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systran posted:I'm reading Old Man's War... Old Man's War was 2005? Are you thinking of The Forever War? (Which, amusingly, I always get confused with that Vernor Vinge book about the time bubbles.)
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Sep 22, 2014 14:21
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Eh, he's Jennifer's friend or at least business associate. I'd think that might earn him a little leeway in the "might be magical" department. Worst case Daniel has to do the jail job, which would at least make for an interesting read as well. Yeah I figure it's one of the only unresolved plot threads so it would make sense for that to be the lead in to the next set of stories.
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Sep 22, 2014 14:59
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Sorry, brain farted...I definitely meant to say FOREVER WAR
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Sep 22, 2014 15:04
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systran posted:I'm reading FOREVER WAR... I'm reading 2001 right now and am finding the same thing, it's pretty funny. The book is amazing though so I can look past the fact that it's 2014 and we're no where near the stuff Clarke was positing we could be at 13 years ago. vvvvv yeah buddy! Cpt. Mahatma Gandhi fucked around with this message at 15:24 on Sep 22, 2014 |
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Sep 22, 2014 15:12
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systran posted:I'm reading FOREVER WAR... I know what you mean. I'm at the last few chapters of 2001: A Space Odyssey (finishing tonight), and what you say holds true here as well. I like how Clark maintained a sense of reality (the mission to the outer belts, taking a seemingly realistically approachable length of time). One of the main themes that impressed me was Clark's prediction of Big Data (as it relates to my job). Discovery One sends back mass amounts of data to be analyzed by scientists later. This is a very simplified explanation of how big data works in today's world. I never heard anybody mention this before, and it really wasn't focused on in the book. If you haven't read 2001 yet, I highly recommend it. edit: Cpt. Mahatma Gandhi posted:I'm reading 2001 right now and am finding the same thing, it's pretty funny. The book is amazing though so I can look past the fact that it's 2014 and we're no where near the stuff Clarke was positing we could be at 13 years ago.  What chapter are you on?
Fiendish Dr. Wu fucked around with this message at 15:23 on Sep 22, 2014 |
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Sep 22, 2014 15:21
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:
Just finished 34 - The Orbiting Ice and am probably not terribly far from where you are since I also expect I'll be finishing it tonight  e; actually you're probably further along than me since I just checked and I still have like 12 chapters to go Cpt. Mahatma Gandhi fucked around with this message at 15:30 on Sep 22, 2014 |
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Sep 22, 2014 15:25
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Cpt. Mahatma Gandhi posted:Just finished 34 - The Orbiting Ice and am probably not terribly far from where you are since I also expect I'll be finishing it tonight Just a bit further. Halfway through Part Six. Can't wait to finish it tonight and hear your thoughts. edit: about a part we've both read, I really liked HAL in the book. It just seemed more cold and calculated. The opening of the air lock doors gave me chills. And then HAL's begging, and eventual regression. Reading this has really sparked new understanding of the film, despite the differences. Fiendish Dr. Wu fucked around with this message at 15:40 on Sep 22, 2014 |
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Sep 22, 2014 15:37
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The optimistic attitude to space travel from around the 60s and the 70s totally makes sense though when you look at how fast things seemed to progress back then. Humanity went from the first flight to the Moon in little over half a century. Where could we be in another half? Well turns out sending robots instead of meatbags is way easier so why bother?
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Sep 22, 2014 16:40
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:Just a bit further. Halfway through Part Six. Can't wait to finish it tonight and hear your thoughts. Yeah, opening the airlock was a huge "oh poo poo" moment. I'm also impressed with how claustrophobic the book feels. The thought of being millions and millions of miles from Earth, with no direct communication link and no one for company except a psychopathic AI is really chilling and Clarke conveys it so well.
