๐ The book lovers thread
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When I hear the word "sprite", I don't think of the soda pop.
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Even Win98 was out when I did, but I still spent good three years fiddling with DOS and Turbo buttons. And I still have mad QBasic skills.
My stepdad still uses QBASIC. Exclusively. Even to the point of getting an old laptop old and booting it off floppy disk because he can't figure out how to get DOS 6.22 to play nicely from booting off the laptop's hard drive.
Windows 3.x was not even a thing before I was sat in front of a computer... in fact not even Windows 2.x was. (1983 child with parentals that were interested in computing, though I was lead down the dark side of the ZX Spectrum and then the Amiga before finally joining the cult of PeeCee)
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Yeah, I even recall the DOS days.
I agree with the 1990 cutoff. I noticed in college that there was a huge generation gap between people my age and people two or three years younger than me! It's really strange that my age never had cell phones until college, yet those just a few years younger had had cell phones since junior high school. Same thing with the whole facebook addiction, they're much more likely to spend all their free time on social media than people my age.
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It's really strange that my age never had cell phones until college, yet those just a few years younger had had cell phones since junior high school.
Yup, my parents bought me a cell phone when I started college since I would be traveling and away from home more often.
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I noticed in college that there was a huge generation gap between people my age and people two or three years younger than me!
Look, everybody thinks that. "Oooh, when I was your age, we didn't have smartphones/cellphones/Windows/PCs/computers/electricity/wheel/fire/opposite thumbs".
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Yeah, but in what world does it make sense that I remember many years before (facebook|twitter|youtube|cell phones) yet people only two years younger than me think that stuff has existed forever?
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Look, everybody thinks that. "Oooh, when I was your age, we didn't have smartphones/cellphones/Windows/PCs/computers/electricity/wheel/fire/opposite thumbs".
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be...
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The future ain't what it used to be.
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/t/1000?
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Ok, I'll post the full text of War and Peace there, one paragraph at a time.
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That's probably not appropriate either
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What about that thread is appropriate?
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Nostalgia isn't what it used to be...
So if people born in the 80's are complaining about people born in the 90's, does that mean that those of us born in the 70's can now join the rest of the grey hairs sitting on the rocking chair on the porch complaining about how we had to walk 10 miles through the snow with pots on our feet to find a payphone to make a call (uphill both ways...).
If you want an amusing diversion, show current highschool grads a rotary telephone and see if they know what it's for.
Also, to slightly re-rail the thread: Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series:
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No, you're just old.
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If you want an amusing diversion, show current highschool grads a rotary telephone and see if they know what it's for.
To paraphrase Dave Barry, old AT&T monopoly-era phones were most used as murder weapons in movies. Modern phones are way too small and light to kill anybody with, tragically.
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Modern phones are way too small and light to kill anybody with, tragically.
Damn straight. Just try to beat someone to death with an iPhone 6.
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Damn straight. Just try to beat someone to death with an iPhone 6.
It would just bend...
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It'll bend first?
Edit: Hanzo'd
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I keep a 1940s bakelite phone hanging on my wall, both because it matches the decor of the house (built in 1927) and because I might need to do an emergency bludgeoning at any moment.
As of when I last had land-line service around 2009, the pulses from the dial still worked fine with the phone network.
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As of when I last had land-line service around 2009, the pulses from the dial still worked fine with the phone network.
I think they still would, most places. Now I'll have to find a phone with one of those tone/pulse switches and try it...
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BTW this 1951 film on AT&T's new (at the time) step-by-step switch is pretty amazing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZePwin92cI
All relays, man. All the fucking relays.
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All relays, man. All the fucking relays.
Have to watch that later, since videos refuse to play on this system if I don't have speakers plugged in.
Nothing like a good, complicated relay board to remind you that this automation thing has been going on a long time.
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Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series:
They're good (though I'm missing one of them and because I'm short of bookshelf space, it's hard to work out what one I'm missing) and so are the Malazan Empire books by Ian C Esslemont. Not very quick reads though.
The recommendations of Iain M Banks and Peter F Hamilton upthread are things I'd second. David Brin can be very good too.
