What are you reading?

[Sandwurm88]

Nice, I'll definitely be giving that one a look in the near future.

Oh yeah, and I know you asked about a syllabus for a sci-fi course I'm taking right now, Omphalos. Couldn't find an internet copy, but these are the complete texts and other media that we're covering, in the approximate order that we're doing them...

Bellamy- "Looking Backwards" (just a few excerpts)
Article by Williams "Utopia and Science Fiction"
Wells- "The Time Machine"
Forster- "The Machine Stops"
Gilman- "Herland"
Zamyatin- "We"
Fritz Lang's film "Metropolis"
Katharine Burdeikin- "Swastika Night"
Orwell- "Nineteen Eighty-Four"
Terry Gilliam's film "Brazil"
PKD- "Flow my Tears, the policeman said"
First two episodes from the British TV show "The Prisoner" (late 1960's IIRC)
Lem- "The Futurological Congress"
Charleton Heston film- "Soylent Green"
Atwood- "The Handmaid's Tale"
Le Guin- "The Lathe of Heaven"
Eggers- "The Circle"
TV show "Black Mirror"

It's a decent amount of work, but one of the funnest courses I've taken in college. One of the prof's specialties is utopia and dystopia, so a lot of the stuff we do goes along those lines...which is fine because I prefer this subgenre of SF to stuff like pure space opera.

[Omphalos]

Nice, I'll definitely be giving that one a look in the near future.

Oh yeah, and I know you asked about a syllabus for a sci-fi course I'm taking right now, Omphalos. Couldn't find an internet copy, but these are the complete texts and other media that we're covering, in the approximate order that we're doing them...

Bellamy- "Looking Backwards" (just a few excerpts)
Article by Williams "Utopia and Science Fiction"
Wells- "The Time Machine"
Forster- "The Machine Stops"
Gilman- "Herland"
Zamyatin- "We"
Fritz Lang's film "Metropolis"
Katharine Burdeikin- "Swastika Night"
Orwell- "Nineteen Eighty-Four"
Terry Gilliam's film "Brazil"
PKD- "Flow my Tears, the policeman said"
First two episodes from the British TV show "The Prisoner" (late 1960's IIRC)
Lem- "The Futurological Congress"
Charleton Heston film- "Soylent Green"
Atwood- "The Handmaid's Tale"
Le Guin- "The Lathe of Heaven"
Eggers- "The Circle"
TV show "Black Mirror"

It's a decent amount of work, but one of the funnest courses I've taken in college. One of the prof's specialties is utopia and dystopia, so a lot of the stuff we do goes along those lines...which is fine because I prefer this subgenre of SF to stuff like pure space opera.

That is an awful lot of artifacts for one semester. And I've never heard of Eggers before. But it looks like fun to me too.

Is this a GA public university you are at?

[Sandwurm88]

Nope, it's a private New England one.

[Omphalos]

Nope, it's a private New England one.

Ah. That's why they are trying to work you to death.

Black Mirror is awesome, for those of you who have not seen it yet.

[Sandwurm88]

Nope, it's a private New England one.

Ah. That's why they are trying to work you to death.

Black Mirror is awesome, for those of you who have not seen it yet.

...Yeah, tell me about it -___-



Up next for fun reading is between "Limbo" by Bernard Wolfe, which I know very little about, "Man Plus" by Pohl, and "Journey to the Center of the Earth" by Verne.

[SadisticCynic]

Now I'm onto Lilith's Brood and it's been wonderful even from the opening paragraphs. I should have started on Butler a long time ago.

In non-fiction I started reading Relativity: The Special and the General Theory by Einstein. It's so incredibly concise and yet crystal clear. I can only dream of such clarity in my thoughts and writing.

[Naib]

Now I'm onto Lilith's Brood and it's been wonderful even from the opening paragraphs. I should have started on Butler a long time ago.

In non-fiction I started reading Relativity: The Special and the General Theory by Einstein. It's so incredibly concise and yet crystal clear. I can only dream of such clarity in my thoughts and writing.

I read it in uni and it is a lovely piece. If you want some more rollicking physics fun read Feynman Lectures. Simply brilliant.

[SadisticCynic]

Now I'm onto Lilith's Brood and it's been wonderful even from the opening paragraphs. I should have started on Butler a long time ago.

In non-fiction I started reading Relativity: The Special and the General Theory by Einstein. It's so incredibly concise and yet crystal clear. I can only dream of such clarity in my thoughts and writing.

I read it in uni and it is a lovely piece. If you want some more rollicking physics fun read Feynman Lectures. Simply brilliant.

