Top all-time · #244
James Altucher
Personal blog · jamesaltucher.combusinesscareerphilosophy
James Altucher's personal blog at jamesaltucher.com covers business, career and philosophy. Since 2010, 191 different Hacker News readers have linked it 682 times, most often “Was Greece just Nuked?”. The last post was in 2021, but the archive is still widely read.
Often recommended · 16 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link this blog for its advice on generating ideas, side projects, productivity and business, and for its personal, entertaining stories. Some commenters call particular posts useful or great.
- Recommended for · 16 comments
- Called great, very useful, entertaining and worth a read; one commenter says it lifted them up during hard times.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- Was Greece just Nuked?8 people · 8 mentions · first linked 2011-03-21
- The 100 Rules for Being an Entrepreneur7 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2011-04-25
- How to be THE LUCKIEST GUY ON THE PLANET in 4 Easy Steps7 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2011-02-25
- How I Screwed Yasser Arafat out of $2mm (and lost $100mm in the process)6 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2011-01-24
- How To Become An Idea Machine5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2012-10-15
- /blog/the-ultimate-guide-for-becoming-an-idea-machine/5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2019-02-14
- How to Deal With Crappy People4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2011-06-16
- The easiest way to succeed as an entrepreneur4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2011-04-09
- The ultimate negotiator cheat sheet4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2014-05-05
- 8 Alternatives to College - I wish I had done these4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2011-01-31
What Hacker News says?
You would love this essay by James Altucher: https://jamesaltucher.com/blog/work-prison/ Key point: Other entities may capture up to 80% of the value you create. 1. Your boss, their boss, and their boss. 2. Shareholders. 3. Vendors. 4. Other employees in the company. 5. Taxes. Better off working for your own self.
Comment linking /blog/work-prison/
on “Downsides to working at a tech giant”Submitted How I Screwed Yasser Arafat out of $2mm (and lost $100mm in the process) as a story · 220 points
HN discussionhttps://jamesaltucher.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-for-becomi...
Comment linking /blog/the-ultimate-guide-for-becoming-an-idea-machine/
on “Find a good available .com domain”Submitted What It Feels Like to Be Rich as a story · 103 points
HN discussionWhere is the 'E'?: http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2012/07/how-i-would-unschool-my...
Comment linking /2012/07/how-i-would-unschool-my-kids/
on “ToS;DR — TL;DR for Terms of Service and Privacy Policy”Submitted What to do After Making a Billion dollars as a story · 95 points
HN discussionTrue, but I think Steve was far more of a human psychology hacker than an inventive engineer. He got the internship at HP by calling the CEO and asking him for parts, and his crown technical achievement at Atari was getting Wozniak to design and build a game in 4 sleepless days and nights that he lied to him about to get the bulk of the payment from Atari: http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/02/10-unusual-things-i-did…
Comment linking /2011/02/10-unusual-things-i-didnt-know-about-steve-jobs/
on “You are not Steve Jobs”Submitted Wherein my Kiss was Rejected as a story · 94 points
HN discussionI doubt that a technological solution is the best answer to SOPA-like legislative nightmares. A true, lasting solution would likely involve deep, structural government reform. (Very hard to accomplish, but likely to be effective.) Here's one idea: http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/07/july-4th-is-a-scam/ Probably not the best solution, but a decent candidate, a good initial stab at the problem.