The Redemption of Althalus
That's the best of Eddings's books, precisely because it is standalone.Did anyone else read the entire Wheel of Time series?
Yes. The first half of the last book was too hurried (given the overall length of the book, and the general pulling of rabbits out of the hat without adequate foreshadowing, it should have been split in two with the first half or so somewhat lengthened) but otherwise it was OK. Of course, I like the political manลuvringsโฆ
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Peter F Hamilton's Commonwealth universe (WANT MORE AND AM GETTING MORE!)
Peter F. Hamilton - The Abyss Beyond Dreams (Commonwealth spinoff!)
Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained are my favorite book(s) of all time (parenthetical (s) because they really can't be read independently, so they're practically one book in two volumes.)
I had no idea before today that there were other novels written in the same universe. Time to hit my library!
This also gives me great gift options for my sister--I got her the duology a few years ago and she loved it as much as I did.
So anyway, thanks very much @Weng! You also have the dubious honour of being the one to finally give me a reason to stop lurking.
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I had no idea before today that there were other novels written in the same universe. Time to hit my library!
The second group of books in that universe are:
The Dreaming Void
The Temporal Void
The Evolutionary VoidGood stuff, but Iain M Banks and David Brin (on a good day) are better. The best of Larry Niven and, of course, Robert A Heinlein and Philip K Dick are worthwhile too. (And one of these days, I'll get around to reading William Gibson. I've only been meaning to for a couple of decades nowโฆ)
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My first computer was a 386 with Win 3.11, no mouse, and a Turbo button, and I liked it.
...running Star Control 2!
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Thanks for some nice recommendations! I'm also into military space stuff, even though lately I've had little time for reading.
I'll add two more picks from the genre.
##The Starfire series by David Weber and Steve White
I never got into Honor Harrington, but these were great. Apparently based on some kind of a board game. Whatever the case, the rules of space warfare are VERY well imagined. If you like battles in The Lost Fleet series, this was definitely an inspiration.
##Old man's war, by John Scalzy
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e4/OldMansWar(1stEd).jpgThis becomes a bit too political later on, but the first book is just excellent space opera in the feel-good style of the 50-ies.
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I can't remember the author's or books' names, but there was one series I liked about a space ensign and his adventures, eventually leading up to becoming President of whatever government. The only really specific things I can remember are the phrase "Laser weapons are kind of like tits on a boar: standard issue, but useless", and how they started testing their FTL drives (called N-Wave I think) without moving, calling it "caterwauling", and that doing so attracted giant space amoebas that wanted to kill everything. I also remember someone calling the series "Horatio Hornblower In Space".
I just remembered the main character's name, Nicholas Seafort (I think). Still don't remember the author or book titles.
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Yep that's it. Hardly remember any of it because I was like 10 years old when I read them, but some of the plotlines and character names are vaguely familiar.
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Will have to try Starfire.
Forgot all about Old Man's War. They have a movie deal cooking on that property.
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Good stuff, but Iain M Banks and David Brin (on a good day) are better. The best of Larry Niven and, of course, Robert A Heinlein and Philip K Dick are worthwhile too. (And one of these days, I'll get around to reading William Gibson. I've only been meaning to for a couple of decades nowโฆ)
I'll have to look into Banks and Brin--the names are very familiar but I don't think I've read anything by either. Same with Niven. I've read a fair bit of Heinlein and PKD (I went through a heavy PKD phase a few years back). Gibson is on my "got to get to him" list too; I've heard a lot of praise for Neuromancer in particular.
Old man's war, by John
ScalzyScalziFTFY. I definitely need to read this one. I've read (and loved) The Android's Dream and Redshirts, and I've been meaning to delve deeper into his bibliography. I actually discovered Scalzi when I stumbled across The Android's Dream at the library in the middle of my infatuation with PKD, and checked it out only because of the obvious title connection. I'm glad I did, because I've enjoyed those two Scalzi books more than most of the PKD I've read.
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While I'm thinking of it: this thread has reminded me that somehow I've never read any Orson Scott Card or Terry Pratchett. Both of these terrible omissions must be remedied post-haste!
