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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Notes -
So, what are you reading?
Still on Paradise Lost. Satan always knows what to say.
Also starting Lord Chesterfield's Letters to his Son, which has been very worthwhile. He's a man both clever and decent, and he writes plainly about things that clever people often don't say. It also has gems like
I don't think he meant it, but it must have been something to get these letters.
Paper I'm reading: Podgorski's Dynamic Conservatism.
Iain Banks' Use of Weapons. The Culture novels tend to involve an outside protagonist, one who bridges the gap between the universe of solved problems and the one of problems which just haven't been solved yet. In this case, he is an ageless mercenary, periodically contracted by the Culture to play firebrand or warlord on some pre-Contact world. I find this refreshing; he feels much more like a Culture citizen than the agents of Consider Phlebas or Look to Windward despite operating in a very different environment.
Awww yiss. But how about that fire drop Player of Games? Eh? That shit was lit dawg.
One hundred percent. But! I didn’t mention it specifically because the protagonist actually is a citizen, rather than a visitor.
Oh I must be misremembering. Either way yeah Banks is the shit.
Player of Games is a citizen going out to play games. Windward is a cat terrorist coming to tour an Orbital, and Phlebas is a shapechanging outsider’s half-assed quest for Justice.
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