Comment linking /2011/07/july-4th-is-a-scam/
on “The nightmarish SOPA hearings”Submitted Things I Didn't Know About Google (also: the worst VC decision ever) as a story · 79 points
HN discussionThis reminded me of Richard Branson (the Virgin guy) and a post by James Altucher. I think James' point is that to do something huge, like start a new airline, you always have to find the next step. Pretty basic really, break a big task into smaller pieces. But worth a read nonetheless, it really goes into OP's question. "Q: How do you know when you’re thinking too big or aiming too high (if that’s even possible)?"…
Comment linking /how-do-you-know-when-youre-thinking-too-big-or-aiming-too-high-if-thats-even-possible/
on “How would I get started?”Submitted Why You Should Never Buy a Home Again as a story · 68 points
HN discussion> You can lose everything overnight with automated trading. I'll take it ad absurdum: You can lose everything in a second by not looking left and right while crossing the road. Or even by looking left and right while crossing the road, when someone else is driving recklessly. It is possible to attempt HFT with not much more risk than stating a new InstaFaceGoogApple service. Put $10,000 in your margin account, and u…
Comment linking /2011/02/my-name-is-james-a-and-im-an-alcoholic/
on “How I made $500k with machine learning and high frequency trading”Submitted Altucher: NYC Is Dead Forever as a story · 65 points
HN discussionThe Ultimate Cheat Sheet to Starting and Running Your Own Business http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2013/08/the-ultimate-cheat-shee...
Comment linking /2013/08/the-ultimate-cheat-sheet-to-starting-and-running-your-own-business/
on “How to Raise Money”Submitted Why I Write Books Even Though I’ve Lost Money on Every Book I’ve Written as a story · 59 points
HN discussionJames Althucher is a writer who has lived through a bunch of nasty experiences, and now writes about what he's learnt. In his writing he often preaches to cut yourself off from news. Here's an article I found quickly that makes reference to avoiding stress sources like news: http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/09/how-to-cure-stress-befo...
Comment linking /2011/09/how-to-cure-stress-before-it-kills-you/
on “News is bad for you – and giving up reading it will make you happier”Submitted The Ultimate Cheat Sheet for Reinventing Yourself as a story · 43 points
HN discussionI know this sounds dumb, but I found this to be very useful https://jamesaltucher.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-for-becomi... It's an entertaining read, but the premise is - idea generation is a skill - you need to practice - come up with 10 garbage ideas per day (and occasionally one or two are good)
Comment linking /blog/the-ultimate-guide-for-becoming-an-idea-machine/
on “Ask HN: How to find profitable side project idea?”Submitted I failed to prevent my kid from going to college as a story · 41 points
HN discussionMaybe this is of interest: https://jamesaltucher.com/2014/05/the-ultimate-guide-for-bec...
Comment linking /2014/05/the-ultimate-guide-for-becoming-an-idea-machine/
on “Ask HN: How to come up with monetizable side project ideas?”Submitted Unusual Ways to Live Forever as a story · 35 points
HN discussionWhen I had tough times, reading this lifted me up big time: http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2013/12/the-ultimate-cheat-shee...
Comment linking /2013/12/the-ultimate-cheat-sheet-for-reinventing-yourself-2/
on “The Key to Good Luck Is an Open Mind”Submitted Things I Didn't Know About Steve Jobs (and I bet you didn't either) as a story · 24 points
HN discussionReminds me of "All you have to do is ask" by James Altucher: http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/05/all-you-have-to-do-is-a...
Comment linking /2011/05/all-you-have-to-do-is-ask/
on “You don't get shit you don't ask for”Submitted The 40 Books That Saved My Life as a story · 22 points
HN discussionYeah I've been there too. I actually had that realization while in college. I saw my friends a couple years older than me who were graduating, but could not find jobs, and were going no where. It took me awhile, but you need to figure out what you want of life. For me at least, I decided I wanted to help make the world a better place and be in control of my own life. To create something and not rely on a 9-5 job for…
Comment linking /2013/12/the-ultimate-cheat-sheet-for-reinventing-yourself-2/
on “Ask HN: When you feel stuck in life”Submitted The easiest way to succeed as an entrepreneur as a story · 22 points
HN discussionThis is not how I remember it. Default background colour in Netscape Navigator was not white but #c0c0c0 (and IIRC it wast that colour in Mosaic too). And yes, lots of pages relied on the default. For example, this post has some screenshots: https://jamesaltucher.com/blog/whats-changed-in-the-past-17-...
Comment linking /blog/whats-changed-in-the-past-17-years/
on “Welcome to the Old Internet Again”Submitted How to be THE LUCKIEST GUY ON THE PLANET in 4 Easy Steps as a story · 18 points
HN discussion
