A Very Hard Sci-Fi Book Haul

[@dipanjanbiswas6580]

Your comment about sci-fantasy made me remember Arthur C Clarke’s famous quote “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”

[@WordsinTime]

@@dipanjanbiswas6580 Great quote!

[@johnbailey2933]

LOL - I'm definitely a 'medium-hard' Sci-Fi guy !! So, Aurora Rising is a must add to my TBR list. I have read Egan's Diaspora and Permutation City, but can't warm up to his books, IMHO, I think he is too committed to making the technology work at the expense of a better story line. As always, enjoy your video.

[@WordsinTime]

@@johnbailey2933 I hope you enjoy Aurora Rising!

[@HakimALIGHT]

You should read All of an Instant by Richard Garfinkle. Great hard sci fi.

[@WordsinTime]

@@HakimALIGHT Thanks for the recommendation!

[@chromabotia]

I have to endorse "The Black Cloud" by Fred Hoyle. A great story by a working British Astronomer who was a good friend of Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize winning physics professor at CalTech. In fact, if you search KZbin you will find a 30 minute video of them on vacation in England. Sorry for the digression, "The Black Cloud" is a good read with many surprising twists and turns. Also recommended by Hoyle is the intriguing "October the First is Too Late".

[@WordsinTime]

Looking forward to it!

[@chrisprocter6107]

The Black Cloud is the only fiction book I've ever read with equations in it, it's even derived in a foot note! It's worth a read, sort of a more hard science version of John Wyndham, with some really good ideas, just let down a bit by a dry presentation but it was his first novel. I'm definitely on the look out for other stuff by him

[@WordsinTime]

@@chrisprocter6107 Sounds unique! Looking forward to trying it.

[@timbeaton5045]

Did read this pretty much when it came out, but had forgotten the plot...(people say i do that all the time!)... remember reading A for Andromeda (and its sequel) which was one of the first "Alien signals detected...turns out to be a message on how to make ""THINGS" story. Shares plot-line links with This Island Earth, IIRC!

[@milkibearmilkibear]

Hey! If you like Greg Egan you should also read Schild's LADDER, It's amazing!

[@WordsinTime]

@@milkibearmilkibear Can’t wait!

[@wburris2007]

I enjoyed all the books in this video. It was more than 50 years ago when I read The Black Cloud, so I don't remember it too well.

[@WordsinTime]

@@wburris2007 That’s cool! I’m looking forward to it!

[@paulbeardsley4095]

I read Black Cloud in my early teens and enjoyed it, but that was quite a few decades ago. I’m thinking about revisiting it on audio as I don’t have much reading time these days, and I really like the medium. Hoyle and his son (?) collaborated on a slightly similar book which featured another solar system passing close to ours. I forgot the title but I remember being excited when spectroscopic analysis revealed the presence of chlorophyll on one of the planets. I was very into astronomy at the time. (Brief digression: my grandmother worked on spectroscopic analysis during the war; at one point she explained what she was doing to H.G. Wells, who happened to be visiting the lab.) I read one other book by the Hoyles, but it had an “it was all a dream” ending so I didn’t read any more of their fiction.

[@WordsinTime]

@@paulbeardsley4095 That’s a super cool story from your grandmother!

[@paulbeardsley4095]

@@WordsinTime Thank you! I'll add that half a century later she took a phonecall from Stephen Baxter.

[@WordsinTime]

@@paulbeardsley4095 That’s awesome! Ring by Stephen Baxter is one of my favourite books!

[@mattbaldwin1150]

I remember recommending The Prefect to you on here a while ago. I’m glad you’re reading as you mentioned it sounded good. It’s actually a bit more digestible than some of Reynolds other works. The backstory that is slowly revealed during the book is mesmerising. It’s currently my favourite sci-fi book.

[@WordsinTime]

@@mattbaldwin1150 That’s awesome. Thanks for the recommendation!

[@andrevanderpluym4640]

Eon is a fantastic book, really fascinating. It did cause my brain to ache at points but it was quite engaging. Blood Music is also a fantastic book. Other greats by him are Forge of God and And it's sequal, Anvil of Stars, which is quite different from Forge. But wow does it ever push the hard science envelope. The Black Cloud is old but very readable. Quite good. However, Hoyle's best book is "October the First is To Late" which has a fascinating story. Really recommended.

[@WordsinTime]

@@andrevanderpluym4640 Thanks for the info! Looking forward to reading all of them!

[@TheLeniverse]

Ooh, you add so much to my tbr! 🙈 Definitely adding Quarantine. And Alistair Reynolds is already on the top of my list of SF authors I need to read.

