Candide
Voltaire
21 people recommended it in 14 threads, 2009–2026.
What people on Hacker News said
Genuinely fun and entertaining, besides it being- you know- Voltaire.
The first one feels incredibly modern, which is quite impressive given that it's basically the first European novel.
Candide is actually good and more people need to read it.
contributed to my personal sense of humor and belief that we live in neither the best nor worst of all possible worlds, but simply the most absurd of them.
I found Candide by Voltaire to be eye opening. I read a lot of philosophy and self help, which is a category you could put this book in to. Since it's fiction though, the message comes through more in the story than it does in the author banging you over the head with "you should".
It was the first book I read for school that made me laugh out loud and realize that some of these old boring books were actually pretty awesome (which is why people are still reading them centuries later)
I was also surprised at how good Candide by Voltaire was to read. Had a ton of fun reading it.
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