Ask HN: Is there room for a Knuth-like work nowadays?

5 pointsby roschevor 13 Jahren3 comments

I do research in and teach computer science at all levels (BSc, MSc, PhD). My dream has always been working in academia, and to an extent, I've realized that dream, obviously. My absolute scientific north star has been Knuth's work, not only TAOCP, but his life's work, including literate programming. I've always dreamed of writing a magnus opus like that in my field.

But I can see that such comprehensive works, in the age of the internet, are impossible to write with an acceptable degree of generality: everything is in Wikipedia.

My question is: although I'm far from being Don Knuth, Do you think there is room for a book on any topic with the depth and breadth similar to Knuth's in this age?

2 comments

tjrvor 13 Jahren

Knuth himself wrote of his current work on Volume 4B that "There's stuff in here that isn't in Wikipedia yet!" :-)

So it's not true that everything is in Wikipedia, but even more importantly, even if the raw facts are in Wikipedia, that doesn't mean it's expressed in the best possible way.

I greatly enjoy reading Knuth's work; his writing style is delightful. Reading Wikipedia is often dry and lifeless.

roschevor 13 Jahren

Thanks for this. So you think there is room for books still in the sense of Knuth. That's encouraging. :)

brudgersvor 13 Jahren

I suspect Knuth writes because he has something he feels compelled to say, not because of market analysis.

There is always shelf space for well written books which express an author's passion. In fact since there's shelf space for all those books about Gettysburg, good writing is probably negotiable.