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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   2506 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 18, 2026

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?

I'm still on Ahmed's Archaeology of Babel. Not much progress.

Finished Seveneves. Still only a "meh". Last third felt like a worldbuilding exercise without a clear point. The events of the first few pages never really got a satisfactory conclusion, and past a certain point just stopped getting mentioned. Also it's really long, and didn't need 800+ pages.

Starting As I Lay Dying, not far enough to have an opinion yet.

Last third felt like a worldbuilding exercise without a clear point.

I feel like I can't nominate something for AAQC if the audience for whom it hits home is as narrow as "readers who thought the first two-thirds of Seveneves were fine enough but gave up on the last third but also are Neil Stephenson fans and thus wonder if they shouldn't have given up". But speaking on behalf of that group (singleton? is it just me?), thank you!

Eh, I liked the last third best. It's pretty awesome world-building, and less nail-biting than the first two-thirds. And Sonar Taxlaw is cute.

Did you like it from the start after the time skip, or did it take a while to grab you? I think I might have read 5 pages before deciding I had other things on my to-read list, which might have been unfair.

It took a while. I'll avoid spoilers since you didn't read it yet but the plot picks up once she gets back to her mentor and gets a new mission. It's not just a totally different book stapled on.

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