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I've been reading the Red/Green/Blue Mars series by Robinson, currently about halfway through Green. A truly odd book series. As dry as gently caress, like a Martian geology book, and yet I keep reading and am intrigued. But I am a super nerd on these subjects too. I wouldn't recommend this series for anyone other than those into hardcore sci-fi, dry and full of details. What I do love about it is goes through all the detail of a Martian colonization and terraforming. How about you? What are you reading? What do you think about it?
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Dec 26, 2023 05:33
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pencilhands posted:the jungle by upton sinclair Hell yeah brother, one of the best books in the history of all time.
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Dec 26, 2023 05:50
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Mumpy Puffinz posted:I just listened to Stardust, by, Neil Gaiman. Good book. I recommend it Gaiman is awesome. I just got "Norse Mythology" by him as a gift.
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Dec 26, 2023 05:52
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Mumpy Puffinz posted:It is so good. It's what he does. Yeah, exactly how I described him to the crowd when I got the book. I'm eager to read it. Have you read the Sandman series?
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Dec 26, 2023 06:04
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Mumpy Puffinz posted:of course that is how I first read him. My man. I love to think of that graphic novel story as the real Odin/Thor/Loki story, this MCU stuff just shadowplay, like how even in the MCU movies they make little shadowplays of their stories....
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Dec 26, 2023 06:15
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Mumpy Puffinz posted:how did you like the Netflix version? I am all for changing peoples colors, but, found it hard to believe there was a black woman in the 1910s who was super rich I haven't seen it, I don't have that streaming service.
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Dec 26, 2023 06:23
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Mumpy Puffinz posted:so what do you do in your free time? Lately, post on the SA forum "General Bullshit" Also read books. And play Asteroids and basketball.
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Dec 26, 2023 06:44
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Mumpy Puffinz posted:basketball? I'm 6'2" and still no good at it I'm really good at books and basketball and lots of other stuff really.
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Dec 26, 2023 06:50
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Toxic Mental posted:Sex by Madonna I read it for the articles
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Dec 26, 2023 06:59
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Anyone into sci-fi read The Expanse series? That poo poo was tight from start to finish.
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Dec 26, 2023 07:00
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Anyone read The Expanse series of novels? If you're into page turning sci-fi, these books are it.
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Dec 26, 2023 17:07
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rear end-penny posted:I'm just starting the 7th one of these. They are super fast reads and i think they do a good job with tonal shifts when they change narrators. I also got the 8th book in the series for Christmas so maybe I'll actually finish this bloody series this year, lol You're in for a treat! 7-8-9 are the best books in the series IMO. They finish so strong. These books were also not filmed yet for the show (a few parts were though).
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Dec 26, 2023 19:35
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Grey Cat posted:Looks like it's the final in a trilogy? Read The Expanse. It's great.
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Dec 27, 2023 04:39
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It was mentioned earlier, but again if you like sci-fi, this one more "hard": Children of Time It's real good and worth all the hype you've maybe heard. Read it. The next book is good too, but doesn't reach the same heights IMO. Children of Time is like wild sci fi concepts played out for 800 pages and it all works and you want more, story wise.
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Dec 27, 2023 04:59
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Mumpy Puffinz posted:anyone else remeber that weird time in the 2010s where everything had to be a trilogy? Like there was no point in the second book, but they gave you a three book deal? Twin Pines and The Magicians are the ones I really remember Hunger Games
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Dec 27, 2023 05:15
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Zugzwang posted:I like Vonnegut a lot because I think he does a better job than just about anyone at seeing through all the bullshit in the world but not letting it doompill him. Like his books are all about "haha yeah humanity is chock-full of stupidity and ridiculousness but you should still be kind to people goddammit." I went through all his books in my twenties and greatly shaped how I view the world. I love him.
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Dec 27, 2023 22:10
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vegetables posted:Well, Galapagos is kind of doompilled as I understand the term (because it’s about how civilisation collapses, and the remnants of humanity evolve into seal-like creatures), but also not really (because it makes being a seal-like creature sound great) I think that's the answer. Yes, we're doomed. Might as well enjoy life while we can. And help others when we can too.
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Dec 27, 2023 23:44
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Amazing video, thank you for sharing. Yes!