Any other Naomi Novik fans here? Her Temeraire series has been wonderful, although I thought the sixth book was a bit weak, and I haven't read the seventh or eighth novels yet. The series describes an alternate history set during the Napoleonic wars, with the major difference being the existence of dragons. What makes the series work for me is the emphasis on the setting and the times; it isn't a series about dragons in the Napoleonic era, but rather a series about how that era would have been different given the existence of dragons.
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this thread has reminded me that somehow I've never read any Orson Scott Card or Terry Pratchett. Both of these terrible omissions must be remedied post-haste!
Pratchet, yep. Card... well, Ender's Game is decent, but there's no pressure on the rest of the books.
Also, does anybody read anything besides sci-fi/fantasy books? Jeesh, there's a whole world out there, you know.
Filed under: inb4 "reference manuals"
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Also, does anybody read anything besides sci-fi/fantasy books? Jeesh, there's a whole world out there, you know.
I read all sorts of fiction and non-fiction, but mostly just what comes my way (Christmas gifts and the like). In general, I actively try to read more from sci-fi and fantasy authors, but I can't think of an author in another genre who has driven me to this. My family are all heavy readers, and the gifts I receive do tend to be excellent reads.
John Grisham and Tom Clancy are the closest things to exceptions here, and even with them I've never reserved any of their books at the library. That, and I doubt there are many people who would be interested in them but haven't heard of them yet.
I got a whole bunch of free books from my chiropractor a couple of years ago (he recovered them from a used bookstore that was going to throw them out), but as you might expect, there's nothing in there really worth recommending. (I did finally learn why Dean Koontz is both very successful and widely loathed, though!)
One more sci-fi author to mention: Robert J. Sawyer, another favorite of mine. He puts a lot of time into research and does a very good job at writing thought-provoking hard science fiction.
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Any other Naomi Novik fans here?
I read the first about 4 Temeraire books and thought they were pretty good. I haven't had a lot of time for reading so I didn't even know there were that many now.
Larry Correia's Monster Hunter Nation and Hard Magic series are pretty good.
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Card... well, Ender's Game is decent, but there's no pressure on the rest of the books.
I actually liked the rest of the Ender universe.Some of it arguably more than Ender's Game.
Also, does anybody read anything besides sci-fi/fantasy books?
HERESY.
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I actually discovered Scalzi when I stumbled across The Android's Dream at the library in the middle of my infatuation with PKD, and checked it out only because of the obvious title connection. I'm glad I did, because I've enjoyed those two Scalzi books more than most of the PKD I've read.
Scalzi writes future classics. I just finished Lock In and it's fantastic.
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Some of it arguably more than Ender's Game.
If you read the intros to the books, you'll learn that Card wrote Ender's Game so he could write Speaker for the Dead, or maybe Xenocide, whichever was book 2.
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Also, does anybody read anything besides sci-fi/fantasy books? Jeesh, there's a whole world out there, you know.
I read Charles Seife http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Seife 's Proofiness while on vacation a few weeks ago since I wasn't cynical enough yet...
Am currently, slowly (very slowly) working my way through Charles Taylor's A Secular Age http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Secular_Age.
No idea why I've taken a sudden shine to a bunch of authors named Charles...
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Also, does anybody read anything besides sci-fi/fantasy books?
I read almost exclusively history books.
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If you read the intros to the books, you'll learn that Card wrote Ender's Game so he could write Speaker for the Dead, or maybe Xenocide, whichever was book 2.
Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide are good books, the ones that are worth reading from the Ender series, and Children of the Mind isn't too bad too. Card had the freedom to actually use some interesting ideas there.
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I can't imagine how the 20-year veterans of the EU feel about having all their work thrown away.
I think ignoring that stuff is the best possible decision for Disney. Inevitably, they'd need to change stuff for movies, at which point the EU people would get sand in their vaginas about that. Better to deal with all the sand now. And then we don't have to worry about EU fans spoiling anything for us, either, though I'm sure you guys will continue to whine about it.
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Card... well, Ender's Game is decent, but there's no pressure on the rest of the books.
enders game is okay, but if you don't read
speaker for the dead
then you are really missing out on the awesome that is the ender universe.
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Also, does anybody read anything besides sci-fi/fantasy books?
Jeffery Deaver count? (Bone Collector)