October 2022 Reading Thread

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Vince W said:
That is something I will never understand.
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You and me both. Sometimes it works the other way. Probably has to do with selling publishing rights in different countries. Without a VPN that excludes it from me! But there are ways and means.
 
Vertigo said:
Monsters is a slightly disingenuous way of describing them and not how I would describe them having read the book. There are genetically created 'creatures' that are genetically programmed to do jobs around the space ship like cleaning and maintenance but since all the human crew are meant to be asleep any humans wandering around are seen by these creatures as something to be 'cleaned' which tends to be terminal. So effectively they are dumb genetic organic robots rather than monsters but when you have no memory they do seem very like 'monsters'. By the end of the book it is a little more complicated than that but essentially that is what they are.

I can see why many would not like this book but it did work for me. Looking on Goodreads it seems to be a bit of a marmite book.
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Thanks for this. Greg Bear has always been at best so-so for me and so calling it a marmite book makes me believe I know which side of the fence I'd fall on.
 
Vertigo said:
I tend to lump him with Neal Asher, Peter F Hamilton and Iain M Banks. However they're each very different in their own way. I would also add that, whilst I do like Reynolds work, I find these three generally somewhat better (for my tastes), especially Banks.
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Banks is another author that I have read but I've never gone through the entire Culture series, my favourite books of his so far is Look to Windward and The Algebraist.

Different is good though.

Cat's Cradle said:
I'll recommend Adrian Tchaikovsky (maybe Children of Time) and Derek Kunsken (The Quantum Magician), as folks who, IMO, (often) write in a similar vein.
I think, though, that you couldn't do much better for something kinda-sorta similar to Reynolds than A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge. A challenging novel, but one with so many rewards if you stick it out. Let us know if you find someone else you like, who fits the bill, CC
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Tchaikovsky is the spider guy, right? I have read The Expert System's Brother and while I do like the way he writes there's something about his writing that's slightly off-putting, I can't put my finger on it.

I'm going to get a book by each and compare I guess. Thanks for the tips!
 
Finished: The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy: What Animals on Earth Reveal about Aliens – and Ourselves by Arik Kershenbaum.
Should have been titled "The Zoologist's Summary of Life on Earth with Vague Nods to the Rest of the Universe".
 
Raincloud Man said:
Banks is another author that I have read but I've never gone through the entire Culture series, my favourite books of his so far is Look to Windward and The Algebraist.

Different is good though.


Tchaikovsky is the spider guy, right? I have read The Expert System's Brother and while I do like the way he writes there's something about his writing that's slightly off-putting, I can't put my finger on it.

I'm going to get a book by each and compare I guess. Thanks for the tips!
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Funnily enough I have The Algebraist coming up for a reread in my pile shortly! :D And yes Tchaikovsky is quite famous for his spiders! However I do love his writing. I'm currently reading his Shards of Earth which is a much more traditional galaxy spanning space opera and so far I'm loving it.
 
Elentarri said:
Finished: The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy: What Animals on Earth Reveal about Aliens – and Ourselves by Arik Kershenbaum.
Should have been titled "The Zoologist's Summary of Life on Earth with Vague Nods to the Rest of the Universe".
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That's interesting and is something I've often wondered about. Does it put forward the idea that evolution has tried most possibilities and what we have are the most successful, so we shouldn't expect to see anything too different elsewhere, or that nature is so diverse we should expect almost anything imaginable elsewhere? I can see both arguments coming out of extrapolating from Earth fauna though I guess I tend towards the former. Though I guess your 'vague' comment suggests it fails on both counts.
 
