June 2018 "Tau Zero" Discussion <No Spoilers>

[Art, Stay home, stay safe.]

Group Read #9

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

Just FYI I won't be reading this because the libary doesn't have it, it's $20 to buy in kindle, and I will read all the others. See ya!

[Oleksandr, a.k.a. Acorn]

Started it yesterday, read about 1/3 (it is quite short). First impression - it is a mix of popular physics of a flight at relativistic velocities and soap opera. While the language is almost poetic, it didn't grab me, world-building is nice but we move so fast to te flight itself that it cannot shine as it should

[Bryan, Village Idiot]

I started this yesterday and I'm probably 25% through it. So far, I like the science, but I don't like the human interactions. I also really hate how Mr. Anderson writes female characters. That is all for now.

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

I got 40% of the way through before I got interested and now I am at 50% liking it. I hope to finish today.

I agree, Mr. Anderson really cannot write good female characters even for that long ago. But I always try to consider the age of the book when I am annoyed by this issue--to put it aside and just enjoy.

I'm the opposite of Bryan. I am mostly reading the human interactions and skimming the science. This novel's SF science explanations are some of the least "attention-keeping" of any I have ever read.

Even though he had a problem with women characters too, Heinlein wrote MUCH better human interactions and science explanations in books with similar issues. See Starman Jones and Time for the Stars, which Tau Zero keeps reminding me of, in spots.

[Oleksandr, a.k.a. Acorn]

the book improves after the first third or so. I think Anderson had nice female characters in Three Hearts and Three Lions

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

I thought he had a good female character in Operation Chaos, but it was unlike his other books, I thought. One in that group is (if I remember right) co-written with his wife.

I have not tried Three Hearts and Three Lions. I will have to.

I must say that Heinlein got better about female characters as times changed, so probably other old men of Science Fiction got a lot better as they aged and times changed, also. But I don't like the women in this book. The 1st officer just doesn't ring true to me. Also, there's that whiny woman.

But maybe it is just not the female characters. Will not discuss in this no-spoilers thread.

I'm still at 50%. Some days I just don't get time to read.

[Art, Stay home, stay safe.]

I agree with many points that have already been stated. Can't say I am a big fan of sloppy plots set in space, also I do not remember who said it (Oleksander, me thinks) about colonists acting like characters out of a soap opera. In my opinion there is way too much booze, general carousing and hooking up going on, considering that it's the best and the brightest we are talking about. Whatever you can say about any sort of astronaut, it ain't going to be the lack of discipline and nerves of steel.

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

Yes, Art, I think you have hit on it! They just aren't acting as we would expect finely chosen astronaut scientists to act, even at the beginning

They are not acting like the best of the best. And the psych profiles? Gotta wonder what the selection committees were thinking. I remember Heinlein in Stranger in a Strange Land talked about how carefully they chose people so that they couldn't even find matches, and that was just to Mars . . .

[Art, Stay home, stay safe.]

Kateblue wrote: "Yes, Art, I think you have hit on it! They just aren't acting as we would expect finely chosen astronaut scientists to act, even at the beginning

They are not acting like the best of the best. And..."

It's just that there's too much 60's and 70's in the book it does not really feel like a space opera, more like a soap opera to be honest. Drinking white wine by the pool on a ship traveling at the speed of light to colonise a new world just does not work for me...

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

Art said "Drinking white wine by the pool . . . "

LOL! I agree. But they have to do SOMETHING for fun. The real problem I have with drinking wine by the pool is twofold.

1) If you laze around now, will you want to live with the deprivations on the new world? If they can have wine and a pool, wouldn't that space/weight be better used on something important that would help with more colonization?

2) I forgot while I was writing the last paragraph. When I remember, I will write again.

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

So, Art, you do realize this is supposed to be the "No Spoilers" thread?

[Bryan, Village Idiot]

Kateblue wrote: "So, Art, you do realize this is supposed to be the "No Spoilers" thread?"

GASP! Now I know everything! Thanks for ruining this amazing book!! :)