09-20-2021, 08:17 PM | #16 |
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09-21-2021, 01:17 PM | #17 | |
Wizard
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I would not advise you to read Clarke's entire opus. Much of his stuff is not that great. He was at his best as a short story writer. IMO he wrote only 3 truly great books. But what books! Rama is a great book (though JS Wolf Will be along to differ), but the sequels are almost unanimously derided as dross. I tried rereading the second book. The writing is an embarrassment. Perhaps the others are better. |
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09-21-2021, 02:25 PM | #18 |
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^
An influence upon the field, yes; and, unfortunately, an infamous one in dealing with issues relating to alleged claims of sexual harassment. https://lithub.com/what-to-make-of-i...dirty-old-man/ I loved his robot stories and the first three Foundation books, although Heinlein is the Sci-Fi writer I favored during my beginning years after having 'graduated' from the Sword & Sorcery niche of Fantasy fiction. Last edited by Dr. Drib; 09-21-2021 at 02:34 PM. |
09-21-2021, 02:59 PM | #19 |
the rook, bossing Never.
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The original (and best) Robot stories are actually mostly detective stories where the 3 laws and the "robots" are kind of maguffins to setup the mystery or paradox to be solved. He went on to write good detective / mystery short stories (Black Widow series?) and I think had little intention of doing more SF. The Publisher badgered him.
"Asimov was interested in history. Starting in the 1960s, he wrote 14 popular history books." I think he wrote little SF between about 1958 and 1981. 1982 Foundation' Edge was the result of Publisher pressure. |
09-26-2021, 09:57 PM | #20 | ||
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I'm guessing 2001 and Childhood's End? I'm interested in Imperial Earth, The Fountains of Paradise and The Songs of Distant Earth. Quote:
Clarke and Stephen Baxter make a good pair though and I recommend their Light of Other Days if you haven't read it. |
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09-26-2021, 10:29 PM | #21 |
Wizard
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@ZodWallop
Agree. Cradle was not that great. Only 2 stars from me. Didn't like Childhood's End either, but absolutely loved the movie, which I watched one rainy day, and when it finished, watched it again. (also the source of my username) The Light of Other Days I have a large paperback edition which I read early 2008, and don't really remember. Its on the "read again" list though, so back then I thought it was good. A Time Odyssey co-written with Stephen Baxter was also very good. https://www.goodreads.com/series/49788-a-time-odyssey @Pajamaman No, I did not read A Beautiful Day. Just looking it up, I don't have any of those books it was reprinted in. An off-topic question, I notice I do not get pinged for replies in my thread or when quoted. Are pings enabled on this forum? Last edited by Karellen; 09-26-2021 at 10:32 PM. |
09-26-2021, 10:41 PM | #22 |
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I was not particularly hot on Rama. The City and the Stars, though, is in my all-time top ten list. Childhood's End was somewhere in between. I haven't read his other books, including 2001 (probably because I didn't like the movie, which I saw before I could get my hands on the book).
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09-26-2021, 10:42 PM | #23 |
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09-27-2021, 12:16 AM | #24 |
cacoethes scribendi
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FWIW one of my favourites from Clarke is The Trigger by Arthur C. Clarke and Michael Kube-McDowell. I'm still waiting for it to appear as an ebook. To my tastes it is one of the few successful collaborations that Clarke did. (I liked the start of The Light of Other Days, with Stephen Baxter, but the last quarter was all downhill - a very steep hill. As for Cradle, with Gentry Lee, it's one of the few books in my paper collection to get a 1/5 = "Waste of Space".)
Rendezvous with Rama appears to have been forgettable (as in: pretty sure I did read it many years ago but don't remember it). I do enjoy 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it got a downgrade out of my list of favourites the last time I re-read it. The faults stand out to me more than they once did. Curiously enough, I've never read The City and the Stars. I had really liked Against the Fall of Night and was wary of picking up the rewrite. But I do now own The City and the Stars in ebook, so will probably get to it. ... But back to the OP. Asimov was one of the favourite authors of my youth, and I still have a soft spot for his work. In general I liked his novels much more than say Clarke's (Clarke's stories often felt like not much more than a framework for a neat idea), and Asimov's non-fiction was excellent. It has not all aged that well, but I still enjoy going through the main opus (Robots/Empire/Foundation) every now and then. |
09-28-2021, 02:35 PM | #25 | |
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Going in to low expectations can be a real benefit sometimes |
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09-28-2021, 02:37 PM | #26 | |
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I would recommend reading the book. It has a much easier narrative to follow than the movie (though I do love the movie too). |
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09-28-2021, 02:40 PM | #27 | |
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The Trigger (Kobo) Maybe it's time to put on your travellin' shoes? |
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09-29-2021, 01:59 AM | #28 | |
cacoethes scribendi
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Thanks. |
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09-29-2021, 06:39 AM | #29 |
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09-29-2021, 06:39 AM | #30 |
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Foundation is now on Apple TV.
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