Random’s Comments (group member since Apr 30, 2009)

Random’s comments from the Beyond Reality group.

Stefan wrote: "I just read it. It's a beautiful and strange modern fable. I very much enjoyed it. I think the key sentence is "Every action creates opportunities. Every action limits your choices.""

That line was the one that stood out in my mind as I read.

As for memorabilia and the memories they contain, I've never quite comprehended the concept. I guess I'm just not a "stuff" person. The memories I hold dear never fade.

Pictures are especially boggling for me. I can understand photography for the sake of art, but not for the sake of people. I can't count how many times I have been stuck looking at "And this is us in front of ". They're all the same. The same people lined up just the same, in front of some location you can't really see because of the people lined up with plastic smiles. To be honest, most of the time the people showing me these countless pictures barely ever remember what they were standing in front of in the first place. :)

I know I'm not the only one, my mother is the same.

While I do enjoy photography as a hobby, I almost never take pictures of people or man made things. I just never find them interesting I guess. :)

I currently use the HTC HD2, which is a little larger display size from my coworker's iphone. I find the size is perfect, any larger and it would be too big.

When I first started using ereaders (over 10 years ago now) my first objection was display size, but after a small amount of time (within the first book) I found that it didn't bother me at all. While you tend to turn pages more often, I find myself doing so while barely noticing what I'm doing.

While I have nothing against dedicated readers, I personally won't buy one. I have a thing about devices I own needing to be multipurpose. I don't like to carry much stuff with me.

Peterb wrote: "Paper books can bite me."

That added a good laugh to my morning. :)

I can completely agree. Anymore I'm almost strictly digital in one form or another, only going to paper when I've no other option. Even then, I tend to drag my feet on those in the hopes that if I wait a digital edition will show up.

I believe the release date was initially in November but got moved a couple of months ago.

Wow, I feel rather tame when in comparison to the rest of you. :D

I rarely buy a book unless I expect to read it rather soon. I'm not much of a shopper so I rarely spend time in stores. I've never been sensation driven, so the feel/smell, etc of books doesn't do much for me.

I've gone primarily digital. I do have close to half a TB of digitized audio books on a dedicated NAS unit running Raid5. A good sized portion of those were digitized from old audio cassettes. (I made a major haul one summer with old audio books at estate sales.)

A couple points that might help me save face...

I can't walk past book shelves in someone's house without looking at what's in there.

As a teen, my favorite place to spend my summer days was a back corner on the third floor of the down town branch of the public library. I really miss that library.

Between ebooks and audio books, I always have a library of books with me whenever I leave the house. Current count: 22 ebooks, 8 audio. (I don't store all of my ebooks on my device, just the ones I'm actively reading, ones I plan on reading very soon, ones I'm trying to guilt myself into reading, or ones I've read but been too lazy to remove.)

I choose cell phones based upon how well they work as an ereader. I buy MP3 players based upon how well they work with audio books. (I highly recommend the Sansa Clip+ with the latest firmware.) I buy purses just big enough to hold those 2 devices, a small wallet, and a handful of thumb drives......and a screwdriver. Don't ask me why the screwdriver. Its a geek thing. If you don't already understand, no amount of explaining will help. :)

One of the deciding factors on the last car I bought was an Aux In jack so I could easily hook up my MP3 player to the car stereo for audio books.

I have the audio of Cryoburn and had just started (first chapter) when I got sideswiped by an unannounced major end story spoiler on a blog. Now I'm having serious problems getting the motivation to continue. *sigh*

I have the audio books, so like Sandi I didn't realize there was a glossary.

As others have mentioned, I never had any issues with the language. Context was efficient at explaining what the various words mean.

I could have used a character list. I kept loosing track of who was who when it came to the more uncommon characters. :)

Janny wrote: "Just finished.

The language didn't bother me. I actually came to enjoy the challenge. By the time I got into the swing of it, it added a lot of atmosphere - you never, conceptually, forgot you wer..."

Nice summary. :) You laid out every reason why I like this book so much.

I'll third Night Watch. It sounds interesting.

I'll toss out Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Forward again for Science Fiction.