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Sep 22, 2014 16:51
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Cpt. Mahatma Gandhi posted:Yeah, opening the airlock was a huge "oh poo poo" moment. You're right. Bowman handles the isolation spectacularly well. I appreciated the monotony was described in the book, how Bowman and Poole worked together as professionals, how they grew to know each other, and how Bowman had to deal with HAL's mutiny (carefully calculating each response, knowing every tiny detail of his communication was being dissected at the most intricate level).
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Sep 22, 2014 17:09
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systran posted:I'm reading FOREVER WAR... My edition of The Forever War has an author's note that addresses this: quote:The dates in the book are now kind of funny; most people realize we didn't get into an interstellar war in 1996. I originally set it in that year so it was barely possible that the officers and NCOs could be veterans of Vietnam, so we decided to leave it that way, in spite of the obvious anachronisms. Think of it as a parallel universe.
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Sep 22, 2014 17:44
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Can people identify what book they're posting the blocks of black lines for?
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Sep 22, 2014 21:43
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2001: A Space Odyssey, which you DEFINITELY don't want spoiled... lol
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Sep 22, 2014 21:45
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savinhill posted:Can people identify what book they're posting the blocks of black lines for? Sorry. Didn't think it was necessary since that conversation started about 3 posts prior within a 2 hour time period. systran posted:2001: A Space Odyssey, which you DEFINITELY don't want spoiled... lol In fairness, the closer to the end of the book you get the more it diverges from the movie. I started reading the book knowing this, but am happy I didn't actually read anything that directly gave away some of the moments that surprised me, so I figured others might feel the same way. edit: finished it, then skipped through the movie and watched the different parts, and the end. I'm going to try to not annoy the hell out of everyone I know ranting all day how amazing 2001 is. Fiendish Dr. Wu fucked around with this message at 04:49 on Sep 23, 2014 |
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Sep 22, 2014 22:00
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Movac posted:My edition of The Forever War has an author's note that addresses this: Yeah that was the best. Just ignore the years and go with the flow!
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Sep 23, 2014 05:55
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If we had kept investing the kind of money into space travel that was spent in the years leading up to the moon landing, we probably would have a manned colony on Mars already. Most people aren't aware of how tiny a budget space agencies really have compared to what they need to spend to do even the simplest-looking stuff.
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Sep 23, 2014 12:30
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I've been reading this lately. It's scifi with some time travel in it but it's not the usual mess that books involving time travel are. The main character is also a woman which is a nice change of pace from most scifi books. I'm like 70ish pages in so far and really enjoying it. William Galaini also wrote a book (his second, The Line is his first) called Withered Zion about basically, what if the United States was a Theocracy. I haven't started that one yet though so I can't tell you how it is but it seems really interesting to me. \/\/Just going off the Amazon description for that since like I said I haven't started reading it yet as I'm still reading The Line.\/\/ juliuspringle fucked around with this message at 13:56 on Sep 23, 2014 |
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Sep 23, 2014 12:47
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"what if"
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Sep 23, 2014 13:53
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Finished The Bone Clocks the other day. Amusingly enough, the chapter that was the most fantasy-oriented was probably the weakest part, but still a beautifully written book all around.
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Sep 23, 2014 14:54
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Seraji posted:I stumbled on 'Fear the Sky' the other day on an Amazon deal, and to my delight (after blasting through in a few days) discovered there is a sequel recently published, and a final book in a few months. Appears to be a fledgling authors first book (and series) about first contact with another species who are far more interested in the Earth than us. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22171637-fear-the-sky This has been a decent story so far but the author really needs to find a reasonably competent editor.
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Sep 23, 2014 15:13
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taser rates posted:Finished The Bone Clocks the other day. Amusingly enough, the chapter that was the most fantasy-oriented was probably the weakest part, but still a beautifully written book all around.
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Sep 23, 2014 16:40
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Ok, this series might turn out to be poo poo, but this cover is amazing: http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/09/dinosaur-lords-cover-reveal
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Sep 25, 2014 03:30
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That has to be the greatest cover quote ever.
