War with the newts
by Karel Čapek, M. Weatherall, R. Weatherall
68% recommend32% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Satirical 1936 sci-fi novel about intelligent newts taking over the world while no one notices until too late. Quick, entertaining read that still feels relevant and works even without catching its political irony.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Written in 1936, two years before Capek's death and three years before the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia, War with the Newts is considered by many to be Capek's greatest book. Working in the "fantastic" satiric tradition of Wells, Orwell, and Vonnegut, Capek chronicles the discovery of a colony of highly intelligent giant salamanders off the coast of an Indonesian island. Capek sardonically details all the reactions of the civilized world - from horror to scepticism, from intellectual fascination to mercantile opportunism - and the ultimate destruction from which it (and the newts) might not
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What Hacker News says
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Highly recommend Capek's other works, The Insect Play, and War with the Newts.
on “Karel Čapek's play "R.U.R." premiered in January 1921” ↗War with the Newts (1936) by Karel Čapek (of R.U.R. fame). Classical sci-fi novel and political satire in which a new intelligent breed of Newts are taking over the world and no-one realizes before it's too late. Still…
on “Ask HN: What is the most mind blowing book you've ever read?” ↗Karel Čapek is a great science fiction and satirical writer. I'd recommend War with the Newts, also translated as Salamander Wars.
on “The Czech Play That Gave Us the Word ‘Robot’” ↗Robot originally referred to andoids, too. The word was invented by Karel Čapek (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_%C4%8Capek) for one of his plays. I recommend his "War with the Newts".
on “These Tiny Boats Will Change How We Understand The Ocean” ↗…have. There are many fictional books that tell so much truth about humanity, but I would recommend Karel Capek's novels as those aren't very popular nowadays. Particuraly: The "Absolute at Large" and "War with the Newts".
on “Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction” ↗Capek's War with the Newts [1] is a little better read (I have only read it in translation, admittedly). 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_with_the_Newts#As_satire_a...
on “In Manufacturing and Retail, Robot Labor is Cheaper Than Slave Labor Would Be” ↗…interesting meditations on existence, theology, matter, illusion and withering attacks on fashion, advertising, politics, the Davos elite, literature and particularly the nature of money. Finally, Karel Čapek "War with the Newts" is just great. === [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Without_Qualities [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Virgil [3] https://www.amazon.de/Empire-Prince-Hamlet-Victor-Pelevin/dp....
on “Analyzing Hacker News book suggestions in Python” ↗Another irony is Capek did not really liked R.U.R. He was great author and journalist, read his War with the Newts (1936). RUR was his early theater game, it is a bit silly and has big plot holes.. Yet somehow it is his most known work.
on “The man who coined the word "robot" defends himself” ↗Let me add Karel Čapek "War with the Newts"
on “Ask HN: What are some great books that are relatively unknown in the US?” ↗Čapek's "War With The Newts" is good too.
on “The Good Soldier Švejk (2018)” ↗"War with the Newts" is simply amazing. I read this book as part of a University course in "Russian & Eastern European Sci-Fi literature", and reading this book was just about the only time I wasn't slightly bitter about…
on “In Praise of Karel Capek” ↗This is kinda required reading! Also, while it's really talking about stuff going on at its own time, War with the Newts is pretty good: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_with_the_Newts
on “Rossum's Universal Robots” ↗Funny coincidence, I just read "War With the Newts" a couple weeks ago, and I've been recommending it to everyone. It's a quick read and highly entertaining. I'm definitely going to check out more of Capek's work.
on “In Praise of Karel Capek” ↗I immensely enjoy "War with the Newts" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_with_the_Newts) and only realized after reading the Wikipedia page, that it is by the same author, Karel Čapek.
on “Python newthreading - simplified threads, path to eliminate GIL” ↗I loved the War with the Newts as a kid, though of course I missed half the jokes and commentary about the real world. Later I re-read it as an adult and found out all I had missed.
on “In Praise of Karel Capek” ↗