Goodreads Is Broken • Hacker News Board

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#271

Post by Retric » Sun, Sep 08, 2019, 11:49 PM UTC

SiVal wrote: post #268

Retric wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s been a while but ... The focus on cyborgs a year after The Six Million Dollar Man TV show kind if shows how much a product of the times it was. But, that’s the surface. The way it portrayed both hacking and brain machine interfaces was wildly off base and basically copied from other science fiction. Virtual reality for example goes back to 1933. Main character being a druggy is fairly common in that time period,…

Any recommendations for good hard sci-fi in the last generation or so? I'm asking because your comment strongly suggests I'd like what you like. I'm one of the very few who think that "Science Fiction and Fantasy" as a genre makes about as much sense as "Math Textbooks and Romance Novels". I promise not to blame anyone for a recommendation that's flawed. They're all flawed. Anything where the story is based on the im…

Honestly, I have mostly given up on recent science fiction so any recommendations are welcome.

Anyway, it feels like a cop out but The Martian by Andy Weir is worth the read. The most obvious issue is the opening storm would not have done much because the atmosphere is so thin, but it is generally ok on the science side.

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#272

Post by SiVal » Mon, Sep 09, 2019, 2:15 AM UTC

Retric wrote: post #271

SiVal wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any recommendations for good hard sci-fi in the last generation or so? I'm asking because your comment strongly suggests I'd like what you like. I'm one of the very few who think that "Science Fiction and Fantasy" as a genre makes about as much sense as "Math Textbooks and Romance Novels". I promise not to blame anyone for a recommendation that's flawed. They're all flawed. Anything where the story is based on the im…

Honestly, I have mostly given up on recent science fiction so any recommendations are welcome. Anyway, it feels like a cop out but The Martian by Andy Weir is worth the read. The most obvious issue is the opening storm would not have done much because the atmosphere is so thin, but it is generally ok on the science side.

Agreed (unfortunately). I gave up on SF decades ago, and The Martian is the only SF book I think I've liked this century. I liked it a lot and occasionally search for others like it. In vain, it seems. I think it is an ill omen that popular culture no longer seems as excited about real science and technology, the exploration and discovery, as was the case way back in the "Space Age".

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#273

Post by dragonsngoblins » Mon, Sep 09, 2019, 6:15 AM UTC

CydeWeys wrote: post #53

bredren wrote: post #19

The entire reading ecosystem at Amazon is stagnant. The kindle e-readers have had release after release of subpar hardware with features introduced by now-killed competitors a decade ago. Read reviews of the brand new Oasis, a $300 product featuring a micro USB port. Amazon does not care about readers, probably because they drive so few dollars and the market is won. Reading does not drive prime subscriptions, and an…

At this point, Amazon is treating Kindle like Texas Instruments is treating their graphing calculators. Both have entrenched monopolies and have no need whatsoever to improve their product, which being able to sell them at ridiculous margin. It's laughable how much a new Kindle costs the consumer vs how much it actually costs to manufacture. If this were a non-monopolistic market then many competitors would be leapin…

Honestly I wouldn't even mind that, but they are making kindles worse as generations go by.

First they removed the page turn buttons, then they took a small step forward by releasing the Voyage which had pseudo-buttons (you could squeeze the sides of the device and it'd vibrate to give haptic feedback) so at least you didn't have to use a touch screen to turn pages, but then they released the Oasis which has a weird as hell non-symmetrical form factor which means you have to flip the device when you change the hand you are holding it with if you want to use the buttons.

Being able to push buttons on either side of the device to turn pages was one of the best "features" a kindle had over a conventional book for me. Not having it just feels like such a huge step back

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#274

Post by baud147258 » Mon, Sep 09, 2019, 8:39 AM UTC

umvi wrote: post #199

sohkamyung wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My preference is to rely on the judgement of reviewers whose taste kind of matches mine. I'm into SF and Fantasy. In the past, I would read the reviews featured in Locus magazine by the various reviewers. Nowadays, I occasionally read Locus but also reviews from other places like tor com, the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and Interzone magazine.

> My preference is to rely on the judgement of reviewers whose taste kind of matches mine. I wish there were a website where I could put in all of my favorite video games, books, movies, anime, etc. And it would recommend me things based on what people with similar tastes liked. Then, I could try out the recommendation and then either like or dislike it. I would slowly acquire a recommendation network of people like…

I think Steam is working on something similar, with recommendation based on what you're playing (https://store.steampowered.com/recommender). Well it recommends only games on the store, so that's a lot of games off the table right from the start.

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#275

Post by elorant » Mon, Sep 09, 2019, 9:27 AM UTC

SiVal wrote: post #272

Retric wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, I have mostly given up on recent science fiction so any recommendations are welcome. Anyway, it feels like a cop out but The Martian by Andy Weir is worth the read. The most obvious issue is the opening storm would not have done much because the atmosphere is so thin, but it is generally ok on the science side.

Agreed (unfortunately). I gave up on SF decades ago, and The Martian is the only SF book I think I've liked this century. I liked it a lot and occasionally search for others like it. In vain, it seems. I think it is an ill omen that popular culture no longer seems as excited about real science and technology, the exploration and discovery, as was the case way back in the "Space Age".

I enjoy a lot of books from Alastair Reynolds. His fiction is so and so but the science in his book is hardcore. I also liked Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (this one is two volumes).

