Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm amazed these are being spoken of in the same breath. IMO Dune is vastly overrated
Ok, but I'm also amazed, because I found TBP to be vastly overrated... To each his/her/their own.
And I love both of them.
Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
341–350 of 599 posts
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#342Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. My best friend in 7th grade had older siblings and they had all read Ender’s Game. He read it and told me I had to read it. Being the impressionable 7th grader (2006-7) that I was I gladly obliged. I found the book to be deeply fascinating. It opened my eyes to ‘new’ technology like ‘ansible’ (can communicate anywhere in the universe instantaneously) and really opened up my imaginati…
whenever someone mentions ender's game in a positive light i worry about that person https://web.archive.org/web/20070206121131/http://www4.ncsu.... tldr; orson scott card is a bigot and ender's game is nazi apologia. if you don't want to read the above it's been written about in numerous places (google "ender's game book fascism").
I think that's reading a little too far into Ender's Game for the average 7th grader... It is a fantastic novel.
The author of the article you posted (who was basing the nazi thing on another author's work) stated this in regards to the "Ender is Hitler" argument, "...Radford’s essay says many things with which I do not agree, and its tone is often intemperate..."
So your bias against Ender's Game is based on a guy who was biased against the very argument that has led to me writing this comment.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#343I finally read Frank Herbert's "Dune" this year and I'm so happy about the decision to finish the book. In the book are several references to what is known as the "Litany Against Fear". You may have come across references to it in pop culture, where the beginning is often cited. For instance, Elon Musk references it often. The Litany in its entirety: > "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-dea…
I just read 1Q84, and decided that it was the worst book I've ever read. Now reading Dune, for the first time since high school 20 years ago. There is a solid argument to only read classic scifi until the reviews are so good that you can't ignore it, or if you learn to trust the author. Dune is an incredibly textured far future. Ecology, waves of anti-technology, post-humanism, politics, and nuanced characters.
I'm a fan of Murakami and hated that book. Though if you dislike magical realism most of his others won't do it for you either.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#344It's interesting seeing how many of my touchstone books turn up in other people's lists. Here are some I didn't see yet: Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness. My favorite Le Guin (the Dispossessed is pretty good too). Shockingly original when it was published in 1969; the portrait of the society and culture on Gethen still feels unique. A slow burn at the beginning, but builds to a dramatic conclusion. Patric…
> Patrick O'Brian, Aubrey-Maturin series. Wonderful, wonderful books. I didn’t even like historical fiction as a concept before these. It takes a while to get over the “culture shock” and learn the vocabulary of seafaring life, but it easily pays off with twenty-and-one-half (!) excellent stories. Someone also made a companion glossary called “A Sea of Words” which is a big help.
Yes, that whole series is terrific! I keep meaning to re-read the whole thing but get sidetracked around book 2 or 3. I should make time for it.
Besides the wit and the beautiful language, I’m fascinated by the depiction of societies (and micro-societies, when at sea) where people are the most valuable resource, for brainpower, highly specialized skills and sheer brawn in equal proportions; and the arbitrary nature of command and rank, where the best person for the job may or may not be in charge.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#345Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age, for a coming of age story, using nanotechnology as a futuristic concept for understanding the differences of being fed one's needs and being given the tools for meeting them. Steinbeck's East of Eden for coming to grips with a fundamental moral struggle of what is good and what is choice. Anything ever written by Kurt Vonnegut for the proper cynicism needed to live in this world. Os…
Re: Vonnegut, I think he was great at larger themes of Existential Angst, but using a cynical tone in his main characters. (And I do agree with you, the cynicism is healthy.) If I can make an extension, Bill Murray takes that same Angst but is a master at applying comedy. Vonnegut and Murray for life coaching.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#346"The Mysterious Island". It was my first book by Jules Verne, and it striked me with it's utter realism. Most his other books, like "20000 leagues under sea" or "Journey to the center of the Earth" are based on a fictional devices or exceptional characters, but Cyrus Smith became for me a realistic exemplar of a man using his engineering skills and knowledge to change his life and world around him.
When I read the mysterious island for the first time, I thought of Jules Verne in terms of Journey to the Center of the Earth, or Around the World in 80 Days. The Mysterious Island absolutely bowled me over with the science and engineering.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#347Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh interesting, I didn't have that experience at all. Can you give some examples of what you mean?
It's been a while since I read it, and I only completed the first two books, but there are a few issues I recall having. Spoilers ahead, obviously. The most glaring issue I remember was how the countries of Earth were essentially a united front for 450 years. They came up with a single plan - and a very strange one at that - and then carried it out for the next half-millenia with little dissent or deviation. Given th…
I've re-read it recently, and I think you should give it another go; I agree that the two first books kinda complete an arc, but (minor spoiler) the third book totally throws a wrench into the happy ending of the second book.
> the countries of Earth were essentially a united front for 450 years.
That's not how it happens at all. (spoilers ahead!) The UN originally comes up with the Wallfacer plan in the first year or so after they learn of the fleet that's coming, in a time of utter despair. This is also a back-up plan, in case the "classical" space war fleet plan doesn't pan out. The first three Wallfacer end up thinking up heinous plans and spending a ton of resources, so the plan is essentially dismantled shortly after Luo Ji sends out his "spell" on that other star. They also mention the "great ravine", a very dark period of history, but we never get that much detail on that part.
Regarding your Sophons hypothesis, at speed of light you can go 7 times around the earth in 1 second; you'd have to be pretty precise with your timing to make your plan work. Moreover, Trisolaris was constantly building new ones, so by the time we'd build enough particle accelerators, there would be even more sophons on Earth.
And as for your last point, I think Luo Ji had only an hypothesis at this point, and wanted to be 100% sure before calling the bluff (and besides, he had time).
I agree with you that the characters don't have much depth, but this is a book you read for the concepts & ideas presented in it, not for the character interaction.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#348Gotta second where it's been said before:
- Middlemarch by George Eliot
- War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy
I read both of these aloud with my partner over long nights of bringing up our small children and it was the best bonding experience I could hope for. Both are packed full of observations about life and wit and wisdom, both pull for kindness and sincerity, and are unexpectedly funny in many ways.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#349I loved Josep Philip Farmer saga "The Riverworld". Amazing story. Each book i just ate it in days.
Re: Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?
#350Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. My best friend in 7th grade had older siblings and they had all read Ender’s Game. He read it and told me I had to read it. Being the impressionable 7th grader (2006-7) that I was I gladly obliged. I found the book to be deeply fascinating. It opened my eyes to ‘new’ technology like ‘ansible’ (can communicate anywhere in the universe instantaneously) and really opened up my imaginati…
whenever someone mentions ender's game in a positive light i worry about that person https://web.archive.org/web/20070206121131/http://www4.ncsu.... tldr; orson scott card is a bigot and ender's game is nazi apologia. if you don't want to read the above it's been written about in numerous places (google "ender's game book fascism").
I found this particular work to be quite balanced. You need to read Ender's Game as a prequel to the Speaker for the Dead where Ender actually grows up.