February 2012: Spin by Robert Charles Wilson

[Dawn, GRRM hard or GRRM home]

It was a close one, but we have a winner for our February group read. Spin narrowly beat out the other nominations, a vote of four to three in favor over the second place choice :)

If anyone wants to volunteer to lead the discussion, go right on ahead. I don't know when I'll be able to get to this, but hopefully soon. We're casual round these parts, so leading isn't really a big deal.. Read it.. Poke the thread occasionally if it looks a little dead.. That's about it!

And as usual... Make sure to mark any spoilers!



To start it off let's do a quick roll call. Who's planning on reading along?

[Chris , The Kingslayer]

I'm hoping to get it in. I wanted to when it won in BR lately but ran out of time.

[[deleted user]]

I'll get to it maybe next week.

[Maggie]

I just read it in december, so I will visit about it later...

[Jenny]

I definitely do! I'm with Chris, I bought it for the BR read a while ago but didn't get to it. This will be the next print book I read.

[Becky]

I'll definitely try... I've had this one on my nook for a while.

[mark]

i am.

[Laurel]

I've read it, but would still love to take part.

[Felina]

I'm hoping to participate. I still haven't quite finished Fevre Dream...work got insane.

[Jenny]

I started reading it on Friday and I'm enjoying it so far.

[Chris , The Kingslayer]

Cool, Jenny. I have a lot on tap for February, but I'm really hoping to push this one in there.

[Dawn, GRRM hard or GRRM home]

I started today, I'm about 10% in (about to start chapter four). At first I wasn't really sure if I was going to like it, but at this point I've been drawn in pretty well and thoroughly. Pretty interesting so far.. Can't wait to get back to it and read some more!

[Dawn, GRRM hard or GRRM home]

I'm about halfway through now, and I'm enjoying it more and more. I'm really interested to find out how it all comes together in the second half...

[Maggie]

I thought the back and forth between the present and their teen-aged years was a little jarring at first, but as it got farther in, this sseemed like less of an issue. Excellent book!

[Dawn, GRRM hard or GRRM home]

Finished last night, I gave it 4.5 stars (rounded down to 4). It was pretty damn good... Review here.

I'm interested to see what everyone else thinks!

[Chris , The Kingslayer]

It's probably next up in my queue, especially with that great endorsement.

[Maggie]

I'm glad you thought so highly of it Dawn! It is a new favorite of mine too.
I liked the alternating past/present storyline too. Gave us clues as we went along...

[Jenny]

I'm slowly making it through Spin but I still like it a lot. I wish I had more time to read it. Although it's all from Tyler's view point, I like how there's so much about Jase and Diane so we can see how people are reacting differently. I just read the part where (view spoiler)[Jase tells Tyler that Diane grew up thinking that E.D. is secretly Tyler's dad. That broke my heart! Even though Diane has a lot going on I'm still rooting for her & Tyler (hide spoiler)].

[Jenny]

There have been two nights this week where I stayed up in bed reading 100 pages each night. It just sucks me in and before I know it I'm whipping through the pages! I'm loving Spin more and more as I read it. It has the feeling of good ol' science fiction novel to me. It's been a while since I actually have read a classic and this is making me want to read classic science fiction for the next three months. At this rate I'm guessing I'll be done by the end of the weekend if not before.

How is everyone else doing with it?

[Chris , The Kingslayer]

I'm hoping to get to it soon, Jenny. It's good to see some encouraging words about it, though. I've just found myself buried in groups and group reads.

[Felina]

I'm only about 10% into this but its awesome so far. I admittedly don't have much experience with sci-fi. Aside from Asimov, the heavy military aspect to most sci-fi I've tried has turned me off but this is great so far. A little creepy too which is always a plus.

[Dawn, GRRM hard or GRRM home]

Felina wrote: "I'm only about 10% into this but its awesome so far. I admittedly don't have much experience with sci-fi. Aside from Asimov, the heavy military aspect to most sci-fi I've tried has turned me off bu..."

I felt the same way when I started it! I loved the feel of it.

[Felina]

It's only getting better. I really like Tyler as a character and I like his friendship with Jason and the complicated relationship he has with Diane.

[Jenny]

I'm so close to being done! I didn't get time to finish it over the weekend like I'd hoped. Last night I thought I was going to finish but I just couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. Believe me I tried, I have only 20 pages left! With this book 20 pages go by real fast for me but it didn't go fast enough. Tonight will be the night even though I'm RPing with friends after my evening class.

Some of the science, especially about the replicators, was difficult for me to follow but not so much that I wasn't able to get the gist of it or that it took any enjoyment away from the book. It's so great to finally seeing the timelines merge together. No spoilers, but I thought it was really cool who/what the Hypotheticals turned out to be.

[Felina]

I keep trying to post a comment that contains spoilers but the spoiler tag isn't working for me. I keep posting it and realizing its not covering the spoiler and deleting it all scared I ruined something for people. Ha ha. I'll post it later.

[Jim]

I just got around to starting this & loved the bit about how most of the world thought the US was responsible or making it up. The explanation of why made so much sense. It's amazing how much we take for granted & assume.

It's pretty amazing how people can't or won't understand things that I think are obvious. I was fixing a computer the other day & the user had some horrible talk show thing on. I didn't pay a lot of attention, but the caller was explaining how evolution just had to be wrong. No one could tell her she evolved from an ape. How can anyone get through elementary school science & think that's what the theory of evolution says?

[Felina]

Well, this stems from a generation/society that takes the word of any idiot that says anything. 'My pastor/congressman/boss said thats how it is so thats what I believe'. With so much information readily available at our finger tips (hello...the age of information) its really sad how many people don't research anything and just grasp at beliefs and claim whatever sounds nice or whatever sounds easy. There is a whole movement of misinformation regarding evolution, its hardly surprising that people would misinterpret the definitive.

[Jim]

I'll agree with the idiot on the radio - reminds me of a neighbor I had - but it got me to thinking about what the rest of the world might be like where they didn't have the educational system we do. Even here some horribly ignorant people graduate high school. I knew one kid who went to a religious school of some sort & he had to take algebra before he could get into the community college. I took algebra I in 8th grade. I had 4 more years of math courses after that. They filled his head with religion, but did he learn anything else?

If that can happen here, what's it like in a nation that is worried enough to fine women for having sexy eyes? What about the areas where they're starving or so over populated they pass down 2 meters of sidewalk? How much could these people know?

[Jenny]

I finished the book last week and I loved it.

It is sad how so many people take information without actually thinking about it. I can't say that I never do it myself, but I'm glad that I've had an education that strongly encourages critical thinking.

It makes sense that the concept was included in the book because it's realistic, if this really happened there would be tons of people who would believe anything.

[Jim]

Hmmm... In #28 I said I agree with the idiot on the radio. Not what I meant. I agreed with Felina's take on the idiot on the radio.

[Felina]

I figured that's what you meant.

[mark]

i meant to read this much sooner in the month, but am just getting to it these past couple days. about halfway through and it is excellent so far. concepts are mindboggling. i sometimes find science vs. religion debates to be tedious, but i think the author is doing a really good job in juggling that old argument with all of his awesome new concepts. and the characterization is solid, so it's not like i feel like i'm reading an argument between straw men. or paper tigers. or stalking horses! excellent, 3 old-timey cliches for the price of 1.

[Jim]

I'm halfway through this & thought I was liking it well enough, but I just realized I had 3.5 days off & never picked it up. I caught up on my magazines instead. I agree with mark, too. I don't know why I have such a lack of enthusiasm about this.