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#276

Post by hutattedonmyarm » Mon, Sep 09, 2019, 10:10 AM UTC

input_sh wrote: post #47

hutattedonmyarm wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the integrations with the kindle go a very long way towards cultivating engagement (when you start a book, kindle will update your profile by default, it'll add your rating, mark the book as finished, all through the normal ux of the kindle Not in Germany though

I believe you're talking about Kindle apps, while the parent comment is talking about Kindle, the e-reader. If not, I'm clueless because I have purchased mine from German Amazon and it does all of those things.

Weird, my Paperwhite is linked to amazon.de and it doesn't

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#277

Post by hutattedonmyarm » Mon, Sep 09, 2019, 10:17 AM UTC

vilhelm_s wrote: post #49

hutattedonmyarm wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the integrations with the kindle go a very long way towards cultivating engagement (when you start a book, kindle will update your profile by default, it'll add your rating, mark the book as finished, all through the normal ux of the kindle Not in Germany though

...at least not if you want the lights in your apartment to work at the same time. https://techniktagebuch.tumblr.com/post/185742896236/septemb...

Hah, good news I don't own anything Alexa!

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#278

Post by Anthony-G » Mon, Sep 09, 2019, 11:44 AM UTC

SiVal wrote: post #268

Retric wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s been a while but ... The focus on cyborgs a year after The Six Million Dollar Man TV show kind if shows how much a product of the times it was. But, that’s the surface. The way it portrayed both hacking and brain machine interfaces was wildly off base and basically copied from other science fiction. Virtual reality for example goes back to 1933. Main character being a druggy is fairly common in that time period,…

Any recommendations for good hard sci-fi in the last generation or so? I'm asking because your comment strongly suggests I'd like what you like. I'm one of the very few who think that "Science Fiction and Fantasy" as a genre makes about as much sense as "Math Textbooks and Romance Novels". I promise not to blame anyone for a recommendation that's flawed. They're all flawed. Anything where the story is based on the im…

Regarding “hard” science fiction from the past 25 years, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Stephen Baxter.

I read the first two books (Voyager and Titan) from his NASA trilogy [1]. These books are set in a near future or alternative time-line and cover inter-planetary journeys (Mars and Titan), involving the use NASA technology. Both books seem very well-researched and true-to-life.

Another book I really enjoyed was Coalescent [2]. It’s a blend of historical and science fiction: the historical part tallies with my own understanding of the late Roman Empire in Western Europe while the science part is more speculative – a human society that gradually evolves to become eusocial.

On a very different scale is, Space [3] which explores the Fermi paradox, communication between different sentient species, and the long-term survival prospects for civilisations of sentient species. Unlike the other books which have more straight-forward scientific concepts, I found some of the ideas in this book to be mind-expanding and really pushed my imagination to its limits.

From a story-telling perspective, his books are well-plotted with well-drawn, compelling characters (you really empathise with the protagonists and want to find out what happens next). I learned about a lot of diverse topics, e.g., the theories of Giordano Bruno, history of NASA projects (e.g., NERVA), the tyranny of the rocket equation, explanations of the slingshot effect, the economics of the Roman Empire, eusocial organisation and behaviour, lunar geology, Titanic meteorology, how humans could survive in a micro-gravity environment (and space in general), consequences of gamma-ray bursts, and much more.

Looking at Baxter’s Wikipedia page[3], I can see that I’ve only scratched the surface as he’s written many more books. Unfortunately, over the past decade, I’ve got out of the habit of reading novels but I really should make more of an effort.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Trilogy

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalescent

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifold:_Space

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#279

Post by SiVal » Mon, Sep 09, 2019, 11:58 AM UTC

Anthony-G wrote: post #278

SiVal wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any recommendations for good hard sci-fi in the last generation or so? I'm asking because your comment strongly suggests I'd like what you like. I'm one of the very few who think that "Science Fiction and Fantasy" as a genre makes about as much sense as "Math Textbooks and Romance Novels". I promise not to blame anyone for a recommendation that's flawed. They're all flawed. Anything where the story is based on the im…

Regarding “hard” science fiction from the past 25 years, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Stephen Baxter. I read the first two books (Voyager and Titan) from his NASA trilogy [1]. These books are set in a near future or alternative time-line and cover inter-planetary journeys (Mars and Titan), involving the use NASA technology. Both books seem very well-researched and true-to-life. Another book I really enjoyed was Coalescent…

Thanks, Anthony. I'll take a look at these.

Re: Goodreads Is Broken

#280

Post by rwmurrayVT » Mon, Sep 09, 2019, 12:43 PM UTC

inapis wrote: post #94

qrv3w wrote: post #77

> The recommendations suck, the lists suck — it’s like, 100 lists telling me to read The Handmaid’s Tale and Harry Potter. I had the same experience with GR and also Amazon.com which constantly peddles the vampire romance books when I am looking for recommendations for horror/fantasy. Both Amazon and GR strategy make sense because best-selling books sell the best, so they should recommend them to increase profits. Ho…

I face this problem with Netflix, Spotify and Youtube too. These algorithmic recommendations just need one improper dataset to throw everything out of the window. For weeks, my spotify is overloaded with instrumental songs. Youtube keeps on repeating the same stuff. Netflix believes that the only thing I watch is science fiction. I'm dying for human curation.

You watch one little anime with someone for high school nostalgia and suddenly Netflix thinks I'm only interested in k-pop docs, anime, and unusual shows featuring all-Asian casts... ???