Ursula Le Guin has died • Hacker News Board

Re: Ursula Le Guin has died

#171

Post by WillReplyfFood » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 10:42 AM UTC

notahacker wrote: post #147

MrHetzner wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only other Heinlein book I would recommend beside Starship Troopers (which everyone reads different than Heinlein intended I guess) is "Stranger in a Strange Land".

Don't think I've ever been as disappointed in the second half of a book as "Stranger in a Strange Land". Starts off with a very interesting high concept about the awkwardness of interacting with a human who has no idea of human values (as well as a solid stock plot about people trying to control him) and then rapidly turns said vulnerable, weird protagonist into a powerful free love cult-leader promoting all the very…

There is lots of scifi that trys to run with a concept, and runs out of runway. Stranger in a strange land is that kind of thing.

I remember a book - forgot the name about a ressurrection attempt of a dead female CEO with psychology. It really tryied, and failed miserably, as it got stuck in the swampf of pseudo science that is psychology.

Re: Ursula Le Guin has died

#172

Post by jacquesm » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 11:42 AM UTC

frostwhale wrote: post #145

nkoren wrote: post #106

My favourite living author is now my favourite dead author. It has been such a privilege to read her works. Ursula Le Guin conjured new worlds and and lay them out before my mind's eye -- but that's not what made her special. Many writers have done that. What she could do -- almost uniquely -- was to conjure a new mind's eye . She understood that the world exists at the point of perception, so she built her worlds ou…

Pretty big sci-fi reader and have never read her (to my shame), can you recommend where to start?

I'd recommend The Lathe of Heaven. Short and extremely powerful.

Re: Ursula Le Guin has died

#173

Post by jrochkind1 » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 1:40 PM UTC

auxbuss wrote: post #161

pavlov wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting — I don’t think my copy had that.

I have the Avon paperback from 1975 and on the cover it says: The magnificent epic of an ambiguous utopia – Winner of the Nebula Award! I don't believe this phrase was a subtitle so much as part of the cover blurb. It's not mentioned again.

Wikipedia says 'When first published, the book included the tagline: "The magnificent epic of an ambiguous utopia!" which was shortened by fans to "An ambiguous utopia" and adopted as a subtitle in certain editions', with footnotes that I haven't bothered to follow.

Re: Ursula Le Guin has died

#174

Post by jrochkind1 » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 1:41 PM UTC

MrHetzner wrote: post #137

baldfat wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a lot of classics with that same issue. Asimov's Foundation Series even has computer readers are just one line of a book at a time. And he thought this would cause people to not see their progress in the book and cause them not to read as much. I just look past the details and for Foundation Series it is worth it. "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" to me wasn't worth it, but I really liked "Starship Troopers" a…

The only other Heinlein book I would recommend beside Starship Troopers (which everyone reads different than Heinlein intended I guess) is "Stranger in a Strange Land".

I'm not totally sure what Heinlein intended from Starship Troopers, but my favorite reading is the movie, which I think definitely is _not_ what Heinlein intended, but I like better. The movie turns into parody what I think Heinlein took Very Very seriously.

Re: Ursula Le Guin has died

#175

Post by jrochkind1 » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 1:43 PM UTC

WorldMaker wrote: post #149

MrHetzner wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only other Heinlein book I would recommend beside Starship Troopers (which everyone reads different than Heinlein intended I guess) is "Stranger in a Strange Land".

I always assumed Heinlein was more socialist than a lot of people give him credit for, so in my own impressions of his books Strange Land seems the more honest/hopeful than many of his works (and also why the actions in that book cynically fail in the longer timeline). In that I also saw the dystopian elements of Moon is a Harsh Mistress, just below the surface, intentional commentary, and the ending a relatively mec…

Have you read any of Heinlein's essays/journals/non-fiction writings? I think they would probably disabuse you of the notion that he was a closet socialist.

Re: Ursula Le Guin has died

#176

Post by jrochkind1 » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 1:48 PM UTC

autarch wrote: post #49

stcredzero wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I enjoyed reading The Dispossessed , though I have also been known to characterize it as, "A Sci-Fi universe where communism actually works, hence the 'Fi' part." However, I've recently read Thomas Sowell's book about the original formulation of Marxian economics and philosophy, and I've come to the conclusion that the technology of the late 21st century might possibly enable a viable communal society through the rep…

But the whole point of the novel is that neither system really works very well! I think you're doing it a disservice to characterize it in that way. She did her best to imagine a communist system that was nearly ideally designed and it still fails in so many ways.

Oh, I think it's pretty obvious which system portrayed in the book anyone sane would prefer to live as part of. They aren't portrayed as equally "not working very well", no?

If some people read the book preferring Urras or thinking it's a toss-up, I'd find that curious and be interested in hearing more (do you?), but still doubt that's what Le Guin intended.

Re: Ursula Le Guin has died

#177

Post by FelipeCortez » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 1:56 PM UTC

Fede_V wrote: post #25

tunesmith wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone remember the source of the essay about the town where everyone was happy, and how it feels unbelievable until you find it has a horrible secret, which somehow makes it more believable? I think that is her writing.

It's basically taken almost verbatim from a dialogue between two characters in The Brothers Karamazov. She later said she didn't remember the dialogue at the time but it was stuck in the back of her head and was definitely an influence.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptomnesia

Re: Ursula Le Guin has died

#178

Post by Sebguer » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 1:58 PM UTC

notahacker wrote: post #147

MrHetzner wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only other Heinlein book I would recommend beside Starship Troopers (which everyone reads different than Heinlein intended I guess) is "Stranger in a Strange Land".

Don't think I've ever been as disappointed in the second half of a book as "Stranger in a Strange Land". Starts off with a very interesting high concept about the awkwardness of interacting with a human who has no idea of human values (as well as a solid stock plot about people trying to control him) and then rapidly turns said vulnerable, weird protagonist into a powerful free love cult-leader promoting all the very…

This is a problem with Heinlein's books in general. They tend to start off strong and then just get kind of bizarre in the second half.

Re: Ursula Le Guin has died

#179

Post by maxerickson » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 2:02 PM UTC

notahacker wrote: post #147

MrHetzner wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only other Heinlein book I would recommend beside Starship Troopers (which everyone reads different than Heinlein intended I guess) is "Stranger in a Strange Land".

Don't think I've ever been as disappointed in the second half of a book as "Stranger in a Strange Land". Starts off with a very interesting high concept about the awkwardness of interacting with a human who has no idea of human values (as well as a solid stock plot about people trying to control him) and then rapidly turns said vulnerable, weird protagonist into a powerful free love cult-leader promoting all the very…

The second half of the book is sort of a joke about how we impose a lot of restrictions on ourselves. "Martian logic" is to not do that. The wild ride is the punchline to the joke.

I wonder what story you think could better be told as the second half of the book. Should the alien become a conformist and live happily ever after as a librarian?

Re: Ursula Le Guin has died

#180

Post by jonnycomputer » Thu, Jan 25, 2018, 2:22 PM UTC

I read The Wizard of Earthsea in the 3rd grade. Literally. I would have it at my desk and try to read it by holding it under my desk.

Ursula Le Guin's is daughter of Alfred and Theodora Kroeber. Alfred Kroeber is a preeminent figure in the history of American anthropology and archeology, along with his PhD adviser Franz Boas. The influence of anthropology on Le Guin's writing and thought are easily seen in the Left Hand of Darkness, one of my favorite sci-fi novels.