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Author Topic: Favourite sci-fi book  (Read 9607 times)
Death 999
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Re: Favourite sci-fi book
« Reply #15 on: May 16, 2005, 08:34:09 pm »

Aliens, obviously.

(this is a conversational reply, not a proposal for the book from the movie, if there is one)
« Last Edit: May 16, 2005, 08:34:37 pm by Death_999 » Logged
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Re: Favourite sci-fi book
« Reply #16 on: May 16, 2005, 11:21:40 pm »

" I didn't like Farenheit 451 that much, but 1984 and Brave new world left an impression on me. "FORD, why doesn't anyone like we?
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Re: Favourite sci-fi book
« Reply #17 on: May 17, 2005, 03:01:17 am »

I liked We. But it's not as well read as the others, for whatever reason.

Of the endings of the lot, from a storytelling perspective, I thought We had the best. It was crushing, but it didn't rub it in so much as 1984 and it wasn't a false-sounding happy end like Fahrenheit 451; and Brave New World's end was so avoidable it was almost like Eugene Onegin.
« Last Edit: May 17, 2005, 03:04:39 am by Death_999 » Logged
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Re: Favourite sci-fi book
« Reply #18 on: May 17, 2005, 05:22:45 am »

I didn''t know of 'We'. The library here has a meagre selection of books (I live on the countryside). I tried to find something by Hal Clement or Stanley Weisbaum to no avail. They do have most mainstream books though, like Clarke, Asimov, but I've pretty much already loaned everything by those. 98% of all books I have read are sci-fi.

I enjoy hard science fiction, because of the information embedded. Soft SF can be nice too as long as it doesn't get too whimsical, or if the writer managed to encourage suspension of disbelief in a good way.
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Re: Favourite sci-fi book
« Reply #19 on: May 17, 2005, 08:10:17 am »

"I live on the countryside"

Ha, I thought I was the only one here.  Smiley
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Re: Favourite sci-fi book
« Reply #20 on: May 17, 2005, 01:33:08 pm »

Arne:
I'd strongly recommend Alastair Reynolds' novels, like 'Chasm city', 'Revelation space' amongst others. If your library doesn't have them, I bet you could find 'em in any reasonable book store for relatively cheap in paperback.
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Re: Favourite sci-fi book
« Reply #21 on: May 17, 2005, 08:20:47 pm »

If you want to find We, it's by Yevgeny Zamyatin (his first name may have been transformed to the English version, "Eugene").
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Re: Favourite sci-fi book
« Reply #22 on: May 17, 2005, 11:10:48 pm »

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If you want to find We, it's by Yevgeny Zamyatin (his first name may have been transformed to the English version, "Eugene").

it has.the ending caught me off guard(I didn't think it would be happy I just didn't see it coming)
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Re: Favourite sci-fi book
« Reply #23 on: May 18, 2005, 06:43:33 pm »

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2001 and 2010 have been made into movies, while 3001 is coming out in the future. Is 2061 more boring than the rest or something? Why did it get left out.

Wow, I didn't know a movie was being made of 3001. Although it's been a while since I read the series, I remember having the impression that 3001 was the poorest of the series. I have no idea why they're skipping 2061. Could be someone's pet peeve.


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Yeah, I think there might be something in indian legion too. The question is, which culture would have had all these crazy devices, the "Indo-Aryans" or whoever lived in India before their arrival? Even though I think these texts are in Sanskrit, I find it hard to believe that some georgian barbarians or whatever, possessed a civilization old enough and advanced enough to create such technology.

As for the biblical stuff, I thought that had more stories taken from egypt, than india (they are both places with a very mysterious history).

Hard to determine how many stories are taken from where. All I know is that nothing comes from nothing, and all new stories are likely based on older ones. The great flood of the Bible seems to be based on stories from Mesopotamia. Where those stories came from is anyone's guess.


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I didn''t know of 'We'.

I wasn't familiar with We either, guess I'll have to check it out.


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98% of all books I have read are sci-fi.

Sounds like you have a passion.
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Re: Favourite sci-fi book
« Reply #24 on: May 18, 2005, 08:15:15 pm »

"Wow, I didn't know a movie was being made of 3001."

Here is a site that gives a pretty clear picture of what's coming out, a long ways into the future:

http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/release.html


"The great flood of the Bible seems to be based on stories from Mesopotamia."

Yea, it's very boring, actually. Some guy and his family get swept out into the gulf in their small livestock float. It takes them a while to get back. The End.


