Books in terms of other books

By dkl9, written 2025-016, revised 2025-016 (0 revisions)


A Brief History of Intelligence (Bennett) is The Vital Question (Lane), but about brains. The Vital Question is a more-focused Superintelligence (Bostrom) about the origin of life.

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (Yudkowsky) is the world of Harry Potter (Rowling) with the character behaviours and spirit of The Dark Forest (Liu). The Dark Forest is in large part Nineteen Eighty-Four with Luo Ji in place of Winston, surveillance run by aliens, and a happier ending. The Handmaid's Tale (Atwood) is Nineteen Eighty-Four (Orwell) with a sexist dystopia and feminist message. Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury) is Brave New World (Huxley) with a dystopia that arose by destroying the good instead of adding the bad.

The Martian (Weir) is the setting and technology of Red Mars (Robinson) with the solitude and struggle of Life of Pi (Martel). Red Mars is The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (Heinlein) with a change of setting, added prologue, and less AI. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is Stranger in a Strange Land (Heinlein) with Mike shown as a computer and Jubal Harshaw split into three people.

Algorithms to Live By (Christian and Griffiths) is a more serious Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension (Parker). iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon (Wozniak and Smith) is Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman (Feynman) with computers. Animals in Translation (Grandin) is the nonfiction supplement to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Haddon).

Fight Club (Palahniuk) is Infinite Jest (Wallace) without the drugs. Infinite Jest is A Clockwork Orange (Burgess), but longer, crazier, and focused on entertainment instead of free will. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Pirsig) is Lolita (Nabokov) with broad philosophy in place of paedophilia.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Adams) is Catch-22 (Heller) with aliens and space travel. Slaughterhouse-Five (Vonnegut) is a mix of Catch-22 and Man's Search for Meaning (Frankl), shifted happier and with added time travel.