5 ms·

perhaps the most gripping read of any hacker news post ever. seriously entertaining and informative!

• lordleft 9y ago
  Seriously! This was unbelievably compelling!
  • tomp 9y ago
    I wish I had teachers like this. I found most of history, most of my primary and high school (i.e. several different teachers) excrutiatingly boring. Then I read a book on the economic history of the world that didn't just present raw facts, but also why things happened (i.e. stories) and it was one of the most interesting things I've ever read!
    • hi41 9y ago
      Which book on economic history was that?
      • tomp 9y ago
        I've no idea. It was short, probably less than 50 pages, covered the period since about 1500. A friend sent me a .pdf but I can't find that email, or the pdf, I've tried searching before.
        • hi41 9y ago
          Yes, I know that feeling. I had This is Water essay by David Foster Wallace in an email and I couldn't find it and the page I had bookmarked was gone too. I was so upset. The essay keeps coming back in my thoughts.
• jcfrei 9y ago
  Agreed. This one and the earlier article "War in the womb" posted in 2014 (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8155153 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8155153) fundamentally changed my understanding of pregnancies.