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Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division

stephendiehl.com

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Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division

#141

Post by FrustratedMonky »

doug_durham wrote: post #68
mjburgess wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the take is religion is itself the weapon and the depiction given is mere evidence of that, OK, that's at least avoids the ending being totally awful. HOWEVER The book spends much of its time saying the transcendent cannot even be represented, to people, to us the read -- then just represents it, and in a tawdry christian way. I think the violation of that norm, as well as the ending being played straight -- with…

I read the book and at no time did I think "Christianity". It seems like motivated reasoning on your part. At no time did the book ever preach, or was even moralistic.

Could be religion/Christian.

But, also, all systems. Capitalism. Governments.

I took it as all 'groups of people' form these 'structures', that can then take on a life of their own.

I don't this this was supposed to be specifically christian

Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division

#142

Post by evnp »

bluewin wrote: post #139
gravypod wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any recommendations for science fiction books that explore interesting ideas? There is no Antimemetics Division was really interesting in how some of the scenarios play out. I don't read much but I've been trying to do that more. I really liked the book. Things like the memory consuming entity, async research, etc I enjoyed.

Annihilation By Jeff VanderMeer Diaspora by Greg Egan Anathem by Neal Stephenson (this one is a bit like doing homework but worth it imo) If you vibe with short stories Exhalation by Ted Chiang Crystal Nights by Greg Egan isn't bad either

Great list, thanks. Seconding Exhalation, that story in particular but also the whole collection. Guess I'm checking out Egan next.

Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division

#144

Post by renjimen »

bluewin wrote: post #139
gravypod wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any recommendations for science fiction books that explore interesting ideas? There is no Antimemetics Division was really interesting in how some of the scenarios play out. I don't read much but I've been trying to do that more. I really liked the book. Things like the memory consuming entity, async research, etc I enjoyed.

Annihilation By Jeff VanderMeer Diaspora by Greg Egan Anathem by Neal Stephenson (this one is a bit like doing homework but worth it imo) If you vibe with short stories Exhalation by Ted Chiang Crystal Nights by Greg Egan isn't bad either

I love all these. I'd add Blightsight by Peter Watts to the list. It has the creepy, psychological bent of Annihilation combined with the hard science elements common to qntm's, Neal Stephenson's and Greg Egan's books.

Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division

#145

Post by bluewin »

evnp wrote: post #142
bluewin wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Annihilation By Jeff VanderMeer Diaspora by Greg Egan Anathem by Neal Stephenson (this one is a bit like doing homework but worth it imo) If you vibe with short stories Exhalation by Ted Chiang Crystal Nights by Greg Egan isn't bad either

Great list, thanks. Seconding Exhalation, that story in particular but also the whole collection. Guess I'm checking out Egan next.

His book is great, but to be clear I feel like he writes exactly one book. I've read it in many forms and it's an amazing book. But don't be surprised when you realize that every book is just him trying to find a new way to look at the same object over and over again.

Very enjoyable but his short stories are great because they force him to focus on one idea instead of how his whole world view fits together.

Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division

#146

Post by joemi »

yellottyellott wrote: post #99
cwillu wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To the point where i don’t recommend it to anyone > but the first half was so good and original I'd recommend it just for that Attension span so short you couldn't even make it to the second half of the sentence before dismissing it

fair enough, i guess my brain got stuck on reconciling the first thing that i whiffed on the differing recommendations lol

I had the same issue. I figured it out before I'd have commented similarly, but I completely understand where the confusion came from and I don't attribute it to your reading skills.

Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division

#147

Post by mindcrime »

gravypod wrote: post #129
mjg2 wrote: post #87

I just finished this book and complained about it the whole time. The prose is amateur and peppered with cliches (e.g. you should be fined for publishing the phrase "their suit was so sharp it could cut"). His attempt to write about the inner thoughts of the characters was pretty simple. The descriptions of violence and horror also felt child-like, especially the dialogue during those moments (e.g. Redd's introductio…

Do you have any recommendations for science fiction books that explore interesting ideas? There is no Antimemetics Division was really interesting in how some of the scenarios play out. I don't read much but I've been trying to do that more. I really liked the book. Things like the memory consuming entity, async research, etc I enjoyed.

Glasshouse[1] by Charles Stross

Permutation City[2] by Greg Egan

We Are Legion (We Are Bob)[3] by Dennis E. Taylor

Halting State[4] by Charles Stross

Singularity Sky[5] by Charles Stross

Dungeon Crawler Carl[6] by Matt Dinniman

Zero World[7] by Jason M. Hough

The Shockwave Rider[8] by John Brunner

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasshouse_(novel)

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

[3]: https://www.amazon.com/We-Are-Legion-Bob-Bobiverse/dp/166822...

[4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halting_State

[5]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singularity_Sky

[6]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon_Crawler_Carl

[7]: https://www.jasonhough.com/book/zero-world

[8]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shockwave_Rider

Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division

#148

Post by danielheath »

gravypod wrote: post #129
mjg2 wrote: post #87

I just finished this book and complained about it the whole time. The prose is amateur and peppered with cliches (e.g. you should be fined for publishing the phrase "their suit was so sharp it could cut"). His attempt to write about the inner thoughts of the characters was pretty simple. The descriptions of violence and horror also felt child-like, especially the dialogue during those moments (e.g. Redd's introductio…

Do you have any recommendations for science fiction books that explore interesting ideas? There is no Antimemetics Division was really interesting in how some of the scenarios play out. I don't read much but I've been trying to do that more. I really liked the book. Things like the memory consuming entity, async research, etc I enjoyed.

“Valuable humans in transit”, maybe?

The “Ancillary” series, for sure.

Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division

#149

Post by mindcrime »

bluewin wrote: post #139
gravypod wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any recommendations for science fiction books that explore interesting ideas? There is no Antimemetics Division was really interesting in how some of the scenarios play out. I don't read much but I've been trying to do that more. I really liked the book. Things like the memory consuming entity, async research, etc I enjoyed.

Annihilation By Jeff VanderMeer Diaspora by Greg Egan Anathem by Neal Stephenson (this one is a bit like doing homework but worth it imo) If you vibe with short stories Exhalation by Ted Chiang Crystal Nights by Greg Egan isn't bad either

> Diaspora by Greg Egan

Basically anything by Egan is gold, IMO.

> Annihilation By Jeff VanderMeer

I wanted to like this, as the premise was fascinating and the word-smithing was pretty good. But something about it left me feeling a little disappointed at the end. More so the end of the entire trilogy, than Annihilation by itself though, IIRC.

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