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djcb comments on February 2012 Media Thread - Less Wrong Discussion

5 Post author: RobertLumley 05 February 2012 02:23PM

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Comment author: djcb 05 February 2012 06:26:07PM *  1 point [-]

I'm reading some of the Nebula/Hugo award-winning SF novels of (mostly) the last few years; so in the last couple of months I read (lightly plot-spoiling, but not too bad):

  • Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl - a 'biopunk' novel, set in 23rd century Bangkok, in a world where a couple of mega-corps (mega-Monsanto's) have screwed the whole eco-system, and made the world dependent on their bio-engineered calories (where are very hard to come by). The story is interesting, switches between the perspectives of different sides, including the one of a come-alive Japanese love doll. While I liked that, the whole tech/bio background did seem very improbable. Still, liked the book
  • Scalzi's Old Man's War series. There are 4 books -- it starts with a bunch of old people that undergo some rejuvenation treatment, and end up in a whole lot of wars with alien races all over the reachable universe. The rest of the books discuss various aspects of the wars, the people involved, colonization, etc. Overall, I Iiked the stories, but I did not like the melodrama Scalzi put in at various places. And there were too many story lines (secondary, but still) that never got resolved. (e.g., the werewolfs). Tech-wise, of course everything is pretty advanced -- but then his weird limitations, very convenient for the plot...
  • Haldeman's Forever War (1974) is somewhat of a granddaddy to Old Man's War, following some guy's interstellar military career; it's inspired by the writer's Vietnam experiences. Overall, enjoyable (dated fairly well, although some of the 'future tech' is pretty common today...).
  • Just started with Connie Willis' Blackout); about a bunch of future historians time-traveling to various episodes in World War II. So far, the hints to the concepts behind time-travel seem a bit...questionable, but let's see what's still to come...
Comment author: Prismattic 06 February 2012 04:22:31AM *  0 points [-]

NB on The Windup Girl -- it's an excellent book, but if graphic depictions of sexual abuse aren't your cup of tea, you may want to pass on it.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 06 February 2012 04:03:18PM 0 points [-]

I read a story set in that world, and it makes me crazy that they're using muscle power rather than burning the food.

Comment author: clemux 01 March 2012 04:08:28PM 0 points [-]

It bothered me at first, but I think it's about greenhouse gas emission. For example, methane is another power source, with legal restrictions depending on the "cleanliness" of the gas when burnt. I don't remember whether biofuels are still used at the time of the story.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 01 March 2012 05:54:24PM 0 points [-]

That still doesn't make sense-- if the food stocks were created without mining carbon from oil or coal, then they're carbon-neutral.