I started and completed The Last Wish over the weekend. I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I thought I might. I'm definitely going to have to read Blood of Elves now. Pity the rest of the series hasn't been translated into English yet.

Hirondelle wrote: "I think the milenarians, Apert always coincides with a convox. "

I believe so. If I remember right, the dictionary is also updated at this time.

Our point of view in this story was from the viewpoint of Erasmas, one who has spent the last ten years isolated in the Mathic world. While he has plenty of memories of what it is like outside of the Math, his perceptions are certainly biased.

Early in the book I was given the impression that the world was populated primarily by dolts who were really barely functional and mostly illiterate. As the book went on, however, and Erasmas was exposed more and more to life extramuros, that initial picture changed. What about the rest of you? What is your perception of the saecular society?

From comments in other threads I know I'm not the only one who has seen parallels to our own society. What stands out the most for you?

Glad this has turned into an interesting discussion. :)

Research IRL, even of the theoretical variety, doesn't necessarily happen in isolation. One set of researchers in one location will build upon the research done by others in another location.

With the Maths isolated even from other Maths (except for Apert which only lasts for 2 weeks), there is little to no input even from their peers in other locations.

They do have the advantage of time if I'm remembering the time line correctly, which may make up for the sporadic communications. They also probably benefit from a pleasurable lack of distractions other than the basic day to day necessities.

I'm currently reading/listening to Gil's All Fright Diner. The mindless humor has been soothing since my gray matter is currently being pulled in too many directions for me to handle well. :)

I also won Terry Pratchett's I Shall Wear Midnight in a Firstreads giveaway. I'm hoping it will show up soon. I am such a Discworld addict. :)

Candiss wrote: "I was a little iffy on the choice, worried the hard sf elements would put off some"

I hope that doesn't mean we won't get a chance to try out some Hard SF? :)

Marty wrote: "I believe that sometimes someone standing up and saying this is wrong in a big public way can change public opinion and move the world. Like Ghandi, like MLK, Jr. Putting yourself out there willin..."


I have to agree. The statement of itself, the action is important. The character's actions may not have an immediate affect, but it can in the minds of those who were witness to it. It can affect their opinions and their future actions.

Once thing I have wondered about after first reading this book is the feasibility of any scientific advancement when society is separated from the science itself.

My main concern is the idea that advances can be made in a virtual vacuum. Society has been driven by scientific advances, but those advances are more often than not driven by needs and events that happen around us.

What do you all think?

Slowing them down is I think an accurate description. I got the impression the sacks were mainly caused by fear of the things that were happening in the maths. Afterwards they would be forbidden to develop the various technologies/abilities.

This would trigger a sack where the consents were attacked, destroyed, avout killed, etc. If I remember right, after the third sack, all Maths were vacant for something like 70 years (except for the three inviolate).

During the Praxic age, scholars, etc lived and worked among the saecular. It was a time of great advancements. Then there were the Terrible Events which lead to a lot of destruction and the Maths were recreated in the aftermath. I don't believe its known whether this was due to the will of the scholars or if they were forced there by the saecular world.

The Maths have always had a seductive charm for me. The dialogs Orlo would have with the others remind me of rambling conversations we would have in my college days, often when it was so late it was early.

I have to admit, I find the idea of being able to pursue theoretical ideas and concepts free of the major annoyances referred to as my fellow man very appealing.

I spend too much of my time anymore being scolded by users because the difference between right click and left click is too difficult for them to manage. Or the inability for them to actually read an error message. "No John, I'm very positive the error message did not say 'You can't do that' and no I am not going to drive all the way over there just because you seem to be too stupid to read text if it is displayed on a computer screen." OK, maybe not the last part, but I often dream about it. :D

And here is where I stop before I go into a frothing rant and end up needing to be committed. :)

Sandra aka Sleo wrote: "Wow! That was a real pleasure. The story unfolds in its becoming. Beautiful."

Nice choice to start us off.

A good example of how short stories can compress a theme to a poignant impression.

Sandra, I love your phrasing. :)

Ran across this recently.
http://www.mikebrotherton.com/diamond...

Its a collection of short stories by various authors edited by Mike Brotherton. Its available online or downloadable as ebook in various formats. A few of the descriptions looked interesting.