Letters of Note
lettersofnote.com · Group blog · on HN since 2009
Letters of Note collects and publishes notable letters, memos and correspondence from historical and famous figures.
What HN saysCommenters recommend it highly as a source of famous correspondence, and HN links it for letters such as the Feynman, Gates and da Vinci ones.
333HN people shared it
170linked it in comments
213stories submitted
11Kstory points
10 months agolast shared
2009people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Why Explore Space (1970)35 people · 60 points · first shared 2012 · 26 comments on HN
- 2Why Explore Space? (1970)10 people · 5 points · first shared 2020 · discussion on HN
- 3"You Don't Understand Ordinary People" - Feynman Gives Advice to Wolfram8 people · 264 points · first shared 2010 · 78 comments on HN
- 4The Internet Tidal Wave (Gates, 1995)8 people · 65 points · first shared 2011 · 10 comments on HN
- 5Arkell v. Pressdram (1971)8 people · 4 points · first shared 2023 · discussion on HN
- 6The letter FBI wrote to MLK Jr8 people · 3 points · first shared 2013 · discussion on HN
- 7The Tiger Oil Memos7 people · 10 points · first shared 2010 · 1 comments on HN
- 81984 v. Brave New World6 people · 539 points · first shared 2012 · 195 comments on HN
- 9The Internet Tidal Wave, Bill Gates Memo (1995)6 people · 2 points · first shared 2021 · discussion on HN
- 10Albini pitching Nirvana: “I would like to be paid like a plumber” (1992)5 people · 350 points · first shared 2022 · 152 comments on HN
- 11Feynman's Letter to His Wife5 people · 268 points · first shared 2012 · 60 comments on HN
- 12"Most of you steal your software"5 people · 208 points · first shared 2009 · 114 comments on HN
- 13Leonardo da Vinci's application letter5 people · 201 points · first shared 2012 · 61 comments on HN
- 14“People simply empty out”4 people · 1.1K points · first shared 2013 · 463 comments on HN
- 15I am very real4 people · 943 points · first shared 2012 · 150 comments on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
lachlan_gray · 2023-06-16
I love Letters of Note. Each post features reflection on letters that were sent/written at some point in time, often but not always by notable people. They are whimsical, short, and have introduced me to many interesting facts and rabbit holes.
https://news.lettersofnote.com/
P.s. My favourite one so far, where among other things, I learned about the infamous and hilarious “please advise” CBS memo surrounding Miles Davis :
https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/this-is-my-favorite-memo-ever
sjbase · 2017-08-28
This would be perfect for Letters of Note, a blog I _highly_ recommend: http://www.lettersofnote.com/ (I have no affiliation with the site)
mcenedella · 2014-12-30
The website Ephemeral New York is terrific for all sorts of interesting New York history: https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com (the New Year's day post is where I found the reference to her diary)
And the Historical Atlas of New York City is both visually and textually superb for all sorts of fascinating details of New York's development: http://www.amazon.com/Historical-Atlas-New-York-City/dp/0805078428
Finally, "Letters of Note" has great finds from historical letters throughout history: http://www.lettersofnote.com/
tdm911 · 2009-12-13
along a similar line, i have enjoyed 'letters of note', a blog of famous and noteworthy correspondence.
http://www.lettersofnote.com/
max-ibel · 2024-05-30
Seconded. Letters of Note (there are various printed volumes as well, e.g. "Speeches of Note", "Letters of Notes: Cats", ...) are a very fine collection of thoughts.
One of my favorites is "Why explore space": https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/why-explore-space.
santoshalper · 2024-05-08
Whether he considered himself one or not, Steve Albini will always stand out to me as the epitome of the Punk value system. Here are two of my absolute favorites:
* "I would like to be paid like a plumber" - https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/nirvana
* "The Problem with Music" - https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-problem-with-music
breput · 2024-05-08
"I would like to be paid like a plumber: I do the job and you pay me what it's worth. The record company will expect me to ask for a point or a point and a half. If we assume three million sales, that works out to 400,000 dollars or so. There's no fucking way I would ever take that much money. I wouldn't be able to sleep."
[0] https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/nirvana
mauvehaus · 2024-04-19
That is excellent, and if you enjoyed it, you might also enjoy the Cleveland Browns one:
https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/very-truly-yours
mwcremer · 2024-04-18
This is one of my favorites:
https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/i-am-unable-to-accept-your-rejection
mstudio · 2024-03-12
Love this. Reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut's "make your soul grow" letter to high school kids - https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/make-your-soul-grow
rsynnott · 2023-05-19
Lawyers aren’t always as boring as people think. The classic example, of course, is https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/very-truly-yours
lostlogin · 2023-04-05
Arkell versus Pressdram, a very polite ‘fuck off’.
https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/arkell-v-pressdram
If you want more of their flavour, I can recommend Private Eye and Have I Got New For You.
thangalin · 2023-01-02
"Some of the reasons for exploring space, when there are numerous social problems on earth, were described recently by Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger, Associate Director of Science at the Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville. His beliefs were expressed in his reply to a letter from Sister Mary Jucunda, O.P., a nun who works among starving natives of Zambia, Africa."
Source: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19730015241/downloads/19730015241.…
HTML: https://lettersofnote.com/2012/08/06/why-explore-space/
"Space flight, without any doubt, is playing exactly this role. The voyage to Mars will certainly not be a direct source of food for the hungry. However, it will lead to so many new technologies and capabilities that the spinoffs from this project alone will be worth many times the cost of its implementation."
matthewmcg · 2022-12-06
Reminds me of the world’s greatest reply to a cease and desist letter[1]: “I feel you should be aware some asshole is signing your name to stupid letters.”
