Science Fiction
Discussion
jmorgan said:
... signs up for cryo freezing firm when he dies ... Wakes up sometime in the future...... as an AI to control probes sent to the stars.
That sounds very similar to Larry Niven's "World out of Time" (1976) except his personality is transferred into the body of a "wiped" criminal when he's unfrozen in the distant future, and sent off to pilot a ramship seeking earthlike worldsNimby said:
jmorgan said:
... signs up for cryo freezing firm when he dies ... Wakes up sometime in the future...... as an AI to control probes sent to the stars.
That sounds very similar to Larry Niven's "World out of Time" (1976) except his personality is transferred into the body of a "wiped" criminal when he's unfrozen in the distant future, and sent off to pilot a ramship seeking earthlike worlds
Add that to my reading list anyway.
Edit. Just looked up on wiki, start is the same, about it though.
Edited by jmorgan on Monday 7th August 17:48
I recently finished "Seven Eves" by Neal Stephenson
First off, I am a big fan of his work and Snow Crash is a favourite book of mine, but my goodness what a mess this book is.
It reads like a long Shaggy Dog story to get to the punchline of the title. He spends pages and pages on the minutiae of orbital mechanics, which to even someone with a degree in Applied Physics (which I have) felt excessive and overly detailed, and then glosses over loads of improbable science with hand-wavy "never mind about that" dismissal.
Likewise loads of narrative is simply omitted, and there is rather a lot of "tell don't show" too, inasmuch as for example we are told that a piece of information has come from a chap in a space suit drifting away without hope of rescue but still in radio contact, but we never hear the conversation. It's just mentioned in passing. And we're told that Doob fell in love and married but never get to see much evidence of it. In fact a lot of the book is like that - we're told that stuff happened but it feels like he can't actually be arsed to tell us about it so just waves his arms a bit and says "away, some stuff happened".
It's like in Revenge of the Sith where we are told via a conversation that Annakin and Obi Wan have had great adventures together and saved each other's arses several times, but see little or no evidence of it in their interactions together on screen.
Anyway, overall it was a fairly disappointing book. And frankly the whole "5000 years later" belongs in a separate book along with the rest of the story from that era which simply... stops.
Like with Cryptonomicon, Stephenson really doesn't seem to know how to end a book even though he makes them thick enough to club baby seals to death with.
Frankly I'm not really sure how I stuck with it to the end, but I did.
Right now I'm reading Starship Troopers which I bought on Kindle for 99p. Ironically it wasn't as a result of this thread as I've only just joined it!
First off, I am a big fan of his work and Snow Crash is a favourite book of mine, but my goodness what a mess this book is.
It reads like a long Shaggy Dog story to get to the punchline of the title. He spends pages and pages on the minutiae of orbital mechanics, which to even someone with a degree in Applied Physics (which I have) felt excessive and overly detailed, and then glosses over loads of improbable science with hand-wavy "never mind about that" dismissal.
Likewise loads of narrative is simply omitted, and there is rather a lot of "tell don't show" too, inasmuch as for example we are told that a piece of information has come from a chap in a space suit drifting away without hope of rescue but still in radio contact, but we never hear the conversation. It's just mentioned in passing. And we're told that Doob fell in love and married but never get to see much evidence of it. In fact a lot of the book is like that - we're told that stuff happened but it feels like he can't actually be arsed to tell us about it so just waves his arms a bit and says "away, some stuff happened".
It's like in Revenge of the Sith where we are told via a conversation that Annakin and Obi Wan have had great adventures together and saved each other's arses several times, but see little or no evidence of it in their interactions together on screen.
Anyway, overall it was a fairly disappointing book. And frankly the whole "5000 years later" belongs in a separate book along with the rest of the story from that era which simply... stops.
Like with Cryptonomicon, Stephenson really doesn't seem to know how to end a book even though he makes them thick enough to club baby seals to death with.
Frankly I'm not really sure how I stuck with it to the end, but I did.
Right now I'm reading Starship Troopers which I bought on Kindle for 99p. Ironically it wasn't as a result of this thread as I've only just joined it!
Nimby said:
jmorgan said:
... signs up for cryo freezing firm when he dies ... Wakes up sometime in the future...... as an AI to control probes sent to the stars.
That sounds very similar to Larry Niven's "World out of Time" (1976) except his personality is transferred into the body of a "wiped" criminal when he's unfrozen in the distant future, and sent off to pilot a ramship seeking earthlike worlds
havoc said:
In all seriousness I think the film is an underrated classic and lots of sci-fi buffs agree. The book is decent too and isn't much like the film at all tbh except for the basic premise so you'll probably get on with it better than the film.
Oh and thanks to jmorgan for recommending We are legion (We are bob). Got it a couple of days ago and can't put it down.
I've been reading 'Angel in the Whirlwind' series by Chris Nuttall (after reading some of the Ark Royal series) and its pretty engaging. It's like a cut down/simpler version of the excellent Honor Harrington series so worth checking out if you like that type of thing.
The Scrapyard ship series is another similar idea, also an excellent series.
The Scrapyard ship series is another similar idea, also an excellent series.
