09-19-2012, 02:23 PM | #106 |
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09-19-2012, 02:36 PM | #107 | |
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I do have one thought though.. if you are at all a fan of science fiction, I find that books that win both the Hugo and the Nebula are probably books that should be read... if for no other reason that they will probably be books your other SF friends will read . -- Bill |
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09-19-2012, 02:49 PM | #108 | |
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It's been a while but I also seem to remember that John Carter taught his daughter Tara how to handle a sword. Thuvia saves John Carter's life in the Gods of Mars when they're about to be attacked by banths, and takes care of herself pretty well in her own book. Tavia fights beside Tan Hadron in A Fighting Man of Mars. Barsoomian women even get some independence in the reproductive process - they lay eggs and don't have to deal with pregnancy and delivery. We don't get a lot of detail about that, or about child rearing. (We do know that the green women are responsible for young children, but they're the 'barbarians' after all.) I'm not claiming Barsoom is a feminist paradise by any stretch....but the women aren't simpering weaklings just waiting to be rescued. I don't actually think of the Barsoom books as being primarily sci-fi. They are (along with all of Burroughs' other books) escapist romances aimed at men. They're essentially equivalent to the bodice rippers aimed at women....that's either your cup of tea or it ain't. |
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09-19-2012, 02:51 PM | #109 |
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Taste is so subjective so if you don't like Asimov's stories, no reason to call him overrated.
I think today's critics focus too much on character sometimes to the detriment of the story line. I skip past the extensive physical descriptions of people, places and objects because I find them boring. On the other hand, we can't fault a 40's author for thinking nuclear power would be a major power source in the future. After all, we are still using it today and in space. I don't have to defend Asimov - his career and work stands for itself. But I will highlight a few things: 1. He revolutionized robot stories. Before his I,Robot stories, most robot stories were of the "Frankenstein" bent. Always running amuck and killing their creators. Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics" was a radically different approach. 2. He is credited with adding several new words to the English language including robotics, positronic and psychohistory. So the whole robotics industry is built on a word he made up. 3. He has writen what many people believe is the best science fiction short story of all time, "Nightfall," along with a ton of other excellent short stories. His books have sold many,many copies and he has won numerous awards including multiple Hugos and Nebulas. So while he may not be your cup of tea, he is not "overrated." |
09-19-2012, 03:10 PM | #110 |
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My High School physics teacher believed the best way to truly understand and internalize logarithms you had to use a slide rule. Also the best way to understand orders of magnitude in calculations. He had a honking big eight foot monster mounted in the classroom for demonstration and drills. (Plus, it looked really cool.)
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09-19-2012, 03:15 PM | #111 | |
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Sorry! |
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09-19-2012, 03:18 PM | #112 | |
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But the T-square was a dead giveaway for first year engineering students. (So I bought an attache case and a modular one I could disassemble and hide so I could at least pass for human.) Anyway, when I first read Heinlein's DOOR INTO SUMMER I was seriously impressed by his mechanical drafting machines. A bit less so after AUTOCAD and co came out. Last edited by fjtorres; 09-19-2012 at 03:20 PM. |
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09-19-2012, 03:33 PM | #113 | |
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The Nebula seemed to me at a certain period to be political in the way that the best book was not the one that won but a book could win if it was considered that the writer deserved to win for all the previous work. The short list i think have the best books are the Carke Award short list. |
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09-19-2012, 03:36 PM | #114 | |
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And this year the Hugo voting actually voted according to my taste with Jo Walton as winner and China Meiville as second. |
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09-19-2012, 03:55 PM | #115 | |
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Graham |
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09-19-2012, 03:58 PM | #116 | ||
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-- Bill |
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09-19-2012, 04:35 PM | #117 |
Is that a sandwich?
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09-19-2012, 04:53 PM | #118 |
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I tried that argument back in high school in a government class. I seem to remember failing that particular essay.
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09-19-2012, 04:55 PM | #119 |
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09-19-2012, 04:59 PM | #120 |
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Now that you point it out, yeah, I exaggerated a bit. But their primary purpose in those stories was to give the male characters something to rescue, even if they did often serve to reduce the total number of characters you have to keep track of. And now that I think about it, he got better as time went by (the laters ones were written post WWII, and the world was changing at that point).
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