SFBRP Listeners discussion
Books I would like to see reviewed
Mod
Marcos wrote: "All you need is kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, the movie version coming out this year, starring Tom Cruise "Chris wrote: "I'd love to hear your opinion of Peter Watts' "Blindsight". It's an amazing exploration of the nature of consciousness, both biological and artificial, as well as being an incredible "first contact..."
Let's combine these recommendations Voltron style: Usurper of the Sun by Housuke Nojiri. Aliens arrive in the solar system and start transforming Mercury into a ringworld, which soon plunges the Earth into a new ice age. Somehow humanity has to contact the aliens and convince them that we're intelligent, conscious beings even though our mode of thought is so alien to them they can't even begin to comprehend us.
Luke wrote: "I watched World War Z a few weeks ago. I really enjoyed it! It was far better than I was expecting, certainly better than all who said "It's not as good as the book"... but maybe because I didn't m..."The book is outstanding. All other zombie books and movies just deal with individual problems (oh, everybody is a zombie now, how do I survive). WWZ is moving the whole thing on a higher level: how does the world deal with it? What will happen to the military, to the politic system, to the economy? What has to be done and how, not to keep 10 people alive but a whole country or the whole world?
The book changed my view on other books comply, its one of the few books that relay think big.
Chris wrote: "I'd love to hear your opinion of Peter Watts' "Blindsight". It's an amazing exploration of the nature of consciousness, both biological and artificial, as well as being an incredible "first contact..."I read Blindsight last year, but was skeptical about Watt's whole premise that there's an evolutionary advantage to having intelligence without consciousness. As a software engineer who works on AI-related projects, I think it's actually rather difficult to develop a "Chinese Room" that can make truly intelligent decisions by consulting a vast lookup table or flowchart.
Over the past few decades, the field of AI has moved towards the school of thought that the way the human brain works holds the key to what intelligence is. In other words, an architecture that's full of highly interconnected circuits and feedback loops seems to be the easiest way to solve the problem of generalized pattern recognition and prediction. Well, maybe not the "easiest" for us to understand in logical terms, but the easiest for blind evolution to have hit upon. And, near as anyone in cognitive science can tell, this architecture is also what makes us conscious and self-aware. I imagine that science will understand it a lot better in a few decades.
Mod
I just finished Ramez Naam's Nexus. Definitely worth considering for a future read and revise. A real page turner.
I would love to hear Luke's thought on "The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson. It's one of my all-time favorites.To give you a sense of how much I liked it; Even after reading about Snow Crash on wikipedia and thinking it sounded uninteresting as well as listening to Luke's episode on it, I went ahead and read Snow Crash. It was set in the same universe as The diamond Age (50-100 years earlier), how bad could it be?! Suffice it to say, I agreed with Luke on that one.
The Diamond Age remained a favorite though. I would say it's almost as different to Snow Crash as Anathem is, which is another book by Stephenson I read & loved, but probably wouldn't have picked up if it hadn't been for Luke's review.
Currently reading The Ascension Conspiracy by Jon King. Finding it a real mixed bag. Would be interested to see what Luke would make of it.
I have to bring up a book: "The Walls of the Universe" by Paul Melko. ITs about parallel Dimension and different Versions of the Earth. Its is not really ground breaking, but it is a real page turner and a joy to read.
I recently came across a Korean webcomic (English version available here) called Afterschool War Activities that I think would be right up Luke's alley. It's sort of like Starship Troopers meets All Quiet on the Western Front or Full Metal Jacket. After aliens invade the Earth, South Korea converts all high schools and colleges into boot camps and drafts everyone over the age of 16. The story follows the transformation of a single class from carefree teens to battle-scarred soldiers as they move through training and onto the battlefield.One thing I really like about the series is that, since South Korea already has mandatory military service for all men, there's a much greater sense of realism than you get from American military SF. None of the characters are gung-ho about being soldiers, and some of them don't even take the situation seriously until they're given no choice.
Oh, and the story's complete at 50 chapters, so no worries about hitting a cliffhanger and having to wait for the next installment.
After listening to the Rudy Rucker podcast episode, i have to recommand "Diamond Age" from Stephanson again. Main reason for this recommandation: in the first 20 something pages of the book, Stephanson is killing the whole idea of cyperpunk.
