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A Fire Upon the Deep (Zones of Thought, #1)

Vernor Vinge

Start date: July 1, 2017

Finish date: July 24, 2017

Discussion: Book Discussions

Why we're reading this: Group classic novel discussion July 2017
Hugo Award Winner 1993 (tie)
#93 on NPR's Top 100 SF/F novels of a…more
[close] Group classic novel discussion July 2017
Hugo Award Winner 1993 (tie)
#93 on NPR's Top 100 SF/F novels of all time (2011 poll) http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/1390858...
#27 on Locus Magazines Best SciFi novels of the 20th century http://www.locusmag.com/2012/AllCentu...

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What Members Thought

Nov 29, 2011 Bee rated it really liked it

Shelves: space-opera, reread

[REREAD EDIT]

I loved this book. It's just... such good science fiction. I loved it a lot more the second time around. Great premise, amazing aliens, wonderful worlds, not too bad characters. Just... great scifi.

Now on to the next one!

Hmm... Listened to this as an audiobook. It's been a long journey. I have to admit to having enjoyed http://www.goodreads.com/search?q=A+D... much more than this. Yet I cannot figure out why, this book is certainly more exciting with much cooler tech, a much more d ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Dec 09, 2009 Jack Massa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy-science-fiction

Greatest science fiction novel ever?

It took me almost 3 months to read this epic. It is so full of deep and challenging ideas that every 20 pages felt like a full meal, which I needed time to digest.

And frankly, I wished for about 30 more IQ points, which I felt would have helped me appreciate the book even better. Because Vinge is way smarter than me, and he's doing something very, very hard here: writing about intelligences far beyond current human level, in a setting that spans vast stretche ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Apr 13, 2010 Frank rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Given this was written in 1992 I was pleasantly surprised how well it has stood up to the passage of time. Some fascinating races, cultures and ideas. I plan to read the other books in the Zones of Thought series someday.

Before reading this, you might want to take a look at the Setting portion of the wikipedia entry for the book.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fire_... ...more

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