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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3666 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 19, 2023

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?

Still on Count Zero. It lacks the unbearable tension and intellectual fervor of Neuromancer, but it somehow feels more workmanlike. It's considerably more heavy on the jargon, and with little explanation. A pleasant read so far.

Wow, I just finished that today! It was a much better book when it was named A Deepness in the Sky.

Mildly interesting that both it and We Are Legion (We Are Bob), another book about humans shuttling about in spaceships and describing aliens in a dry, uninteresting manner were published the same year. Something in the air I guess.

The "cooperating is good, war is always bad" theme was slathered on, but not quite as heavily as Perihelion Summer, Greg Egan's global warming book, which I also read recently, and had prose as leaden and mechanical as a row of bricks. I could easily imagine Greg pounding out the entire novel in a month to pay for his mortgage.

I agree with @basalisk_respecter that Vinge's Zones of Thought books are better, but I did really like Children of Time.

If you want to see uplift done better, though, try David Brin.

Deepness is dramatically better in every respect. Read A Fire Upon the Deep first, though. (Which takes place later in-canon but several minor plot points only make sense if you have read that book)

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