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32nd out of 50 books
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86 voters
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The Einstein Intersection
by
Samuel R. Delany,
Neil Gaiman (Goodreads Author)
The Einstein Intersection won the Nebula Award for best science fiction novel of 1967. The surface story tells of the problems a member of an alien race, Lo Lobey, has assimilating the mythology of earth, where his kind have settled among the leftover artifacts of humanity. The deeper tale concerns, however, the way those who are "different" must deal with the do...more
Paperback, 136 pages
Published
July 15th 1998
by Wesleyan University Press
(first published 1967)
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This is the only book by Delany that I've ever cared for & I love it. He blends SF & mythology, a post-apocalyptic world filled with wonders & monsters. Our hero journeys through this world, discovering more about it, himself & the human race. He shows mankind's greatest failures & achievements through the eyes of something else. A very interesting read & re-read.
I read it again & although the words are very familiar after all these years, still they move me in different ways & m...more
I read it again & although the words are very familiar after all these years, still they move me in different ways & m...more
if neil stephenson wrote this book, it'd be 157,000,000 pages long. delany does it as a novella and somehow it contains the whole world.
i wish they'd let him keep the original title, though: a fabulous, formless darkness was much better.
i wish they'd let him keep the original title, though: a fabulous, formless darkness was much better.
Ian Farragher
marked it as do-not-have
Dude. I was about 3 chapters into this book and some guy flat out stole this book from me.
Nastyguy: 'Do you mind if I read this?'
Me: 'Yes, I'm reading it.'
Nastyguy: 'Can I take a look at it at least.'
Me: 'Ummm, okay. But I'm in the middle of it, so don't leave with it.'
Nastyguy: 'Okay.'
-- About 2 hours later, after Nastyguy leaves ---
Me: (searching all over) Did anybody see the book I was reading?
Sister: I think I saw Nastyguy lea...more
Nastyguy: 'Do you mind if I read this?'
Me: 'Yes, I'm reading it.'
Nastyguy: 'Can I take a look at it at least.'
Me: 'Ummm, okay. But I'm in the middle of it, so don't leave with it.'
Nastyguy: 'Okay.'
-- About 2 hours later, after Nastyguy leaves ---
Me: (searching all over) Did anybody see the book I was reading?
Sister: I think I saw Nastyguy lea...more
Wealhtheow
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Wealhtheow by:
Think Galactic book group
Shelves:
sci-fi
Lobey is a herder in a small village. Although they live a simple life, they live atop the ruins of a maze of tunnels filled with abandoned computers. Further, it seems that radiation and limited genetic diversity create so many mutations that the villagers hardly look human. Still, it's a quiet life. He and his childhood friend, Friza, are finally becoming romantic with each other when she apruptly, inexplicably, dies. Unwilling to accept her death, Lobey ventures outside his village and f...more
I'm not sure what to say about this book. It's one of those stories that, having read it, I know has changed me. But changed me how? That I do not know. I am different from having read this story. (that's actually quite an ironic statement, you'll get, if you read it!)
This is a very short story. Just 143 very short pages. It doesn't take much time at all to finish. But again, I know there's far more than 143 short pages of meaning lying here. I might just start to understand what thi...more
This is a very short story. Just 143 very short pages. It doesn't take much time at all to finish. But again, I know there's far more than 143 short pages of meaning lying here. I might just start to understand what thi...more
Yup, an oldy - but a goodie? It did win the Nebula, but that was back in the drug crazed sixties, man . . .
This book by Samuel R. Delany is certainly different than your run-of-the-mill science fiction.
It reminded me of a cross between A Canticle for Leibowitz, Chronicles of Amber and Robert Graves Greek Myths Part 1.
It has the flavor of being written in the psychodelic sixties, and even though I haven’t read a lot of Dick, I have a feeling this novel shares the sam...more
This book by Samuel R. Delany is certainly different than your run-of-the-mill science fiction.
It reminded me of a cross between A Canticle for Leibowitz, Chronicles of Amber and Robert Graves Greek Myths Part 1.
It has the flavor of being written in the psychodelic sixties, and even though I haven’t read a lot of Dick, I have a feeling this novel shares the sam...more
An enjoyable short novel, although I am not sure that I understood the end, or that you are particularly expected to. In a far future earth, mutations are so common that villages are divided between functional and non-functionals, the former suited for a productive life and the latter kept in "kages" until they meet most often early deaths. Lobey and Friza are both functional, but in addition they are "different," distinguished by extrasensory powers that also mark them for d...more
++++++++++++++++++++
Sep '09: i discovered a bunch of my What Do I Read Next? reviews from the mid-90s when i was on a serious SF-canon reading tear (and, apparently, averse to capital letters).
++++++++++++++++++++
Plot Summary: humans have become extinct or have moved on to other worlds and aliens have taken over our corporal forms; as such, the sentient beings of this time/location relive all the myths/legends/archetypes of interaction that plague/define human existenc...more
Sep '09: i discovered a bunch of my What Do I Read Next? reviews from the mid-90s when i was on a serious SF-canon reading tear (and, apparently, averse to capital letters).
