I’ve been a casual but interested reader of this phenomenon for sixty years. There has been good and bad coverage. But for the past twenty-five years or so, there has been strong factual evidence put forth by very credible people. The usual sources try to discredit and deny the evidence, as they’ve been doing since the 1940s (i.e. the DoD and the IC). But the evidence is strong and verifiable. If you’re skeptical, then please read this book. The times, they are a-changin'
In reply to Gary :
I will remain skeptical.
If actual extraterrestrials ever do visit Earth, either everybody will know it, or nobody will know it.
Even after reading the book?
"We Who Wrestle with God" by Peterson. Tough chewing....
yay I got a page count for last year. 43 titles, 50 total books, I have a preference for multipart books being in one big volume when it's available.
In reply to RevRico :
They will give you a year end wrap up? I don't think I've ever got that email
In reply to Antihero :
I never got one before. I usually just delete Amazon emails on my lock screen but saw something about my Kindle unlimited in the subject so I checked it out.
Maybe it's just an unlimited feature?
Gary said:Even after reading the book?
Probably.
Maybe I'll give it a shot and see.
This was a gift. Nice quick read, written by one of the founders of Janus Motorcycles in Goshen Indiana.
Finished earlier:
Idoru by William Gibson, #2 in the Bridge trilogy.
Generally as good as other Gibson of this era. Some interesting premises and extrapolations as always, and fun characterization. However, the main generator of conflict is completely unrelated to the primary plot of the story; it's just kind of there. It causes strife but could have been anything, and is as noted completely irrelevant to the main thrust of the story But as so often happens with Gibson stories, the resolution kind of comes from a Deus ex machina intervention near the end rather than the action of the main character(s).
Finished recently:
Persepolis Rising by J S A Corey, #7 in the Expanse series.
The writing of these books is very consistent and solidly good. That being said, I really hated the story arc and antagonist of the last 2 books. I hate Marco Inaros and his whole 700-page temper tantrum where he throws all of his toys out of the pram and berks everything up basically because he's an a-hole. I'm very glad that the story has moved on since that era. This one is a much more straightforward faux-benevolent-dictator story and oddly enough is not as far fetched as the previous book or two. I don't like what's happening to the main Roci crew, but by the same token I knew something similar was inevitable at some point, so it is understandable the story is going this way.
Currently reading:
The Griffin and Sabine series by Nick Bantock.
This is an innovative and enigmatic series of novels (?). The first trilogy was published in the early-mid '90s; a second trilogy was published in the early Oughties, and there is a 7th book dating from 2016 or so. They weren't cheap and we were broke so I didn't but or read them when they originally came out; DW thoughtfully got me the first 2 trilogies as an anniversary present last year.
Each book is 40 pages or so, and the story is told as a series of postcards and illustrated letters between Griffin and Sabine. The letters are actual letters, that you pull out of an envelope in the book; the postcards are just presented as front and back. Each one is richly and somewhat ambiguously illustrated with mixed media art involving pen and ink, etching, watercolor, collage, and other techniques. The story is quite mysterious - don't read these if you like tidy resolution. I am currently on book five.
I made the mistake of not jumping into "Outlive" by Peter Attia sooner. Now that I want to read it completely it's due at the library and I have to return it.
Recently finished: Cities In Flight by James Blish.
Blish is an old school sf writer, active from the late '40s through his (early) death in 1975. He wrote one of my favorite sf books, Startide Rising [edit: no, no he didn't, you idiot], so I have read some of his other stuff. Most of it hasn't impressed me much, but I keep hoping.
Cities In Flight is actually a compilation of 4 related novellas (most are 120-150 pages; the longest over 200) that deal with man's history between about 2000 CE - 4000 CE. They were written between about 1955 and the late '60s. The science is almost entirely handwaving, but that doesn't usually bother me - tell me something works and I'll buy it, as long as it's consistent and in support of a good story. In this case, there are 2 items: anti-aging drugs that make humans effectively immune to natural aging and death, and "spindizzies" which are gravitational field generators that make it possible to take, say, New York or Scranton, and fly it like a spaceship at far past the speed of light. Those concepts are not the real problem.
The problem is the format. The overall story is thousands of years long and galactic (or larger) in scope. Since these were novellas, that means they are compressed almost to the point of incomprehensibility and there are a number of either deus ex machina resolutions or simple anticlimaxes. For instance, literally between one paragraph and the next, the entire galactic economy crashes with zero foreshadowing. A religious tyranny that is conquering parts of the galaxy by force leaves a particular planet alone more or less because the main character tells it to, and is almost never heard of again. Scientists on a remote planet just happen to have a secret electronic computer-virus-analog weapon that they use to destroy invincible alien attackers that we hear of but never actually learn anything about. They are simply put out of the picture at a convenient time.
