161–170 of 291 posts
Some others I'd recommend: Have Spacesuit, Will Travel. Loved it. Flatland. o.O Isacc Asimov short stories collection (specially "Jokester" "The Golden Man" and "The Last Question")
I was pleasantly surprised to see two Neal Stephenson books on the list, but why did the second have to be Anathem? I thought Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle were much better books. Anathem's plot seemed like book-nerd wish fulfillment. Of course I still read all thousand pages of Anathem in, like, four days. :)
How about more modern science fiction? I loved the Golden Age series by John C. Wright, published around 2004. It's refreshing to read sci-fi where computers and connectivity are ubiquitous, rather than the old masters who didn't foresee the internet. ( Stranger has flying taxicabs using magnetic tape for storage, a jarring juxtaposition to the modern reader.) Golden Age raises some real philosophical questions, as g…
I was particularly struck by the concepts that came from the Atkins character, as the sole entity in the universe's military. The magnificent display of unbelievable power, not as planet cracking explosives, but weapons so precise that individual neurons could be severed from orbit, altering the course of entire conflicts. And the idea of the weaponry and strategy, though controlled by godlike machine minds, still needed the ok of a person to do the precision strike.
The only real weakness I felt was the Daphne character, she was flat, uninteresting and almost misogynistic in her treatment as an unbelievable ignorant and foolish female character. I found myself aggravated during her sections of the work, this stupid character in the midst of such magnificently crafted, almost baroque, prose and ideas.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Glad to see that this time someone else is recommending this too, full of interesting ideas and overall a good hard sci-fi novel. We need more novels about these themes.
Um, hard sci-fi? Some handwavy "upload person to computer" stuff and then "we'll just rearrange the universe over here, don't mind us". I did read it a long time ago, but I don't remember anything that specific in it.
If anyone is interested, here is the list of joint winners of the Hugo and Nebula awards: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_joint_winners_of_the_Hu... I always find this list tremendously useful when I don't know what to read next.
Another very valuable source of new material for me has been The Year's Best Science Fiction anthologies[1]. Perfect for finding new interesting writers (Bacigalupi was one of the nicest discoveries) [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Years_Best_Science_Fiction
Probably the most surprising thing about this list is that whoever made it didn't insert Amazon affiliate links into it. Anyway, these lists always raise the question of what does "good" mean exactly? Inevitably they're dominated by books that were, in their time, incredibly significant. You see the same things in computing books. Someone will always recommend "Design Patterns" but (IMHO) it is the dullest, driest bo…
Probably the most surprising thing about this list is that whoever made it didn't insert Amazon affiliate links into it. Anyway, these lists always raise the question of what does "good" mean exactly? Inevitably they're dominated by books that were, in their time, incredibly significant. You see the same things in computing books. Someone will always recommend "Design Patterns" but (IMHO) it is the dullest, driest bo…
I think this misses a huge part of the picture that Gibson, Dick and and other Cyberpunk authors painted (where it differed from other fiction):
1) (Asian) Corporate controlled dystopia - ie breakdown of western-government-controlled world order
2) Information/Data as valuable asset, even commodity
3) Rise of AI and non-human agents
4) Drugs/computing grantings paranormal/heightened state
I'm sure a number of these might have been present in other genres, but these are the hallmarks of the genre as I can see it.
I'm sorry not to see Accelerando by Charles Stross (cstross on HN) on the list. One of the best singularity stories I have read, if not the best. For those of you interested, it's available as a free ebook here: http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/accelera...
The first half of "Stranger in a Strange Land" is wonderful, but the second... God in that novel actually exists. For a truly atheist like me, sometimes I want to read a fanfiction of the Stranger, but without god and the religion bullshit. Centered in the economics and the power. In science fiction, the sole purpose of God is to be mocked, criticized or denied.
Do I understand you correctly that you cannot even stand the idea of someone talking positively about God? I am trying to think of another context in which your sentence (In , the sole purpose of is to mocked, criticized, or denied.) would make any kind of sense whatsoever. Is there a particular, articulable reason that this is anything more than running away from concepts that challenge your preexisting mindset? For…
In particular, what happens when the genre is sci fi and the noun is god?
Clearly, that noun is not to be adored. Religion is for that.
Should sci fi say something nice about that noun? That He really exists, after all? Science is for that, and science until now...
I really think that sci fi should take a clear stance against god.