Book Recommendations

[Half Moon]

That sounds dire.

Very. I'm assuming Butte Falls makes a good staging area and is positioned right for containment. Though I'm guessing and don't know. The town itself is a flyspeck and at those levels, there will be more firefighters than the town has residents. Quote from one of the firefighters, relayed via my wife: "the cavalry is coming".

The wife has family and friends all over the state. Her Facebook has been blown up with photos and stories. Multiple friends evacuated. At least one family lost their home. Wife was assembling a care package, last night, of clothes to send them.

I've lived in Oregon twice, totaling about 12 years, and there is a fire season. In Southern Oregon you'd see the crews and aircraft around almost every year. This year though is especially bad all down the west coast. 2020, go figure.

[Baldanders]

Blindsight by Peter Watts

https://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm

There are a few different ways to read/download it at the link.

Only free because the author got in a fight with his publisher and wanted folks to read it.

Take Rendezvous with Rama and add a thick overlay of cyberpunk posthumanism and the general tone of Stephen King , and you might end up with this novel.

God knows "Rama" didn't spout obscenities, though, but the self-named "Rorschach" does here...eventually...this novel builds dread in the reader bit by bit.

So chock full of ideas, it almost bursts. E.g. evidently, vampires were a human subspecies in the distant past, and they have been genetically recreated because of their hyper-intelligence. And one is the captain of the ship sent to deal with the extraterrestrials.

I loved it, but I would suggest some background on "p-Zombies" and/or "The Chinese Room" thought experiment might be helpful in understanding it, if you aren't up to speed on current arguments about consciousness. A decent knowledge of basic neurobiology would also help. And game theory, for one section.

Other than that, intellectually easy-peasy.😁 Not uplifting in the slightest, however.

I plan to send a few bucks to the author for his emergency kitty care fund. And I will pay for the sequel, Echopraxia.

[Half Moon]

Blindsight by Peter Watts

https://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm

There are a few different ways to read/download it at the link.

Only free because the author got in a fight with his publisher and wanted folks to read it.

Take Rendezvous with Rama and add a thick overlay of cyberpunk posthumanism and the general tone of Stephen King , and you might end up with this novel.

God knows "Rama" didn't spout obscenities, though, but the self-named "Rorschach" does here...eventually...this novel builds dread in the reader bit by bit.

So chock full of ideas, it almost bursts. E.g. evidently, vampires were a human subspecies in the distant past, and they have been genetically recreated because of their hyper-intelligence. And one is the captain of the ship sent to deal with the extraterrestrials.

I loved it, but I would suggest some background on "p-Zombies" and/or "The Chinese Room" thought experiment might be helpful in understanding it, if you aren't up to speed on current arguments about consciousness. A decent knowledge of basic neurobiology would also help. And game theory, for one section.

Other than that, intellectually easy-peasy.😁 Not uplifting in the slightest, however.

I plan to send a few bucks to the author for his emergency kitty care fund. And I will pay for the sequel, Echopraxia.

I'll have to check it out. I've got mixed feelings on Watts overall though. Not uplifting understates the unremittingly depressing nature of much of his work. I really like his retelling of The Thing though:

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/

[feudist]

Blindsight by Peter Watts

https://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm

There are a few different ways to read/download it at the link.

Only free because the author got in a fight with his publisher and wanted folks to read it.

Take Rendezvous with Rama and add a thick overlay of cyberpunk posthumanism and the general tone of Stephen King , and you might end up with this novel.

God knows "Rama" didn't spout obscenities, though, but the self-named "Rorschach" does here...eventually...this novel builds dread in the reader bit by bit.

So chock full of ideas, it almost bursts. E.g. evidently, vampires were a human subspecies in the distant past, and they have been genetically recreated because of their hyper-intelligence. And one is the captain of the ship sent to deal with the extraterrestrials.

I loved it, but I would suggest some background on "p-Zombies" and/or "The Chinese Room" thought experiment might be helpful in understanding it, if you aren't up to speed on current arguments about consciousness. A decent knowledge of basic neurobiology would also help. And game theory, for one section.

Other than that, intellectually easy-peasy.😁 Not uplifting in the slightest, however.

