The Thin Man
by Dashiell Hammett · first published 1934
5mentions
2recommended by
5HN commenters
2015–2023first – last mentioned
40% recommend40% neutral20% critical
Nick and Nora Charles are Hammett's most enchanting creations, a rich, glamorous couple who solve homicides in between wisecracks and martinis. At once knowing and unabashedly romantic, The Thin Man is a murder mystery that doubles as a sophisticated comedy of manners.
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…forces a reckoning: they really look at what they've done and try to get better. But many do what they've done their whole lives: find ways to explain why they are still right. Dashiell Hammett in The Thin Man gives a good description of what it's like dealing with people like this: "Most people [...] get discouraged after you’ve caught them in the third or fourth straight lie and fall back on either truth…
on “Ted Kaczynski's Manifesto [pdf]” ↗Counterweight; Djuna. Good sci Fi. The Thin Man, The Maltese Falcon; Hammett. Good books behind excellent movies.
on “Ask HN: What are you reading these days?” ↗…mind. The LA Quartet by James Ellroy (The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, LA Confidential, White Jazz) - Really the pinnacle of dark gritty noir. If you like that I can't recommend highly enough. The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett - I like a lot of Hammett's other work but this seemed to have a lot of wheel spinning. City of Quartz by Mike Davis - As an Angeleno this gave me so much insight into the city I…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?” ↗Apropos of the "four dog defense", Dashiell Hammett in The Thin Man has a woman say to a man she is walking out on: "I don't like crooks, and even if I did I wouldn't like crooks that are stool pigeons, and even if I did like crooks that are stool pigeons, I still wouldn't…
on “Google’s copying of the Java SE API was fair use [pdf]” ↗Dashiell Hammett's novel "The Thin Man" lends itself well to a similar game.
on “Dinner for One: The Little-Known British Comedy Famous in Germany” ↗