Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
In short stories both Asimov's robot and Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series would make fine Google Summer of Code projects :)
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
Personally, I'm a big fan of Heinlein and would like to recommend the following of his works: Starship Troopers (my favourite book) The Moon is a Harsh Mistress The Door into Summer Space Family Stone (yes it is dead cheesy, but we all have our guilty pleasures) No one seems to have mentioned Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars series, the main three being Red Mar, Blue Mars and Green Mars. He's also done a few short stories based on the same universe which are well worth a read if you like the main three books. Cheers, -- Matthew R Moore Personal - tba LARP - www.pathfinderlarp.org.uk
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
Hey, doesn't anybody like Orson Scott Card? His books (specially Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow) are probably among my top-5. -- Juan Cespedes http://www.cespedes.org/
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
I very much enjoy Samuel R. Delany (http://www2.pcc.com/staff/jay/delany/); especially Babel-17, Nova, Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand and Dhalgren. The latter one is a good one for the holiday, as it's a tad longer. His short stories are well worth seeking out as well. His stories are characterised by a focus on people on the fringes of society without making a big deal of it. Also very enjoyable are books by Ken MacLeod (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_MacLeod). His first one, The Star Fraction, is a gem. Although his later books employ a little bit too much flashback. And I second Ursula Le Guin. especially the books set in the Hainish universe. Although you can give The Telling a miss, unless you like religious epiphanies. And finally, for good old fashioned, sillyness, Alan Dean Foster. Robby
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
i feel extremely hypocritical responding to this thread, because it really *is* so very off topic, but i have to put in a plug for Greg Egan. absolutely brilliant for extreme (and well thought out) technological extrapolation. he's got a computer-sciency background (he might even have heard of plan 9...) i'm stopping there, though i could go on and on.
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
On Dec 4, 2008, at 8:01 AM, roger peppe wrote: i feel extremely hypocritical responding to this thread, because it really *is* so very off topic, but i have to put in a plug for Greg Egan. absolutely brilliant for extreme (and well thought out) technological extrapolation. he's got a computer-sciency background (he might even have heard of plan 9...) i'm stopping there, though i could go on and on. I have noticed a dearth of recommendations for the very early sci-fi writers. I enjoy reading Jules Verne. In particular, Journey to to the Center of the Earth, and Mysterious Island. Then there is H. G. Wells. The Time Machine has already been mentioned but other ones I liked are A Story of Days to Come, When the Sleeper Wakes, and I find his numerous short stories interesting. If you are looking for something in a lighter vein, there is Edgar Rice Burroughs. I liked his At the Earth's Core series and his Venus and Mars series. Kim
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
Hey, doesn't anybody like Orson Scott Card? His books (specially Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow) are probably among my top-5. -- Juan Cespedes http://www.cespedes.org/ Ender's Game is fine. I don't think I read Ender's Shadow. However, I read the Homecoming books and got suspicious part way into the first one... by the time I approached the end I was confirmed in my suspicion that he was rewriting the Book of Mormon (albeit with a slightly more believable storyline than the original). This turned me off so strongly that I haven't read any of his other books since. Go Heinlein is my recommendation, the early stuff especially. Try his Expanded Universe. Then after you get a taste for his writing, read Stranger in a Strange Land, followed by Starship Troopers, and see what got all those hippies so riled up. Avoid the later stuff where he essentially goes crazy. VERNOR VINGE. Ron and others will appreciate his novel The Peace War, in which Lawrence Livermore National Labs has taken over the world. A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky are also brilliant. Dune is essential, as noted earlier. Skip anything by Brian Herbert. Charles Stross' Atrocity Archives is excellent too, but I'm a sucker for techno-Lovecraftian stuff. And yes, read Jules Verne and H G Wells. I got A Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3rd grade and read it until the cover fell off... then read it a few more times for good measure. John Floren, Duke of Off-topic
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
Anathem by Neil Stephenson. Not incredibly fast-paced but loads of idea-porn. Apart from some (convincing) nano-technological concepts, the science is pretty much hard (i.e realistic). 2008/12/3 Fernan Bolando [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Hi all I am not sure if anybody here reads Sci-Fi novels. Any recommendations? -- http://www.fernski.com
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
Sci-Fi? In Spain we have newspapers. Anathem by Neil Stephenson. Not incredibly fast-paced but loads of idea-porn. Apart from some (convincing) nano-technological concepts, the science is pretty much hard (i.e realistic). 2008/12/3 Fernan Bolando [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Hi all I am not sure if anybody here reads Sci-Fi novels. Any recommendations? -- http://www.fernski.com -- Rodolfo García AKA kix http://www.kix.es/ EA4ERH (@IN80ER)
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
Hello, well you could start with classics like Asimov's Foundations, and then Dan Simmons' Hyperion. And if you're more into modern space opera there's Peter F. Hamilton's The Night's Dawn series; not very sophisticated but pretty entertaining imho. A few examples among many ... Mathieu On Wed, Dec 03, 2008 at 04:29:22PM +0800, Fernan Bolando wrote: Hi all I am not sure if anybody here reads Sci-Fi novels. Any recommendations? -- http://www.fernski.com
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
2008/12/3 Fernan Bolando [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Hi all I am not sure if anybody here reads Sci-Fi novels. Any recommendations? -- http://www.fernski.com I'm not a big fan of sci-fi, but Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is worth a read. -- - yiyus || JGL .
