What are you reading right now?

twoion · 2019-05-16 16:25:48

CanadianClubXXX wrote:

The Wrath of Angels by John Connolly, 11th book of the Charlie Parkes series.
Fantastic as all of this other Charlie Parker books.

Hmmm, looks interesting! Thanks, put the author on my list.

ohnonot · 2019-05-17 04:25:07

^ Haven't you known Ursula K. Le Guin before?
I must have read ALL her novels,what, a decade ago (before I started watching too many films on my computer) - both fantasy and sci-fi. (I think the Earthsea novels also exist as an animated film.)
I always liked the social part of Sci-fi (because the development of a society and human interaction in the future is a science, too) and surely enjoyed her way.
BUT all her sci-fi novels are based on the idea that aliens are basically human, too.
Even though this fact is well explained in her alternate history, it's still a bit of a stretch for me.
But then again, the same could be said for most sci-fi...

CanadianClubXXX · 2019-05-17 07:21:47

The dispossessed (Ursula K. Le Guin) is a must read. It has a few years (written in 1974) but the ideas (political ones, basically) are absolutely of value nowadays. Very very interesting. I'm not a big fan of sci-fi, but this book was recommended to me and I enjoyed it. I read it two months ago.

Salut,

Jimbo_G · 2019-05-17 09:16:18

I'm reading a new book by one of my favourite SF authors, Alain Damasio, called Les Furtifs.

I don't think his most famous novel (in France) has ever been translated into English - it's called La Horde du Contrevent, or The Windwalkers in English.

brontosaurusrex · 2019-05-17 09:31:06

Memory Machines - The Evolution of Hypertext (Belinda Barnet)

Engelbart believes that human beings live within an existing technical and cultural system, an ‘augmentation’ system. We are born with a particular set of genetic capabilities, and then we build on these innate capabilities using tools, techniques, skills, language and technology. There is no ‘naked ape’; from the moment we are born we are always already augmented by language, tools and technologies. This augmentation system defines the limits of what is possible for us as a species.

Nobody saw the world reaching net as it is now.

Last edited by brontosaurusrex (2019-05-17 09:31:54)

twoion · 2019-05-26 20:07:23

ohnonot wrote:

^ Haven't you known Ursula K. Le Guin before?

No. I can't know every good author … I'm expanding my knowledge one piece at a time smile

So, now I have finished The Dispossessed. Very good and in the end, I understood a little bit more how Le Guin built her Hainish cycle; after all the core aspects of this book in the cycle are the emergence of the Cetians as intellectual leaders and the discovery of the principles that made the Ansible possible.

Speaking of which, rather short but not less well written is Le Guin's The Word for World Is Forest, which is fantastic in a dimension that is more similar to The Left Hand of Darkness, in fact the settings are structurally similar but of course the topic and color the topic is painted in are different. The book reads like an example of how the Ansible revolutionizes communications (a point often raised in both of the novels I've read so far). Great expansion also on the strange mixture of barbarian and intellectual behaviours that us Terrans display to this day.

Anyhow, after these two, I've now started the recently published The Expanse – Tiamat's Wrath and the book pretty much matches what you'd expect from the 7 previous installments in terms of setting, storytelling and development. It got me hooked – currently on page 70.

ohnonot · 2019-05-27 18:05:28

^ glad you're enjoying le Guin.
you recapitulations bring back memories... in retrospect The Dispossessed left the greatest impact, maybe because it was the last one I read, in at least two attempts, because it wasn't an easy read for me.
But the description of a colonisation of a planet without infinite resources, without interstellar war but the constant fight for breathable air, water, food - yet it's all about moral, not survival - deep, serious, fascinating.

You might also like the Earthsea animated film, and possibly the novels too though they're definitely fantasy, not sci-fi.

glittersloth · 2019-06-04 05:13:37

https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-relea … 1/download

ohnonot · 2019-06-06 04:50:00

^ interesting:

Beginning in or about April 2016 and continuing to present, one or more targets have engaged in an extensive, multi-faceted campaign of computer hacking, online harassment, and privacy intrusions targeting a 23-year-old former Massachusetts resident named Jennifer Smith and her family. This pattern of behavior is referred to as "cyberstalking."

what's the context for you?

glittersloth · 2019-06-09 13:57:57

ohnonot wrote:

what's the context for you?

None. I just found it interesting how easily someone could be traced even with all the precautions taken.

clusterF · 2019-06-09 14:15:40

Im currently reading this beast. Essentials of Geology by Frederick K. Lutgens,
Dennis G. Tasa

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/265 … of-geology

#501 2019-05-16 16:25:48

Re: What are you reading right now?

#502 2019-05-17 04:25:07

Re: What are you reading right now?

#503 2019-05-17 07:21:47

Re: What are you reading right now?

#504 2019-05-17 09:16:18

Re: What are you reading right now?

#505 2019-05-17 09:31:06

Re: What are you reading right now?

#506 2019-05-26 20:07:23

Re: What are you reading right now?

#507 2019-05-27 18:05:28

Re: What are you reading right now?

#508 2019-06-04 05:13:37

Re: What are you reading right now?

#509 2019-06-06 04:50:00

Re: What are you reading right now?

#510 2019-06-09 13:57:57

Re: What are you reading right now?

#511 2019-06-09 14:15:40

Re: What are you reading right now?

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