I would like to see The Passage reviewed. It has been a surprisingly engaging book.
The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VandermeerDark Eden by Chris Beckett (sp?)
The Affirmation by Christopher Priest
The Dosadi Experiment by Frank Herbert
Last Dragon by J.M. McDermott
No Return by Zachary Jernigan
The Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor
Afterparty by Daryl Gregory
Blood Song by Anthony Ryan
Some of these I’ve read or am reading (check my goodreads reviews), some I have yet to read, but I’d be curious to hear Luke’s thoughts.
...but I’d be curious to hear Luke’s thoughts.And Julianna's!
Would be cool to hear your take on The Difference Engine (didn't see it in your list of reviews). After reading Neuromancer I wanted to give this a try, but I'm just not sure whether I like William Gibson or not. He's got interesting characters but does his writing/plot carry for a 300pp novel?
William Gibson cowrote The Difference Engine with Bruce Sterling (another cyberpunk author who was big in the 80s/90s). It's been about 15 years since I read it, but I remember finding the first third of the book really cool, but it lost steam (no pun intended) in the middle, then fell apart towards the end. It felt like the authors both had a lot of ideas, but didn't manage to complete the task of bringing them together.IMO, it's still worth checking out from the library, to read the first part and skim the rest.
Reading Awake in the Night Land. Pretty first class. Not space opera, so Luke wont like it. But recommending it all the same. Very quotable which always adds a star in my book.I love Gibson and Sterling, but was not crazy about 'The Difference Engine'. Did have some cool ideas, and may have been the first steam punk, but the plot kept getting in the way of the story.
Currently Reading it for a Local steampunk festival. Delightful world, the story take its time but I don't mind and some great ideas. Haven't Been a great fan of Gibdon till now that i know he can write so that i understand what happens (looking at you neuromancer).
The Heart of the Comet by Brin and Benford.
Mod
My dad had a fatal coronary on the toilet reading Voyage of the Space Beagle by A. E. van Vogt.AVENGE ME, LUKE!
Stitch my soul back together, one Robert-J.-Sawyer-caliber rant at a time.
I second ‘Heart of the Comet’! I read it twice and enjoyed it very much. It's about humans setting up a base on Halley's Comet and dealing with the native life and the human conflicts. It covers a lot of sf themes, from first contact to genetic engineering and artificial intelligence.
Here's something that would be an interesting counterpoint for the Hugula review series: Harmony by Project Itoh, which won both the Seiun and SF Taisho awards, the Japanese equivalents of the Hugos and Nebulas. It's set in a post-apocalyptic future where the World Health Organization's relief efforts have turned it into a world government. In order to keep humanity from extinction, they've had to enforce stringent laws against unhealthy behaviors. Now, centuries after the apocalypse, they've rebuilt society into a utopian state where everyone lives long, happy lives -- except for a few misfits who want to smoke and drink. The story explores the question of whether a society where 99.99% of the people are happy is a utopia or dystopia, and whether the dissenters have any right to destroy the happiness of billions.
Mod
How about a review of Armor, by John Steakley. Military Sci-Fi at its best (think Starship Troopers/Forever War rather than Honor Harrington).
Mod
Mod
It is. Downloading now.
Armor was the first book my dad gave me to introduce me to the science fiction genre, so I still have a soft spot for it. I read it three times as a kid, I want to read it again now that I have more of a breadth of sci-fi reading under my belt, and see how it holds up. I remember it being absolutely awesome.
Mod
As Luke lives in Berlin, how about reviewing a book orignally published in German by a German author? I'm afraid I don't have any titles to suggest.
Isabel wrote: "As Luke lives in Berlin, how about reviewing a book orignally published in German by a German author? I'm afraid I don't have any titles to suggest."Perry Rhodan?
Seriously though, The Neverending Story or something by Cornelia Funke would work.
Now that Sean has reminded me about it by mentioning the Neverending Story, I will recommend Momo which is also by Michael Ende and is an alegory about time.