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
At last, something I can claim expertise in--you actually see the sci-fi expertise showing on my feeble attempts at technicality ;-) You should definitely try anything by Stanislaw Lem. Reading him in the original Polish would be awesome but somewhat far-fetched. Then there are the German translations in terms of quality and diversity. And lowest on the ladder are the English translations. Try Solaris, Fiasco, and The Invincible. Then you can go for Cyberiad, His Master's Voice, Imaginary Magnitude, and Hospital of Transfiguration. If you are become a studious fan you may eventually end up reading Memoirs Found in a Bathtub. To fill the short breathing intervals between reading these works you could try any of Ijon Tichy's adventures. Then there's Philip K. Dick. One of his short stories was recommended (by which the film Blade Runner was inspired). You can try the collection of essays and stories titled The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick for a first taste. Larry Niven's The Jigsaw Men should provide good shock value and probably get you reading his other works. There are the Great Three, of course. Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Robert A. Heinlein. Anything they wrote is worth a read. Sometimes a number of reads. Clarke particularly interests me. Try the short story The Nine Billion Names of God. The series of Odyssey novels are very readable--2001 is a magnum opus of Clarke, and of science fiction. No science fiction (or fantasy) book recommendation will be complete without a mention of Ray Bradbury. Try The Illustrated Man, and The Martian Chronicles. Fahrenheit 451 you have already heard of surely. There's a lot more to recommend but let's let it pass. --On Wednesday, December 03, 2008 4:29 PM +0800 Fernan Bolando [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi all I am not sure if anybody here reads Sci-Fi novels. Any recommendations? -- http://www.fernski.com
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 11:32 AM, Eris Discordia [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At last, something I can claim expertise in--you actually see the sci-fi expertise showing on my feeble attempts at technicality ;-) [...] Then there's Philip K. Dick. One of his short stories was recommended (by which the film Blade Runner was inspired). Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is now a 'short story'? Or your sci-fi expertise is equivalent to your technical expertise? Peace uriel PS.: And I agree with yy, it is a very recommendable book, as is most work by P.K. Dick. Also is very recommendable almost everything by Jack Vance, although it is less 'sci-fi' and more high quality literature.
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is now a 'short story'? Or your sci-fi expertise is equivalent to your technical expertise? You're right. It's a novel--a long story. I haven't read it. Which is why I didn't recommend it. I named and recommended what I had read. --On Wednesday, December 03, 2008 12:54 PM +0100 Uriel [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 11:32 AM, Eris Discordia [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At last, something I can claim expertise in--you actually see the sci-fi expertise showing on my feeble attempts at technicality ;-) [...] Then there's Philip K. Dick. One of his short stories was recommended (by which the film Blade Runner was inspired). Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is now a 'short story'? Or your sci-fi expertise is equivalent to your technical expertise? Peace uriel PS.: And I agree with yy, it is a very recommendable book, as is most work by P.K. Dick. Also is very recommendable almost everything by Jack Vance, although it is less 'sci-fi' and more high quality literature.
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
I think Dune is a must read for any scifi fan... I am a retro-scifi fan... I love to read the stories, but sometimes a 50's movie can tell a story quite nicely... Crappy FX require a better plot to keep you watching... I recommend: - The Forbidden Planet (The best!) (Very likely the precursor of Star Trek) - The day the Earth stood still (Not the remake, the old one) (GREAT music) (Klaatu Barada nikto!) - THX 1138 (The only good movie George Lucas has ever done) (A little bit dense) - Soylent Green - War of the worlds (old movie, not the remake) - Voyage to the centre of the Earth (old movie, great for a sunday evening with kids) - The time machine (Again, the old movie) Some other interesting movies... - Silent Running - Solaris (both Soviet and American remake) - Metropolis (It is great, but it is also long... Very good visuals... There are some alternative suggested sountracks around... look for them) - Capricorn One (For the ones that still think that Apollo never made it to the Moon) And of course Plan 9 from outer Space!! On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 12:25 PM, Eris Discordia [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is now a 'short story'? Or your sci-fi expertise is equivalent to your technical expertise? You're right. It's a novel--a long story. I haven't read it. Which is why I didn't recommend it. I named and recommended what I had read. --On Wednesday, December 03, 2008 12:54 PM +0100 Uriel [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 11:32 AM, Eris Discordia [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At last, something I can claim expertise in--you actually see the sci-fi expertise showing on my feeble attempts at technicality ;-) [...] Then there's Philip K. Dick. One of his short stories was recommended (by which the film Blade Runner was inspired). Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is now a 'short story'? Or your sci-fi expertise is equivalent to your technical expertise? Peace uriel PS.: And I agree with yy, it is a very recommendable book, as is most work by P.K. Dick. Also is very recommendable almost everything by Jack Vance, although it is less 'sci-fi' and more high quality literature.
