This Perfect Day
by Ira Levin · first published 1970
64% recommend36% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Dystopian novel about a man repeatedly trying to escape a benevolent automated dictatorship where everyone is controlled and sedated. Recommended to fans of older science fiction and Brave New World-style dystopias.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
This book is AWESOME. A story of a man fighting to free himself from dystopia as in Brave New World and 1984. However, the story is much tighter and exciting than in either of these books. Many twists and turns, all the way to the end. You are in good hands with Ira Levin. He's a master storyteller and a sure hand at suspense, character and dialogue. Enjoy.
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This Perfect Day, by Ira Levin. Story of a man's repeated attempts to escape a benevolent automated dictatorship where everything is controlled and everyone is kept sedated. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein…
on “Hard comp-fi reading list” ↗In the same vein, "This Perfect Day" by Ira Levin should be mentioned in the same breath... http://www.amazon.com/This-Perfect-Day-A-Novel/dp/160598129X...
on “Civ II game a decade old” ↗Are you looking for something similar? It's not easy to recommend something based on a single book but have a look at Vicious by V. E. Schwab, This Perfect Day by Ira Levin or Wool by Hugh Howey.
on “Ask HN: Sci-Fi novels?” ↗…I guess you mean some kind of computer/AI? Then who rules (programs) the AI, rules the world. This is definitely no anarchy. Ceding authority to a machine only serves to hide the real rulers. Check This Perfect Day by Ira Levin, for a perspective on what kind of world this could lead to. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Perfect_Day
on “Legends of the Ancient Web (2017)” ↗…are not a zero sum game, they compliment each other nicely. Another book that doesn't get mentioned enough in this category is Ira Levin's (Rosemary's Baby, The Stepford Wives, The Boys from Brazil) This Perfect Day. It's a global AI super computer house sorting hat, like Captain Marvel or I Robot, mixed with Gattaca.
on “'1984' at Seventy: Why We Still Read Orwell” ↗Another good read on the same subject: This Perfect Day by Ira Levin.
on “UK surveillance “worse than 1984” says new UN privacy chief” ↗This Perfect Day by Ira Levin (out of print, yet much more worthwhile in my opinion than other dystopic novels) Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond The Books of the Fey by Kristine Kathryn Rusch Artemis Fowl series…
on “Ask YC: favorite books” ↗If you're in to reading old science fiction have a look at This Perfect Day by Ira Levin.
on “Fighter Pilots Face A Dismal Future” ↗There is a book by Ira Levin called 'This Perfect Day', it contains some scenes that are pretty much what you describe.
on “Seattle police use family DNA, latest science to identify killer 52 years later” ↗Another book in the same vein but much lesser known is This Perfect Day by Ira Levin. Recommended.
on “Philip K. Dick’s dystopia” ↗By setting up the misfits in a revenge of the nerds scenario? Ira Levin did a much better job of it and showed what it would lead to but his 'This Perfect Day' did not - predictably - get the same kind of reception as Atlas Shrugged did.
on “Why are there so many rationalist cults?” ↗Another one for your reading list: This Perfect Day, Ira Levin.
on “Baseless Calls to Expand Surveillance Fit Familiar, Cynical Pattern” ↗Another one in the same vein: Ira Levin, This Perfect Day.
on “Manipulating Human Psychology To Turn Users Into Addicts” ↗Every single Ira Levin novel [1] except This Perfect Day has been made into a movie... IIRC this instance of an Ira is a "he" not a "she" [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Levin#Novels
on “Civ II game a decade old” ↗That sci-fi book was already written, "This Perfect Day" by Ira Levin. A computer is in control of a nearly global utopian socialist society, but critical thinking, emotions, and familial attachment is strictly discouraged via regular drug-aided "therapy",…
on “The War ISIS Wants” ↗