next »

[saibot216]

Looking For Jake And Other Stories by China Miéville

[paste]

Several years ago, I tried reading Neuromancer, but it just didn't click with me for some reason. I either just didn't like the noir feel of it, or else I just wasn't able to embrace it with all the words that Gibson made up. Anyway, I started reading it again recently and after pushing through the initial part, I got used to it and I'm really warming up to it. I'm at the part right now where he first made contact with the AI and it's get really exciting. Glad I stuck with it this time.

[Brother Android]

and then if I can get my hands on it, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

This might be one of the best things you ever do. I think it is probably the finest science fiction novel ever written.

I've been reading more than usual lately. Has anyone here read any of the memoirs of Antoine de Saint Exupery (the guy who wrote The Little Prince)? I finished Wind, Sand and Stars a while ago and started Flight to Arras pretty recently. The guy is a brilliant prose writer even in translation, and as an aviator who was eerily at peace with death, his perspective on life is really interesting. I'm surprised that his books other than The Little Prince seem not to have endured all that well.

[C.A. Sinner]

and then if I can get my hands on it, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

This might be one of the best things you ever do. I think it is probably the finest science fiction novel ever written.

Disagree. I don't even think it's Philip K Dick's best. Still very good tho.

Btw @James McCloud: Don't go in expecting Blade Runner in book form.

[C.D Buckmaster]

I started reading Ham on Rye by Bukowski, read more than half of it in a single day, it's a pretty addictive read.

[James McCloud]

and then if I can get my hands on it, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

This might be one of the best things you ever do. I think it is probably the finest science fiction novel ever written.

Disagree. I don't even think it's Philip K Dick's best. Still very good tho.

Btw @James McCloud: Don't go in expecting Blade Runner in book form.

That's what I've heard.  I'm looking forward to it though.  Heard it's so much better.

[Tumetsu]

I just read the "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" after seeing people to hype it up here. I think it was interesting and all, and perhaps I'm just dum but I didn't think it as anything too special. Perhaps it is just that I prefer my scifi with spaceships and space exploration (though realistically). And probably some of his metaphorical aspects flew partially over my head, like mercerism (though I think I understood the idea how it was related to androids, Buster and empathy). But still I think it was good.

[charlestheoaf]

Speaking of classic sci-fi, I'm currently reading through Lem's Solaris again. I think this may be my favorite novel. It is certainly one of the most impactful novels that I have read.

Recently, a new English translation was released, but only in audiobook form. The translation was great, but I'm not much into audiobooks, and the reader was pretty cheesy (particularly when he tried to "act out" the voice of each character). I hope they print this new translation soon!

Either way, I'd say the book is a worthy read, but certain parts that felt a little boring before seemed to have been improved upon in the new translation.

[C.A. Sinner]

solaris is great yeah. it's absolutely above and beyond all other books about alien life i've read. i always wondered whether snaut's (called "snow" in the english translation i think) monolog about how humans don't actually want to see other worlds but essentially want to see the earth in slightly different form was lem taking a jab at other sci fi authors who mostly depict aliens as humanoid. aside from probably being a true statement lol.

the tarkovsky movie is worth seeing as well (forget the soderbergh version).

[Capntastic]

sci fi authors who mostly depict aliens as humanoid

One of Lem's contemporaries (I can't recall if they ever worked together), Ivan Yefremov, posits in Cor Serpentis that any alien life form advanced enough to attain space travel would have to have somewhat similar physiology and psychology, as well as a coherent, peaceful social structure (aka communism).  Ergo, any alien lifeform would be, essentially, human.  It is a very well executed concept, with the language and tone changing from "we met aliens" to "we met humans from another world" as the story progresses.

(Of note is the fact that there's no FTL travel in the story, so it's basically decided that any inter-planetary communication with their new space comrades is going to be a centuries long game of phone tag.)

[charlestheoaf]

solaris is great yeah. it's absolutely above and beyond all other books about alien life i've read. i always wondered whether snaut's (called "snow" in the english translation i think) monolog about how humans don't actually want to see other worlds but essentially want to see the earth in slightly different form was lem taking a jab at other sci fi authors who mostly depict aliens as humanoid. aside from probably being a true statement lol.

the tarkovsky movie is worth seeing as well (forget the soderbergh version).

I agree (and actually, in the new audiobook translation, they do call him "Snout", which surprised me). I never thought about his monologue as referring to other sci-fi books, but it makes perfect sense, especially considering how vocal Lem was with his criticism of other (mostly American) sci-fi authors.

I just ordered the Tarkovsky film, actually.

Sinclair: That would be interesting to check out, though I would imagine that there is still some "Earth chauvinism" going on in the author's proposition. But, to go in line with that hypothesis, it's worth noting that Solaris was not the traveler, we humans were. (of course, apparently it can affect it's own orbit, so perhaps it could also possess (or evolve to possess) the ability to escape the gravity well of its solar system and travel that way.

[Shackhal]

The Complete Stories Vol. 2 by Isaac Asimov

[Nix]

*Isaac

[Shackhal]

*Isaac

  My bad. Thanks for checking my mistake.

[C.D Buckmaster]

After blazing through two Bukowski novels, I'm now reading "We Never Make Mistakes" by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, which contains "Incident at Krechetovka Station" and "Matryona's House".

I still find myself being caught off guard by Russian names as the book will refer to one character by one name, and character's will refer to him/her by another.  It's even worse when you throw in the character's third name.