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
Why not a post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel? Earth Abides by George R. Stewart it's the best. On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 9:29 AM, Fernan Bolando [EMAIL PROTECTED]wrote: Hi all I am not sure if anybody here reads Sci-Fi novels. Any recommendations? -- http://www.fernski.com -- Sergio.
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 2:02 PM, Lorenzo Fernando Bivens de la Fuente [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I think Dune is a must read for any scifi fan... Dune is one of the few books I put down partly-read. Came a point where I just didn't care what happened to the characters on the other side of the page, and I never turned the page to look. Try for some of the older books and authors—Hal Clement, Lester del Rey, Fredric Brown, C. M. Kornbluth, C. L. Moore. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Age_of_Science_Fiction. I am a retro-scifi fan... I love to read the stories, but sometimes a 50's movie can tell a story quite nicely... Crappy FX require a better plot to keep you watching... In the visual media, Joss Whedon's Firefly is some of the best science fiction I've seen. - Solaris (both Soviet and American remake) Also read the story. Or other books by Stanisław Lem. —Joel
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
On Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:45:20 -0600, Joel C. Salomon [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 2:02 PM, Lorenzo Fernando Bivens de la Fuente [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I think Dune is a must read for any scifi fan... Dune is one of the few books I put down partly-read. Came a point where I just didn't care what happened to the characters on the other side of the page, and I never turned the page to look. The story is interesting... But it takes too long to get into something... I have found that people love the book or hate it... I read that book while living in the middle of the Atacama Desert... Ambience helps... There are a couple of mainstream scifi books that I've read while travelling and I have enjoyed: The Andromeda strain (Crichton) (Both the book and the old movie... Avoid, really, the recent remake)... I also liked a book called The terminal Experiment (Sawyer)... For those speaking spanish... There is a book called Synco written by a chilean writer called Jorge Baradit... I've not read it yet... But it sounds very interesting... I've read that it talks about what would have happened if Allende had succeded implementing Cybersyn... [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Cybersyn] I am looking for reading this book.
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
Fun space scifi: Recently, I've liked Jack McDevitt's stuff (read most of Academy series), and James P. Hogan's (read most of Giant's series). However, I hate the Internet now because these guys have blogs and I really just would prefer not to learn about them personally. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_McDevitt#Bibliography http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giants_series I only mention them because I found them by accident, and not they're not (to my knowledge) part of the typical cannon of Clarke, Heinlein, Asimov, etc. Computer nerd tech-fi: I heart William Gibson, but unless you're into the style, his earlier stuff can be kind of dense. Neuromancer is the earlier work (80s era), the Bridge series is more accessible (and clearly written after Gibson read Stephenson's Snow Crash, but that's okay because Stephenson wrote Quicksilver after reading Difference Engine). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gibson#Neuromancer And strangely enough, I've found that for really light reading, Tom Clancy's stuff has a tendency to tickle my sci/tech bone, even though I doubt anyone considers it sci-fi. Submarines are cool. :) Anyway, it's a broad genre, and I hope you're prepared for the millions of replies.
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
Ursula K. Le Guin is great. I can recommend The Birthday of the World and The Left Hand of Darkness.
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
I've read that it talks about what would have happened if Allende had succeded implementing Cybersyn... [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Cybersyn] I am looking for reading this book. That is the most interesting thing I've come by in months. Shame on Augusto Pinochet, unaugust scoundrel, forever. --On Wednesday, December 03, 2008 2:09 PM -0600 Lorenzo Fernando Bivens [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:45:20 -0600, Joel C. Salomon [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 2:02 PM, Lorenzo Fernando Bivens de la Fuente [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I think Dune is a must read for any scifi fan... Dune is one of the few books I put down partly-read. Came a point where I just didn't care what happened to the characters on the other side of the page, and I never turned the page to look. The story is interesting... But it takes too long to get into something... I have found that people love the book or hate it... I read that book while living in the middle of the Atacama Desert... Ambience helps... There are a couple of mainstream scifi books that I've read while travelling and I have enjoyed: The Andromeda strain (Crichton) (Both the book and the old movie... Avoid, really, the recent remake)... I also liked a book called The terminal Experiment (Sawyer)... For those speaking spanish... There is a book called Synco written by a chilean writer called Jorge Baradit... I've not read it yet... But it sounds very interesting... I've read that it talks about what would have happened if Allende had succeded implementing Cybersyn... [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Cybersyn] I am looking for reading this book.