Vertigo said:
That's interesting and is something I've often wondered about. Does it put forward the idea that evolution has tried most possibilities and what we have are the most successful, so we shouldn't expect to see anything too different elsewhere, or that nature is so diverse we should expect almost anything imaginable elsewhere? I can see both arguments coming out of extrapolating from Earth fauna though I guess I tend towards the former. Though I guess your 'vague' comment suggests it fails on both counts.
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Arik Kershenbaum assumes that evolution is Universal (he gives reasons). E.g. So alien animals will have legs of some sort but they might be made up of different biological compounds, be different in number and look different from Earthling legs, but they will still be legs used to move the animal around, either to catch prey or escape prey, because having alien life that isn't either prey/predator is an impossibility (because that's how evolution works:rolleyes: ). Apparently slime aliens won't be able to move around fast enough because snails and slugs don't move fast enough (there are physics reasons for this but he doesn't go into that). So far, so good. But it gets more abstract and waffley as communication, language (only humans have language!!:unsure:) and the more social aspects make an appearance. He also leaves out fungi and slime molds. The slime molds turn a fair number of the authors arguments on their head. He does point out several times that he is not sure DNA is universal, but doesn't bother to come up with anything else that has a same/similar function to DNA. RNA (from what I've read) is not particularly robust, which is why it was replaced with DNA. He also states he doesn't know if aliens have sex. Only evolution doesn't really work if there is no exchange of genetic material - otherwise you just have clones. He also assumes carbon is the building block of life but doesn't bother to say why (there are reasons why carbon would be a good choice, but it doesn't have to be the only choice, only Kershenbaum doesn't explain any of that). In short, the topic is interesting, but Kershenbaum doesn't really explore it properly. The book comes across as too anthropocentric and I suspect the author lacks imagination. There is no mention of aliens having opposable thumbs. Wouldn't you need opposable digits or multiple tentacles to build starships? This book is more a simplistic summary/overview of earth ecology than anything else, and then a few paragraphs "explaining" that it must be the same on other planets. So fairly disappointing if you were expecting something more than what you learned in a high school biology class and from watching Star Trek. In short: Life on other worlds will be like ours, but different. Intelligent life will be similar to humans, but not. :rolleyes:

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Kershenbaum's book was a prescribed book for his first year collage class in the hopes that sticking some mention of aliens in the title and text will make his students want to read it. Helpful hint: The epilogue summarises the whole book in point form.

A better book on a similar subject is The Equations of Life: How Physics Shapes Evolution, by Charles S. Cockell. This book is more physics based, than biology based like the Kershenbaum book, but I think Cockell explains his reasoning better.
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PS: Evolution isn't an anthopogenic personality/entity. It doesn't decide or try anything. The ability of a particular species to evolve in particular ways is limited by the genetics of it's ancestors. E.g. That's why all mammals have 5 digits (unless lost like horses) on the ends of 4 limbs. There were ancient fishy creatures with 6, 7 or 8 digits but their progeny didn't make it onto land, and didn't evolve into all the land animals. Giraffe's don't have extra vertebrae in their long necks (compared to other mammals), they just have bigger/longer vertebrae. Imagine if humans evolved from starfish as opposed to fish. Humans would be radially symmetrical, have 5+ arms and however many digits, or maybe tentacles would be more useful? Multiple eyes? Eyes are useful, they evolved several times. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Sorry about the rant. Looks like this book pissed me off more this morning, than it did last night.
 
Okay sounds like it's not really thorough enough to be worth it! Thanks! Disappointing as it is an interesting topic.

The Equations of Life seems quite well regarded and might be interesting though it definitely seems to follow the argument I personally tend towards ie expect things to be similar. I would quite like one that argues for infinite diversity ie argues against me!
 
Finished The Two Towers. It's probably well over a decade since I last read this. I'm no longer quite so impressed with Tolkien's prose as I was -- there are a couple of techniques he over-uses, in my opinion -- but his world and plot are still a class above almost everyone else's. And Smeagol-Gollum has to be one of the great characters in fiction. His dialogue is superb.

Straight onto The Return of the King.
 
Vertigo said:
Okay sounds like it's not really thorough enough to be worth it! Thanks! Disappointing as it is an interesting topic.

The Equations of Life seems quite well regarded and might be interesting though it definitely seems to follow the argument I personally tend towards ie expect things to be similar. I would quite like one that argues for infinite diversity ie argues against me!
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The assumption is that physics/biology are the same all over the universe, therefore life will be similar. Of course, if the assumption is wrong, then things get interesting. Equations of Life is good.
 
Vertigo said:
Okay sounds like it's not really thorough enough to be worth it! Thanks! Disappointing as it is an interesting topic.

The Equations of Life seems quite well regarded and might be interesting though it definitely seems to follow the argument I personally tend towards ie expect things to be similar. I would quite like one that argues for infinite diversity ie argues against me!
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This article just mucks up one of Kershenbaum's assumptions! :LOL:
Animals may have begun to vocalize before anyone had ears to hear them
 
Working my way through these two European haunts in between the two issues of Marvel‘s Haunt Of Horror:
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