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Dec 28, 2023 01:27
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WAR CRIME GIGOLO posted:Nixonland Fantastic book
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Dec 29, 2023 01:11
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goatface posted:If you are hoping it will properly explain at some point, it won't. Not really. It's meant to be largely unfathomable and abstract. I'm intrigued. Is it worth it, in your opinion?
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Dec 29, 2023 01:22
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goatface posted:It's been a few years, and I would not call it an easy book to read, but I think it is interesting and worthwhile if you like philosophical meditations on the nature of intelligence and educational seclusion. Depends on my mood. I will pick it up regardless to add to my vast and sprawling library. Crossposting on one my fave sci fi books I've read in the past 5 years or so: A Canticle for Liebowitz, by Walter Miller. An amazing book. Very dry though. But with some shocking turns, and some sporadic comedy.
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Dec 29, 2023 02:28
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BeastOfTheEdelwood posted:Ulysses Are you REALLY doing it? I failed twice. Completly.
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Dec 31, 2023 04:28
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When I was a stupid teenager I absolutely hated stream-of-consciousness writing, but now that I am a stupid adult I think it's pretty neat what Joyce pulled off.
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BeastOfTheEdelwood posted:I mean, I'm taking my sweet time with it. I guess I shouldn't brag about it until I finish, though; good point. I think I'm on the Cyclops episode right now. lol I like that you are bragging about it. This is higher society right here folks!
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Dec 31, 2023 04:36
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I finally finished "Green Mars" by Kim Stanley Robinson and have moved on to the final book of the trilogy, "Blue Mars". I never recall knowing the word "piste" before, but boy howdy do I know. Pistes all over Mars. Non spoilery recommendation: If you're into "harder" sci-fi, you'll probably dig this series. Over the series of books it is progressing from the first visit and first permanent colony on Mars into a future where there are millions living on the planet and terraforming is well underway (a controversial subject in the book). It is very very dry, and there's little real character development or even dialogue. The personal element seems very secondary to the author's primary objective of laying out the fictional colonization of Mars. If that interests you, I bet you'll dig the books. I am a huge nerd on the subject, so I'm right at home, really enjoying the minute details. If it doesn't, don't bother, it will bore you to tears.
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Jan 24, 2024 23:35
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Jelly posted:I'm reading the Red Rising trilogy by Pierce Brown and it also involves Mars and colors, OP Give me a non-spoilery summary if you would.
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Jan 24, 2024 23:38
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Jelly posted:Man, I'm so bad at this. Society (which spans our solar system) has been divided up into classes / colors and the working class basically labor for the rest of society and don't even know what the rest of society looks like or that it even exists. Sounds pretty cool, thanks for the good summary! I will check it out.
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Jan 24, 2024 23:49
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AARD VARKMAN posted:I was reading David Weber's Out of the Dark but the ending absolutely disgusted me by being supernatural out of nowhere after hundreds of pages of diligent firearm details in a sci Fi book about earth being invaded A Deus Ex Machina?
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Jan 24, 2024 23:50
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Speaking of mysteries in monasteries, one of my favorite sci-fi books ever (I guess it's sci-fi; it might have another genre though) is "A Canticle for Liebowitz". I read it again from time to time and just love it. So odd a story, such a strange book, and yet it's hypnotizing. Never certain if this book is well known or not.
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Jan 25, 2024 00:03
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That's pretty cool, frozen in place in "The Before Time".
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Jan 25, 2024 23:22
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Spinz posted:I just read it in one night a couple nights ago because it was mentioned and linked! in some other thread and you praised it there too lol I tried to pitch it to my wonderful book club, which is mostly women (2 other guys and me), and for some reason I led with "Yeah, this book has almost no women characters and certainly no female perspective" trying to lead with humor, but I doomed myself right there. But in the book's defense, it's set at an all male monastery. So it makes sense there's no women from that perspective. But yeah, I get it. I hope it's a unique enough tale to still be enjoyable despite that.
