STN SciFi Book for Feb. is The Light of Other Days

[sodapop6620]

This was started by UFO last year, I thought it is about time to start it up for this winter.


From UFO's Original posting


Loose rules:
1)  No heroic/traditional fantasy, though some science fiction authors blur the line.
2)  No Star Trek, Star Wars, or other "franchise" novels will be considered.
3)  No series will be considered.  Standalone books only.  Standalone books that take place in a common setting are acceptable.
4)  Tentative schedule, October through March, mostly off riding season for many.  Shoot for maybe 1 book a month, depending on length of book.
5)  Members nominate books for the next month in the first 3 weeks of the preceding month.  Last week reserved for votes or consensus.
6)  To keep it simple please only nominate 1 book (per member) for each month that we pick a book.
7)  Let's not make this a chore.  If you fall behind, no biggie.  Try to nominate reasonable length books.  If people are interested in a long book we can stretch it to 2 months.  Let's be flexible.


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Schedule:
Nominate next books:  1st-15th of month
Discuss current book / vote for next book:  16th-22nd of month
Discuss current book / Procure next book:  23rd-30th of month


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Rules for voting:
1)  Each person lists the books in their order of reading preference for that month.
2)  The first book on a person's vote list receives a weight equal to the number of books on the list.  the last book on the list receives a weight of 1.

For example, UFO voting on a list of 4 books in a particular month might look like:

#1 choice: Aliens vs. Turtles - 4 pts
#2 choice: Aliens vs. Smurfs - 3 pts
#3 choice: Aliens vs. Post Hos - 2 pts
#4 choice: How to Farkle your Spaceship - 1 pt

3)  The point totals are added up across all voting individuals to determine the next book.


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If you'd like to be added to the group just post in the thread or PM me.

Thanks.

PS.  In before obligatory NERRRRRRRRRRRRRRDS! post.    

[sodapop6620]

Nominations

25   The Light of Other Days
23   Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse)
19   The Half-Made World
18   The Fountains of Paradise
14   Neuromancer
6   Bad Science

[sodapop6620]

Sorry I fell asleep at the wheel or was busy watching the GIANTS kick some buttocks

[sodapop6620]

Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks, and Big Pharma Flacks by Ben Goldacre  (This is a science book)

http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Science-Quacks-Pharma-Flacks/dp/0865479186/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326751162&sr=8-1

Neuromancer by William Gibson

http://www.amazon.com/Neuromancer-William-Gibson/dp/0441012035/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326751665&sr=1-1

[squeezer]

I wanna go to space. Really, who ever heard of a sci-fi reading group that doesn't do space? We haven't gone all season.

With that in mind, I nominate:

Leviathan Wakes.

http://www.amazon.com/Leviathan-Wakes-Expanse-James-Corey/dp/0316129089/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326752029&sr=1-1

The bona fides:
Made Amazon's list of top 10 sci-fi books of 2011, one of a scant few space based books to make it. It's a stand alone book though the author is planning a sequel and, it appears, more books in the same universe.

It's a mash-up where as one reviewer puts it, "Old school space opera meets futuristic detective story". Or as another reviewer puts it, "Jean-Luc Picard meets Sam Spade."

Humanity has colonized the solar system - Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond - but the stars are still out of our reach.

Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, The Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for - and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to The Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations - and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.

And for the kindle crowd, it's $2.99.  

[Rincewind]

Sorry I fell asleep at the wheel or was busy watching the GIANTS kick some buttocks

No problem and thanks for "sponsoring" the threads.  Is the timeline for nominations going to be truncated to make the voting end by the 22nd?  I will try to find a suitable selection, though I do like Squeezers one already.

[CLAY]

I'd like to nominate "The Half-Made World" by Felix Gilman:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Half-Made-World-ebook/dp/B003P8QSAA/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2

[Rincewind]

I'd like to nominate "The Half-Made World" by Felix Gilman:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Half-Made-World-ebook/dp/B003P8QSAA/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2

I was just eying that one up last night.  

[Rincewind]

My nomination: The Light of Other Days, by Arhur C Clarke and Stephen Baxter.

Paperback link - http://www.amazon.com/Light-Other-Days-Arthur-Clarke/dp/0812576403
Kindle link - http://www.amazon.com/Light-Other-Days-ebook/dp/B003CTEFLG/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1326831815&sr=1-1

[sodapop6620]

Is the timeline for nominations going to be truncated to make the voting end by the 22nd?

I will go with MOB rule.  So, let me know what you think.

[Rincewind]

I will go with MOB rule.  So, let me know what you think.

My suggestion is to cut off nominations after today or tomorrow, then have voting ending on Sunday, the 22nd, per the schedule.  

Or sooner.  I'm ok with sooner - I need a new book to read.  

[CLAY]

My suggestion is to cut off nominations after today or tomorrow, then have voting ending on Sunday, the 22nd, per the schedule.  

Or sooner.  I'm ok with sooner - I need a new book to read.  

Same boat here.  I finished one last night, and am eager to start another.    I was going to begin something new, then I figured the next book club book will be up soon.

[sodapop6620]

Jan 20th 8am Eastern time (like there is any other time that matters; except for Miller time) the nominations will be closed and voting can start.

