The Hunt for Red October
by Tom Clancy · first published 1984
27% recommend71% neutral3% critical
Why HN recommends it
Cold War submarine thriller prized for its deep technical and military detail and realistic timeline. Readers say it has held up well and suits fans of techno-thrillers; the early Clancy is seen as his best.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Somewhere under the Atlantic, a Soviet sub commander has just made a fateful decision...the Red October is heading west.The Americans want her.The Russians want her back.And the most incredible chase in history is on...The Hunt for Red October is the runaway bestseller that launched Tom Clancy's phenomenal career. A military thriller so accurate and convincing that the author was rumored to have been debriefed by the White House. Its theme: the greatest espionage coup in history. Its story: the chase for a runaway top secret Russian missile sub. Its title: The Hunt for Red October.
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What Hacker News says
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…because of the co-authorship by Larry Bond. The book is engrossing due to its depth of detail and realistic timeline. Clancy also credited Bond's warfare sim, "Harpoon", for helping in the writing of "The Hunt for Red October". I still have the original Harpoon for DOS and Harpoon II for Windows. Both are amazing games.
on “Tom Clancy has died” ↗Tom Clancy's old books (not the garbage that used his name recently). Start with Red Storm Rising and then go through the Jack Ryan series beginning with The Hunt For Red October. You'll find his political views slightly odd if you're younger, but his military knowledge is unparalleled. Edit: for the HN crowd especially, his detailed descriptions of weapon systems and politics…
on “Thunder Run to Seoul: Assessing North Korea’s War Plan” ↗The Hunt for Red October is THE book that comes to my mind when I think of Tom Clancy. It was the only book I was thinking when I saw this link and came here. Glad to see it mentioned in the top comment. On the games front,…
on “Tom Clancy has died” ↗…American Dream Killing You? - Paul Stiles (MUST READ) * Working Ourselves to Death - Diane Fassel * Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (esp. the chapter The Wayfarer) * The Hobbit - Tolkien * The Hunt for Red October - Tom Clancy (amazing level of technical detail) * 1984 - George Orwell (published in 1949 but never been more relevant) Have fun!
on “Ask HN: Which books would you highly recommend?” ↗Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff by Richard Carlson. Very centering and good way to lead life. That or Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy
on “Ask HN: Which book would you pick to re-read for the rest of your life?” ↗When life imitates art; highly recommend "The Hunt for Red October" (adapted from Tom Clancy's 1984 novel) about the Soviet Unions' secret development of a new type of submarine that proves to be undetectable to passive sonar.
on “Toroidal propellers: A noise-killing game changer in air and water” ↗Tom Clancy's Hunt for Red October and Red Storm Rising. I think most people usually don't consider Tom Clancy to be a science fiction writer, but these two books (his best two by far, FWIW) both feature speculative technology central…
on “Science Fiction vs. Science Fantasy” ↗…all of these are to my taste, but they have been broadly popular: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979), The Da Vinci Code (2003), The Big Sleep (1939), The Color out of Space (1927) (short), The Hunt for Red October (1984), Hondo (1953), Get Shorty (1990).
on “Ask HN: How to transition from non-fiction to fiction reading?” ↗Early Tom Clancy, before he monetized his name, was pretty amazing. The Hunt for Red October was published by the Naval Institute Press. [0] It was also the first adult book I read. Probably around 6 or 7? Before Jurassic Park, which I read before that movie came out. I'd asked my father if…
on “Hunt for Red October 1990 (2016)” ↗If you've never read it, this is as good a time as any to pick up a copy of The Hunt for Red October. I had never actually read it until three or four years ago (though I had seen the movie as a teen). It has held up remarkably well.
on “Tom Clancy has died” ↗…tried. And the current flavor of the moment, socialism/communism, sure as hell isn't the answer. Want a good synopsis of how well such systems work in the real world? Grab a copy of the book of "The Hunt for Red October". Skip to the middle where they describe why Ramius's wife died and in particular why it was such a senseless death. Clancy does an awesome job of summarizing the biggest problem with any system that…
on “The Writing on the Wall: Sci-Fi’s Empty Techno-Optimism” ↗My favorite explanation (though not comprehensive) was in The Hunt For Red October: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htTLYO-zOww
on “A pilot explains turbulence” ↗The book is fabulous - way better than the film, and I'm a huge fan of the film. The same is true of "The Hunt for Red October" and "The Englishman who Went up a Hill but Came down a Mountain". There are other cases where the film is better than the book, but specifically those three favourite films of mine are genuinely better…
on “The “Princess Bride” You Don’t Know” ↗…Worlds, Lord of the Rings, The Mote in God's Eye, Replay, Earth Abides, 20000 Leagues Under The Sea, 2001, Nothing Like It In The World, Reach For The Sky, Winnie The Pooh, The Last of the Mohicans, The Hunt for Red October, With the Old Breed, Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman, Moby Dick, Shogun, Romeo and Juliet I envy anyone reading these for the first time!
on “Intellectual Loneliness” ↗…related fiction. It gets a bit tiring towards the later books, but I recall the earlier ones were quite good. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8979.Patrick_Robinson There's always the classic Hunt for Red October.
on “Nukes, nubs and coners: The unique social hierarchy aboard a nuclear submarine” ↗