471–480 of 599 posts
LOTR and Narnia awaken my imagination to something beautiful beyond this world, which set the course of my life. Back of the North Wind's meditation on death somehow put me at ease during a very depressed time of my life, that in the worst of my pits everything will be ok.
Planet Trilogy helped me understand the modern worldview.
I moved countries and schools abruptly in '94 and the new place was too different from what I was used to. This really caused a lot of damage. I got a copy of the Verne classic from my school library and read through it. I was already a Sherlock Holmes fan by then but Phogg gave me the idea of imposition of order in my life as a way to create a semblance of control and to manage the chaos. I didn't think of it in those terms then but that's really what happened.
Zorba the Greek - this book is an enjoyable, seemingly light read but a beautiful contrast of intellectual understanding, and wisdom that's made manifest through living. Thought vs action. The author is a "philosopher" who finds the company of Zorba and sees in this simple man the result of the philosophy in everyday living. Zorba is uneducated and is unable to explain the why in meta physical arguments but to the au…
Out of all the reviews, this one exemplifies the power of fiction (and books) the best. Your candid thoughts will stick with me.
Remains of the Day. Here's a quote for the OP's original question. > He chose a certain path in life, it proved to be a misguided one, but there, he chose it, he can say that at least. As for myself, I cannot even claim that. You see, I trusted. I trusted in his lordship’s wisdom. All those years I served him, I trusted I was doing something worthwhile. I can’t even say I made my own mistakes. Really – one has to ask…
The story line is enrapturing but ultimately not what the book is about. I'll leave two quotes.
> We all complete. Maybe none of us really understand what we've lived through, or feel we've had enough time.
> All children have to be deceived if they are to grow up without trauma
Kurt Vonnegut's works: The Sirens of Titan, Mother Night, Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse Five, Player Piano, Jailbird, God Bless You Mr. Rosewater... Find the time to read Vonnegut.
Young Adult * _The Chronicles of Prydain_ ( https://www.goodreads.com/series/40371-the-chronicles-of-pry... ) * _The Chronicles of Narnia_ * _The Hobbit_ * _John MacNab_ ( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/161001.John_MacNab / http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300621.txt ) * _The Postman_ ( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/889284.The_Postman ) Adult * _The Napoleon of Notting Hill_ ( https://www.gutenberg.org/fi…
> _The Chronicles of Prydain_ Always happy to see Lloyd Alexander get a mention these days -- somehow it seems in the recent YA explosion he's gotten almost criminally neglected.
Brothers Karamotzov by Dostoevsky. Helped me see the relationship between suffering and happiness, between pain and pleasure. Made me realize that government is an exercise in making the best of a bad thing, given that so few people can handle power. Taught me ways that government can goad or torture people into submission. Confirmed my opinion that pseudointellectuals can fool quite a sizable audience. If this autho…
I’ve been a scifi and fantasy nerd for my whole life but Dostoevsky’s and Mika Waltari’s books have been more influential in understanding humans, their motivations and emotions than most of the fiction. Wish I could find more of something similar.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 o…
I'm afraid found it to be one of the worst books I've ever read. As I said, I bounced off this one hard.
> 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.
A second is a huge amount of time by the standards of modern physics. We wouldn't even need to separate out the colliders by any great distance; even a foot of separation would take a whole nanosecond for a sophon to cover.
Another approach would be to design a collider that could measure many collisions at once. Can the Trisolarans produce a thousand sophons on short notice? What about a million, or a billion? And given the latency the Trisolarans have to work with, they'd have to plan at least four years in advance.
Now maybe the Trisolarans have ways to prevent this, but the idea is never discussed, despite it being an obvious thing to try first.
For that matter, there's very few things that are tried. The idea that all the countries in the world would band together and try only one or two things over the course of 400 years is just bizarre.
> 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).
He had time because he implemented a backup plan after the Trisolarans prevented the Sun from being used as a broadcasting station. But why take the risk? What does he have to lose? Either he's right and the Trisolarans will bargain with him, or he's wrong and nothing will happen. Given that Earth is doomed anyway, there's no reason not to try immediately before the Trisolarans are in a position where they can stop him.
Also it seems bizarre that in 400 years no-one once considered calling for help.