++++++++++++++++++++
Plot Summary: humans have become extinct or have moved on to other worlds and aliens have taken over our corporal forms; as such, the sentient beings of this time/location relive all the myths/legends/archetypes of interaction that plague/define human existenc...more
Delany is totally fascinating. His hallucinogenic style, his obsession with orgies, his anti-transitions, which make you think you must have gotten knocked out for at least a few seconds...fascinating. But I think it's difficult to say how good he really is. Yes, he expresses such deep ideas in such beautiful language, but what does this mean? Do I like him because he is actually legitimately good or because his writing makes me feel all fuzzy inside, like the world finally makes sense? It doesn...more
Jessica
rated it
I give some Samuel Delany books 4 stars where I would give someone else 5, but only to be able to distinguish the whole-nother-plane ones like the einstein intersection, which gets its eerie effect by literalizing the impression that one's culture and language sometimes feel as though they might be a strange dead shell left by another people in another place. it uses that classic scifi trick that, in this alien world that humans colonized, the thing we refer to as a "dog" may turn out ...more
It is Earth, some ambiguous thousands of years after man has blown the coop for other worlds, and a new race has discovered the planet, populating it and living its mundane village and city lives and its fantastic myths – or, as well as it can, given the pounding it is taking from residual radioactivity. Our hero is Lobey, a young man, or something like one, with prehensile feet and toes and a way to get music out of a machete. Lobey is a village resident and sometime goatherd who falls in lo...more
Psychedelic 60s SF version of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, quite nicely done. The Orpheus character is sympathetic and well-realized, as is his demonic opponent, Kid Death. Eurydice is suitably beautiful, tragic and mysterious, but doesn't have much of a personality. Not a serious problem, however, since she's dead for most of the book.
Sorry, but I just don't get this book at all.
It seems to have been writen during that weird 60s psychedelic period, when spouting nonsense was in fashion!
I haven't the foggiest why this book is so feted: the plot (sic) goes no where, and you find yourself completely disinterested in the fate of Lobby; the book's central character.
I haven't quite reached the end yet, about another twenty pages to go, and to be honest the only reason I am bothering to finish it,...more
It seems to have been writen during that weird 60s psychedelic period, when spouting nonsense was in fashion!
I haven't the foggiest why this book is so feted: the plot (sic) goes no where, and you find yourself completely disinterested in the fate of Lobby; the book's central character.
I haven't quite reached the end yet, about another twenty pages to go, and to be honest the only reason I am bothering to finish it,...more
The imagery was brilliant, the descriptive quality, the inner-mind of Lo Lobey, stunning but the story…? It was prettily told but it would have helped if I’d known what the heck was going on.
Even knowing the background, the central core of thought that underlies this story of an alien people trying to make a new culture on a ruined Earth, long abandoned by humanity, using human myth to make sense of their lives, the plot consistently failed to make sense.
I know many – i...more
Even knowing the background, the central core of thought that underlies this story of an alien people trying to make a new culture on a ruined Earth, long abandoned by humanity, using human myth to make sense of their lives, the plot consistently failed to make sense.
I know many – i...more
This is one of those science fiction reads that takes almost as much to dissect as to read. In fact, it is very short - a novella - and the environment is so foreign that it takes time to get oriented, only to have the landscape change once again. It is however a playful book that presumes, in an almost Jungian way, that our myths and experiences write themselves into our future - or in this case an alien future - as archetypes and shadows. The playfulness occurs not only in having the charact...more
So much fun discussing this book with Think Galactic! There's a broad narrative where Lobey is on a quest to bring his love back from the dead, but Delaney's multi-layered writing and meanings seep out all over. This is a great book to ruminate over with others - we each brought our pieces of knowledge and insight about myths, beliefs, science... And the details are lovely - a flute (with 20 holes, not 10, since Lobey plays with his hands and his feet) that is also a weapon, carnivorous flowers ...more
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Lo compré porque estaba de oferta y el título me llamó la atención, pero me ha gustado bastante. Se llevó un Nébula en el 1968. Me imagino que para aquella época fue un tema muy nuevo. Para nosotros ya no tanto, pero el tratamiento es curioso. Trata sobre lo que quedará de la humanidad después de una catástrofe nuclear-medioambiental. La forma en que escribe Samuel R. Delany me ha recordado a William Gibson, salvando las distancias, claro.
Recomiendo leer el libro en una o dos sentadas ...more
Recomiendo leer el libro en una o dos sentadas ...more
And with this text, the SF journey thus began. I love this book so much I have 2 copies!
I had never read any Samuel R. Delany before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. And I don't think I was expecting this lyrical, mythical, entrancing science fiction. Delany weaves together new and old myths into a science fiction story about a race living the ruins humans left behind, trying on their lives and living out their stories until they work through them and can finally move on to their own.
This is not hard science fiction. There is no explanation of exactly how all this happen...more
This is not hard science fiction. There is no explanation of exactly how all this happen...more
Only finished this last night so it's still settling.
