The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit) • Hacker News Board

Re: The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit)

#241

Post by karamazov » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 3:07 AM UTC

Alex3917 wrote: post #124

jerf wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While an interesting thesis, and I would never claim Japan has completely failed to influence the US, none of your examples strike me as evidence of Japan -> US influence rather than either convergent evolution, or things that just flat out come from different sources. High stakes testing is a result of the bureaucracy; the bureaucracy requires something to test and measure, and it will create it even if it's impossi…

"either convergent evolution, or things that just flat out come from different sources" I more or less agree with this. At the same time, when you look at Japan everything just looks better -- even though it isn't. So while I think much of it is convergent evolution or things that come from different sources, just having Japan being the way it is vaguely over there seems to be giving US leaders more self confidence t…

In fact, many things about modern Japanese society - including scientific management and high-stakes testing - were originally copied from Europe. In that sense, it's not really accurate to say we copied Japan; much of the world currently has high stakes testing. For example, the Japanese educational system was actually based on the Prussian model.

Re: The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit)

#242

Post by ajuc » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 3:14 AM UTC

ajuc wrote: post #238

I wonder if Jacek Dukaj is known outside of Poland? He writes very philosophical SF.

Probably he's not, because nobody translates him. What a shame.

There are some excerpts translated by fans: http://dukaj.pl/English/ReadingRoom/BlackOceans

Re: The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit)

#243

Post by dewarrn1 » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 3:19 AM UTC

Lots of great suggestions have already been made (I'm particularly intrigued by The Quantum Thief), but I believe that Startide Rising has gone unmentioned so far, and that's a shame. The rest of the Uplift Trilogy is also great fun.

Re: The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit)

#244

Post by redthrowaway » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 4:12 AM UTC

betageek wrote: post #198

pragmatic wrote: post #38

Neal Stephenson really matures between Snow Crash and Diamond Age. I read snow crash after some of his later stuff and it's almost hard to believe it's the same author. Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon are great books but each has their own style and you would think it was a different author if you didn't know better. That's why I like Stephenson so much. He takes a topic and researches it so much that he brings it to li…

I've enjoyed every Stephenson book apart from Anathem - obviously a lot of people love it but I couldn't see it all, a smattering of maths & philosophy mixed into an overlong and pretty boring 'students journey' plot. Why do people like it so much?

The first time I tried reading Anathem, I couldn't get into it and put it down for a year. Then, while travelling (read: lots of time on my hands), I picked it up again and couldn't put it down until I finished it. The richness of the world and the pacing of the plot (past page 300 or so) as the mystery is revealed is gripping. I didn't think it was an earth-shattering book, but it was certainly a great read. In the same vein, Ender's Game is just another book about a child prodigy/outcast who saves the day. It seemed far more profound when I was 13 than it did upon re-reading. Some books aren't revolutionary; they're just a good read.

I haven't read Snow Crash or Diamond Age, but I'm about a quarter of the way through Cryptonomicon right now and it's starting to get good. I find Stephensen's books tend to start off slowly then quickly pick up steam.

Re: The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit)

#245

Post by dbingham » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 4:27 AM UTC

That discussion of Science Fiction heavily disappointed me because it lacked any mention of some books that are full to overflowing of amazing ideas and insights. And well written to boot.

The Uplift Trilogy (the first one) by David Brin

Re: The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit)

#246

Post by zalthor » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 4:51 AM UTC

jsrn wrote: post #195

zalthor wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree, though the only non English science fiction book I've read (translated to English of-course) is Roadside Picnic, which probably would be in my list of the best Sci-Fi books of all time.

Also, don't miss the movie adaptation of Roadside Picnic by Andrei Tarkovsky: "Stalker".

Tarkovsky is actually one of my favorite directors of all time! I love Stalker, Solaris and the mirror!

Re: The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit)

#247

Post by jaredor » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 5:48 AM UTC

Thank you, John Forsythe, for taking the time to do this. This crowd-sourced bestof list is a nice update to David Pringle's "Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels". I love all such lists that have some passion in them, since more often than not I'm introduced to a book and an author that are good reads.

Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels, fan site https://www.worldswithoutend.com/lists_pringle_sf.asp

Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels, amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786704810

Re: The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit)

#248

Post by crc » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 6:16 AM UTC

psykotic wrote: post #239

alanfalcon wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quarantine had me running around in high school reading Quantum Physics books and mostly failing to understand them. Good book.

It's also his most tautly plotted novel because of the detective noir framework. Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan and the earlier Vlad Taltos books by Steven Brust also used detective noir conventions to great effect. It's a writer's crutch, but so many fantasy and science fiction writers suck at plotting and pacing that I'd prefer they lean on crutches occasionally rather than bore their readers to death. Egan's two…

Egan looks interesting. Which is a good book to start reading Egan?

Re: The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit)

#249

Post by mortenjorck » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 6:19 AM UTC

T-hawk wrote: post #62

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…

There's something I actually quite like about strange, dated sci-fi. I'll admit I really have only one strong example of it, and that is Gibson's Sprawl trilogy, but there's something fantastic about a world where information technology is scary and foreign, a world of digital phone booths and fax-newspapers, in which the internet is pervasive and deep, yet in other ways clunky and limited. It's a future arrived at by an alternate-present.

Re: The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit)

#250

Post by mortenjorck » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 6:26 AM UTC

Jun8 wrote: post #142

cletus wrote: post #47

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…

Earlier examples of cyberpunk exist. For example Tiptree's The Girl Who Was Plugged In is so modern, could have been published today. Dick said that he was greatly influenced by this story as was Gibson for Neuromancer .

The common ancestor is Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination (1956, on the list). World-spanning megacorps, globetrotting anti-hero, bizarre subcultures, explorations in transhumanism – it's all there, rocket-powered. Highly recommended.