Klara and the Sun
by Kazuo Ishiguro · first published 2019
59% recommend34% neutral7% critical
Why HN recommends it
Near-future novel told from the viewpoint of a solar-powered robot companion to a sick child. Readers like its melancholy, human-centered take on AI and relationships; suits literary readers and technologists.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"Klara and the Sun, the first novel by Kazuo Ishiguro since he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, tells the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her. Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: what does it mean to love?
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- List for the lazy - A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence, by Jeff Hawkins. The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race, by Walter Isaacson. Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro. Hamnet, by Maggie O’Farrell. Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir.
on “Books I loved reading this year” ↗> I just read a wonderful novel, Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro, which is a beautiful articulation of all the ways in which having systems that give the appearance of being conscious can screw with our human psyches and minds. Boy, that is not…
on “Anil Seth Finds Consciousness in Life’s Push Against Entropy” ↗Have you read Klara and the Sun yet?
on “The original “Bambi”” ↗The Burnout Society, The Transparency Society by Byung-Chul Han Klara and the sun Project Hail Mary The Noonday Demon
on “Ask HN: What book(s) did you love reading this year?” ↗Standouts for me were Klara and the Sun (Kazuo Ishiguro), Exhalation (Ted Chiang), Invisible Planets (an anthology of Chinese sci-fi short stories, translated by Ken Liu) and Longitude (Dava Sobel). I also finally got around to reading Cixin…
on “Ask HN: What book(s) did you love reading this year?” ↗The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II. Non-fiction. Harrowing. Was inspired to read it after seeing Beanpole. Also really enjoyed Klara and the Sun.
on “Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?” ↗Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. The firs impression is it seems to be a sci-fi novel, but it is actually much more about humans than robots or future. Started slow but easy to get through. A great read.
on “Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?” ↗…been expanded in some intriguing way by reading each of these books. I have also read some thrillers and other rubbish but I observe that you did not request those so I omitted them. You're welcome. Klara and The Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland The Courage to be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan The Endurance by Carloine Alexander…
on “Ask HN: Which are the most interesting books you have read in 2022?” ↗Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro is amazing. It's about one possible future of our relationship with AI. It paints multiple perspectives on this relationship while being implicitly judgmental. I'm being vague because…
on “Ask HN: Best books read in 2022” ↗Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad Waking Up: Spirituality without religion, Sam Harris Work related: Refactoring by Martin Fowler A philosophy of Software Design by... I can't recall.…
on “Ask HN: As the year is about to end, what books did you read?” ↗I was late by a year to it, but Kazuo Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun was both fascinating and, typical for Ishiguro, almost lethally concentrated melancholy. A literary take on AGI and religion from the cleverly written perspective of an AI assistant device, mixed with…
on “Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?” ↗…abandoned it completely. Crossed it out. Yeah, That thing would be extremely useful but even more dangerous as it will know more about you than you. btw. There's a new book by Kazuo Ishiguro - named Klara and the sun. Along the same vein - Have a look. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klara_and_the_Sun ciao p.s. see also Lena by Charles Stross. or this: https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2023/01/make-up...
on “Replacing my best friends with an LLM trained on 500k group chat messages” ↗Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro Written a few years ago from the perspective of an AI child companion.
on “Ask HN: Sci-fi recommendations by non-western authors?” ↗I read a very sadly sweet near-future-sci-fi book, very much in the vein of Bradbury, called “Klara And The Sun,” by Kazuo Ishiguro. It very credibly tells an agonizingly familiar human story, from the perspective of a inescapably inhuman android protagonist - by seeing the world through her eyes, you also learn…
on “Ask HN: What were the best books you read this year?” ↗Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro is a thoughtful book that touches on this topic.
on “Robin Williams' daughter pleads for people to stop sending AI videos of her dad” ↗