Top all-time · #12847
Charlie Becker
Personal blog · charliebecker.substack.comculturewriting
Charlie Becker's personal blog at charliebecker.substack.com covers culture and writing. Since 2023, 6 different Hacker News readers have linked it 10 times, most often “Is an AI company buying up all the used books? (I don't think so, not this time)”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-09-29, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (2) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link this Substack for its tracking of a shipment of rare books that ended at an Amazon AI training facility. The comments only cite the story or share links, and do not judge the writing.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 2 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Essays, fiction, and field notes from the frontlines of chasing curiosity, making meaning, and getting things done.
Most-linked posts?
- Is an AI company buying up all the used books? (I don't think so, not this time)3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2026-07-28
What Hacker News says?
I worked in a bookshop. I know all about this. I've seen pallets of books with covers torn off so they can be reported destroyed. Here's a bookseller describing some of the books, which he believes are going to middlemen who are playing a sort of arbitrage with the AI companies by buying obscure titles, reselling them, and tossing away anything that doesn't sell. https://charliebecker.substack.com/p/is-an-ai-company…
Comment linking /p/is-an-ai-company-buying-up-all-the
on “We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility”Submitted If you let it, AI will prompt you as a story · 4 points
HN discussion22 Jul 2026 14:52:41 UTC AI Companies Are Buying Tons of Old Books Because They''re Free of AI Slop https://www.404media.co/ai-companies-are-buying-tons-of-old-... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49007769 [ok] 25 Jul 2026 04:16:09 UTC AI vendors are destroying rare books to feed the chatbot Pivot to AI https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/07/23/ai-vendors-are-destroying... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49044469…
Comment linking /p/is-an-ai-company-buying-up-all-the
on “AI companies destroy rare and non recoverable physical book”Submitted Do the weirdest thing that feels right as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted Fumbling Toward Truth and Beauty in Used Bookstores as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Is an AI company buying up all the used books? (I don't think so, not this time) as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Simplicity, Expertise, and Bullshit as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Making, Not Finding, Your Way: Review of the Pathless Path by Paul Millerd as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Who Cries for the Robot? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Meeting Weirdos Is Powerful as a story · 1 points
HN discussion