/lit/ - Literature

>>23916345
>Religions in SF Edition
off the top of my head

>The Sparrow
where a Jesuit and his group make First Contact

>Canticle for Leibowitz
post-nuclear fallout sort of situation where we've technologically regressed as a civilization. Catholic church trying restore the electric motor or generator or something of that sort. I'm botching this - it's a very very good book.

>Hyperion
it's been a million years since I read this but yeah there's a Catholic priest and much maybe like a "post-Catholic" church.

>Lord of Light
Hinduism vs Buddhism. with insane fight scenes. an excellent book, recommended here often. it is a classic

>Anathem
less "Religions in SF" but more "Philosophy in SF". if you like philosophy at all, especially western phil, just go read this

>>23739724
No, I don't see him arguing for athiesm, I see him talking about how organized religion (in this case the Hindu gods) can corrupt and sway large groups of people. That's what Sam was against, not religion itself. The Hindu gods were trying to suppress the people on the planet technologically, and Sam wasn't having that and so in a neat way he became the Buddha to try to stop the effect that the Hindu gods were having on the masses. If thinking "organized religion can be bad = athiesm" then OK, but I don't think that statement is true. I mean, none of the gods in this book were truly "divine" so perhaps that's Zelazny saying "athiesm is true". anyway we can all see it how we want anon, good night :^)

t. bachelors student in philosophy, riddled with debt, working at a coffee shop unironically

>>23084161
I thought it wasn't bad. I still have the sequel but I haven't read it yet. if you have any sort of interest in God and Catholicism and of course also sci-fi/alien first contact you will enjoy. my personal quick review from years ago was:

>7.5/10. Themes: problem of evil, loss of faith, unknowability of God. (Human characters were incredibly annoying except the main Jesuit priest)

>>23084181
who hurt you?

>>22334878
saw an extremely cute blonde on an NYC subway reading this a couple months ago. for me, it's the priest.

>>21467870
I didn't read much this year but my favorite book was Flowers for Algernon. actually made me cry. Old Man's War was kinda silly, I stopped reading Seveneves after getting like 80% of the way through, God Emperor of Dune was worth pushing through books 2 and 3 to get to, The Sparrow had absolutely terrible characters minus the Jesuit.

>>19892858
I agree. I went from reading Dune and Tolkien and thought to myself "I really want more myth-heavy literature", and this is what unironically lead me to reading the Bible.

>>19616010
I buy all these books and then don't read them because my mood changes and I buy and read other books. I've uniroincally catalogued all my books, of which I own 323, and of which I've read 171. 62% of my books would be categorized as sci-fi, 21% would be categorized and non-fiction philosophy.

Please recommend any and all books with strong characters and emotion; something that has moved you. I've been reading too much ideas-heavy fiction lately (science fiction), as well as non-fiction. I want the next book to invoke some strong emotions. Like I said, anything is fair game. Between what I own that I have not read, I've got some Dostoyevky, Tolstoy, and One Hundred Years of Solitude (someone just gave this to me).

It is my favorite piece of fiction and it is incredibly based. If you have any interest in humanity, history, religion, science, etc, you will enjoy.

Swallow the non-rational / mystical pill; talk to your fellow Sufis and Eastern Orthodox Christians (and whatever the Kabbalists are up to). These questions of yours will then whither away, the same as this internet comic. Remember that The Enlightenment lead to Biblical literalism.

I am on a world religions kick now and will check this guy out, thanks. Any particular book you recommend? The Experience of God looks good.