Also, I am neither a scientist, a mathematician, nor a historical philosopher. There is a ton of obscure concept- and name-dropping in all those subjects that is supposed to add weight to the concepts. My problem is I don't recognize any of it so I can't even tell which are real and which are "future history", let alone how they are supposed to inform the story.
So, overall, it was a bit of a frustrating slog that was ultimately unfulfilling. At this point, I'm starting to thing Startide Rising was a fluke [edit: there's a reason for that].
Oh, and, the cover design of this edition was not only terrible graphically, the image was horribly ugly and completely irrelevant to the story.
"Every day without fail, Travis Devine puts on a cheap suit, grabs his faux-leather briefcase, and boards the 6:20 commuter train to Manhattan, where he works as an entry-level analyst at the city’s most prestigious investment firm. In the mornings, he gazes out the train window at the lavish homes of the uberwealthy, dreaming about joining their ranks. In the evenings, he listens to the fiscal news on his phone, already preparing for the next grueling day in the cutthroat realm of finance.
Then one morning Devine’s tedious routine is shattered by an anonymous email: She is dead.
Sara Ewes, Devine’s coworker and former girlfriend, has been found hanging in a storage room of his office building—presumably a suicide, prompting the NYPD to come calling on him. If that wasn’t enough, Devine receives another ominous visit, a confrontation that threatens to dredge up grim secrets from his past in the Army unless he participates in a clandestine investigation into his firm."
In reply to Duke :
Startide Rising was by David Brin, not James Blish.
Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky (known for the murderbot books). I don't know if everyone would like this, but I really did. It's the story of a fairly advanced robot in a post-apocalyptic setting, his adventures and relationship with a woman posing as a robot. It's funny and thought-provoking in the areas of sentience, self-determination and the like.
Karacticus said:In reply to Duke :
Startide Rising was by David Brin, not James Blish.
Well, THAT WOULD EXPLAIN IT.
There was, however, a David Brin novel about exploring the sun that I was not impressed by and probably also didn't have straight in my head.
You're absolutely correct, of course.
This is how I finished up 2024 (update from my previous posts, 42 books in total):
2025 so far:
Currently listening to Razor Girl (Bad Monkey sequel)
Couple comments on the above:
Entanglement - Entropy - Evolution is like TEMU Expanse. Similar setting, but pretty weak. Amusing enough that I didn't give up, but the series has 6 books and I decided to throw in the towel half way through. And they are short.
The Egg (Andy Weir short stories) has a couple great speculative fiction stories in it*. Highly recommend. A lot (all?) are published free online in various places.
*I would say almost on board with Ted Chiang, who wrote some of the greatest short fiction/science fiction I've ever read.
More recently finished: Here by Richard McGuire
This graphic novel opens with a simple illustration showing a modest but comfortable living room - window to the left, fireplace to the right.
That point of view never changes over the next 300 pages. Instead, panels pop in and out; they overlap and weave together snippets of all the events that have occurred in that location over decades, hundreds, thousands, and even billions of years. A tapestry of vignettes and recurring situations or characters gives a beautiful overview of history, seemingly through a macro lens.
It only takes an hour or two to read and absorb. I highly recommend it.
In reply to TravisTheHuman :
Last year I picked up a book at the library, but I couldn't remember Ted Chiang"s name other than he was Asian-American. Unfortunately, I can't remember either that author (also Asian-American) or the title of that book. Looking at Chiang's roster on Goodreads, I don't think I had the right person. Guess I'll have to try again.
Just finished Across the Airless Wilds by Earl Swift. It outlines the development of the lunar rover from conception through the success of the later Apollo missions. Really cool read, including highlighting concepts that didn't make the cut.
Duke said:In reply to TravisTheHuman :
Last year I picked up a book at the library, but I couldn't remember Ted Chiang"s name other than he was Asian-American. Unfortunately, I can't remember either that author (also Asian-American) or the title of that book. Looking at Chiang's roster on Goodreads, I don't think I had the right person. Guess I'll have to try again.
Do it.
He only has 2 books. Exhalation and Stories Of Your Life And Others.
I'll warn you that unfortunately the longest short story in each book is the dud of the bunch (IMO). You can find most online if you just search "[story name] + full text" from their various submissions to sci-fi journals, etc.
Some of my favorites are:
Tower Of Babylon
Hell Is The Absence Of God
Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom
The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate
Exhalation
You'll need to log in to post.
