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PaperclipPerfector  6mo ago (text post)   2726 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 15, 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?

I'm going through Plato's Protagoras. Have been reading about the sophists recently.

Paper I'm reading: Crombe and Nagl's A Call to Action: Lessons from Ukraine for the Future Force.

Just started Kim Stanley Robinson's The Wild Shore. I don't know anything about Robinson other than that someone told me he was good and I don't know anything about the book other than it was on the library shelf and seemed like the kind of thing I'd like. After one chapter, I can say that I enjoy the setting and first-person storytelling.

I just wrote yet another long comment pleading with the reader not to read Aurora by the same author, and a completely unnecessary refresh ate it.

I'll rehash the argument if anyone cares, but TLDR:

Moronic Author

Moronic depiction of AI or the challenges of interstellar travel

A literally moronic protagonist

Moronic characters who don't have the excuse of having a certified neurological deficit

Self flagellating environmentalism steadfastly refusing to accept that it's redundant given the tech level of the setting (itself barely better than today)

An authorial tract strictly devoted to showing "oh nos, instead of abandoning the cradle of civilization, it's turned out to be indispensable, we must stuff ourselves back in and turn on the lights, the night is cold and full of terrors"

Just read his other books, most of them are fine.

I think Aurora is the only book of his I read after enjoying the RGB Mars trilogy (+ The Martians short story collection in that universe). Those books go a bit off the deep end into the environmentalism and Marxism towards the end... but basically just I recommend skipping Blue Mars or noping out of when you've had enough. I also thought Aurora was overly preachy (and mind, this is coming from someone who literally goes by "token progressive" on this forum; I may disagree with him less you than you do, but it's still not fun to read), so it's good to hear most of his other books are good.

Err, it seems I was misremembering, I haven't actually read any other books by him, it was Aurora being so terrible that likely put me off the Mars trilogy, but if you think it's bearable I'll take a look! So far he's been batting 0/1 as far as I'm concerned.

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