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Jan 26, 2024 00:09
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Spinz posted:Yea It was an entertaining few hours and I'm glad that I read it but it keeps it from being an absolute masterpiece. You get used to it but this time it was just glaring Lots of media used to be entirely male and it was fully accepted. 1959 is the year "A Canticle for Liebowitz" was published. That same year another post apocalyptic "classic"(I think it's known as) was published: "Alas, Babylon". An interesting window into the minds of peak cold war American society I suppose. It's set in Florida, and it's racist and sexist but without even a notion that it is. Like it's not deliberate, it's just "society". Everyone has their place, and it's up to the protagonist to put everything back in its right place. Not sure I would recommend it for anything other than the window into how this author saw America at that time.
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Jan 26, 2024 00:41
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Anyone else read "Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir (the guy who wrote The Martian). I loved it, read it immediately again after finishing it. Also soon to be a movie. But I've come to understand it's not everyone's cup of tea, and it seems specific to Weir's style of writing. PHM is about a global effort to ward off an apocalyptic solar event. It has a lot of the same "Science and Engineering" energy that The Martian had.
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Jan 26, 2024 15:44
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Worf posted:at some point in my life i realized that these things were the most fictional part of science fiction lol, Covid showed us some real truths.
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Jan 26, 2024 15:59
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Doctor J Off posted:I read his book Artemis for the 372 Pages podcast and it was not good to say the least. I hope his other books are a lot better than that I enjoyed parts of Artemis, but there was plenty I did not like. He should never try and write a woman protagonist, at least until he's a much better writer. PHM is much better than Artemis, and much more similar to The Martian.
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Jan 26, 2024 16:06
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BAGS FLY AT NOON posted:I listened to the Audiobook version of Artemis which was read by a woman and it still came off awkward. I liked the setting but the story itself was a snooze. Yeah the Lunar colony and how it worked was a great setting. And a crime caper on the Lunar colony has potential. But it's just not in Weir's wheelhouse. IMO he should be one of those authors who has a lane and he sticks to it. Not every writer has to be a master of multiple genres and styles.
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Jan 26, 2024 16:37
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Captain Hygiene posted:I've been interested in this one for a while now, but haven't made the plunge. Two things about it - it seems like a lot of reviews praise the writing style over the plot, which could go either way for me, and it's short enough that I can never bring myself to spend an audiobook credit on it. Maybe someday it'll go on sale cheap enough to just throw some real money at it. I've got it on my "To Read" pile and it's next in the docket. It is short, so I'll report back when done.
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Jan 30, 2024 03:34
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I've read soooooo many books, but never once listened to an audiobook. I'm not in any way opposed, but just stuck in my ways I guess. At this point I'm so wary/tired of new subscriptions and online services and such.
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Feb 2, 2024 20:09
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cumpantry posted:i guess if i had a planned chore day they could work, cuz individually those tasks don't usually take more than thirty minutes... at a speaker's pace, what is that, the prologue? I share many of your opinions about audiobooks, but I also admit I fear change. So I'm just spitballing here, but why not just sit in a nice seat with maybe a snack and drink and listen for a half hour? It can be an entertainment in and of itself, like reading itself, and not just a background activity. I might try it, but...
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Feb 2, 2024 23:32
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I've heard about Libby before, and did some research this morning. I could pay for access it looks like (that is, pay for a library card in a town that participates), but I am so rural and my town is so small, my library (for what it is, open like 4 hours a week) is not included in anything I can find that participates. Seems like a great program though, more people would probably find it useful if they knew about it. Speaking of books I've read recently, any Sci-fi fans read "Children of Time"? I see it get mentioned a lot, not sure though how well known it is. This was another book I reread almost immediately after finishing. Just a great sci-fi book that both tells a great, page turning story, but is also filled with incredible concepts and ideas, stuff that is made for sci-fi. Loved it. The sequel was good(very good), but could not live up to the original by light of comparison.
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Feb 5, 2024 14:02
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Hyrax Attack! posted:Yeah, Norm MacDonald was an exception as his reading of his autobiography added another layer of delight. Bailed on Nick Offerman reading Lincoln in the Bardo although that wasn’t really his fault, the book was just too odd for me to listen to and I needed to get a printed copy. I loved Lincoln in the Bardo, but it is a weeeird book. And, one of the only book experiences I can remember in recent memory where I really didn't like it all for the first 20-30 pages, seriously considering putting it down (it was for a book club), and then something clicked (I think I figured out how the narration was actually working), and then tore through the rest, then immediately read it again.
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Feb 6, 2024 12:57
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