Jonathan Somers
jsomers.net · Personal blog · on HN since 2008
James Somers writes essays on learning, software, writing and science, and has also written for The New Yorker.
What HN saysCommenters call him a favorite science and tech writer, and cite his essays on dictionaries and on why working quickly matters.
151HN people shared it
83linked it in comments
146stories submitted
9.6Kstory points
2 months agolast shared
2008people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1You’re probably using the wrong dictionary (2014)26 people · 552 points · first shared 2014 · 170 comments on HN
- 2I should have loved biology16 people · 2.5K points · first shared 2020 · 298 comments on HN
- 3“It turns out”16 people · 417 points · first shared 2010 · 63 comments on HN
- 4E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction [pdf]16 people · 5 points · first shared 2011 · 1 comments on HN
- 5Show HN: Hacker News Classics14 people · 1.3K points · first shared 2018 · 107 comments on HN
- 6Speed matters: Why working quickly is more important than it seems (2015)11 people · 1.1K points · first shared 2015 · 171 comments on HN
- 7Ask HN: Which other blogs are worthy of following? Something like this7 people · 2 points · first shared 2018 · discussion on HN
- 8More people should write6 people · 161 points · first shared 2012 · 49 comments on HN
- 9The best general advice on earth6 people · 11 points · first shared 2019 · 1 comments on HN
- 10A three-page paper that shook philosophy, with lessons for software engineers5 people · 869 points · first shared 2019 · 219 comments on HN
- 11A typewriter that sends its keystrokes in real time to a Google Doc5 people · 101 points · first shared 2017 · 11 comments on HN
- 12The McPhee method for writing deeply reported nonfiction4 people · 206 points · first shared 2025 · 53 comments on HN
- 13Wandering the web stacks, or, fighting intellectual atrophy on the internet4 people · 28 points · first shared 2009 · 2 comments on HN
- 14Exploring the Complexity of Driving Directions(2010)4 people · 16 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
- 15John McPhee's Draft No. 4 [pdf]4 people · 3 points · first shared 2014 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
deepzn · 2021-12-14
James Somers is one of my favorite science/tech writers. Thank you, James for enriching my mind over the years. I have a bunch of your New Yorker articles to read but throughly enjoyed your 'The Coming Software Apocalypse' story. Guys check it out here https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/09/saving-the-worl…
And he has all his articles listed on his site- https://jsomers.net/
bertmuthalaly · 2018-12-04
I was so delighted by this piece and then I got to the byline - James Somers strikes again!
You might know his writing from “You’re Probably Using the Wrong Dictionary” or his amazing article about New York’s subway system told through the lens of the countdown clock: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/11/why-dont-we-know…
Highly recommend all his work:
http://jsomers.net/
pdm55 · 2024-03-21
Of course, the study of how living cells function is "hard". But that doesn't mean it has to be learnt without joy. We tend to explore things we enjoy. A lot of the writer's essays [1] are about finding some aspect of a topic intriguing and following that rabbit hole.
My own research centered on one subset of functions within E. coli. I was lucky that I found a carefully engineered subset of plasmids and adaptions of E.coli, that could be mathematically modelled [2] [3]. I didn't have to know the whole functioning of E. coli. I didn't have to use mathematics beyond algebra. That is, no calculus was needed. The key task was to put together the quantitative research of about half a dozen labs. Okay, I had a "mountain" of articles to read. And it took 5 years of effort. But it was only doable, because I was modelling a carefully constrained subset of cellular functions.
[1] https://jsomers.net/
[2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8078069/
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5425810/
mbforbes · 2025-07-30
My favorite essay on this topic, not yet referenced, is James Somers's "Speed matters:" https://jsomers.net/blog/speed-matters
seabass · 2025-07-22
When it comes to getting a deeper understanding of words you already know, two of my favorite resources are Etymonline [1] and the 1913 edition of Webster’s dictionary [2]. And if you’re curious why 1913 specifically, this post [3] gives a great overview.
