|
Veni Vidi Ameche! posted:Trying to remember the title and author of a really good short story about time travel. An academic type invents a sort of time machine that will allow scientists to view the past, but not travel to it. It turns out that the device is impractical due to limited resolution as you look farther back in time. He then realizes, or has pointed out to him, a rather sinister implication of the technology. He struggles with the damage his machine will do if it falls into the wrong hands, and considers heading that off by putting it into everyone’s hands. I’m being a little bit vague about “the implication” because I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who, like me, is too dim to see it coming while reading the story. Isaac Asimov's short story The Dead Past
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2017 05:36
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 12, 2024 14:02 |
|
|
Absurd Alhazred posted:Isaac Asimov's short story The Dead Past That’s the one. Thanks. I had convinced myself it wasn’t Asimov, because I thought I might be conflating it with A Statue for Father.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2017 05:58
|
|
|
SerialKilldeer posted:1. An economics "textbook" in comic book form. It starts out with a couple of guys on a desert island, and there's a chapter that's basically a long rant about how awful FDR was. (Title was something like "How the economy works and what to do when it doesn't.") The first one is How an Economy Grows and Why It Doesn't by Irwin Schiff.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2017 16:44
|
|
|
SerialKilldeer posted:2. Not sure this was even in a book but I might as well ask: a satire of 9/11 conspiracy theories in the form of a dialogue between members of the Bush administration, showing how they'd plan out what conspiracy theorists think actually happened. I remember people repeatedly suggesting ideas for false-flag attacks and Dick Cheney or someone responding with "Nah, that's too simple."
|
|
#
?
Nov 17, 2017 12:37
|
|
|
^This wasn't a video, just a theatrical-style script, so that's not it. e. I found it! It's a chapter in Matt Taibbi's The Great Derangement IYKK posted:The first one is How an Economy Grows and Why It Doesn't by Irwin Schiff. Thanks! I'd been trying to remember the title and it was bugging me... SerialKilldeer fucked around with this message at 05:00 on Nov 20, 2017 |
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2017 04:48
|
|
|
1. I read this book as an early teen. It involved a group of teenagers who were either on an island or on the coast somewhere. The group of teenagers were all kids of genius scientist parents. The parents were working on some sort of secret project which I'm fairly sure involved generating power through capturing the force of waves of tides going in and out. The parents were I believe going to harness this technology for idealistic purposes. At the end of the book someone gets murdered and one (or more?) of the teens witnesses it. The twist is that the actual murder is not revealed in the book! I believe it is stated that their face is obscured by pipes or steam or something. I think the book had a phone number or maybe an address you could write to to find out the identity of the murderer. 2. A sci-fi story about a war between humans and an alien society. Humans can't talk to the aliens and a human linguist is working on translating their language. As the linguist learns more about the language they start to get turned towards the alien side. Eventually the linguist realizes that the alien language is itself a weapon that changes the minds of those who make themselves able to understand it. Editing to add spoiler tags per the request of people farther down the page. IYKK posted:The first one is How an Economy Grows and Why It Doesn't by Irwin Schiff. 
Grifter fucked around with this message at 19:17 on Nov 27, 2017 |
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2017 03:53
|
|
|
Grifter posted:2. A sci-fi story about a war between humans and an alien society. Humans can't talk to the aliens and a human linguist is working on translating their language. As the linguist learns more about the language they start to get turned towards the alien side. Eventually the linguist realizes that the alien language is itself a weapon that changes the minds of those who make themselves able to understand it. Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delaney? It's very, very good, I strongly recommend it. Don't read the Wikipedia description because it kind of spoils the ending. Edited for removing spoilers I guess? Absurd Alhazred fucked around with this message at 13:23 on Nov 27, 2017 |
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2017 04:01
|
|
|
Absurd Alhazred posted:Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delaney? It's very, very good, I strongly recommend it, despite the fact that it hinges on the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2017 04:05
|
|
|
Grifter posted:Wow, I got a lot of stuff wrong but this cover looks really familiar. I think this is it. 
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2017 04:08
|
|
|
Maybe when looking for the name of books so interesting you want to reread them we could avoid revealing the ending?
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2017 06:37
|
|
|
504 posted:Maybe when looking for the name of books so interesting you want to reread them we could avoid revealing the ending? Or at least spoiler it
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2017 09:19
|
|
|
It's literally in the first sentence of the Wikipedia description, but okay? 
