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 Posted: Sun, 3rd Jul 2016 14:17 Post subject: |
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Last edited by Yondaime on Mon, 2nd Dec 2024 15:34; edited 1 time in total
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mug2k
Posts: 698
Location: UK
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| Posted: Sat, 2nd May 2020 14:53 Post subject: |
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Any new recommendations? It's been nearly 4 years since the last post so hopefully you guys have tons to recommend!
I'm not really after anything in particular btw.
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| Posted: Sat, 2nd May 2020 15:14 Post subject: |
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Last edited by paxsali on Thu, 4th Jul 2024 23:15; edited 2 times in total
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mug2k
Posts: 698
Location: UK
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Frant
King's Bounty
Posts: 24645
Location: Your Mom
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| Posted: Sat, 2nd May 2020 16:36 Post subject: |
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The Way trilogy by Greg Bear.
Eon
Eternity
Legacy
| Quote: | | Within the universe of The Way, the Thistledown is an asteroid starship built by hollowing out Juno and fitting it with mass-driver (Rail gun) engines and thermonuclear drives. It is built 500 years in the future, as told in Bear's novel, Eon, and is engaged on a multi-generational journey to Epsilon Eridani, around which a habitable planet is known to be circling. |
Eon synopsis (the interesting part):
| Quote: | In the early 21st century, the United States and Russia are on the verge of nuclear war. In that tense political climate, an asteroid appears out of near space after an unusual supernova and settles into an extremely elliptical near Earth orbit. The two nations each try to claim this mysterious object, which appears to be a virtual duplicate of Juno. It is hollow and contains seven vast terraformed chambers. Two of the chambers contain cities long abandoned by human beings who seemed to come from Earth's future. The asteroid is called the Thistledown by its builders. A startling discovery is that it is bigger inside than outside. The seventh chamber appears to stretch into infinity.
The human inhabitants of the Thistledown come from an alternate timeline, approximately 1000 years in the future. In their timeline, human civilization was nearly destroyed by the "Death", a calamitous World War involving nuclear weapons. The Death occurred at approximately the same time as the appearance of the Thistledown in the present time. Its presence threatens to cause the Death to occur on the current timeline as well.
An expedition is sent down the seemingly infinite seventh chamber (The "Way", as it is known) where it encounters the descendants of humanity. The high technology of this civilization, known as the Hexamon, with its control over genetic engineering, human augmentation, and matter itself are some of the main points of interest here. The Hexamon includes several alien species who have come to live with humanity's descendants. The Hexamon itself is at war with an alien race known as the Jarts from further down the corridor still. |
It's very Asimovesque in it's hard scifi style in a combination with the exploration aspect from Arthur C Clarke's 2001 and Rendezvous with Rama. Some mind blowing concepts in that book. Greg Bear go plenty of support from mathematicians and physicians while writing the book to get the scifi somewhat believable.
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!
"The sky was the color of a TV tuned to a dead station" - Neuromancer
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| Posted: Sat, 2nd May 2020 17:14 Post subject: |
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I'm a lapsed reader and haven't read a book in 5 years. Any recommendation to pull me back into the literary world?
@Frant: Would those work for me or would you suggest something else to ease me in?
1 and 2 are still amazing.
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| Posted: Sat, 2nd May 2020 23:25 Post subject: |
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| Yuri wrote: | I'm a lapsed reader and haven't read a book in 5 years. Any recommendation to pull me back into the literary world?
@Frant: Would those work for me or would you suggest something else to ease me in? |
Which genre? My favourite all time book is 1984. I would also suggest Neuromancer for its cyberpunk atmosphere, I didn't enjoy the sequel, though.
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| Posted: Sun, 3rd May 2020 00:45 Post subject: |
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Any genre works, really. Just need something to remind me that I used to read books into the wee hours of the morning years ago.  Should I try Neuromancer first and then read 1984?
1 and 2 are still amazing.
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| Posted: Sun, 3rd May 2020 01:00 Post subject: |
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neuromancer is great
first of a trilogy but enough for itself
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| Posted: Sun, 3rd May 2020 10:49 Post subject: |
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Thanks lads 
Knew about the synopsis but never had the inclination to check them out especially 1984 given how relevant it is now. I've always liked Cyberpunk and read A Scanner Darkly as well as Accelerando ages ago.
1 and 2 are still amazing.
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couleur
[Moderator] Janitor
Posts: 14361
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| Posted: Sun, 3rd May 2020 11:29 Post subject: |
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1984 is Anti-Communist and Anti-Nationalist at the same time. Orwell himself was a social-democrat and heavily opposed any totalitarian or authoritarian doctrines such as communism and nationalism.
"Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one's own understanding without another's guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one's own mind without another's guidance. Dare to know! (Sapere aude.) "Have the courage to use your own understanding," is therefore the motto of the enlightenment."
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| Posted: Sun, 3rd May 2020 13:17 Post subject: |
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| couleur wrote: | | 1984 is Anti-Communist and Anti-Nationalist at the same time. Orwell himself was a social-democrat and heavily opposed any totalitarian or authoritarian doctrines such as communism and nationalism. |
Very interesting, didn't know about the ideologies in it. I was making a reference to the "big brother is watching you" aspect i.e privacy and how it's become an increasingly rare commodity.
1 and 2 are still amazing. |
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couleur
[Moderator] Janitor
Posts: 14361
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| Posted: Sun, 3rd May 2020 13:31 Post subject: |
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There are many aspects of totalitarianism brought to light in the book. (no spoilers, so no details) Though the specific society of the protagonist seems to be some kind of a post-stalinist society. Orwell included aspects of Nationalsocialism and Communism/Stalinism in his portrayal of the society.
It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on it when you finished reading it.
"Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one's own understanding without another's guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one's own mind without another's guidance. Dare to know! (Sapere aude.) "Have the courage to use your own understanding," is therefore the motto of the enlightenment."
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dsergei
Posts: 4059
Location: Moscow, Russia
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| Posted: Sun, 3rd May 2020 14:42 Post subject: |
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Orwell was afraid that after the war the UK would transform into some sort of totalitarian state.
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Nalo
nothing
Posts: 13522
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| Posted: Sun, 3rd May 2020 19:50 Post subject: |
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Last edited by Nalo on Wed, 3rd Jul 2024 05:45; edited 3 times in total
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| Posted: Mon, 4th May 2020 13:33 Post subject: |
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@couleur I look forward to reading it! Will definitely share my thoughts after I'm done with it.
@dsergei Oh, didn't know the history behind it.
@Nalo Now I'm annoyed at myself for ignoring his works until now. Thanks for the list
And thanks again gents and lady ( )
1 and 2 are still amazing.
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Frant
King's Bounty
Posts: 24645
Location: Your Mom
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| Posted: Mon, 4th May 2020 14:21 Post subject: |
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| Yuri wrote: | I'm a lapsed reader and haven't read a book in 5 years. Any recommendation to pull me back into the literary world?
@Frant: Would those work for me or would you suggest something else to ease me in? |
I believe Eon would be a good one. It kept pulling me in further and further. They're a trilogy in the same sense as The Sprawl trilogy by William Gibson; Neuromancer, Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive; same world, some of the characters from previous books show up but are stand-alone and not pure sequels.
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!
"The sky was the color of a TV tuned to a dead station" - Neuromancer
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Frant
King's Bounty
Posts: 24645
Location: Your Mom
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| Posted: Mon, 4th May 2020 19:07 Post subject: |
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Last edited by Yondaime on Mon, 2nd Dec 2024 15:30; edited 1 time in total
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| Posted: Wed, 6th May 2020 09:10 Post subject: |
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@Frant: Added them to my list, thanks.
@Yon: The Bobiverse series sounds amazing from the way you've described it! Been too long since I experienced any media where the lead character was actually earnest. The glowing recommendation really making me very eager! Crucible also sounds good. Thanks
1 and 2 are still amazing.
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zmed
Posts: 9234
Location: Orbanistan
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| Posted: Tue, 20th Oct 2020 00:31 Post subject: |
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Just finished book 4 of the Bobiverse. Yeah. It's pretty great. Also yeah, go with the audible version, the narrator does an amazing job at playing Bob.
It's dealing with some futurist wet dreams. Digitising consciousness, several different mega projects, Fermi's paradox, great filters, etc. There are a couple hand-waving tech in there to keep the story grounded, but most of the concepts explored are perfectly feasible.
What I really liked is that it used references to nerd culture that come naturally from Bob's character, instead of gorging on memberberries, like Ready Player One and its ilk. It's there as a nod to the nerd readers, but they are not integral parts of the story, so nerds aren't the only ones who can get any enjoyment out of the series.
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| Posted: Mon, 26th Oct 2020 11:05 Post subject: |
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Rational Male series by Rollo Tomassi -
The Rational Male
The Rational Male - Preventive Medicine
The Rational Male - Positive Masculinity
https://twitter.com/RationalMale
https://twitter.com/Rational_Quotes
chill out man, life is beautifull...
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mtj
Posts: 2315
Location: Austria / Finland
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