[1] https://www.etymonline.com/
[2] https://www.websters1913.com/
[3] https://jsomers.net/blog/dictionary
Zealotux · 2025-07-21
Sorry for being a bit off-topic. Biology wasn't my forte in high school, I wish I had read this article back then https://jsomers.net/i-should-have-loved-biology/ and seen that video (9:08 min) https://youtu.be/WFCvkkDSfIU?si=12bbZajsUnYagD4_&t=15
jebarker · 2025-05-18
I don't know the answer to the question in this case, but this quote from [1] has been stuck in my mind for a while and feels relevant:
"I wish my high school biology teacher had asked the class how an embryo could possibly differentiate—and then paused to let us really think about it. The whole subject is in the answer to that question. A chemical gradient in the embryonic fluid is enough of a signal to slightly alter the gene expression program of some cells, not others; now the embryo knows “up” from “down”; cells at one end begin producing different proteins than cells at the other, and these, in turn, release more refined chemical signals; ...; soon, you have brain cells and foot cells."
[1] https://jsomers.net/i-should-have-loved-biology/
stevelosh · 2024-10-14
That quote is from https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/immune-system/
Could have also seen it via https://jsomers.net/i-should-have-loved-biology/ which quotes it directly
hypertexthero · 2024-06-17
See also James Somers’ essay I Should Have Loved Biology: https://jsomers.net/i-should-have-loved-biology/
…and Feynman’s criticism of rote memorization in education systems: https://enlightenedidiot.net/random/feynman-on-brazilian-education-sys…
kfichter · 2024-06-17
Reminds me of one of my favorite blog posts :-) https://jsomers.net/i-should-have-loved-biology/
tyre · 2024-04-21
In that same vein, take a read of: https://jsomers.net/i-should-have-loved-biology/
nsm · 2024-03-30
This is a fantastic lay person explanation of how it works. https://jsomers.net/e-coli-chemotaxis/
ahoang18 · 2023-12-21
Not a (single) publication, but I really like a lot of James Somers stuff: https://jsomers.net/
Seems to be scattered between his blog and a few major publications
ketanhwr · 2023-11-18
He still writes[0], albeit not on his blog, but for New Yorker, The Atlantic and the likes.
[0] https://jsomers.net/#writing
debanjan16 · 2023-04-04
I never loved biology in school. Then I came across this post: https://jsomers.net/i-should-have-loved-biology/
Then I read Machinery of Life by David S. Goodsell
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/6601267
I was just plain amazed that a subject can be presented in such a way.
tptacek · 2022-12-09
No, it's not.
The subtext here is the text of this (very excellent) blog post:
https://jsomers.net/blog/it-turns-out
We all get it. Gladwell trades in "it turns out than" constructions as much as anybody else. But so do lots of mediocre writers. Gladwell is fun to read. People don't read him simply to scratch their chin and say "yeah, that's right, that's how the world works, I should uPdAtE mY pRiOrS", the way they do with other it-turns-out-ists. They read him because he knows how to bait a hook and cast a line, and if you make the mistake of nibbling at a Gladwell paragraph you're apt to get snagged. That's a skill, and it's as superficial and vapid as a Gladwell argument to pretend otherwise.
cratermoon · 2022-09-26
The article recommends having a good dictionary at hand, and that is absolutely correct advice. What I'd like to suggest is that, aside from writing that absolutely must use terms from the last 100 years, use the Webster 1913[1] as your dictionary of choice. It's become a fetish, of sorts, among writers like Cory Doctorow [2] and others who approvingly link to James Somers' May 18, 2014 post, "http://jsomers.net/blog/dictionary"[3].
Try it. Read its
[1] https://www.websters1913.com/
[2] https://boingboing.net/2014/05/29/you-should-try-the-1913-webste.html
[3] http://jsomers.net/blog/dictionary
phgn · 2022-08-26
There have been a few attempts to aggregate "HN Classics" over the years, each a little bit different:
- https://posobin.com/hn_classics (this post) which uses inflation-adjusted scores
- https://jsomers.net/hn with only posts from before 2019
- https://hn.lindylearn.io (built by me) with live-updating data ranked by the number of reposts per URL
vxNsr · 2022-08-01
Consider this very popular hn link: http://jsomers.net/blog/dictionary it gets posted once a year at least and strongly recommends looking up words you already know.
cal85 · 2022-08-01
This looks great, congratulations to the author. I will be using it.