I plan to send a few bucks to the author for his emergency kitty care fund. And I will pay for the sequel, Echopraxia.

I loved Blindsight.

The Neolithic vampires were fascinating and deeply frightening.

"Dread" is exactly the word. The utter isolation of the crew, the slow reveal of the opaque aliens and the rather horrifying psychological effects of hard radiation exposure

was one of the creepier reads ever.

Watts is no feel good author by any stretch.

[Baldanders]

I loved Blindsight.

The Neolithic vampires were fascinating and deeply frightening.

"Dread" is exactly the word. The utter isolation of the crew, the slow reveal of the opaque aliens and the rather horrifying psychological effects of hard radiation exposure

was one of the creepier reads ever.

Watts is no feel good author by any stretch.

Looks like I will be getting a bulk dose of depressing:

https://www.rifters.com/real/shorts.htm

I feel dumb for not linking the page that has his first series of novels as well as Blindsight. Also about two dozen short stories.

"Bulk Food" is some grim black comedy. "What if we could talk to the killer whales?" The answer: we'd cut deals...

"The Colonel" features the father of the protagonist of Blindsight. He's tasked with fighting illegal hive minds. Nice take on imagining the mentality of fighting an enemy that is certainly smarter than normal humanity.

[Baldanders]

I'll have to check it out. I've got mixed feelings on Watts overall though. Not uplifting understates the unremittingly depressing nature of much of his work. I really like his retelling of The Thing though:

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/

I looked at the first bit of that before bed last night. Looks good! Watts does a great job of portraying an alien viewpoint.

I'm one of those folks who often sees not a half empty or half full glass, but one where the absence of water calls to mind the utter lack of meaning and ultimate futility of the universe, so I'm pretty down with Watts's tone. 🙀

[feudist]

I looked at the first bit of that before bed last night. Looks good! Watts does a great job of portraying an alien viewpoint.

I'm one of those folks who often sees not a half empty or half full glass, but one where the absence of water calls to mind the utter lack of meaning and ultimate futility of the universe, so I'm pretty down with Watts's tone. 🙀

Have you read the Starfish series?

[Bio]

Since we're talking sci-fi, is anyone familiar with Alestair Reynolds stuff?

[Bigguy]

Multiple Attackers
5/5

I saw this recommended eithere here, or on the TCL forum. Glad I checked it out. Especially relevant in today. It's recent enough to mention Portland and Seattle.

-———————————————————————————————————————

This book has been an eye opener. I started my career as a Corrections Officer with almost no legitimate training. I then became a Security Officer after a 3 day course. Reading this book I look back all the mistakes I made and warning signs I missed. I’m lucky to not be injured or dead. I wish I’d had this book early in my career.
It’s one I will keep and re-read to allow the lessons to sink in. It is available in e-book only, because of the extensive video links. But those links are invaluable as they illustrate the principals MacYoung is explaining with real world examples.
This book has likely saved lives. I give it my highest recommendation.

[LittleLebowski]

Blindsight by Peter Watts

https://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm

There are a few different ways to read/download it at the link.

Only free because the author got in a fight with his publisher and wanted folks to read it.

Take Rendezvous with Rama and add a thick overlay of cyberpunk posthumanism and the general tone of Stephen King , and you might end up with this novel.

God knows "Rama" didn't spout obscenities, though, but the self-named "Rorschach" does here...eventually...this novel builds dread in the reader bit by bit.

So chock full of ideas, it almost bursts. E.g. evidently, vampires were a human subspecies in the distant past, and they have been genetically recreated because of their hyper-intelligence. And one is the captain of the ship sent to deal with the extraterrestrials.

I loved it, but I would suggest some background on "p-Zombies" and/or "The Chinese Room" thought experiment might be helpful in understanding it, if you aren't up to speed on current arguments about consciousness. A decent knowledge of basic neurobiology would also help. And game theory, for one section.

Other than that, intellectually easy-peasy.😁 Not uplifting in the slightest, however.

I plan to send a few bucks to the author for his emergency kitty care fund. And I will pay for the sequel, Echopraxia.

I bought it on Kindle (it's $2.50 now) a long time ago, solid read, very good sci-fi.