re remains a persistent feeling, after reading each section, that there are other…

  on “Italo Calvino: A Traveller in a World of Uncertainty” ↗
• ErikCorry · Mar 16, 2023 · Mentions

  This made me want to re-read "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller".

  on “The Worlds of Italo Calvino” ↗