reviews
Jul 02, 2011
Mark
rated it: 
To be honest, I’m not sure I get it. Great fun. What is especially impressive is the way the long passages on living with the tribe of the Xemahoa in Brazil, pull you into their way of thinking so that we Westerners are the ones that feel alien. Though not as much as the aliens themselves, who are really weird.
In the end, Kayapi brings ambition and corruption to the mythos-language of the Xemahoa. Does it matter? In the end, the language brain-boosting drugs of Sole create insanity. (I More...
In the end, Kayapi brings ambition and corruption to the mythos-language of the Xemahoa. Does it matter? In the end, the language brain-boosting drugs of Sole create insanity. (I More...
Mar 13, 2011
Manny
rated it: 
Not really science-fiction, more linguistics-fiction - if you're a linguist who is the least bit interested in SF, this is a must, whether or not it happens to make sense. Super-intelligent aliens arrive on Earth in a giant spaceship. Their mission is find visitors from another dimension ("The Change Speakers"), who visited them long ago and then suddenly disappeared. They have some deep mystical significance for the aliens, which is never properly explained.
Somehow, the s More...
Somehow, the s More...
5 comments
like
(6 people liked it)
Jan 29, 2012
Teresa
rated it:
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/10368605
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/10368605
Jan 29, 2012
Ubik
rated it:
Well...I just read it...and my initial review is thus: I think that it started out great, but it went in too many directions at once and never really developed ay of them all that well. Im left assuming a lot of things, filling in the gaps, and things were sort of rushed at the end. I wanted there to be more about language; examples, more explanations, outcomes, etc. I also think that the characters could have been drawn better as well; I never really got to know any of them. That all said, it k
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Oct 03, 2011
Pedro
rated it: 
JG Ballard: ... I can't think of anybody who's had the same impact on me that Ian Watson has. I found _The Embedding_ tremendously exciting to read, particularly as it begins in a very quiet way and then suddenly -- wham! Particularly as I knew nothing about him beforehand. I'd read a marvellous article by him, about Japan, in the old _New Worlds_, which was brilliantly written.
Jan 03, 2011
I got this because it sounded like it had interesting ideas about language, but I think I didn't finish it because it seemed really dated.
As a feminist, it's kind of hard to read older SF sometimes. It was what it was, we stand on the shoulders of giants and all that, but sometimes I just can't.
As a feminist, it's kind of hard to read older SF sometimes. It was what it was, we stand on the shoulders of giants and all that, but sometimes I just can't.
Nov 20, 2010
Taueret
rated it:
I don't think I am smart enough to really understand or appreciate this book? I think it probably belongs in the 4 stars category (good and Good) but my lack of ability to make the leap between the said and the unsaid probably rendered it less comprehensible than it ought to have done.
Jan 15, 2011
Joe
rated it:
A bit mental. I enjoyed it but it was a bit strange and some plot points were a bit strange. Fun overall.One for language geeks too.
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