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Kvlt! posted:Looking for grimdark military science fiction. Everytime I search for some I get Starship Troopers which I've already read or Warhammer 40k, which fits the grimdark theme but is too fantastical for me. I'm looking for something a little more grounded and "realistic" than 40k but still has that same "everything is just absolutely hosed" feel. Ninefox Gambit might fit the bill.
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Dec 7, 2021 22:34
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Armor, by John Steakley? Haven't read it, but its reputation is in line with what you're asking for.
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Dec 7, 2021 22:47
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Kvlt! posted:Looking for grimdark military science fiction. Everytime I search for some I get Starship Troopers which I've already read or Warhammer 40k, which fits the grimdark theme but is too fantastical for me. I'm looking for something a little more grounded and "realistic" than 40k but still has that same "everything is just absolutely hosed" feel. it's just the one book not the culture series as a whole, but Use of Weapons sounds like it might fit the bill?
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Dec 7, 2021 22:52
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regulargonzalez posted:The Forever War isn't super grimdark but it's pretty bleak. There's a sequel too, but I haven't read it. Forever Peace is pretty neat but it is nothing at all like Forever War. More along the lines of the authors fantasy of creating a hippie commune, if the Vietnam War allegory of Forever War wasn't on the nose enough. Forever War is probably my favorite ever military scifi, for what it's worth. It's a direct counterpoint to Starship Troopers, and really takes seriously the consequences of war.
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Dec 7, 2021 22:58
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Stringent posted:it's just the one book not the culture series as a whole, but Use of Weapons sounds like it might fit the bill? I wouldn't call Use of Weapons grimdark at all really. It's not really even all that pessimistic at its core. Plus the Culture series is explicitly set in a post-scarcity magical space communism society, which is always kind of there as a backdrop. Use of Weapons takes place on the fringes of that society (as do a lot of the Culture books) but there's definitely no "everything is absolutely hosed" feeling Kvlt is referring to, IMO. The only thing I can think of that might fit is Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo (might be called Unto Leviathan depending on the region). A lot of sci-fi horror is inherently kind of grimdark, the settings of the Alien and Dead Space franchises definitely fit, but as far as I'm aware most of the novels that came out of them ranged from pulpy and kind of forgettable to pretty bad and dire.
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Dec 7, 2021 23:43
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DreamingofRoses posted:I’ve heard it’s a fun romance romp, so it’s on my list. I read P&P&Z and would recommend just reading Pride and Prejudice itself tbh. The good characters and romance is obviously still there from P&P, the zombie stuff amounts to basically just word replace stuff (e.g. when they would otherwise talk about someone practicing the violin or whatever they are instead practicing samurai sword moves and instead of someone dying of consumption they die from a zombie bite) or even worse, a bad 2-3 page action scene written in a noticeably inferior prose that is wedged in at whatever convenient spot. It may seem like the zombie action would break up the boring stuffy romance, but honestly it has the opposite effect of being embarrassing stuff you rush through to get back to the much better and more interesting writing. (not saying this to shame anyone who prefers schlocky zombie action to classic lit btw, it just doesn't even end up working as good shlocky zombie action)
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Dec 8, 2021 00:18
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Sham bam bamina! posted:Armor, by John Steakley? Haven't read it, but its reputation is in line with what you're asking for. It's Armor. Read Armor.
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Dec 8, 2021 02:05
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Kvlt! posted:Looking for grimdark military science fiction. Everytime I search for some I get Starship Troopers which I've already read or Warhammer 40k, which fits the grimdark theme but is too fantastical for me. I'm looking for something a little more grounded and "realistic" than 40k but still has that same "everything is just absolutely hosed" feel. The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley. Also The Women of Our Occupation, which is free online in various places. Hurley is basically Robert Heinlein but with 70 years of understanding of social issues. Check out her short story anthology and We Have Always Fought. Different genre but The Stars Are Legion is loving great.
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Dec 8, 2021 05:13
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MockingQuantum posted:I wouldn't call Use of Weapons grimdark at all really. It's not really even all that pessimistic at its core. Plus the Culture series is explicitly set in a post-scarcity magical space communism society, which is always kind of there as a backdrop. Use of Weapons takes place on the fringes of that society (as do a lot of the Culture books) but there's definitely no "everything is absolutely hosed" feeling Kvlt is referring to, IMO. how long's it been since you read it?
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Dec 8, 2021 05:58
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Stringent posted:how long's it been since you read it? Hah okay, long enough that I forgot about some of the really dark moments like all the stuff to do with the chair. I still don't think it qualifies as "grimdark sci-fi" at all. It's a great book, but I don't think it fits that descriptor.
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Dec 8, 2021 07:32
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fair enough, i'm not really familiar with the genre. it's a p dark book all the way through tho.
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Dec 8, 2021 07:39
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Kvlt! posted:Looking for grimdark military science fiction. Everytime I search for some I get Starship Troopers which I've already read or Warhammer 40k, which fits the grimdark theme but is too fantastical for me. I'm looking for something a little more grounded and "realistic" than 40k but still has that same "everything is just absolutely hosed" feel. It is 40k but you might try Fifteen Hours (Imperial Guard) by Mitchel Scanlon. It’s a short entertaining story about a guardsman fighting Orks.
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Dec 8, 2021 14:21
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tuyop posted:I really loved Piranesi and couldn’t put it down. So far Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk is very Piranesi in tone and I like it a lot. Kind of like Piranesi and The Speed of Dark in narrative style.
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Dec 11, 2021 17:41
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Looking for a suggestion for my dad. My dad likes relatively pop-y nonfiction. He recently retired (like 2 years ago) from being a chemist. He tends to like books that are not precisely on the stuff he's most familiar with (which is pollution/environmental chemistry) but relatively close - The Idea Factory, The Disappearing Spoon, other pop-ish history of science stuff really speaks to him. Liberal political nonfiction also tends to go over well. I have a lot of history books but I'm uneasy about giving him like Debt the First 5000 Years or Capitalist Realism or Soldiers and Ghosts because they'd be either too leftist, too dense, or both. ulmont posted:It's Armor. Read Armor. Armor is real good.
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Dec 12, 2021 04:39
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Perhaps ignition https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076838QS2/
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Dec 12, 2021 04:53
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Tulip posted:My dad Azhais posted:Perhaps ignition  It's by Eric Schlosser so its got some pop history DNA too.
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Dec 12, 2021 05:36
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The Dawn of Everything, a New History of Humanity?quote:A trailblazing account of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution--from the development of agriculture and cities to the emergence of "the state," political violence, and social inequality--and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation. For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike--either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could be achieved only by sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. David Graeber and David Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a conservative reaction to powerful critiques of European society posed by Indigenous observers and intellectuals. Revisiting this encounter has startling implications for how we make sense of human history today, including the origins of farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery, and civilization itself. Drawing on pathbreaking research in archaeology and anthropology, the authors show how history becomes a far more interesting place once we learn to throw off our conceptual shackles and perceive what's really there. If humans did not spend 95 percent of their evolutionary past in tiny bands of hunter-gatherers, what were they doing all that time? If agriculture, and cities, did not mean a plunge into hierarchy and domination, then what kinds of social and economic organization did they lead to? What was really happening during the periods that we usually describe as the emergence of "the state"? The answers are often unexpected, and suggest that the course of human history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful, hopeful possibilities, than we tend to assume. The Dawn of Everything fundamentally transforms our understanding of the human past and offers a path toward imagining new forms of freedom, new ways of organizing society. This is a monumental book of formidable intellectual range, animated by curiosity, moral vision, and a faith in the power of direct action.
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Dec 12, 2021 08:59
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Oliver Sacks is always my pick for pop science. The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat is the obvious pick, but An Anthropologist on Mars is also good.
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Dec 12, 2021 13:48
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I've recommended Deborah Blum's The Poisoner's Handbook and Ryan North's How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler before -- they might be up your dad's alley.
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Dec 12, 2021 15:49
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Tulip posted:Looking for a suggestion for my dad. My dad likes relatively pop-y nonfiction. He recently retired (like 2 years ago) from being a chemist. He tends to like books that are not precisely on the stuff he's most familiar with (which is pollution/environmental chemistry) but relatively close - The Idea Factory, The Disappearing Spoon, other pop-ish history of science stuff really speaks to him. Liberal political nonfiction also tends to go over well. Any of the Bill Brisons or Malcolm Gladwells? I think Tom’s River is really good as well.
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Dec 12, 2021 16:24
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tuyop posted:Any of the Bill Brisons or Malcolm Gladwells? I think Tom’s River is really good as well. Selachian posted:I've recommended Deborah Blum's The Poisoner's Handbook and Ryan North's How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler before -- they might be up your dad's alley. He's a big fan of Bryson and loves The Poisoner's Handbook so I feel like I did a good job of describing his interests. Azhais posted:Perhaps ignition stealie72 posted:These two clicked in my brain and brought up Command and Control. Some stuff about working on unstable rockets, some stuff on "how the hell did we survive the cold war?" and a nice sprinkling of Antivehicular posted:Oliver Sacks is always my pick for pop science. The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat is the obvious pick, but An Anthropologist on Mars is also good. Ignition looks pretty expensive dang. I'll have to think a little about Graeber, I was kind of writing off Debt because Graeber is way to the left of my dad but may be worth the risk anyway. Dawn of Everything I was planning to read anyway so we could make that a thing to do together. Sacks also sounds good. Thank you goons for the very helpful suggestions!
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Dec 12, 2021 17:39
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Having recommended it for conservative relatives and then having great conversations about it afterwards makes me think Bullshit Jobs is the ideal Graeber on-ramp.
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Dec 12, 2021 17:45
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The hardcover for ignition is rare, the paperback isn't too out of line
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Dec 12, 2021 17:47
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Azhais posted:The hardcover for ignition is rare, the paperback isn't too out of line Annoying the paperback will arrive after Christmas. tuyop posted:Having recommended it for conservative relatives and then having great conversations about it afterwards makes me think Bullshit Jobs is the ideal Graeber on-ramp. Ha, alright! That's a good call. My dad is pretty open minded, just y'know kind of a 'sensible centrist.' I'm probably being over timid.
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Dec 12, 2021 17:57
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Tulip posted:Looking for a suggestion for my dad. My dad likes relatively pop-y nonfiction. He recently retired (like 2 years ago) from being a chemist. He tends to like books that are not precisely on the stuff he's most familiar with (which is pollution/environmental chemistry) but relatively close - The Idea Factory, The Disappearing Spoon, other pop-ish history of science stuff really speaks to him. Liberal political nonfiction also tends to go over well. What about "Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman"?
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Dec 12, 2021 19:12
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What's a solid book that does a good job not fawning over Ronald Regan and goes into how I know hes a giant garbage bag
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Dec 14, 2021 06:11
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Junkie Disease posted:What's a solid book that does a good job not fawning over Ronald Regan and goes into how I know hes a giant garbage bag Reaganland by Rick Perlstein. The author has a whole series (Before the Storm, Nixonland , Invisible Bridge, Reaganland )tracking the rise of the reactionary right in the US, from Goldwater to Nixon to Reagan, and it's all superb. I'd almost recommend starting with Goldwater and working your way up. It's an incredibly eye-opening journey to take it in like that, because it really demonstrates how nothing has changed in rightwing politics, only gotten more sophisticated. Famethrowa fucked around with this message at 07:20 on Dec 14, 2021 |
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Dec 14, 2021 07:17
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Famethrowa posted:Reaganland by Rick Perlstein. ^^^^^
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Dec 14, 2021 07:20
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Guess I'll toss in here, Mussolini by Jasper Ridley I avoided most WW2 books due to the constant bombardment popular media gave me. Wasn't untill recently I realized I knew little about it beyond Normandy, Nazis, Pear Harbor and The Bombs. This covered the rise of what seemed a world media darling and quite talented little monster of a man. I never knew how goulish his dealings we're with Hitler we're and how willingly he adapted to racism, antisemitism, and when it came time for his own citizens being killed by his ally for reprisals of deaths caused by a rebel force. In the end I feel that Mussolini would have had a terrifyingly longer reign if Nazis didn't exist. His flavor of oppression was looked upon much too fondly by the world powers.