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2017 13:21
|
|
|
No worries, I've forgotten what the spoiler was but I've gotten the ebook so I'll see if I remember when I start reading it 
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2017 13:32
|
|
|
Absurd Alhazred posted:It's literally in the first sentence of the Wikipedia description, but okay? Why would anyone be reading the wiki page of a book they didn't know existed?
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2017 16:36
|
|
|
Grifter posted:Wow, I got a lot of stuff wrong but this cover looks really familiar. I think this is it. That's also very similar to Arrival which was a short story first
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2017 18:37
|
|
|
Retro Futurist posted:That's also very similar to Arrival which was a short story first 504 posted:Why would anyone be reading the wiki page of a book they didn't know existed?
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2017 19:16
|
|
|
504 posted:Maybe when looking for the name of books so interesting you want to reread them we could avoid revealing the ending? Hey everyone! This guy cares about plot!
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2017 23:20
|
|
|
504 posted:Why would anyone be reading the wiki page of a book they didn't know existed? How do you vaguely describe a story without "ruining it", considering the parts most likely to be retained by that faulty slab of meat called your brain are probably the ones that are most notable, and therefore would otherwise be considered spoilers?
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2017 05:19
|
|
|
Absurd Alhazred posted:How do you vaguely describe a story without "ruining it", considering the parts most likely to be retained by that faulty slab of meat called your brain are probably the ones that are most notable, and therefore would otherwise be considered spoilers? Seriously?, where in this thread has someone written something along the lines of "I cant remember anything about it at all except in the end it turns out he was dead the whole time" I'm not saying spoiler free, that's impossible, but there's a difference between "stuff I remember" and "stuff I remember and explicitly the ending"
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2017 14:31
|
|
|
BgRdMchne posted:I posted here a few years back, but never got an answer, so I'll try again. This is probably not it but is it Hank the Cowdog? The dog is male, but solves various mysteries around the farm (finding a fox that enters the henhouse, etc). There's a bunch of them and they're children's / YA novels that are really good. I specifically remember listening to the audiotape in the 1990s when I was a kid which is why it makes me think this is it.
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2017 16:37
|
|
|
du -hast posted:This is probably not it but is it Hank the Cowdog? The dog is male, but solves various mysteries around the farm (finding a fox that enters the henhouse, etc). There's a bunch of them and they're children's / YA novels that are really good. I specifically remember listening to the audiotape in the 1990s when I was a kid which is why it makes me think this is it. It definitely wasn’t this. The one I remember is more in the Agatha Christie style of writing and took place either in England or on the East Coast.
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2017 19:01
|
|
|
I remember once hearing about a Sci-Fi book where a man and a woman are in love, but they end up in the army and get sent to fight in wars hundreds of light years apart. After they finish their tours of duty, they return to Earth to find each other, but because of the distances (which were not the same) they get separated by centuries of time-debt. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2017 10:11
|
|
|
Yes! I asked the same question.Piell posted:Sounds like The Forever War. I believe at the end of this they actually find each other again despite the time displacement stuff, but it still sounds like what you’re looking for.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2017 10:14
|
|
|
Sanford posted:Yes! I asked the same question. Wow, that was a fast reply. Thank you!
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2017 10:29
|
|
|
Nebrilos posted:Wow, that was a fast reply. Thank you! It’s a genre classic, one of the all-time greats. Read it soon
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2017 21:42
|
|
|
navyjack posted:It’s a genre classic, one of the all-time greats. Read it soon It should probably just be in the OP, by now. Q: I read a story about some time travelers, and they were in love, but traveling at different speeds caused them to age at different rates or something... ? A: The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman Q: I remember a book about a space soldier, and the guy loses a leg or something, but by the time they get him somewhere for medical treatment, they have the technology to grow him a new leg. Does anyone know what this is? A: The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman Q: I once read a story about how in the future everyone is gay and it's illegal to be straight. I really need to read this again so I am ready for the future we're going to be facing now that gay people are allowed to get married thanks to the libtards. A: The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman Q: I read an allegory about the Vietnam War, where we were breeding babies in test tubes to fight aliens for like a thousand years or something. Help? A: The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2017 22:51
|
|
|
Veni Vidi Ameche! posted:It should probably just be in the OP, by now. There really is so much going on in that book. I need to read it again.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2017 00:38
|
|
|
Veni Vidi Ameche! posted:Q: I remember a book about a space soldier, and the guy loses a leg or something, but by the time they get him somewhere for medical treatment, they have the technology to grow him a new leg. Does anyone know what this is? To be fair Kimball Kinnison went a fair bit beyond this in Grey Lensman, decades earlier.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2017 01:42
|
|
|
navyjack posted:There really is so much going on in that book. I need to read it again. There is a lot going on in that book. Even with all the criticisms against it, it's spent over four decades on practically every "must read" list of science fiction stories, and for good reason. Resident Idiot posted:To be fair Kimball Kinnison went a fair bit beyond this in Grey Lensman, decades earlier. I'd be willing to bet the answer to any question asked in this thread is more likely to be "Joe Haldeman" than "Doc Smith" by at least a couple orders of magnitude.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2017 03:59
|
|
|
navyjack posted:There really is so much going on in that book. I need to read it again. It's almost like, to describe everything in the book, would take you forever
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2017 07:34
|
|
|
A human heart posted:It's almost like, to describe everything in the book, would take you forever 
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2017 09:11
|
|
|
A short story about a civilization that discovers they are inside a man's dream. They send an expedition to turn off the man's alarm clock so they can continue existing a bit longer. Mainly I remember this as an animated short.
