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/lit/ - Literature

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16017483 No.16017483 [Reply] [Original]

Hello, has anyone read this?
I've never tried science fiction. Is this a good start?

>> No.16017591

There was a thread few days ago with some decent discussion, maybe check the archive if you care.

As for the book. If you're not into real hard sci fi like this you might not be able to appreciate it because the whole genre is kind of it's own thing with usually the same caveats of wooden characters with no development (because that's almost never the focus). Personally I think it's a pretty good book, it's quite bleak in its depiction of the future. Perhaps not the best novel to start with. Maybe list some other books you like?

>> No.16017619

The characterization is terrible. The alien is interesting. MC is insurable fag.
Read some of the sci fi classics fist.

>> No.16017766

Maybe I'm biased, because I have a Master's in cognitive science and I care deeply about the themes, but it's utter garbage. It's so horrible it actually made me mad.

>> No.16017770

>>16017766
And of course Charles Stross praises it. Accelerando is shit too.

>> No.16017792

Even the initial mention of chinese room is retarded. "this alien is a chinese room" - so what?

>> No.16017826

>>16017792
>If we say "suck my dick" to a Chinese Room, the Chinese Room will somehow give us a special reaction!
If he even understood the concept in the first place, maybe he would be able to do something with it.

>> No.16017880

>>16017766
Any science fiction that does justice to those themes that you would recommend?

>> No.16018001

>>16017792
Maybe I'm wrong, but wasn't the point of the chinese room analogy part of the discussion regarding consciousness?

>> No.16018005

>>16017766
I'm with this guy >>16017880 any books you recommend? Mixing this kind of stuff with science fiction seems really rare as far as I've seen.

>> No.16018091

I really liked it, one of the first protagonists I related to

>> No.16018142

>>16018001
It's an argument against strong AI, i.e. that the brain is like computer hardware and the mind is like a program running on that hardware.

>> No.16018211

>>16017880
>>16018005
>Mixing this kind of stuff with science fiction seems really rare as far as I've seen.
Yeah, I can't think of anything more involved than I, Robot as far as philosophy of mind in scifi goes. I know there is some Stanislaw Lem in Dennett's and Hofstadter's "The Mind's I".

>> No.16018546

>>16017483

Echopraxia is a bit more interesting, it kind of throws you into the soup, so reading Blindsight is really helpful to understand some of the other themes.

>> No.16019208

>>16018546
the ending of that one really upset me, what a waste

>> No.16019253

>>16017766
Can you be more specific?

>> No.16019288
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16019288

>>16019208
Poor vampire-chan, killed immediately after she started to be a bit cute.

>> No.16019440

I finished it quite recently. I'm the guy that compared some of it to Neuromancer in the last thread. I'd say it's pretty decent with some flaws. The comparison to Gibson stands, style and character wise. No char progression meme, opaque dialogue, the epic nature of the plot is never really made obvious, etc, etc.
There's even some pauses and breaks--
--in the narrative--
--for effect, like when Case is switching between PoVs. I'd also throw in Alien/Aliens into the mix of influences and maybe The Thing as well.

The atmosphere is great, creepy hints here and there that something is off and it slowly builds up (slow burn would be appropriate). With the exception of some foreshadowing hints at (larger) scale tragedy, it seems like a small little adventure in the vastness of space,
Half of the time you don't know what the hell is going on. The narrator (and writer) is not too keen on making things easier for the reader and the setting is an unfamiliar one for most people. Not only for all the overuse of jargon (biology, computer science, physics, chemistry, astronomy, etc), but because it's a zero G and a oddly shaped spaceship. Since the writing is not particularly visual, or at least not effective in that sense (unlike, say, Arthur C. Clarke), it'd hard to follow it. Composited with the MC's autism and, paradoxically, his self centeredness, much of the action, descriptions, etc. are quite vague, so if you're one of those too-passive readers you'll have some issues following it. Still, it's not 100% frustrating that way. The narrative is fragmented. The MC and narrator's own words. The writer covers his ass this way. There's even an appendix of notes with references and citations to scientific works. He cares about explaining vampire biology and some astrophysics stuff, but not simpler more central things.

