Couldn't Care Less. Cormac McCarthy in conversation with David Krakauer
Why Hacker News recommends it
It is one of the few long, candid interviews with the famously reclusive McCarthy, and commenters share it whenever he comes up.
What it is
A 2017 documentary filmed at the Santa Fe Institute in which novelist Cormac McCarthy talks with SFI's David Krakauer. They discuss isolation, mathematics, character and the nature of the unconscious.
Recommended by 3 HN commenters across 3 different months, 2023 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec polytely · 2025-10 · on “Cormac McCarthy's personal library”
Thanks for posting, he was a really interesting guy. This is my favourite interview with him so I will take this post as an excuse to share it. [this video]
Recommends AJRF · 2023-06 · on “Cormac McCarthy, Novelist of a Darker America, Is Dead at 89”
God I will miss his writing. I finished (and adored) The Passenger a few weeks ago. Rest In Piece. This is a nice interview; [this video]
Recommends slibhb · 2024-02 · on “Cormac McCarthy's Sideline: Freelance copy editor”
Worth a watch if you're interested in McCarthy: [this video] The gist is that he liked smart people. He was good friends with Murray Gell-Mann and others at The Santa Fe Institute. I absolutely think he "liked science," I don't think he was cynical about it, though I do see where you could pick that up in his writing. According to Gell-Mann, McCarthy knew a lot about 20th century physics...not in terms of math but in a "history of ideas" sense, i.e. where major physicists stood on various questions.