Thank you for your participation.

[sodapop6620]

Last SF book I liked was The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke. A little dated but several themes are still relevant.

Are you nominating this book?

[Rincewind]

Yes. I think it's a good, short read, and space elevators are in and out of the science news lately. It's good hard science fiction, a little light  on characterization, like many A. C. C. novels. I think any engineers out there would like it.

Don't know about availability or if it's still in print though.

Available even for Kindle.  
http://www.amazon.com/Fountains-Paradise-Arthur-C-Clarke/dp/0446677949

[sodapop6620]

Updated.  Voting begins in the morning.  I think it should go to the 24th, that should still leave enough time to get the book by the end of the month.

[sodapop6620]

It is time to cast your vote.  Voting will close the morning of the 25th.

[Rincewind]

6pts - The Light of Other Days

5pts - The Fountains of Paradise

4pts - Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse)

3pts - The Half-Made World
 
2pts - Neuromancer

1pt - Bad Science

[CLAY]

There are some great choices this month- some of these need to be re-nominated, IMO.  Nice work.  

6pts - The Half-Made World

5pts -  Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse)

4pts - The Light of Other Days

3pts -  Neuromancer
 
2pts - The Fountains of Paradise

1pt - Bad Science

[squeezer]

There are some great choices this month- some of these need to be re-nominated, IMO.  Nice work.  

I totally agree.    My votes:

6 - Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse)

5 - The Half-Made World
 
4 - The Light of Other Days

3 - The Fountains of Paradise

2 - Neuromancer

1 - Bad Science

[sodapop6620]

5  The Light of Other Days
1  The Half-Made World
6  Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse)
3  The Fountains of Paradise
4  Neuromancer
2  Bad Science

[CLAY]

I'll join. First time reader.

In that case you might want to start with  this:


 

On a serious note- welcome!  

[Rincewind]

It is time to cast your vote.  Voting will close the morning of the 25th.

Voting closed.  Looks like we have a winner.  

[sodapop6620]

Good thing you are paying attention. I will change the title when I get home.

[sodapop6620]

Updated.

[Rincewind]

I downloaded this one on iBooks and I'm liking it so far.  

The new iBooks is also a refreshing format after reading many books through the Kindle app.

[Rincewind]

Anyone else reading this month's selection?  

I'm at about 40% through it and I'm finding it pretty darn fascinating.  

[Dan K]

I read it.  Interesting book.  A bit scattered, tried to cover a few too many things at once at the expense of following up with the characters, but pretty good.  I was hoping to get back to the russian rocket scientist in the first chapter, but he had no part in the book whatsoever...liked it - just a little disjointed.  Cool concepts throughout.

Do we avoid spoilers?

First time I read a book recommended by you lot.

- Dan

[squeezer]

Do we avoid spoilers?

For the first half of the month, we avoid them. For the last half of the month, free discussion -- spoilers okay.  You're good.

[coho]

Anyone else reading this month's selection?  

I'm at about 40% through it and I'm finding it pretty darn fascinating.  

I've been a little willy-nilly of late, so I'm only about a quarter of the way in. I'm liking it so far, though I've also been working on two other books so my progress has been slow.

[Dan K]

I can't do multiple books at a time...either I like it and will read it or I give it up.

This one started strong, got too big for itself, lost some of the character development at the expense of the concepts of "the joined" and evolution and space and creation of life and you get the idea.  Just tried to tackle too much.  Had a lot to work with, and I enjoyed it, but it wasn't really well put together.  Maybe released before it was totally finished?

Needed some editing.

- Dan

[Rincewind]

I'm on Chapter 24.  I plan to finish the book this weekend then share my thoughts.

I can see what Dan says about there being almost too many ideas in the book, for instance making it all on the backdrop of apocalyptic fears.  But maybe these ideas will tie together in the end.  The advancement of the worm cam tech is happening at a pretty unbelievable rate.

[Rincewind]

I finished the book.  I liked it.  It seemed typical for Aurthur C Clarke in that it was stuffed with quite a lot of novel future type ideas and had some soap like stories.  I could also feel the Stephen Baxter contribution in that it had the far- spanning, mind expanding notions of time and space, like he showed in his Manifold series.

I found this critical write-up online -
http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/otherdays.htm - which indicates that this book is a contemporary remakes of a previous novel from the 1960s.  In that version the instrument for past viewing was "slow glass" instead of wormhole cameras.

To me one of the main themes was transcending.  Humans having to transcend their sense of privacy initially.  As well people were forced to transcend some of their historical myths.

But also life was shown as transcending itself.  This was most clear in the backward story line as David looked very deep into the primordial past seeing the rhythms of growth and destruction.  It was interesting that despite following what seemed a fairly scientific meta history, Clarke and Baxter thought it fit to include a previous intelligent earth creatures who safeguarded the evolution of life in the face of a previous apocalypse.

It was also about transcending individuality as the wormhole technology became integrated into life's evolution.  I was happy to see Telihard de Chardin brought up with his idea of the noosphere.  It was a techo-evolution of mind and life, and one in which the authors saw a miraculous future afterlife for all humans through the miracle of science instead of metaphysics.


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