>>16017483
>I've never tried science fiction. Is this a good start?
Probably not. It would be like "I want to learn math, would <random book on Quantum physics> be a good start"? Or, to make it more of hyperbole, "I want to get into reading, would Ulysses be a starting point?".

>> No.16019549

>>16017483
I started reading scifi with Watts and can recommend. His trilogy that came before Blindsight doesn't deal with as interesting topics philosophically but the characters and especially the setting are way more fleshed out and less schizoid. Those books are easier to read, too.
He seems like a super negative guy, the kind that really hates everyone and that's kinda cool. A lot of other scifi stuff I've read usually end on a positive note or at least let you sympathize with the characters. With Watts everything is always all sorts of fucked up and that's very inspirational.

I've read all his books like 4 times and there's always been something new in each one. The only scifi author that consistently gets a genuine "huh, never thought about it that way" out of me.

>> No.16019577

>>16019440
>>16019549
These two last replies are the only ones that actually encourage me to read the book. Thanks I really wanted to give it a try

>> No.16019882

>>16019253
He takes concepts from philosophy of mind, misunderstands them, misrepresents them and does stupid shit with them. It's infuriating.

>> No.16019954

>>16019577
Jesus fucking christ. After you waste your time on Blindsight, try Greg Egan's Permutation City. You'll learn the difference between midwit horseshit and mindblowing SF.

>> No.16021876

Just started this a week or 2 ago after seeing people on /tg/ talk about it. Now there’s been 3 different threads about it since then, and a guy just mentioned it in /sffg/. What gives?

>> No.16021900

>>16021876
It's one of the most popular modern sci-fis after all.

>> No.16022138
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>>16019882
Any specifics?

>> No.16022398

>>16017483
The book is good but terrible way to start scifi. Start with verne and wells, move unto Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke some other big meme names like stugatskys, herbert, ellison, gibson, lem... Then you read blindsight. Anyway OP if you want some more specific reccs Id be happy to help
t.read every decent scifi novel written

>> No.16022459

it seems like almost every science fiction novel is part of a series. how many of these are necessary to read the whole series, and how many are just added cashgrabs after the success of the first one? and how do you know which it is?
i'm a bit of a completionist, just getting into scifi pretty heavy and it's daunting.

>> No.16022461

Writer is a biology/zoology guy, which makes it pretty fun and a bit different from writers who actually know about shit related to astrophysics. I was just looking for a dumb sci fi horror book, and it ends up being a bit more than that (then again I'm a brainlet)

Any other sci fi horror books out there that are worth reading? Whenever I look online all that comes up is I am legend and blindsight.

>> No.16022477

>>16022459
If a scifi writer gets a golden ticket to actually earning a decent living, then of course they're going to milk it into a series. I'd do the same to be fair.

Alastair Reynolds has a big sci fi series with a shared universe, but like half of those books can be read by themselves. You could check those out (chasm city and diamond dogs are fun)

>> No.16022499

>>16022461
I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream
'Salem's Lot
Annihilation
Who Goes There?

>> No.16022511

>>16022459
It depends on the series really. Here you only need to read blindsight, but with something like foundation you need to read original trilogy or hyperion when you need to read the second book for closure...so yeah I guess you kinda judge by the ending and by how much you enjoyed the book

>> No.16022571
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>> No.16023061

I'm looking for a short story collection that contains Isaac Asimov's "The Last Question". Is The Best of Isaac Asimov good? Or does anyone have any other recommendations?
I'll also take recommendations for any other short story collections, scifi or otherwise.

>> No.16023275

>>16022138
>>16017826

>> No.16023311

>>16017483
misunderstood future classic.