Why “Non-fiction” is being discussed
The most recent Hacker News stories and comments contributing to this topic's mentions.
The change in non-fiction sales is in the last 10 years, according to the OP; movies and computer games have been around for much longer.
by mmooss · Sep 10, 2026
Why would that be the case? Fiction books are already imaginary, so it makes less of a difference whether it is human-imaginary or reshuffled-by-LLM-imaginary. Non-fiction I exp…
by Jblx2 · Sep 9, 2026
What is their source that the non-fiction book market is collapsing? Their entire premise seems to come down to the fact that non-fiction in 2025 took a smaller share of the top…
by potamic · Sep 9, 2026
I'm not really sure I'd categorize David Sedaris as non-fiction or put him in the intellectual high-end of that. I love his books, but they are the literary version of a stand-u…
by wodenokoto · Sep 9, 2026
I donno, read thee classics! They're classics for a reason. You can't go wrong with them. You'll certainly not like them all, but find your niche, there's plenty to choose from.…
by molteanu · Sep 9, 2026
> Besides, a lot of non-fiction just isn't that great. Many books should have been a blog post. These books are rarely a rewarding experience for me, unless it's from a rare com…
by vjk800 · Sep 9, 2026
Interest
Proportion of Hacker News items mentioning "non-fiction" over time.
Mentions
Total number of Hacker News items mentioning "non-fiction" over time.
Non-fiction is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to present topics objectively based on historical, scientific, and empirical information. However, some non-fiction ranges into more subjective territory, including sincerely held opinions on real-world topics. Read more on Wikipedia