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Sep 25, 2014 03:33
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Ornamented Death posted:That has to be the greatest cover ever. I literally don't think I've ever seen a book cover that's as absolutely 100% guaranteed to sell. I don't know what they had to do to get that GMRRM quote, but even if it involved a suitcase of 100 dollar bills it was probably worth it. Hopefully they gave another suitcase to the illustrator. I mean, there are plenty of covers I would rather have on books I own, but I've never felt like I need to give a round of applause for the marketing perfection of a cover before. mystes fucked around with this message at 03:47 on Sep 25, 2014 |
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Sep 25, 2014 03:43
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It even dodges the whole feathers controversy.
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Sep 25, 2014 03:54
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:It even dodges the whole feathers controversy. There's a controversy?
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Sep 25, 2014 03:59
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Some people think they look stupid.
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Sep 25, 2014 04:05
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House Louse posted:Some people think they look stupid. Yeah, scaly theropods look ridiculous. This just happened earlier today: Greg Bear suffered an aortic dissection. Thankfully, they didn't ignore the warning signs and called 911 quickly. He's doing well at the moment. He seemed just fine on Sunday at our meeting, too!
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Sep 25, 2014 05:19
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Does he have Marfans Syndrome?
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Sep 25, 2014 09:33
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Dinosaurs+medieval fantasy seems like super obvious idea now that I think about it. Is this book really first of its kind?
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Sep 25, 2014 10:52
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"Victor Milan"
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Sep 25, 2014 11:06
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mallamp posted:Dinosaurs+medieval fantasy seems like super obvious idea now that I think about it. Is this book really first of its kind?
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Sep 25, 2014 11:18
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Oh yeah, Dinotopia.. At first I thought that Dinosaur Lords is just gonna be geek pandering (like I've read the ultimate little boys book to my son, it had no plot and was all about dinosaurs driving awesome cars, that kind of thing). But I actually think it's pretty good idea, sort of, BUT.... Shitshow posted:"Victor Milan" Wikipedia: "Writer of libertarian sci-fi" 
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Sep 25, 2014 11:25
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mystes posted:I literally don't think I've ever seen a book cover that's as absolutely 100% guaranteed to sell. I don't know what they had to do to get that GMRRM quote, but even if it involved a suitcase of 100 dollar bills it was probably worth it. Not a great deal. Milan and Martin have been friends for 30 years, and Milan is a founder member of the Wild Cards Collective.
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Sep 25, 2014 12:55
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mallamp posted:Dinosaurs+medieval fantasy seems like super obvious idea now that I think about it. Is this book really first of its kind? Malazan has giant space velociraptors with swords for hands, but you already think that series is dumb
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Sep 25, 2014 14:58
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Pyroclastic posted:Yeah, scaly theropods look ridiculous. Actually most dinosaurs, not just theropods, may have had feathers. I like to imagine ceratopsians with long flowing quills on their frills. Or perhaps hadrosaurs. Sorry to hear about Bear, best wishes to him. mallamp posted:Dinosaurs+medieval fantasy seems like super obvious idea now that I think about it. Is this book really first of its kind? Warhammer and D&D have had people riding dinosaurs for a while. And there's probably tons of pulpy stuff with dinosaurs riders.
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Sep 25, 2014 15:06
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House Louse posted:Actually most dinosaurs, not just theropods, may have had feathers. I like to imagine ceratopsians with long flowing quills on their frills. Or perhaps hadrosaurs.  totally not as cool, stop raining on the dino-knight parade
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Sep 25, 2014 15:21
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Look at a loving terror bird and tell me feathers aren't hardcore again.
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Sep 25, 2014 15:30
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:
I bet you hate griffins too. And giant eagles. And rocs. Although the main problem that guy has is that he's sitting on his bird's neck.
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Sep 25, 2014 16:16
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House Louse posted:I bet you hate griffins too. And giant eagles. And rocs. Although the main problem that guy has is that he's sitting on his bird's neck. I don't mind all of those things because they're not trying to change dinosaurs.
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Sep 25, 2014 17:07
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