The Last Question
Isaac Asimov
17 people recommended it in 7 threads, 2008–2020.
1 commenter pushed back on it — worth reading the threads.
What people on Hacker News said
While I love the more experimental hard works, I think stories such as Asimovs "Last Question", Campbell's "Twilight" and Forester's "The Machine Stops", dating back before the vacuum tube era, tended to be more memorable, more vivid and more engaging philosophically.
I consider this to be the greatest sci-fi short story of all time.
The Last Question is perhaps the short story with the most mind-bending finale. Highly recommended.
Both "The Last Question" and "The Last Answer" are fantastic shorts that I can't recommend enough to everybody.
Where it comes up
- Ask YC: What's the most inspiring sci-fi book you've read? 2008 · 8 recommendations
- Free Audio Books: Download Great Books for Free 2020 · 2 recommendations
- Ask HN: Books you read in 2015? 2015 · 2 recommendations
- The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit) 2011 · 2 recommendations
- Hard comp-fi reading list 2019 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: What are the best Sci-Fi books you've ever read? 2018 · 1 recommendation
- Summer Reading List 2017 · 1 recommendation