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
Eris Discordia wrote: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Cybersyn]... Shame on Augusto Pinochet, unaugust scoundrel, forever. And shame on Allende for not seeing that land reform via confiscation is always a loser's game. And of course shame on the U.S. government for its part in the debacle.
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 5:32 AM, Eris Discordia [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: There are the Great Three, of course. Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Robert A. Heinlein. Anything they wrote is worth a read. Sometimes a number of reads. Clarke particularly interests me. Try the short story The Nine Billion Names of God. The series of Odyssey novels are very readable--2001 is a magnum opus of Clarke, and of science fiction. Clarke's short stories are great, as are many of his novels. Quick tip, though: DON'T read any sequels. 2001 is great, 2010 so-so, 2100 blah, and 3001 well-nigh unreadable. Same with the Rama books: read the first, ignore the rest. Also, if there's a short story, and then an expanded novel, stick with the short story. Especially Guardian Angel/Childhood's End. If you want short stories, look for the Best of … set by del Rey books. Great introduction to many authors, especially Golden Age ones. —Joel
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
tip, though: DON'T read any sequels. 2001 is great, 2010 so-so, 2100 blah, and 3001 well-nigh unreadable. A little correction: it's 2061. I disagree about 2010 and 2061 as I loved reading them. 2061 explores the interesting character of Heywood Floyd in more depth. But I agree about 3001. It was unwise of Clarke to write it the way he did--and the parts about computer viruses pretty much sound like my ideas about Plan 9 and computers in general; uninformed at best, that is :-D While doing short stories you may want to try Clarke's The Sentinel as well. 2001 grew out of that one. 2001, the film, is probably the greatest science-fiction film of all time. Any serious 2001 fan should also read The Lost Worlds of 2001. Clarke's chronicle of how 2001 the book was written and 2001 the film was made. It contains in addition parts of the book that never appeared in the final revision. Some of them are astounding, some clumsily-written, but all worth a read. Two very interesting short stories of Asimov legacy are The Last Question and The Last Answer. Each thought-provoking in a different way. --On Wednesday, December 03, 2008 5:56 PM -0500 Joel C. Salomon [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 5:32 AM, Eris Discordia [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: There are the Great Three, of course. Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Robert A. Heinlein. Anything they wrote is worth a read. Sometimes a number of reads. Clarke particularly interests me. Try the short story The Nine Billion Names of God. The series of Odyssey novels are very readable--2001 is a magnum opus of Clarke, and of science fiction. Clarke's short stories are great, as are many of his novels. Quick tip, though: DON'T read any sequels. 2001 is great, 2010 so-so, 2100 blah, and 3001 well-nigh unreadable. Same with the Rama books: read the first, ignore the rest. Also, if there's a short story, and then an expanded novel, stick with the short story. Especially Guardian Angel/Childhood's End. If you want short stories, look for the Best of … set by del Rey books. Great introduction to many authors, especially Golden Age ones. —Joel
Re: [9fans] Very Off-Topic: Anybody here reads Sci-Fi? :)
Electric Sheep by John Scalzi is a very humorous play on Dick's wonderful Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Anathem is good, but Snow Crash Diamond Age equally as good, have faster pacing. The Hostile Takeover Trilogy, everything written by William Gibson, The Electric Church, Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, The original Dune series, most of Cory Doctrow's stuff (Little Brother was a stretch, but most everything else was good; Down Out in the magic kingdom is a good start). If you like Hard Sci Fi, the Hard SciFi renaissance is a great collection of works, including Arthur C. Clarke, and it's heavy on Science, which is pretty neat. On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 4:39 AM, yy [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: 2008/12/3 Fernan Bolando [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Hi all I am not sure if anybody here reads Sci-Fi novels. Any recommendations? -- http://www.fernski.com I'm not a big fan of sci-fi, but Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is worth a read. -- - yiyus || JGL . -- And in the Only Prolog programmers will find this funny department: Q: How many Prolog programmers does it take to change a lightbulb? A: No. -- Ovid By cosmic rule, as day yields night, so winter summer, war peace, plenty famine. All things change. Air penetrates the lump of myrrh, until the joining bodies die and rise again in smoke called incense. Men do not know how that which is drawn in different directions harmonises with itself. The harmonious structure of the world depends upon opposite tension like that of the bow and the lyre. This universe, which is the same for all, has not been made by any god or man, but it always has been, is, and will be an ever-living fire, kindling itself by regular measures and going out by regular measures -- Heraclitus