I have read the Feynman lectures actually and enjoyed them, during my undergrad. I'm one of the weird ones that prefers the formal mathematical style though (most of the time).

[Omphalos]

Now I'm onto Lilith's Brood and it's been wonderful even from the opening paragraphs. I should have started on Butler a long time ago.

Pretty sure we had a conversation about Butler recently. Looked back a few pages but could not locate it. Anyway, glad you are liking her work. Every book she produced is worth the effort of finding and reading, even the ones that have not been recollected into an omnibus edition.

[Omphalos]

If you are looking for something interesting to read, try Norstrilia, by Cordwainer Smith. IMHO it is very similar to Dune, and indeed is so similar that it poses some interesting questions. Here is a link to a review I wrote of the book long ago. I would love to get a conversation going on this topic, should some of you read the book.

http://www.omphalosbookreviews.com/inde ... ws/info/35" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[SadisticCynic]

Now I'm onto Lilith's Brood and it's been wonderful even from the opening paragraphs. I should have started on Butler a long time ago.

Pretty sure we had a conversation about Butler recently. Looked back a few pages but could not locate it. Anyway, glad you are liking her work. Every book she produced is worth the effort of finding and reading, even the ones that have not been recollected into an omnibus edition.

We did, that was what motivated the choice. Can't recall which thread either...

[Serkanner]

If you are looking for something interesting to read, try Norstrilia, by Cordwainer Smith. IMHO it is very similar to Dune, and indeed is so similar that it poses some interesting questions. Here is a link to a review I wrote of the book long ago. I would love to get a conversation going on this topic, should some of you read the book.

http://www.omphalosbookreviews.com/inde ... ws/info/35" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Put it on my "buy" list, and it's only two days till pay-day

[Hunchback Jack]

Butler was the real deal, and Liliths Brood - or Xenogenesis, as it was called when I read it - is some of her best work.

These days I'm not getting a lot of time to read, so I tend to listen to audiobooks. A lot of non-SF these days. I just finished Simmons' Hardcase - a Richard Stark pastiche, and if suffers for the comparison sadly - and now listening to Stonemouth by the late great Iain Banks.

I caught up on this thread , and let me say:
- Freak, love Whipping Stsr and Dosadi. Must reread. Particularly Whipping Star which I thought was just brilliant
- Everyone should read The Forever War. Like, immediately, if you haven't already.
- my next SF book will probably be Three Body Problem, as I've heard good things.
- I miss Iain Banks.

HBJ

[Omphalos]

Shying away from fiction for a bit. Just started Divide by Matt Taibbi (love his stuff), and I have another called The Journey of A Corporate Whistleblower by Cynthia Cooper. I saw her speak recently and thought her book might be good. She was the whistleblowing accountant at Worldcon.

[Serkanner]

The last weeks I have finished the six books of the Old man's war series by John Scalzi. In short: they are very entertaining.

It is obvious Robert Heinlein has been very influential to Scalzi. His sense of humour and dialogues full of sarcastic remarks are sufficient proof of it. Also the, what I call, whodunnit type of storytelling reminds me a lot of Heinlein. But Scalzi is no heinlein, that is also clear. I find the characters Scalzi present too flat and can hardly find any true character development. The dialogues are fun to read but at times I really grew bored of the constant bickering and sarcasm. All "smart" characters use sarcasm to get their points across, and the not so smart characters don't get "it".

The stories and ideas themselves are fun to read but do not come with a lot of originality. Most of what Scalzi presents has been done before and better as well. Ender series has been another obvious source of inspiration for Scalzi. Here and there are gaping plot holes which are, in my opinion, not explained very well. The fact that Earth has been on the leash by the Colonial Union for 200 years and is kept "dumb" is to me the most obvious one and Scalzi has only a very weak explanation for it. He could have come away with it if he would have stuck to only the first book in the series. The more books were added the harder it becomes to accept this plot hole.

Does this all sound negative? I guess it does. But I have enjoyed the series and would recommend them to readers who like some light science fiction reading, perfectly suited for those long commuter hours.

Next on the list: Joe Haldeman's The Forever war series. I read The Forever War in my teens but hardly remember anything about it and I have never read the sequels.

[SandRider]

i've finally been reading about Correct The Record™
those cocksuckers i've been screaming about for over
a year now - $1M for Paid Trolls does even come close
to describing to what these people are doing

as of this morning, they were phonebanking for Bernie,
calling voters in the remaining states and harassing the shit
out of them. You'll read about that NEXT YEAR.

[Robspierre]

It's the cult of personality, most politicians don't believe their bullshit but these current ones and oh my god Ted Cruz is the psycho pervert the girls all warned each other about who would be hiding in the dark around the corner of the showers while muttering, mommy I'm sinning as he jerks off. While Hillary continually tea bags hard working Americans while promising that she really isn't out to fuck them up the ass by being in the pockets of the big banks.