You know how you can see an object, learn every detail of it, and have plenty of vague but no one clear clue what it is? Delany uses that dissonance as part of this description of difference as experienced by those who are different in this journey from the limits of perception to the management of an excess of possibility.
It's definitely one of Delany's denser reads despite its short length. Good to be getting back to his ...more
You know how you can see an object, learn every detail of it, and have plenty of vague but no one clear clue what it is? Delany uses that dissonance as part of this description of difference as experienced by those who are different in this journey from the limits of perception to the management of an excess of possibility.
It's definitely one of Delany's denser reads despite its short length. Good to be getting back to his ...more
I didn’t read this novel that long ago, yet I can't really remember what it is about. Now that I think of it, for some reason it kind of reminded of me of Vonda McIntyre's "Dreamsnake" but I'm not sure why.
I think it's because they both involve a quest in a post-apocalyptic Earth. In both books the antagonist is some sort of mutant. In "Einstein" everyone is a mutant.
I can't believe it won the Nebula in 1967, it must of been slim pickings that year....more
I think it's because they both involve a quest in a post-apocalyptic Earth. In both books the antagonist is some sort of mutant. In "Einstein" everyone is a mutant.
I can't believe it won the Nebula in 1967, it must of been slim pickings that year....more
This is the first Delaney novel I've read in probably 25 or more years. Some of the same mystical qualities I'd gotten used to in Dhalgren and Babel-17 were nostalgically evident here. Interesting if obscure characters and a post-apocalyptic scenario that asks more questions than it answers. In other words, typical Delaney. Enjoyable for all that.
Garbled, psychedelic post-apocalyptic science fiction. Each chapter is headed with several quotes from poems, philosophical texts and the author's journal kept during the writing of the novel, for no apparent reason. The few cohenrent glimpses it gives us of the world being described are tantalising, but it seems to think it has something deep to say about myths and psychology, although I can't make out what that is, exactly.
I had great fun reading this novel. The writing style was unique and kept me interested.
It was fascinating looking at humans through another creature's eyes. I was tickled pink by the Great Rock and the Great Roll, and the ways all this stuff was taken.
I was a touch confused at the end with how it all came together and who people really were, but I took it a bit like the end of V for Vendetta.
It was fascinating looking at humans through another creature's eyes. I was tickled pink by the Great Rock and the Great Roll, and the ways all this stuff was taken.
I was a touch confused at the end with how it all came together and who people really were, but I took it a bit like the end of V for Vendetta.
Not science fiction at all. What little science is mostly wrong. Fantasy. Pretty good fantasy.
Award winning? Further proof of what I call the emperor's clothes syndrome. As I've said elsewhere, SF got silly toward the end of the 60s. Some folks liked it, and like it still. Not I.
Really good--if inappropriate for the supposed education level of the speakers--dialogue. Great word choice.
Award winning? Further proof of what I call the emperor's clothes syndrome. As I've said elsewhere, SF got silly toward the end of the 60s. Some folks liked it, and like it still. Not I.
Really good--if inappropriate for the supposed education level of the speakers--dialogue. Great word choice.
Best first paragraph:
"There is a hollow, holey cylinder running from hilt to point in my machete. When I blow across the mouthpiece in the handle, I make music with my blade. When all the holes are covered, the sound is sad, as rough as rough can be and be called smooth. When all the holes are open, the sound pipes about, bringing to the eye flakes of sun on water, crushed metal. There are twenty holes. And since I have been playing music I've been called all different kinds of fool--more t...more
My first Samuel R. Delany book, and his second-best in my opinion (Dahlgren is No. 1). Steeped in ancient and modern-day mythology, this tale takes place after humans have disappeared from the earth. Where have they gone? not important. What's important is now an alien race has inhabited the earth and they are trying to become human by adopting our culture. They interpret things we left behind, and in so doing, give a radical perspective on humankind. A great book for readers interested in...more
If this is meant to be an imaginative retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth with a sci-fi bent and heavy doses of allusion to disparate classic elements, then I got it and enjoyed it. If not, I'm lost and confused.
Not at all a favorite of mine, but it's relatively short (but pretty dense) and enjoyable. Though it doesn't follow the usual story format, it's enjoyable if you favor the hero's journey as a trope, you'll probably enjoy this novel. Just don't look for a definable ...more
Not at all a favorite of mine, but it's relatively short (but pretty dense) and enjoyable. Though it doesn't follow the usual story format, it's enjoyable if you favor the hero's journey as a trope, you'll probably enjoy this novel. Just don't look for a definable ...more
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Samuel Ray Delany, Jr. (born April 1, 1942, New York City) is an award-winning American science fiction author. He has written works that have garnered substantial critical acclaim, including the novels Babel-17, The Einstein Intersection (winners of the Nebula Award for 1966 and 1967 respectively), Nova, Hogg, Dhalgren, and the Return to Nevèrÿon series. Since January 2001 he has been a professor...more
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