"Where those stories came from is anyone's guess."

They came from the aliens, of course.
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Re: Favourite sci-fi book
« Reply #25 on: May 19, 2005, 04:33:40 am »

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"Wow, I didn't know a movie was being made of 3001."

Here is a site that gives a pretty clear picture of what's coming out, a long ways into the future:

http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/release.html

Um. This doesn't seem to be based on the Clarke book at all. Synopsis from IMDb:
"Private Joe Bowers, the definition of "average American", is selected by the Pentagon to be the guinea pig for a top-secret hibernation program, set 1,000 years in the future. He discovers a society so incredibly dumbed-down that he's easily the most intelligent person alive."

Also, it's written, directed and produced by Mike Judge, previously at the helm of movies like Office Space and Beavis and Butthead do America. Fun as that may be, I think it's safe to say that the movie will probably focus more on comedy than on the science fiction element.

EDIT: By using IMDb's nifty "If you like this title, we also recommend..." option, and it came up with this gem: "Seksmisja" (English title; Sexmission), Polish science-fiction comedy from 1983, plot as follows: "Two men volunteer for a cryogenics experiment, expecting to be revived in a couple of years. Instead, they are revived several years in the future, in a world with only women which is run by the League of Women's Lib. This movie has a lot of nudity." Sounds amazing.


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Yea, it's very boring, actually. Some guy and his family get swept out into the gulf in their small livestock float. It takes them a while to get back. The End.

With a plot outline like that, you could easily make any worthwhile story look boring.


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"Where those stories came from is anyone's guess."

They came from the aliens, of course.

Ah. Of course. Ouch, my vonDänikenrhoids are flaring up again.
« Last Edit: May 19, 2005, 04:37:13 am by VOiD » Logged

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Re: Favourite sci-fi book
« Reply #26 on: May 19, 2005, 04:34:00 am »

On the subject of Clarke movies, has anyone heard more about the Rendezvous with Rama movie?  I heard rumors a couple years back but it still isn't on IMDB.
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Re: Favourite sci-fi book
« Reply #27 on: May 19, 2005, 04:40:57 am »

How about checking out this page? The slides look promising.
http://www.rendezvouswithrama.com/

David Fincher is directing, apparently.


EDIT: Looks like Rama is in Development Hell at the moment.
http://www.cinescape.com/0/editorial.asp?obj_id=35147&aff_id=0&this_cat=Development+Heck


EDIT2: "There's also a nice homage that fans of the original Star Trek TV series would enjoy: the three probes used to map and explore Rama are named after a certain captain and his first officer and chief medical officer!" (From a Coming Attractions feature of February 2002, http://www.corona.bc.ca/films/directorscut/020218.html)
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Re: Favourite sci-fi book
« Reply #28 on: May 19, 2005, 05:22:03 pm »

Quote

Wow, I didn't know a movie was being made of 3001. Although it's been a while since I read the series, I remember having the impression that 3001 was the poorest of the series. I have no idea why they're skipping 2061. Could be someone's pet peeve.


Wasn't 3001 largely built on quoting the prevous books, with a bit of the main charcter walking around the peaceful Utopia of the future? It's the only SO book I ever bought, and it did feel a tad like wasted money afterwards.

I would dearly like to see that Polish film though, it sounds like quality entertainment.

Seing as this is a book thread, I've a question for those of you that have read the DUNE series. have any of you read the nwe "prequels" that have been released? The ones written by the originalauthors son? Ifso, how did you feel they compared to the original series? I've only leafed through one of them myself, and I thought it just didn't feel the same. Do they get "better" later on, or is it just mostly the same all the way through?
« Last Edit: May 19, 2005, 11:54:16 pm by Lukipela » Logged

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Re: Favourite sci-fi book
« Reply #29 on: May 19, 2005, 05:44:47 pm »

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Wasn't 3001 largely built on quoting the prevous books, with a bit of the main charcter walking around the peaceful Utopia of the future? It's the only SO book I ever bought, and it did feel a tad like wasted money afterwards.

Perhaps not as much quoting as retreading old ground.

I was thinking on how I was going to formulate my answer to this, when I came across a review of the book on Amazon that hit the mark for me: "Between the time I read 2061, and 3001, I was excited to see how Clarke would sum everything up. Unfortunatly Clarke did a poor job in 3001. The first half of the book was simply about the technology of 3001. The part of the book, that was advertised, was that the Monoliths would be explained. They were explained very quickly. There was very little suspence, like in the 2001, and 2010. It was a real let down."
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