Author Topic: For Sci-fi readers. . .  (Read 6218 times)

Offline beacher

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For Sci-fi readers. . .
« on: December 16, 2006, 05:03:56 PM »
Just finished a book called, "Altered Carbon", by Richard K. Morgan, that you guys might like. Story line is pretty good, the writing is wonderful (if you don't mind a little rough language), and it will be interesting to see how this guy developes, as it is his first book.  I heard Art Bell (Coast-to-Coast AM) mention it one night, and decided to give it a try.

Offline jcarter

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« Reply #1 on: December 16, 2006, 05:56:53 PM »
That sounds interesting!
I shall run it by my husband, he might like it, I sent the Amazon page link to him just now.

 The one he is reading right now, he says is just fascinating.
Its by Richard Dawkins, "The Ancestors Tale"
If you like scientific stuff, he says this one is superb, but you have to pay attention, its not a 'light' read.  
Jane

Offline kelly

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« Reply #2 on: December 16, 2006, 06:33:19 PM »
I read all his stuff Beach. smile.gif

It's in a long Book Thread back some time.

Liked them all but Market Forces.

It's all hardcore Science fiction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Morgan
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Offline jcarter

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« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2006, 07:10:29 PM »
Oh, dear, its really a bit far fetched. I dont think my husband would want to read it.
I should have looked a bit more carefully at the Amazon reviews.
Morgan cant touch this,
http://www.siracd.com/

Dawkins and/or sir Richard Burton, rather than 'Morgan' is more what I was thinking about.
On indeed, I got the Richards mixed up, thought you were talking about Dawkins.
Thats what I get when I run from the kitchen with stuff cooking and trying to read my email simultaneously.
Jane

Offline beacher

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« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2006, 09:50:45 PM »
Oh man, Kelly; you just added a whole lot of stuff for me to read!  Had no idea that he had added so much to his scorecard.  I had actually thought about using a "Hey Kelley!" subject title, because I knew you liked SF, but I figured you'd check it out. . .
Thanks again!

MamaMoose

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« Reply #5 on: December 16, 2006, 10:11:18 PM »
I am stricly a hard core SF fan - no fantasy. I was complaining about this to my son-in-law and he recommended a book by Jack Mcdeavitt called Chindi. He has a new one out, Odyssey which I have but have not read yet.

While hard core SF titles seem to be very small in number compared with the fantasy titles, I have hopes that there will always be authors that will write hard core.

MamaMoose

Offline tacit

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« Reply #6 on: December 19, 2006, 04:01:32 PM »
QUOTE(jcarter @ Dec 17 2006, 01:10 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Oh, dear, its really a bit far fetched.


Less far-fetched than you think. It looks like straight-up transhumanist fiction; all the ideas talked about in this book, including the idea of immortality via making backups of a person's brain, are already in development right now. (Of course, they're still very primitive, as crude or cruder than Alan Turing's original mechanical computers...but once something is shown to be possible, human beings tend to refine it very quickly.)
A whole lot about me: www.xeromag.com/franklin.html

Offline jcarter

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« Reply #7 on: December 19, 2006, 04:44:39 PM »
I dug into the info a bit deeper, and my husband has just read something about this in one of his scientific magazines, so I do indeed want to read it!
I gave such a quick look at the book that I didnt realize that it could be so fascinating, this is from Wiki,


"Transhumanism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
   Posthuman Future, an illustration by Michael Gibbs for The Chronicle of Higher Education's look at how biotechnology will change the human experience.[1]
Transhumanism (sometimes abbreviated >H or H+) is an international intellectual and cultural movement supporting the use of new sciences and technologies to enhance human cognitive and physical abilities and ameliorate what it regards as undesirable and unnecessary aspects of the human condition, such as disease, aging, and death. Transhumanist thinkers study the possibilities and consequences of developing and using human enhancement techniques and other emerging technologies for these purposes. Possible dangers, as well as benefits, of powerful new technologies that might radically change the conditions of human life are also of concern to the transhumanist movement.[2]
Although the first known use of the term "transhumanism" dates from 1957, the contemporary meaning is a product of the 1980s, when a group of scientists, artists, and futurists based in the United States began to organize what has since grown into the transhumanist movement. Transhumanist thinkers postulate that human beings will eventually be transformed into beings with such greatly expanded abilities as to merit the label "posthuman".[2]"


