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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1273 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 15, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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So what are you reading?

Working on my annual re-read of Battle Cry of Freedom and staring the Stormlight Archive.

Finished Cryptonomicon. 5/5. Neil Stephenson has an interesting approach to relationships and sex. It stands out a bit because many books that feel like this (and Anathem) just skip them entirely. I think Cryptonomicon did a better job overall.

As I read it I thought "this is great but it was clearly written just a couple of years ago" given it's references to crypto currency. No - 1999. Amazing.

I lust, I yearn, I ACHE for late 90s hackerdom like you wouldn't believe. Two pieces of art have sparked my imagination in a way to have made me wish I was born 10 years earlier or smarter: this and the movie Primer. Halt and Catch Fire not bad either.

I also have some simple, base pleasures that I know are bad for me. The Japanese being wrecked in WWII is one of those things, and so that was an unexpected and happy bit of catharsis.

Now digging into Circe which has also been excellent so far!

If Cryptonomicon tickled your fancy, check out Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, a trilogy which utilizes the same sort of parallel story lines.

I feel the yearn for 90s hackerdom also. Assuming you’ve also read Snowcrash, what about Neuromancer? Gibson really builds that dystopian cyberpunk world so well.

Like No_One, I really enjoyed both Snowcrash and Neuromancer but did find they were a bit heavily stylized for my taste.

Claude suggests both Altered Carbon and The Windup Girl - both of which I've read and think are less 90s style but share some elements of the sub-genre. Both very good!

I read Gibson-Neuromancer and a related book but didn't like it. All style, no substance.

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