In case you’ve never read it, this 2014 blog post is an all time favourite of mine. It really opened up my thinking about words and definitions:
You’re probably using the wrong dictionary - http://jsomers.net/blog/dictionary
Ever since reading that, I have tended to use the 1913 Webster’s as my primary dictionary, supplemented by various modern ones where necessary. I found an acceptable iOS app for it - the UI is not good, but at least it has those shimmering definitions.
My dream would be if you could make a version of Wordnote that uses 1913 Webster’s as a dataset.
kragen · 2021-12-30
Probably worth pointing out that dict, dictd, and web1913 have been included with Debian since last millennium. (The dict markup shows in the screenshot on https://jsomers.net/blog/dictionary; dict and vh are the things that use
{} to delimit references to other entries. Even the line breaks are preserved.) They don't have the nice CSS tho.
dsalzman · 2020-12-09
Reminds me of The Hacker Classics. http://jsomers.net/hn/
It includes every HN post with a date like "(1999)" in its title that has earned more than 40 votes. Some good gems in there.
omosubi · 2020-12-06
I'm a big fan of the adage to not read anything younger than 10/20/30 years old. by definition most books are mediocre, especially new ones, and only reading stuff older than a certain age helps filter out the crap.
same goes with blog posts to a certain extent - there are a number of shorter works that are constantly posted on HN (http://jsomers.net/hn/) and many of them are worth reading. though tbh I read a lot of articles all over the internet from any time. blame it on lack of discipline
ssivark · 2020-02-09
Love this. Etymonline is one of my favorite websites, and often my first-choice dictionary (even though its word corpus is smaller than other dictionaries), because IME understanding the roots and origins of a word help me remember and use it better. It's the one dictionary I enjoy looking up.
Just in case someone hasn't seen it before... ;-)
If you're an etymonline fan, I would venture that you might find interesting "You’re probably using the wrong dictionary" by James Somers: http://jsomers.net/blog/dictionary
zJayv · 2019-09-01
Few ideas:
* this one from Paul Graham: you retain more from reading than you think you do http://www.paulgraham.com/know.html
* this one from James Somers: actively engage (don't read without a pen and paper, explain stuff to yourself as you go) http://jsomers.net/blog/kenjitsu
To my mind, 'what' trumps 'how'. A casual reading of 'Mrs. Dalloway' brings a greater reward than n airport non-fictions.
Shoop · 2019-08-26
Here's a great article covering why some dictionaries are great and why some are just boring. It also goes into a more detailed discussion of John McPhee (mentioned in OP) and what dictionary he uses.
"You're probably using the wrong dictionary" - http://jsomers.net/blog/dictionary
lihaciudaniel · 2019-01-12
HN it may have pretentious articles, the comments are the most substantial. Lately I've been lurking through HN Classics (1) (Many research papers and pdfs posted on HN that are old) and the comments are the best part of them.
(1) http://jsomers.net/hn/
gowld · 2018-10-10
This very website was built on a foundation of "turns out", one of Paul Graham's favorite rhetorical crutches.
http://jsomers.net/blog/it-turns-out
chucksmash · 2018-06-18
"Show HN: Hacker News Classics" might fit the bill.
Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16442888
App: http://jsomers.net/hn/
Source: https://github.com/jsomers/hacker-classics
hprotagonist · 2018-04-27
The most famous quote about Facebook isn’t actually about Facebook—it’s about television.
Worth rereading David Foster Wallace's "E Unibas Pluram" (1993), which is largely about our codependent relationship with TV and how it will inevitably metamorphose into a similar relationship with other forms of media: https://jsomers.net/DFW_TV.pdf