ClockworkCupcake said:
I recently finished "Seven Eves" by Neal Stephenson
Me too!Preferred the first "half" set in the near future - very realistic, clearly technically knowledgeable, entirely believable (except the central disaster premise, which I thought was touch contrived).
Second "half" I felt was constructed just to make the central point, and "got away from him a bit", with lots of things happening just to move the story along without any real thread.
JonChalk said:
Me too!
Preferred the first "half" set in the near future - very realistic, clearly technically knowledgeable, entirely believable (except the central disaster premise, which I thought was touch contrived).
Second "half" I felt was constructed just to make the central point, and "got away from him a bit", with lots of things happening just to move the story along without any real thread.
Part 1 (the point up to which the 'Hard Rain' started) was good enough, and the science of the runaway chain reaction of collisions causing more collisions is grounded in fact (in fact it's a very real concern). It rather descended into cack from that point onwards though, and became ever more implausible. And apart from Doob losing his eyesight a little, completely ignored the long term effects of weightlessness on the human body despite having banged on about it earlier in the book.Preferred the first "half" set in the near future - very realistic, clearly technically knowledgeable, entirely believable (except the central disaster premise, which I thought was touch contrived).
Second "half" I felt was constructed just to make the central point, and "got away from him a bit", with lots of things happening just to move the story along without any real thread.
By contrast, Part 3 (the '5000 years later' part) was actually more enjoyable for me, if you accept the rather silly eugenics conceit. There was far less hand-wavey glossing over of the science in that, mainly because it was far more speculative.
I think it would have been slightly less silly had it been 1000 years later though - it would have made the race of Diggers more plausible.
I really don't think it was one of his better books.
Edit: I really think the whole book was one huge shaggy dog story with the title of the book as the punchline though.
Edited by ClockworkCupcake on Tuesday 8th August 21:25
jmorgan said:
Tried that. Had to get through the three (?) books but the style was grindingly annoying, but the story kept me going. Do they improve? (hi other tomes of course and the sort of follow ons).
I gave up as well, not sure how far I got. The angel books are better.I picked up We Are Legion yesterday, really enjoying it so far. Also got StarShip Troopers (best film ever!) but not started it yet.
ozzuk said:
I picked up We Are Legion yesterday, really enjoying it so far. Also got StarShip Troopers (best film ever!) but not started it yet.
We are Legion is surprisingly good isn't it, really wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much but I've almost finished it as I can't seem to put it down. It definitely has that I have to see what happens next factor.As for the ST movie, at last someone who is talking sense, it's a classic I tells ya.
(Just don't watch 2 or 3, seriously even if it's to satisfy your curiosity, just don't)
Oliver James said:
A really short, very approachable Sci-Fi book I'm fond of is Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein. Many of you have seen the film, which by the way, I think is cheesy in all the best ways and a cult classic. The book has NOTHING to do with the film. I can't express that enough.
The book is a short story told through the eyes of a soldier in the future. It's half a philosophical piece on the nature of war and the function of soldiers and half a rich narrative, telling of a salt of the earth guy calling the world as he sees it. This book is mandatory reading for the US officers in training at Westpoint, as well as that, it had a huge influence on the reshaping of the US military. In the novel Heinlein, who served in the navy for most of his life, talks of the benefits of having a small volunteer force as oppose to a larger conscripted one. Some really interesting ideas about nationstates and the right to govern are debated in this seemingly simple Sci-Fi tale.
TL:DR = Its a really good book, entertaining, unique and legitimately thought provoking. What is the value of one man's life? Read the book and Heinlein might just make you change your answer
I think of Starship Troopers as the morality and ethics of being in the military, and then of becoming an officer. In a similar vein, my favorite Robert Heinlein book is The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. It is kind of the morality and ethics of starting a revolution. TANSTAAFL!The book is a short story told through the eyes of a soldier in the future. It's half a philosophical piece on the nature of war and the function of soldiers and half a rich narrative, telling of a salt of the earth guy calling the world as he sees it. This book is mandatory reading for the US officers in training at Westpoint, as well as that, it had a huge influence on the reshaping of the US military. In the novel Heinlein, who served in the navy for most of his life, talks of the benefits of having a small volunteer force as oppose to a larger conscripted one. Some really interesting ideas about nationstates and the right to govern are debated in this seemingly simple Sci-Fi tale.
TL:DR = Its a really good book, entertaining, unique and legitimately thought provoking. What is the value of one man's life? Read the book and Heinlein might just make you change your answer
Nimby said:
Yes one of the best. But Heinlein also wrote some dreadful rubbish too - I nominated "Number of the Beast" in the "worst book you ever read" thread.
I'm really glad to hear this, because until Starship Troopers the only book by Heinlein I had read was Number of the Beast and I thought it was absolutely pants and never finished it. I got that it was making loads of shout outs to other books, and in-jokes, so I let that pass, it was just the writing style that annoyed me and put me off Heinlein. I have a copy of Friday sat on the shelf that I have never read. Worth trying?
Edited by ClockworkCupcake on Wednesday 9th August 18:18
Gassing Station | Books and Literature | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff