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It might be a bit on the heavy side if you are not a big wonk, and to clarify it's non-fiction, but if you are intrigued by Nixon go and read Rick Perlstein's Nixonland. It's not about Nixon as much as it's about the time and environment that created Nixon and how Nixon took advantage of it, and how Nixon has become the scapegoat for the failures of 1960s-1970s right-wing movements (basically "It's not that our ideology is rotten to the core, it was just Nixon who was rotten!"). It also runs through the basics of Nixon biography, like how he won big as a card shark in the Navy during WW2. It's not as heavy as an actual biography or a traditional non-fiction book, though. Perlstein is a journalist and he creates and analyzes a zeitgeist by mining a ludicrous amount of newspaper articles, congressional records and TV/radio clips.
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Aug 11, 2015 18:45
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That sounds like it would be the perfect follow up to Crooked-- thanks for the recommendation.
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Aug 11, 2015 18:48
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A Steampunk Gent posted:I decided to give it a chance and I've not been disappointed either. Fitz is a very bad dad though hey spoiler that poo poo!! just kidding Fitz's bad dadness is the only known universal constant of Robin Hobb's fantasy novels Speaking of which, I'm wrapping up the Rain Wild Chronicles today. Personally I prefer Hobb's non-fitz books, both the Chronicles and the Liveship Traders trilogy are fantastic. I love the various threads of information that have been cropping up from different storylines and perspectives throughout all of her books. There's enough now to have a decent understanding about what triggered the extinction event, but there's tons of little holes that still need to be filled in. Doubtlessly she'll impart a few more bits of information in the Fitz and the Fool trilogy... while continuing to withhold all the really juicy stuff. Argh! Venuz Patrol fucked around with this message at 22:02 on Aug 11, 2015 |
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Aug 11, 2015 21:59
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I've just checked my (virtual) kindle and found The Dark Forest there, waiting for me... Time to take a break from Charles Stross and his nerd super-ocult agent!
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Aug 11, 2015 22:56
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Chriswizard posted:It would. Just binged Fool's Quest in a day. It's an book with a lot of payoff. I do agree with you, she did fall off her game with the non-Fitz books. Couldn't read anything after Tawny Man, but I think this trilogy will be very good indeed. Really? I skipped Soldier's Son because all the feedback I got said it sucked but Rain Wild Traders was basically Liveship 2.0 and that was ok by me. I liked it more than most of Tawny Man.
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Aug 11, 2015 23:21
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Anyone else having 'crashes' when using the publisher font on the kindle version of Dark Forest?
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Aug 11, 2015 23:52
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I like the dresden files, it's good when I want to turn my brain off and read some crazy poo poo 
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Aug 12, 2015 00:19
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What's the full list of scientists who also write sci fi? Baxter Watts KSR Anyone else?
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Aug 12, 2015 00:51
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thehomemaster posted:What's the full list of scientists who also write sci fi? David Brin Robert L. Forward
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Aug 12, 2015 00:55
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thehomemaster posted:What's the full list of scientists who also write sci fi? Robert L. Forward EDIT: ^ Beaten 
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Aug 12, 2015 01:02
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orange sky posted:I like the dresden files, it's good when I want to turn my brain off and read some crazy poo poo It's like brain popcorn. Not really nutritious, but a tasty snack nonetheless.
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Aug 12, 2015 01:03
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Alastair Reynolds used to work for the ESA I think.
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Aug 12, 2015 01:04
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Arthur C. Clarke, for sure.
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Aug 12, 2015 01:06
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Are we talking current authors? Because the canonical scientist writing sci-fi has to be Asimov.
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Aug 12, 2015 01:06
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Robotnik posted:Are we talking current authors? Yeah, but Asimov needs his own category like 'auto-didactic database' or something. The man was unreal in the amount of topics he wrote about outside of Science Fiction.
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Aug 12, 2015 01:09
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flosofl posted:Yeah, but Asimov needs his own category like 'auto-didactic database' or something. The man was unreal in the amount of topics he wrote about outside of Science Fiction.
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Aug 12, 2015 01:45
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Gregory Benford Joan Slonczewski Peter Watts occamsnailfile fucked around with this message at 03:42 on Aug 12, 2015 |
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Aug 12, 2015 03:38
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Another scientist/author: Julie E Czerneda is a biologist who wrote a cool trilogy of SF books about a salmon researcher who is chosen to be an envoy for humanity. Lots of cool aliens and interspecies diplomacy. The series is called Species Imperative. The books have a great deal of background detail about how bio/ecological research happens in an optimistic future. I want to be a character in those books. Description for book 1: quote:Herself a biologist, Julie E. Czerneda has earned a reputation in science fiction circles for her ability to create beautifully crafted, imaginative, yet believably realized alien races. In Survival, the first novel in her new series, Species Imperative, she draws upon this talent to build races, characters, and a universe which will draw readers into a magnificent tale of interstellar intrigue, as an Earth scientist is caught up in a terrifying interspecies conflict. Senior co-administrator of the Norcoast Salmon Research Facility, Dr. Mackenzie Connor, Mac to her friends and colleagues, was a trained biologist, whose work had definitely become her life. And working at Norcoast Base, set in an ideal location just where the Tannu River sped down the west side of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast was the perfect situation for Mac. She and fellow scientist Dr. Emily Mamani were just settling in to monitor this year's salmon runs when their research was interrupted by the unprecedented arrival of Brymn, the first member of the alien race known as the Ohryn to ever set foot on Earth.
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Aug 12, 2015 03:55
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E. E. "Doc" Smith had said doctorate in food science, I believe. Semi-related, but Gene Wolfe was an engineer who helped design the machine that makes Pringles. Fredrick Hoyle wrote a number of SF novels and was a major figure in astrophysics.
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Aug 12, 2015 05:05
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Hobnob posted:Semi-related, but Gene Wolfe was an engineer who helped design the machine that makes Pringles. The scientist we deserve.
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Aug 12, 2015 06:24
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Let's say I want to translate a book, in this case The Three Body Problem, from English to Portuguese (I'm Portuguese and I want people to read it. Besides, if I could make money with it that'd be great.) What do I have to do? Who do I contact? Would I need to officially work for a publisher or editor or something? How does translation to niche markets work?
orange sky fucked around with this message at 11:41 on Aug 12, 2015 |
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Aug 12, 2015 11:34
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Yes you will have to be part of the publishing industry.
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Aug 12, 2015 11:42
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You could contact a local publisher who has a history of publishing translated science fiction works and see if there's any interest. They would then have to acquire the publication rights to the book. However, translating from a secondary language to yet another language is frowned upon unless the original language is really obscure and there's no choice. If the publisher thinks there'd be a market for the book they'd probably seek a translator who can translate it from the original language to Portuguese directly.
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Aug 12, 2015 11:44
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I can second the rec for Species Imperative, that was a cool trilogy.
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Aug 12, 2015 12:25
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thehomemaster posted:What's the full list of scientists who also write sci fi? Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen.
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Aug 12, 2015 12:27
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Kim Stanley Robinson is not a scientist.
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Aug 12, 2015 12:35
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Carl Sagan (The Sagan) Vernor Vinge (Professor of Mathematics) L. Sprague de Camp (M. Sc. in Engineering)
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Aug 12, 2015 13:20
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ALISTAIR REYNOLDS IS SCIENTIST
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Aug 12, 2015 13:30
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Also, Hannu Rajaniemi.
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Aug 12, 2015 13:41
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Neurosis posted:Kim Stanley Robinson is not a scientist. My mistake, his wife is.
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Aug 12, 2015 14:03
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Neurosis posted:Kim Stanley Robinson is not a scientist. I worked with one of his good friends who has a PhD and was consulted on the ecology for the first Mars book. He's thanked, Fischer, somewhere in the book. So he does get some input, which is better than some.
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Aug 12, 2015 14:42
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orange sky posted:Let's say I want to translate a book, in this case The Three Body Problem, from English to Portuguese (I'm Portuguese and I want people to read it. Besides, if I could make money with it that'd be great.) What do I have to do? Who do I contact? Would I need to officially work for a publisher or editor or something? How does translation to niche markets work? If you don't have any previous experience in publishing, it can be quite difficult to get your translation through, so I suggest preparing a sample translation (ten pages of the book or so), finding publishers who are specialising in sci-fi - preferably smaller ones, because the large ones tend to have their own regular translators and are less likely to look into your proposal - and writing to them (to an editor, if possible, not info@)with the sample, a couple of sentences why the book should be published and why should you be the one doing the translation. It will be even harder with The Three Body Problem, because it's originally written in Chinese, so you'd have to also convince whoever's in charge that it's worth doing it via a bridge language. Also, assuming Portuguese publishing is similar to Spanish, finding the publisher's office and knocking on the door with your sample in hand might be worth a try. I know at least two translators here who have gotten a gig with this approach. If you just want to do the translation without all this hassle, I don't think anybody will run to you with a cease&desist in Portugal if you just put it up on a blog or something... until some publisher decides to do an official translation or it becomes surprisingly popular. Burning Rain fucked around with this message at 15:29 on Aug 12, 2015 |
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Aug 12, 2015 15:18
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Three Body Problem, Part II is out!!! http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Forest-Cixin-Liu-ebook/dp/B00R13OYU6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1439395303&sr=1-1
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Aug 12, 2015 17:46
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Xenix posted:Then you'll be happy to hear that Ancillary Sword came out last October and the final book is slated for this October. I just finished Sword and it was great. The focus on characters and the station/planet as opposed to the apparent driving plotpiece from the first book was kind of weird to get used to but once I accepted that Breq just doesn't give a gently caress I realised I liked it - and, mostly, didn't either. I am relieved that the third book is going to come out in October after the last two series that really got me going (Gentleman Bastard & Kingkiller Chronicles) are taking so long inbetween books. I am suspicious of how much Leckie will really be able to "tie-up" however.
