Favourite Sci-Fi read

[Andy44]

Which begs the question - are science fiction writers the modern prophets?

Ahem...incorrect use of English, my SF-reading friend:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question

But to answer your invited-but-not-begged question: No, since the word "prophet" implies some sort of supernatural ability. The more correct term, I think, would be "forecaster" or "predicter". Forecasting is based on science and observation, and since this is science fiction, not fantasy, wanna-be prophets need not apply.

 

[n0mad23]

Ahem...incorrect use of English, my SF-reading friend:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question

But to answer your invited-but-not-begged question: No, since the word "prophet" implies some sort of supernatural ability. The more correct term, I think, would be "forecaster" or "predicter". Forecasting is based on science and observation, and since this is science fiction, not fantasy, wanna-be prophets need not apply.

Right you are.

And indicates I really should have at least put quotations or italics around said phrase. Sarcasm, when expressed in print usually needs more than a single phrase to pull off.

Petitio principii is indeed about circular logic. I was poking fun at something I'd just read that claimed science fiction is prophetic. To make such a claim seems to me to rest on the principal that prophecy has validity under the demands of empirical evidence. What but circular logic can follow?

Your pointing out this mistake, for the sake of language, was more responsible than my failed attempt at a sublime personal joke.

​

 

[NukeET]

From the same article:

In recent decades, "begs the question" has been used increasingly to mean that a statement invites another obvious question.[7]

This usage, right?

 

[cljohnston]

I'd been on a Clarke kick a few months ago, so I polished off 2001, Imperial Earth, Rendezvous with Rama, and Songs of Distant Earth in rapid succession.
I'd been trying to read Childhood's End for about the last 30 years, but I always ended up stopping after the first 20 pages for some reason.
I just started again from page 1, and I'm committed to seeing it through!

I started reading Red Mars, but it really bugged me that the story didn't actually start with the first landing on Mars. The whole murder mystery as we join the colonization efforts "already in progress" kinda gave me a headache, so I went out to the used bookstore and found Ben Bova's Mars & Return to Mars, which I'm enjoying immensely! I'll probably return to KSR's trilogy as soon as I've had my fill of things in their proper sequence.

Since everybody's already listed the go-tos of Heinlein, Niven/Pournelle, etc., here's some of mine...

John Scalzi
• Old Man's War
• The Ghost Brigades
• The Last Colony

Robert J. Sawyer
The Neanderthal Parallax:
• Hominids
• Humans
• Hybrids

• Mindscan

 

[Andy44]

Recently I read The Fall of Collosus by D.F. Jones, and I loved it.

It's trhe second fo 3 novels about a supercomputer that takes over the world, Skynet style, but it was written in the 1960s. The first novel, Collosus, was published in 1966 and made into a really good movie in 1970 (Collosus, the Forbin Project).

The third novel is Collosus and the Crab (1977), but I cannot find either it or the first, because they are all out of print. I stumbled across the second novel in a used bookstore, conveniently right after I bought the film from Amazon.

I really want to read the third novel someday and see how nit all wraps up.

 

[n0mad23]

Recently I read The Fall of Collosus by D.F. Jones, and I loved it.

It's trhe second fo 3 novels about a supercomputer that takes over the world, Skynet style, but it was written in the 1960s. The first novel, Collosus, was published in 1966 and made into a really good movie in 1970 (Collosus, the Forbin Project).

The third novel is Collosus and the Crab (1977), but I cannot find either it or the first, because they are all out of print. I stumbled across the second novel in a used bookstore, conveniently right after I bought the film from Amazon.

I really want to read the third novel someday and see how nit all wraps up.

Sound like a recommendation for a series I've never read.

Thanks Andy44 - I'm going to pick this set up!

 

[SilvaHeed]

As there's a favourite space film thread, I thought it would be interesting to find out about your favourite sci-fi books and authors.

My favourite author at the moment has to be Stephen Baxter. I've recently finished "Resplendant", the 4th and final book in the "Destiny's Children" series. My favourite of the series was "Exultant".

The first Baxter book I read is still one of my favourites, and I believe it was one of his first books too, and that's "Time Ships". It's the official sequel to H.G. Well's "The Time Machine".
It's not just the ideas and huge scope of this book that I like, it's also the way it's written in a kind of 19th Century narration. I would heartily recommend it!

I've also enjoyed books by Authur C Clark (of course!), Greg Bear (Eon and Eternity stand out), Iain M Banks (Culture novels), and Adam Roberts' strange worlds ("On" and "Polystrom").


Any other recommendations?
I prefer sci-fi with vast vistas of time and space that are mind boggling and thought provoking, rather that "Foundation" type stories (Sorry Asimov, but I prefered your non-fiction to your fiction :sorry

 

[n0mad23]

SilvaHeed,

Glad to see this topic resurrected, as I suspect many of us enjoy science fiction at least as much as we enjoy Orbiter.

A similar thread was created back in March sometime, and since there was such a good list created there, I'm thinking the threads ought to be merged.

As I'm moving my family in about a month and a week from now, I just sat down to pack up my sci-fi library last night.

I think I'm going to reread Bruce Sterling's Schizmatrix. That's my recommendation.

Mods? Confirm?

 

[Andy44]

I also was not that impressed witht he Foundation trilogy. After hearing so much about it, I read it about 10 years ago and I was disappointed. For starters, it's really a bunch of stories which almost stand alone, and they are fairly simplistic. The whole concept fo psychohistory was cool, but the end of the trilogy didn't wrap up the predicted future of the galaxy and leaves you hanging. Not having much tolerance for stunts like that, I passed on reading further sequels. Asimov's robot stories were much better.

As for Clarke, I like his short stories better than most of his books. 2010 and Rendezvous with Rama (only the first one) were exceptions, I disliked Childhood's End and, hate to say it, I was let down by 2001, having grown up with the inspiring Kubrick film. Clarke's short stories tend to be more technical and science-related and they get to the point.

One weakness I've noticed in many SF writers is interpersonal relationships among the characters, particularly romantic relationships. They are often forced and awkward, and a novel-length story suffers from this. Perhaps this is because SF writers are nerdy or something. I've also noticed that some writers can't refrain from pushing the edge with sexual relationships as well. Clarke seems to have gone out of his way in 2061 Odyssey Three to include a gay couple, which really had nothing to do with the story, Heinlein got more "free lovey" as he aged, and Larry Niven's Ringworld books regularly feature the main character having relations with aliens. Even the writers of Star Trek regularly push that stuff into their scripts. What's up with that? I like to keep an open mind, but most of that stuff seems to get in the way of the story.

 

[Whatu]

To the date I've only read the Foundation trilogy and the books "prelude to the foundation", "towards the foudation" and "foundation and earth" and I've enjoyed them so much!

And as I can see my SF reading is lacking some serious content so i might go to a book store anytime soon.