[Omphalos]

The last weeks I have finished the six books of the Old man's war series by John Scalzi. In short: they are very entertaining.

It is obvious Robert Heinlein has been very influential to Scalzi. His sense of humour and dialogues full of sarcastic remarks are sufficient proof of it. Also the, what I call, whodunnit type of storytelling reminds me a lot of Heinlein. But Scalzi is no heinlein, that is also clear. I find the characters Scalzi present too flat and can hardly find any true character development. The dialogues are fun to read but at times I really grew bored of the constant bickering and sarcasm. All "smart" characters use sarcasm to get their points across, and the not so smart characters don't get "it".

The stories and ideas themselves are fun to read but do not come with a lot of originality. Most of what Scalzi presents has been done before and better as well. Ender series has been another obvious source of inspiration for Scalzi. Here and there are gaping plot holes which are, in my opinion, not explained very well. The fact that Earth has been on the leash by the Colonial Union for 200 years and is kept "dumb" is to me the most obvious one and Scalzi has only a very weak explanation for it. He could have come away with it if he would have stuck to only the first book in the series. The more books were added the harder it becomes to accept this plot hole.

Does this all sound negative? I guess it does. But I have enjoyed the series and would recommend them to readers who like some light science fiction reading, perfectly suited for those long commuter hours.

Next on the list: Joe Haldeman's The Forever war series. I read The Forever War in my teens but hardly remember anything about it and I have never read the sequels.

I thought the first one stood out from the rest. Scalzi got a little bored, I think, as the books wore on.

[Omphalos]

i've finally been reading about Correct The Record™
those cocksuckers i've been screaming about for over
a year now - $1M for Paid Trolls does even come close
to describing to what these people are doing

as of this morning, they were phonebanking for Bernie,
calling voters in the remaining states and harassing the shit
out of them. You'll read about that NEXT YEAR.

It's been forever since we have had to deal with any of this shit in CA (actually, since before I was a citizen), but I haven't heard of this going on here.

[Serkanner]

I thought the first one stood out from the rest. Scalzi got a little bored, I think, as the books wore on.

The first one definitely stood out from the rest. But also the first one suffers from lack of character development and the sole idea of consciousness transfers between bodies is in my opinion not enough to call it an "Original idea" within the super soldier genre. In that regard Ender's game and The Forever War are way better.

[SandRider]

i've finally been reading about Correct The Record™
those cocksuckers i've been screaming about for over
a year now - $1M for Paid Trolls does even come close
to describing to what these people are doing

as of this morning, they were phonebanking for Bernie,
calling voters in the remaining states and harassing the shit
out of them. You'll read about that NEXT YEAR.

It's been forever since we have had to deal with any of this shit in CA (actually, since before I was a citizen), but I haven't heard of this going on here.

stay out of Her way, you and your brother both. Her will tell staff to pull your law license
and staff will tell CTR to tag rag's servers the candidate's not withdrawing from the race tonight
the candidate cannot withdraw he has too many delegates already and money in the bank

[SadisticCynic]

Finished Lilith's Brood. Oh man, wish I'd started on Butler a lot earlier. Entire bibliography added to The List now.

Edit to add: Next one is Steinbeck's East of Eden. Wish me luck...

[Sandwurm88]

Now that's school's out for summer I have more time to read SF, so after I finish Solaris, I'll be checking out Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. I liked 20,000 Leagues in its more action/adventure-oriented scenes, but there were certainly some dry patches in there I could have done without.

After that, I might try "Limbo" by Bernard Wolfe, which sounded intriguing. Could be another of those semi-hidden gems that you find on "Best of SF" lists among the better known classics like Dune and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

[Omphalos]

Finished Lilith's Brood. Oh man, wish I'd started on Butler a lot earlier. Entire bibliography added to The List now.

Edit to add: Next one is Steinbeck's East of Eden. Wish me luck...

Did you see the list I created over at T(A)U? Its really out of date, but its not like she's writing more of it: http://tau.solahpmo.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=268" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[SadisticCynic]

Finished Lilith's Brood. Oh man, wish I'd started on Butler a lot earlier. Entire bibliography added to The List now.

Edit to add: Next one is Steinbeck's East of Eden. Wish me luck...

Did you see the list I created over at T(A)U? Its really out of date, but its not like she's writing more of it: http://tau.solahpmo.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=268" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I hadn't. Wow, that's detailed. So far I was just going to read what she'd written. I'll keep that in mind for secondary sources someday though, thanks.