Kristjan's comments
(member since Dec 26, 2007)
Kristjan's comments from the SciFi and Fantasy Book Club group.
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Remember to mark topics and comments that may contain spoilers.
Remember to mark topics and comments that may contain spoilers.
Hagen wrote: "As far as the homonal changes (both fluctuational as well as long-term) you mentioned are concerned, such might have had an influence on people a long time ago, but since humankind developed higher brain functions these should to degrees 'override' these hormone-triggered behavioural patterns..."
I think you are overly optimistic here.
Postulating that brain power alone has the ability to override any behavior pattern ignores a significant amount of psychiatric research. Hormones, and other biological factors, are known to have a huge impact on behavior ... higher brain function or not.
Kernos wrote: "Personally I think a work needs to be in print for at least 100 years to be considered a 'classic', a much overused term, IMO. Is there a technical definition of a 'classic'?
I last read TLHOD whe..."
I wouldn't go quite that far ... personally it it survives for 3 generations (in other words, we see our children reading it ... i.e. 40-50 years after first publication), then it should be considered a classic. There are a lot of books that are candidates, but are not time tested yet.
Robin wrote: "Ya sometimes you have to avoid posts when you are "in process" just in case."
There are numerous blog applications that allow you to hide spoilers dynamically (so that the reader must actually click on an icon or a plus sign, etc.) The concept is not very difficult with modern browsers, so I must assume that GR has rejected such.
Marc wrote: "If you notice above, my original recommendation was with a question mark. It's very iffy, like a lot of C.S. Friedman's books..."
Thanks for reminding me ... I will second
Black Sun Rising by C.S. Friedman from post 18 by Jakub
Kathy wrote: "I am no artist, but I do like the cover to TCC, but I like Avempartha's more. It really does justice to the written description of the tower in the book."
Funny that ... my wife didn't like the cover art. she indicated that she would never have thought to even pick it up because of it. Her biggest complaint was that you couldn't tell that it was a medieval fantasy setting (the castle could easily be contemporary and there were no people on it).
I thought it was tastefully done; understated to be sure, but I kinda like that.
Kathy wrote: "I thought that Michael had an interesting twist to the typical elf stereotype when writing TCC. It's not often that elves are portrayed as weaklings and inferior to humans. It goes against every ..."
I did not see the elves as inferior to humans ... far from it. It was really only the half-breeds that were abandoned by one side and abused by the other (because of unsupported prejudice). Full-blood elves simply removed themselves from human society (pretty standard explaination actually).
Kathy wrote: "I'm embarrassed to ask. I'm no D&D'er. What's an NPC?"
Non-Player Character ... run by the Game Master instead of an individual.
Leslie wrote: "Thank you for doing that, Michael. It would have really bothered me--A LOT--if you hadn't explained it!"
Actually I would have preferred not to have it spelled out. It would have left more of a mystery about them that I rather enjoyed.
We seem to be missing a discussion leader ... so unless somebody else is willing to step up to the plate, this will be an open discussion ... feel free to add a new topic here with any question, statement and/or observation you wish to share about this book (especially if you are somebody who voted for it:)
, Robot is a collection of nine science fiction
Science fiction; which was your favorite of the group and what put it at the top:
* "Robbie"
* "Runaround
* "Reason
* "Catch that Rabbit
* "Liar!
* "Little Lost Robot
* "Escape!
* "Evidence
* "The Evitable Conflict
This Is Not The Michael You're Looking For wrote: "The polls would be a lot easier to deal with if someone would hide or delete the older, out-of-date polls. As it is, the "new" polls are buried in the middle of long list."
Agreed ... it would be nice to have that ability; however, until we get it, you also have the option to sort by newest poll instead of the apparent default of latest voted on.
I am not really a big fan of short stories, so I was thrilled that they turned this into a movie with one of my favorite actors. So ... book or movie ... which one did you like better and why?
Asimov is largely credited with introducing a basic moral code for artificially intelligent machines; this code is generally referred to as the Three Laws of Robotics:
1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm
2) A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Assuming that we can eventually develop an AI that could actually understand these rules, would they be enough? How does this square with where we see the greatest advances in AI technology today ... on the battlefield?
Brooke wrote: "Ha ha, Michael!
As soon as the mods create the folders, I'll get discussion started for The Crown Conspiracy."
You're on :)
Please mark all posts that may contain spoilers!
Please mark all posts that may contain spoilers!
Richard wrote: "...Jim Butcher's Storm Front discussed Sept 2008 isn't on listed on the Fantasy shelf, so slips through the cracks when viewing by category.
..."
That one definately slipped through the cracks (my bad) ... thank you for pointing it out for correction.
"...* Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End, was discussed April 2008, but apparently as the result of poll during the month?
This one was actually outside the normal book discussions schedule and did not really have a discussion leader; however, I have now added it to the book shelf as well.
Richard wrote: "I was trying to look up which book we read in which month, and it took quite a bit of digging to find out.
So I was thinking, can we get a folder that is read-only listing which books we read wh..."
If you look at the bottom of the group page, you will see the group book shelf. Each book that we have read is there with the date we read it. In addition, if you click "view" you will be taken to the discussion forum threads associated with that book.
SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