So I must look into purchasing some of these books.
He is reading Richard Dawkins' books now,, and they get borrowed so fast from us that I am on the 'waiting list' at the moment.  Our house is a library, I wouldnt want to tell anybody how much our family spends at bookstores,,,,,
(and sadly some dont get returned)
Thank you,
Jane

Offline tacit

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« Reply #8 on: December 20, 2006, 04:28:25 PM »
I actually have some information about transhumanism (including a list of nonfiction books on the subject) on my Web site. My sweetie Shelly is seeking a Ph.D. in biomedical nanotechnology because she's interested in transhumanist ideas--specifically, in radical life extension and anti-aging research. We're actually getting very close to a time when we will be able to halt the aging process; this kind of research is one of the hottest fields in cutting-edge medical research right now.
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Offline jcarter

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« Reply #9 on: December 20, 2006, 09:27:48 PM »
Wouldn't it be nice!  But if we all lived forever, but what would our kids and grandkids do?

 Evolution would get 'stuck'!

Who would want ME, Grandma, to live forever? Good heavens, no.
All my old phart neighbours to live forever,,,,,, Nahhh, I think humans just might want to keep on reproducing.

I would love to have the tendency for humans to be non-violent, but with more of them on this earth, vying for food and space, and fighting over religious differences, I dont think that is possible either.

I agree that we are making great medical advances, pacemakers, heart meds, anti cancer meds, and many more cures, we can prolong life to a certain extent, but beyond 90 years?

Hey where is AARP? Why arent they lobbying for this!

I do LOVE to think about things like this, but my husband brings me right back to Earth.  But it is really FUN!  I really enjoy reading and learning about things like this, and thank you for giving the links to your interesting sites and books.
Jane

Offline tacit

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« Reply #10 on: December 21, 2006, 07:03:27 PM »
QUOTE(jcarter @ Dec 21 2006, 03:27 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Wouldn't it be nice!  But if we all lived forever, but what would our kids and grandkids do?

 Evolution would get 'stuck'!

Who would want ME, Grandma, to live forever? Good heavens, no.
All my old phart neighbours to live forever,,,,,, Nahhh, I think humans just might want to keep on reproducing.

I would love to have the tendency for humans to be non-violent, but with more of them on this earth, vying for food and space, and fighting over religious differences, I dont think that is possible either.

I agree that we are making great medical advances, pacemakers, heart meds, anti cancer meds, and many more cures, we can prolong life to a certain extent, but beyond 90 years?

Hey where is AARP? Why arent they lobbying for this!

I do LOVE to think about things like this, but my husband brings me right back to Earth.  But it is really FUN!  I really enjoy reading and learning about things like this, and thank you for giving the links to your interesting sites and books.
Jane


An end to aging would not mean that people live forever. Accident, disease, and the like would still kill people, and would tend to impose an upper limit on the number of years a person could reasonably be expected to live.

One of the first objections many people come up with against anti-aging research is the idea that the earth's population would quickly fill to overflowing if nobody dies of old age. However, the fact is that industrialized countries are marked by a decline in birthrate; as a country becomes more wealthy and its citizens become more empowered, and as medical care becomes more sophisticated, birthrate goes down. The United States currently has negative population growth through reproduction; the only reason the country's population is growing is immigration.

Who would want you to live longer? Well, presumably, you would, as would those people who love you, right? Old age and death is something we've grown to accept because we have until now had no hope of any other choice, but if you look at its cost, in terms of money, in terms of knowledge lost, in terms of suffering and grief and tears spilled on behalf of those who have seen the people they love become feeble and wither and die, aging and death are a travesty.

I wrote a journal entry which I think you might like to read, that seeks to offer some perspective on why accepting enfeeblement and death as a fact of life is not beneficial. It actually goes into my relationship with my sweetie Shelly, and what she is seeking to accomplish with her life. If you like, you can read it here.
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Offline gunug

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« Reply #11 on: December 21, 2006, 07:34:03 PM »
I've been reading "Warlord" and "Conqueror" David Drake & S.M. Stirling (military scifi); free for the download at:

http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/03-Slam...rlord/index.htm

http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/03-Slam...ueror/index.htm

I download the Microsoft Reader format for my iPAQ but they have RTF and HTML as well there.  They've listed a great number of free books from the same source at "Online Books Page":

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/new.html
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