|
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2017 08:14
|
|
|
Added Space posted:A short story about a civilization that discovers they are inside a man's dream. They send an expedition to turn off the man's alarm clock so they can continue existing a bit longer. Mainly I remember this as an animated short. I know what you're talking about! For some reason I think it's a French short.
|
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2017 14:20
|
|
|
It was a scifi novel about human explorers on some planet, they were exploring a massive Great Wall of China-like wall that aliens had built as a courting ritual (like a bower bird). The native alien scout they have along with them has a crush on one of the scientists. I have no more details, sorry. 
|
|
#
?
Dec 12, 2017 18:48
|
|
|
Schadenboner posted:It was a scifi novel about human explorers on some planet, they were exploring a massive Great Wall of China-like wall that aliens had built as a courting ritual (like a bower bird). The native alien scout they have along with them has a crush on one of the scientists.
|
|
#
?
Dec 12, 2017 20:56
|
|
|
anilEhilated posted:Dunno about the wall but this sounds like Uncharted Territory by Connie Willis. No. loving. Way.  Are walls not a thing in that? I dunno, I read it when I was like 13 or 14.
|
|
#
?
Dec 12, 2017 20:58
|
|
|
Schadenboner posted:No. loving. Way. One of the best things about this thread is how one person will post a detailed breakdown of some story, complete with character arcs and settings, and no one will have any idea what he's talking about, then someone else will post, "I read a book once about a kid, and he did this thing with his hand, and I think he lived on Earth," and someone will slam down an answer in fifteen seconds flat.
|
|
#
?
Dec 13, 2017 07:10
|
|
|
Veni Vidi Ameche! posted:One of the best things about this thread is how one person will post a detailed breakdown of some story, complete with character arcs and settings, and no one will have any idea what he's talking about, then someone else will post, "I read a book once about a kid, and he did this thing with his hand, and I think he lived on Earth," and someone will slam down an answer in fifteen seconds flat. The best one of these was the one like "the cover is a guy cowering behind crystals I think?" In the general vein of "I remember nothing" ..... I am pretty sure I am conflating two books here. They/it are pulp sci-fi, definitely pre 1995, and more likely 80s or prior. - Ancient Egyptian gods figure at least semi-prominently, especially Anubis (and specifically Anubis lingering all emo in a black temple somewhere, but don't get distracted by this) - "Wolf" a thing, but not like....actual wolves I don't think. Maybe the main character or the title of the book?  - Tiny silver hammers (definitely not thinking of Neverending Story, FYI) - Female prostitutes who have leased out the lower halves of their bodies to be oracles, and if you make them orgasm, you get your prophecy (pretty sure the main character does the whole "can I help you?" thing, and it frees her) - Eight people get put into....stasis baths but their minds are linked and they control giant spiders which go around doing things, and the main character gets into one and eventually is like "it's totally cool to be an eight-minded organism and now I can act as a semi-autonomous agent because I have accepted that." The people in his spider come from different backgrounds. I feel like I may have asked this before, so as soon as I post I'm gonna hit that "previous post" button to check. (ok checked, and I have not asked this already lol)
|
|
#
?
Dec 13, 2017 08:39
|
|
|
Could one be Otherland? It's got Egyptian gods, IIRC there's an Anubis stand-in that fits your description, it's got minds uploaded into VR and there are giant bugs.
|
|
#
?
Dec 13, 2017 08:51
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 12, 2024 14:02 |
|
|
And a whole bunch of Wizard of Oz stuff, which could explain the hammers?
|
|
#
?
Dec 13, 2017 09:10
|
|