[1]: https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/very-truly-yours
nazka · 2022-09-27
If you want the best template for a cover letter you should take example of that guy named Leonardo da Vinci. [1] Quite a smart guy!
The idea is it’s not a summary of what you did and what you can do. But it’s all about what value you can offer to them and how you can solve ~their~ most critical problems. It’s like you pitching yourself as a business.
Now go say no to a guy like that and that can demonstrate these skills for free if necessary.
[1] https://lettersofnote.com/2012/03/28/the-skills-of-leonardo-da-vinci/
jaclaz · 2022-08-16
Personally I find that the best reply ever was this one:
https://lettersofnote.com/2011/02/14/regarding-your-stupid-complaint/
letters of note has also the Arkell vs. Pressdram letter:
https://lettersofnote.com/2013/08/07/arkell-v-pressdram/
though there it says that there never was a proper legal case on the matter.
rrdharan · 2020-12-22
> The other technique that we developed (which was devastatingly effective) was to distract the committee with issues that were irrelevant but amenable to debate.
It's not exactly the same but this reminds me of the way Matt Stone described his interactions with the MPAA board in This Film Is Not Yet Rated (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Film_Is_Not_Yet_Rated).
i.e. they went into the Team America rating negotiation with aggressive material they were prepared to cut, and probably wanted to cut anyway, and let the committee spend all their time on that.
See also (NSFW):
https://youtu.be/SgyG8y1vg1M?t=151
https://lettersofnote.com/2009/09/30/p-s-this-is-my-favorite-memo-ever…
manigandham · 2020-10-14
The world and our lives are very interconnected. You can't just focus on a single task nor would that actually lead to any better progress.
I suggest you read this: https://lettersofnote.com/2012/08/06/why-explore-space/
> "In 1970, a Zambia-based nun named Sister Mary Jucunda wrote to Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger, then-associate director of science at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center ... Specifically, she asked how he could suggest spending billions of dollars on such a project at a time when so many children were starving on Earth. Stuhlinger soon sent the following letter of explanation ... later published by NASA, and titled, “Why Explore Space?”"
JNRowe · 2020-10-07
My favourite "oh, Babbage" story is his letter to Tennyson¹. It shares a lot in common with the linked noise nuisances, as he appears to genuinely want to improve society². It is just that is his manner leaves a lot to be desired.
I often try to think of him when I'm busily writing a code review or such, in an attempt to sound a little more pleasant. My admission is that is doesn't always work ;)
1. https://lettersofnote.com/2012/09/21/the-vision-of-sin/
2. Whether we agree about his poetry edits or silent streets being an improvement is a different point.
Anthony-G · 2020-07-12
I guess the Marge Simpson letter is notable because of Barbara Bush's warm and humble reply.
https://lettersofnote.com/2011/09/19/with-great-respect-marge-simpson/
jwm20 · 2020-01-24
The microscope story a sibling comment mentioned is part of a 1970 letter from a then-NASA Director to a nun serving in Africa who asked the same question. I believe the full text is worth a read:
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/08/why-explore-space.html
jtbayly · 2019-04-30
> I always though how silly it was for teachers to pretend they got the correct answer in a text analysis of a century old author. Apparently it's even true for authors that are still alive...
This also happened to Flannery O’Connor. She once wrote the following to an English Professor:
“The interpretation of your ninety students and three teachers is fantastic and about as far from my intentions as it could get to be.”
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/08/i-am-in-state-of-shock.html?m=1
avmich · 2019-02-23
> My friends who want to move to Mars? I say, "Do me a favor, go live on the top of Mount Everest for a year first, and see if you like it — because it's a garden paradise compared to Mars."
I wonder if that's the best we have for arguments against flying to Mars :( . I understand the talk could be simplified, but http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/08/why-explore-space.html still holds valid reasons to me.
eliaspro · 2019-01-05
My go-to recommendation to read whenever this question comes up:
> In 1970, a Zambia-based nun named Sister Mary Jucunda wrote to Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger, then-associate director of science at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, in response to his ongoing research into a piloted mission to Mars. Specifically, she asked how he could suggest spending billions of dollars on such a project at a time when so many children were starving on Earth. [...]
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/08/why-explore-space.html
cvwright · 2018-06-16
My favorite one of these stories is about the "butthead astronomer". :)
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/03/butt-head-astronomer.html
dexen · 2018-05-21
You jest, but it's worth referencing the "Why explore space?"[1] letter. Penned back during the Space Race, as a response to a nun concerned with apparently wasteful spending, contrasted to poverty suffered by the people she was working with.
On a lighter note: we've put people on the Moon before we've put wheels on the luggage[2]. Exploration before comforts.
[1] http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/08/why-explore-space.html
[2] https://betafactory.com/what-came-first-wheeled-luggage-or-a-man-on-th…
chrisatumd · 2018-01-02
This letter gets posted time to time. Definitely one of my favorites for explaining the rationale on spending money pushing boundaries when there are plenty of things that money can do to help people in need now.
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/08/why-explore-space.html
raamdev · 2017-09-01
This reminds me of a letter that was written by a NASA engineer in the 1970s in response to a nun in Africa who was questioning the value of spending billions on space exploration.
> In 1970, a Zambia-based nun named Sister Mary Jucunda wrote to Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger, then-associate director of science at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, in response to his ongoing research into a piloted mission to Mars. Specifically, she asked how he could suggest spending billions of dollars on such a project at a time when so many children were starving on Earth.
The letter is well worth the read:
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/08/why-explore-space.html
Anchor · 2017-02-27
The classic answer would be http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/08/why-explore-space.html
bshimmin · 2016-10-07
I'm not sure any introduction to Feynman can be complete without this letter he wrote to his wife: http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/02/i-love-my-wife-my-wife-is-dead.ht…
(Warning: you may end up with something, ahem, in your eye...)