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Aug 12, 2015 20:50
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I enjoyed the first two of Mark Lawrence's Red Queen's War series quite a bit, so despite having a certain distrust of grimdark I gave his Broken Empire series a try. I'm on the third Broken Empire book now and have quite enjoyed them. They're grim and dark, yes, but there's a great deal of payoff, too. And payback. Lots and lots of payback.
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Aug 13, 2015 00:25
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Just read the prologue of The Dark Forest. Normally I find beings that can't understand that concept of lies to be a silly concept, but it's justified here, and the communication via light also explains how the formation computer thing works.
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Aug 13, 2015 03:39
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LemonyTang posted:I just finished Sword and it was great. The focus on characters and the station/planet as opposed to the apparent driving plotpiece from the first book was kind of weird to get used to but once I accepted that Breq just doesn't give a gently caress I realised I liked it - and, mostly, didn't either. I am relieved that the third book is going to come out in October after the last two series that really got me going (Gentleman Bastard & Kingkiller Chronicles) are taking so long inbetween books. I am suspicious of how much Leckie will really be able to "tie-up" however. I find this interesting, because - not to demean your tastes - I loved Justice but Sword bored me to tears. The mystery-through-chronolgy in Justice at least gave it a framework to stand on, and the world building was fresh and new. I don't think a linear story where the reader and protagonist are both equally caught up suits Leckie at all, and the book felt to me like a revolving door of random things that aren't ultimately relevant to books 1 or 3. E: how did my tablet even do that Ceebees fucked around with this message at 04:45 on Aug 13, 2015 |
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Aug 13, 2015 04:33
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Ceebees posted:I find this interesting, because - not to demean your tastes - I loved Justice but Sword bored me to tears. The mystery-through-chronolgy in Justice at least gave it a framework to stand on, and the world building was fresh and new. I don't think a linear story where the reader and protagonist are both equally caught up suits Leckie at all, and the book felt to me like a revolving door of random things that aren't ultimately relevant to books 1 or 3. Yeah, I have to agree here. I thought Justice was kind of overrated, but I liked the ideas in it and I was eager to read more and see them elaborated on, only for Sword to get further away from them. What I took away from Sword was "This series is only going to be a trilogy? How can that be when the second book seems so inconsequential compared to the first one?" I'm hoping that The Three Body Problem beats it at the Hugos. Solitair fucked around with this message at 09:19 on Aug 13, 2015 |
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Aug 13, 2015 09:03
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Ceebees posted:I find this interesting, because - not to demean your tastes - I loved Justice but Sword bored me to tears. The mystery-through-chronolgy in Justice at least gave it a framework to stand on, and the world building was fresh and new. I don't think a linear story where the reader and protagonist are both equally caught up suits Leckie at all, and the book felt to me like a revolving door of random things that aren't ultimately relevant to books 1 or 3. No no, that is sort of what I meant. Although I did really enjoy Sword and wouldn't hesitate in recommending it to anyone, I know what you mean by the "revolving door" (and what Solitair says about it seeming inconsequential compared to the first book). I don't even think the third book will tie in much to the Anaander Mianaai storyline and focus entire on the Ghost Gate/Notai/Presger. I mean how can it? The books are so short but the setting and conflict Leckie created is impossibly large - especially with no faster-than-light travel/information etc. It is what it is. I would have liked to follow that storyline, but I think that Breq is such a quirky character that I don't mind following her route instead. I was reading Sword for Breq's sake, rather than any connection to the station/planet.
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Aug 13, 2015 11:18
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Silver2195 posted:Just read the prologue of The Dark Forest. Normally I find beings that can't understand that concept of lies to be a silly concept, but it's justified here, and the communication via light also explains how the formation computer thing works. I really should have reread three-body.
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Aug 13, 2015 20:25
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