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Old 07-10-2012, 11:16 PM   #1
charlesatan
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io9 on 10 Science Fiction Novels You Pretend to Have Read (And Why You Should Actuall

at http://io9.com/5924625/10-science-fi...ally-read-them

It's mostly (relatively) old/classic titles, so that should please the traditionalists here :P
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Old 07-11-2012, 03:15 AM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by charlesatan View Post
at http://io9.com/5924625/10-science-fi...ally-read-them

It's mostly (relatively) old/classic titles, so that should please the traditionalists here :P
I actually have read 7 of them
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Old 07-11-2012, 04:42 AM   #3
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I read Gravity's Rainbow when I was an undergraduate. Well, I got about half-way through it before becoming exhausted and giving up, I should say.
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Old 07-11-2012, 05:04 AM   #4
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I've read Foundation and Dune when I was in highschool and I didn't find them hard.

I am surprised not to see Brave New World here though.
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Old 07-11-2012, 08:19 AM   #5
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Infinite Jest, you've got to be joking!

and gravity's rainbow....yuck.

and I don't think I've every heard or Jonathan Strange...

Dhalgren, Foundation, are wonderful.

I'll admit that I've not read The Star Maker, but it's on my TBR list

and Crypto...i've tried to read as I have many others of his books, just not my taste, but I see how it plays into this particular reviewers biases given that Gravity's Rainbow and Infinite Jest is on the list.

anyway....yawn....just another silly list....
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Old 07-11-2012, 09:20 AM   #6
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I have read one of those books to completion ("1984," which is fantastic).

I have attempted to read the following without success: "Cryptonomicon" (actually it was an audiobook), "Dune," "Foundation," and "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell."
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Old 07-11-2012, 10:49 AM   #7
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Although I've read Infinite Jest and enjoyed the experience ... I don't think I ever would have mentioned it AND science fiction in the same sentence/breath—near-future speculation notwithstanding. *shrugs*
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Old 07-11-2012, 11:33 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer View Post
Although I've read Infinite Jest and enjoyed the experience ... I don't think I ever would have mentioned it AND science fiction in the same sentence/breath—near-future speculation notwithstanding. *shrugs*
Exactly.....that's part of what makes this such a 'weird' list IMO.
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Old 07-11-2012, 11:46 AM   #9
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I've read five. Weirdly, I just yesterday mentioned Delany and Stapledon as major(ish) SF writers I hadn't read.

Are there really any SF readers who haven't read Dune? I can see the list is intended to be challenging or otherwise off-putting books that people might choose to miss, but there's no way I'd put Dune down as one of those.
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Old 07-11-2012, 12:09 PM   #10
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I was reading some skewerings of Dune on sffworld the last few days....for a variety of reasons.
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Old 07-11-2012, 12:59 PM   #11
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Are there really any SF readers who haven't read Dune?
*Raises hand*

I missed out on it at the time it would have been considered groundbreaking. And now ... I frankly fear that it wouldn't hold up in comparison to some of the works that it broke ground for—many of which I have read. I've found that when I read something (for the very first time) is oftentimes just as important as what I read. Notice how many brand-new, young fantasy fans are left scratching their heads at why so many of their elders bow to the temple of Tolkien? They've already read many of the stories that took what he started and ran with it.

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Old 07-11-2012, 01:04 PM   #12
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I do think dune holds it's own. The society is so filled in, so real it literally creates a world of it's own. I do believe it stands the test of time, but will not say so for the bazillion sequels....

(P.S. your argument is one that was raised against it on the other forum BTW.....was probably you eh? )
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Old 07-11-2012, 01:21 PM   #13
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(P.S. your argument is one that was raised against it on the other forum BTW.....was probably you eh? )
No, not me.

For what it's worth ... I am old enough to have read Dune when it came out, but I was in a different reading phase at the time. I'm just fairly certain that I've missed out on the opportunity of having Dune be influential to me and my reading. And who wants to be merely entertained by something that inspired so many in its prime? It'd sort of be like hearing Led Zeppelin for the first time at some rich kid's graduation party in the early '80s with friends who had conceived their children at their concerts in the '70s. We'd be seeing and hearing the same thing, but my friends would probably be much more "wowed" by their performance than I was.

P.S. And I'm not one to give a lot of literary credit to what many refer to as "In Depth World Building."

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Old 07-11-2012, 01:31 PM   #14
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I would say Dune holds its own better than The Martian Chronicles (given what we know about Mars these days) -- but Burrough's Mars -- even more outrageous still works for me cause that background is not really what the story is about (nor is it in Dune...but it is required for the real story -- politics/society/adventure to take place in).
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Old 07-11-2012, 01:38 PM   #15
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I've read five. Weirdly, I just yesterday mentioned Delany and Stapledon as major(ish) SF writers I hadn't read.

Are there really any SF readers who haven't read Dune? I can see the list is intended to be challenging or otherwise off-putting books that people might choose to miss, but there's no way I'd put Dune down as one of those.
I haven't read it, but I'm not an avid SF reader. I've read some SF and enjoyed a lot of what I've read, but I'm sadly missing a lot of pre-requisites when it comes to involving myself in SF discussions.

Of the list, I've only read 1984. In the past year I've made an effort to catch up on some Sci-Fi I should have read by now, but this list has nothing to do with what I think I should read.
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