Currently listening to SFBRP #246 (Connie Willis' "Doomsday Book")... I read the book in the 90s and I too believe that Middle-Age setting is not very attractive -to the average SF reader as least. I prefer the other Oxford time travel story by CW "To say nothing about the dog" which is set in the 1800s with a well-know writer as a pivotal character. So "To say nothing about the dog" is my suggestion for another book review.Another time travel story I wish to be reviewed is "Gates of Anubis" by Time Powers. It is set in the 1800s too -and in the 1600s for a while. There is a teacher from the 20th century who wants to find a (fictional) poet and an egyptian wizard who wants to bring back the old egyptian gods to destroy the british empire ! A great fun to read.
François wrote: "Another time travel story I wish to be reviewed is "Gates of Anubis" by Time Powers."It's actually called The Anubis Gates. I'd love to see that one reviewed as well! Tim Powers is fantastic, and I'm sure Luke would be relieved to discover that stories where people go back in time out of historical interest are not all like Doomsday Book :)
Declare is another Powers book that I'd love to see reviewed. Lots to like in that one. It's a Cold War spy story with H.P. Lovecraft's Elder Gods getting involved. There's some interesting secret history stuff involving why Kim Philby was so weird. The magic system is pretty interesting (magic sucks in Tim Powers' books). There's a chapter set in Berlin as well!
I think Declare is a far better book than The Anubis Gates. I couldn't finish it the first time I started because I just wasn't in a mindspace to handle its complexity. It's a book that definitely requires concentration. You can't just read snippets between other activities, you've got to devote at least a hour of focused attention at a time.
Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "But does Declare have evil clowns? Pshaw."Are you implying that there's another kind of clown?
Mod
Isabel wrote: "As Luke lives in Berlin, how about reviewing a book orignally published in German by a German author? I'm afraid I don't have any titles to suggest."This is actually quite tricky. I'm always trying to find new stuff too, but this doesn't work so well. German science-fiction gets rarely translated into english (someone successful like Frank Schätzing is available). Also some german science-fiction takes the ideas of english science-fiction books and just puts it together in a slightly different way – mainly because not everything gets translated into german.
Sean wrote: "Isabel wrote: "As Luke lives in Berlin, how about reviewing a book orignally published in German by a German author? I'm afraid I don't have any titles to suggest."Perry Rhodan?
AAAAHHH! Please, not even a consideration ;-)
"Blood Song" by Anthony Ryan is a pretty strong fantay title - - I liked it more than Richard K. Morgan's "The Steel Remains". I highly recommend this title if you are looking for potential candidates. The sequel isn't bad either.
Also I liked your review of Armor a few weeks ago. I think it was a fair presentation of the book. I really liked the war bug war flashbacks but felt like there was too much of a disconnect between those portions of the book and the actual events going on on the scientific research planet being overtaken by the pirates. Anyway it wasa solid, short read.
Luke wrote: "BEING NOMINATED IS NOT A GUARANTEE FOR A GOOD BOOK!"So what?
Nothing is a grantee.
Mod
Juliane wrote: "AAAAHHH! Please, not even a consideration ;-) "I'm sorry! I didn't realize the one time Luke takes my suggestion would be this.
3 solid books of german authors that were translated: "The Carpet makers" by Andreas Eschbach
"Last day of creation" by Wolfgang Jeschke
"Rumo" by Walter Moers (which is a fantasy book)
Nothing good ever came from Perry Rhodan.
Alex it is brilliant, both the main work and the supplementary "lives" that form a kind of appendix. But I'm not sure it's sci fi in the orthodox sense.
Something by William Hope Hodgson? I read The House on the Borderland and Other Novels from the Fantasy Masterworks series, which contains 4 short novels written in the Edwardian era. The Ghost Pirates is my favourite, but they are all interesting.
SFBRP Listeners
Books mentioned in this topic
Dungeon Crawler Carl (other topics)The Tainted Cup (other topics)
The Employees (other topics)
Space Opera (other topics)
Space Opera (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Michael Moorcock (other topics)Jack Vance (other topics)
Gene Wolfe (other topics)
Simon Jimenez (other topics)
Marko Kloos (other topics)
More...
Thanks for this. I usually try to read books before the movies come out hence last year I read both Warm Bodies and World War Z, and then decided not to see either film. Warm Bodies I was kind of "meh" about. World War Z was an AWESOME book and clearly the movie sucked in comparison and wasn;t worth my time. Zombie/horror are not really my preferred genre, but I try to branch out every now and again. WWZ was totally worth it.