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Dec 14, 2021 10:43
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Tulip posted:Looking for a suggestion for my dad. My dad likes relatively pop-y nonfiction. He recently retired (like 2 years ago) from being a chemist. He tends to like books that are not precisely on the stuff he's most familiar with (which is pollution/environmental chemistry) but relatively close - The Idea Factory, The Disappearing Spoon, other pop-ish history of science stuff really speaks to him. Liberal political nonfiction also tends to go over well. "First Light" by Richard Preston , (and anything else by him) is great. "The Body has a Mind of its Own" by Sandra Blakeslee is fascinating. "The discovery of France" by Graham Robb is amazing and you will know so many obscure facts about France (Whistled languages, Shepards on stilts, cannibals eating taxmen in the 1930's). Less science/historical, but I love it, "Children's Games of Street and Playground" by Iona and Peter Opie is wonderful, it's the result of 30 years of research into the games children play when they are alone and unsupervised. At the end of it they had found children in the UK playing games described by Plato and could tell almost exactly where you came from based only on what you called tag.
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Dec 14, 2021 13:22
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Does anyone have recommendations for a history of Ireland? Ideally I'd also like one that covered the "800 years of occupation" as well, although I realize the line between Ireland and England was a bit blurred back then.
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Dec 15, 2021 00:10
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RIP ZEEZ
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stealie72 posted:These two clicked in my brain and brought up Command and Control. Some stuff about working on unstable rockets, some stuff on "how the hell did we survive the cold war?" and a nice sprinkling of Command and Control is incredible (sometimes, literally) - I just lent it to my dad and got it back far earlier than I was expecting, as he'd ploughed through it, pausing only to read passages aloud to my mum. Best non-fiction I've read in the last five years. I've just heard of bell hooks - shamefacedly, I think, for the first time. Is there a good place to start with her writing?
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Dec 15, 2021 19:17
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Teach posted:I've just heard of bell hooks - shamefacedly, I think, for the first time. Is there a good place to start with her writing? I've only read Talking Back and it was very good, dealing with racism, sexism, and classism in both society and the academy. I really enjoyed it
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Dec 16, 2021 05:07
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How saucy is Song of Achilles? My mom likes historical fiction but it would be weird if I got her yaoi for Christmas
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Dec 16, 2021 09:37
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Bilirubin posted:I've only read Talking Back and it was very good, dealing with racism, sexism, and classism in both society and the academy. I really enjoyed it Thank you! Also just say this - https://youtu.be/P6ogfDc39JM And the last book mentioned, the one about critical thinking, might be up my be alley, too.
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Dec 16, 2021 16:12
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Stepdad loves conspiracy theories about ancient aliens I need something that will scare the living s*** out of him No not Nausicaa
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Dec 16, 2021 23:38
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Junkie Disease posted:Stepdad loves conspiracy theories about ancient aliens I need something that will scare the living s*** out of him Ask in the cspam ufo thread you will get buried in recommendations
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Dec 16, 2021 23:48
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Bilirubin posted:Ask in the cspam ufo thread you will get buried in recommendations Deal!
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Dec 16, 2021 23:56
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Baron Porkface posted:How saucy is Song of Achilles? My mom likes historical fiction but it would be weird if I got her yaoi for Christmas Tame, but maybe get her that and Circe as a set?
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Dec 20, 2021 06:13
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Maybe some Les Onze Mille Verges. No.
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Dec 20, 2021 06:42
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