The Glass Bead Game
by Hermann Hesse · first published 1972
55% recommend34% neutral11% critical
Why HN recommends it
Philosophical novel about a secular monastic order and a game that abstracts all human knowledge; valued for its case for academia and contemplative life, and for readers who already like Hesse or ideas-driven fiction.
Common criticism: Some find it slow and boring, and the translation matters
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
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Having never heard of this, what other true "cult novels" are out there? They mentioned Castaneda (The Teachings of Don Juan) in the article, I also thought of The Magus by John Fowles, The Glass Bead Game by Hesse and of course Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. What others are out there?
on “Who is the real Dice Man? The elusive writer behind a cult novel” ↗I'll add The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse because it saved me from decades of pointless game playing. (Actually just read everything by Hermann Hesse).
on “Ask HN: What was the one book that you read and it actually changed your life?” ↗Herman Hesse is my Tesla, my Einstein, my guru. I first read "Siddhartha" quite young, and by my early teens I'd read both "The Glass Bead Game" and "Magister Ludi" - a different translation a bit harder to read - I'd read them both multiple times. Hesse's philosophy is so comprehensive, there is no trite summary. Perhaps simply viewing life…
on “Herman Hesse: Outside Man” ↗The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse, it probably one of the easiest Nobel Literature winners to read.
on “Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?” ↗…Ted Chang; if you like historical strategies for success, check out "The 48 Laws of Power" by Robert Greene; if you like grand philosophical views of an entire life well lived and how to have one "The Glass Bead Game" by Hesse; if you're interested in extremely practical advice in how to be successful today read (believe it or not) Harvard Business Review - it is far more down to earth than should be possible. If…
on “The original “Bambi”” ↗Hermann Hesse's novel "The Glass Bead Game". Ostensibly it's about this sophisticated game played in a monastery that abstracts over the sum of human knowledge. To me it presented a very potent argument for the value of academia in a commercially-driven…
on “Ask HN: Good books?” ↗Herman Hesse "The Glass Bead Game" is incredible. For great mind fucks, check out the crime fiction of Jim Thompson: 1st person, you're a petty crook, dumb & scared, people trying to kill you are right behind you, and most the books end…
on “Ask HN: What literature do you read?” ↗Crazy to Grasp: - Hermann Hesse - The Glass Bead Game - Hofstädter - Gödel, Escher, Bach - Bulgakov - Master and Margherita - Melville - Moby Dick - Joyce - Ulysses - Everything by Baudrillard (esp. 'Agony of Power') - Everything by William Burroughs…
on “Ask HN: What is the most mind blowing book you've ever read?” ↗Too bad there are no quantum computers. Who knew Hesse's "Glass Bead Game" would be the most important book I read in physics grad school?
on “How the quantum search algorithm works” ↗Hermann Hesse: The Glass Bead Game Robert M. Pirsig: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert M. Pirsig: Lila - An Inquiry Into Morals Eliezer Yudkowsky: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
on “Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?” ↗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…
on “Github Copilot Wants to Play Chess Instead of Code” ↗…art, and a game between two players of high skill level should have a place among humankind's great classical artistic outputs. It's a bit cliche of a recommendation at this point but maybe Hesse's The Glass Bead Game can help explain it. The fictional Glasperlenspiel makes explicit the level of discussion skilled players see in even the most abstract of real games. A novice player sees "raw" joseki, tsumego, etc;…
on “Review of Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go by Toshiro Kageyama (2011)” ↗I read Magister Ludi or The Glass Bead Game several times in my younger days. I was a Hermann Hesse fan. I echo the recommendation but would add what I found most appealing about it is the idea that all knowledge is related. Once players study…
on “Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?” ↗The Glass Bead Game.
on “Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?” ↗…through his computer. There begins a lively dialog as both the 2D Yendred and the 3D author struggle to explain and understand each others worlds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Planiverse --- The Glass Bead Game - by Hermann Hesse > The Glass Bead Game takes place at an unspecified date centuries in the future. Hesse suggested that he imagined the book's narrator writing around the start of the 25th century.…
on “Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?” ↗