David wrote:
I never read this one, so I resisted the temptation to rate it "useless".
You were tempted to rate a book you haven't read?
I did rate the C.S. Lewis books, _Perlandra_ etc,
as "useless". Mentioning other planets does not make an allegory into science fiction. (Similarly for _Animal Farm_.)
Mentioning? Out of the Silent Planet was set on Mars, Peralandra on Venus. Most of the science was ridiculous by todayâs standards but the creation of alien species to tell a story, however allegorical, is really the reason these books are classified as s.f.
The selection of books seems to be very haphazard. I sort of admired the humor in Harry Harrison's _Stainless Steel Rat_ series. But I couldn't remember which ones I had read, and so just voted for the first one as a proxy for the series. And in a similar vein, why was Keith Laumer's _Retief_ series omitted?
These two could be partially remedied by giving most authors an "other books" entry. Then if I wanted to vote for Michael Swanwick's _The Iron Dragon's Daughter_, I could approximate my true feelings by voting for it as an "other book". As is, I had not read the two books of his that were listed, and simply did not vote on him at all. (Not that this would have helped me vote for Jeff Noon's _Vurt_, since none of his books are listed...)
William will add books to the list as they are suggested - I believe that's how most, if not all of the books listed got there.
-- Doug
_______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
