Jim wrote: >Lalith Vipulananthan wrote: >>Jim wrote: >> >>>However, after nearly two years here, I dove into the Culture >>>since Banks's name came up so many times when I asked for >>>books to read for the train. >> >>It's good to hear that you do listen to people's suggestions. Either >>that, or having Banks thrown at you for two years has finally >>penetrated your skull! :) > >LOL! Well, it was a combination of both, frankly. I knew >wwhen I asked for book ssuggestions that he'd comeup, so I >figured it was time to check it out.
Well, at least on the Culture list, if you ask for recommendations, Banks doesn't usually get mentioned. Unfortunately, I've latched on to a few great books and keep harping on about them like a stuck record. This has been noted and ridiculed at times. Man, I'm far too easy to wind up! :) >>Yup. I love the whole Culture idea but for some reason or another, I >>didn't really enjoy TPoG as much as "Use of Weapons" and "Consider >>Phlebas". I need to re-read the early Culture books since I >>read "Use of Weapons" first and it affected my enjoyment of the >>other Culture novels (ie none of them really measured up to it!) > >Well, then I'm glad I went in the order that I did. I'd >rather build up than move down, givena choice. :) I think >either Phlebas or Weapons will be next. CP is possibly your best bet as it takes a look at the Culture from the viewpoint of an unsympathetic character. Horza (who is a git dammit!) considers the Culture to be the bad guys in a galaxy spanning conflict between the Culture and a race of religious maniacs who believe it is their divine right to conquer all 'lesser' races. >If you like. I don't imagine he's going to answer then >either, but you never know. Ah, but he'll be on TV and I'm hoping it'll be harder for him to get out of than via a phone/email interview. I can only try! >>I'd go for "Use of Weapons", "Consider Phlebas" and >>"Feersum Endjinn" myself. I wasn't entirely convinced by "Excession" >>nor "Inversions". "Against a Dark Background" just seemed nihilistic >>to me. > >See, I think Endjinn will give me a headache, wading through >the language the one character uses. But the first two are on >my list. I may even try the Wasp Factory, though I hear >that's a tough read. There was a recent post to the Culture List a couple of weeks ago that I think is related to how I dealt with Bascule's phonetic spelling. ------ > Interesting Theory ! > > " ... randomising letters in the middle of words [has] little or no > effect on the ability of skilled readers to understand the text. This is > easy to denmtrasote. In a pubiltacion of New Scnieitst you could ramdinose > all the letetrs, keipeng the first two and last two the same, and > reibadailty would hadrly be aftcfeed. My ansaylis did not come to much > beucase the thoery at the time was for shape and senqeuce retigcionon. > Saberi's work sugsegts we may have some pofrweul palrlael prsooscers at > work. The resaon for this is suerly that idnetiyfing coentnt by paarllel > prseocsing speeds up regnicoiton. We only need the first and last two > letetrs to spot chganes in meniang. ------- When reading "Feersum Endjinn", I noticed that the speed at which I could read Bascule's segments became faster and faster as I progressed through the book. At first I had to read it out loud then I just read the Bascule bits at my normal reading speed without having to vocalise the words. It's not as bad as it looks, honest! I've been on a mad "hunt down all Iain Banks hardcovers" buying spree on Ebay and I now own AaDB and FE in hardcover after buying every Banks books from Excession onwards in hardback and I don't really fancy my prospects on tracking down his earlier stuff. However, I really do want to own UoW in hardcover as it's my favourite. Lal VFP Feersum Endjinn indeed! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The information contained in this e-mail is confidential and solely for the intended addressee(s). Unauthorised reproduction, disclosure, modification, and/or distribution of this email may be unlawful. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete it from your system. The views expressed in this message do not necessarily reflect those of LIFFE Holdings Plc or any of its subsidiary companies. -----------------------------------------------------------------------