[@WordsinTime]

@@TheLeniverse Glad I could help you fight the never ending battle with the TBR haha

[@TheLeniverse]

@@WordsinTime I'm not sure "help" is the word I would choose 😆

[@clsteele]

Absolutely love the Inspector Dreyfus series, the last one was a little bit of a disappointment (although still great) being way too condensed for the amount of stuff happening but in either case, Aurora Rising is great fun!

[@WordsinTime]

@@clsteele Nice! I’m looking forward to it!

[@keithdixon6595]

Light is brilliant. Harrison is one of the best writers of prose in SF, almost equal to Thomas M. Disch. Darwin's Radio by Bear is also excellent, so I must get round to Eon. Have you read Timescape by Gregory Benford? He's a prof of physics and the premise of the book is very interesting but his handling of character is what makes it.

[@WordsinTime]

@@keithdixon6595 That’s great to hear! And Timescape is on my TBR so I’ll have to get to it!

[@keithdixon6595]

@@WordsinTime I forgot to mention Century Rain by Alistair Reynolds - hard SF with space and time travel and one of the two main characters is also a detective in present-day Paris! Lots of boxes being ticked off there ...

[@bookspin]

The Black Cloud and Aurora Rising are both absolute bangers and among my favourite sci-fi books. Light is also on my TBR. Looking forward to seeing how you get on with them

[@WordsinTime]

@@bookspin Awesome! Hope you enjoy Light!

[@JeffreyFitzpatrick-o5i]

House of Suns and The Dark Forest (just finished) are two of my favourite books I read this year. Thanks for the recommendations! I liked Aurora Rising and am looking forward to reading more by Reynolds.

[@WordsinTime]

@@JeffreyFitzpatrick-o5i Awesome! I’m glad you loved them too!

[@RenkotheLibrarian]

I started House of Suns yesterday. 100 pages in and it's pretty good! Mind blowing world building and I am loving Purslane. Egan and Bear are on my TBR.

[@WordsinTime]

@@RenkotheLibrarian I’m glad you’re enjoying it!

[@fleabynight]

Love House of Suns.. hope you like it.

[@kirtundercoffer7655]

Eon was probably my favorite Greg Bear novel, and is one of my favorite sci-fi novels of all time. It has a number of compelling characters some of which make an appearance in other Bear works. The thing is, it was more or less a kind of math fiction as one of the main characters is an extraordinary mathematician (Patricia Alvarez), but it checks off time travel, as well as nuclear war , dimensional space, and all the rest (although it lacks real artificial intelligence, unless I just don't remember it). As a result I think it might appeal mostly to math people (although there is no real math in it).

[@WordsinTime]

@@kirtundercoffer7655 Thanks for the info! Sounds interesting to me!

[@BAMCIS2841]

I had a real hard time trying to imagine Juno (the rock). Still do.

[@noeditbookreviews]

As soon as I saw the title, Greg Egan came to mind.

[@WordsinTime]

@@noeditbookreviews The king of hard sci-fi haha

[@km-bo3zx]

I think you have to say Andy Weir has a strong background in science and engineering. Not only was he a computer programmer, but his dad was a physicist and mom was a EE.

[@WordsinTime]

@@km-bo3zx For sure! He nails those aspects in his books.

[@TuftyMcTavish]

📚 Ooo, Ooo, I’ve got three of these, but I’ve only read one… that I can remember, anyway. “Eon”, “Light” and … “The Prefect”, I’ll go with its original title as that’s what’s on my shelf, and you may not be surprised to hear that it’s “The Prefect” that I’ve already read. Apparently “it was hard to put down once I'd started.” 😯 My copy of “Eon” is ancient, a 1990 published copy, which in fact it turns out that I’ve got marked as read in my library app, but have no recollection of anymore. And I picked up “Light” after the Sci-Fi Odyssey channel here on the BookTube rec.-ed that one not too long ago.

[@WordsinTime]

@@TuftyMcTavish Nice! I’m glad you enjoyed The Prefect lol. Hope you like the others!

[@superbadmofo1]

Man "AWESOME" vid, I just started getting into sci-fi reading and need some recommendations thanks.

[@WordsinTime]

@@superbadmofo1 I appreciate it! I’m glad it was helpful!

[@SylvesterAshcroft88]

Time Ships broke my brain, also the final space odyssey book, left me thinking...what? XD

[@WordsinTime]

I own Time Ships but haven't read it yet. I really enjoyed Ring by Baxter.

[@sarichj]

Eon is great! Read it when I was a teenager and it blew my mind.

[@WordsinTime]

@@sarichj I’m glad you enjoyed it!

[@curtjarrell9710]

Light by M. John Harrison is part of my TBR with no firm reading date set.

[@WordsinTime]

@@curtjarrell9710 Hope you enjoy whenever you pick it up!

[@RobTheCanadianGeek1]

Man Quarantine is right up my alley. I've only read one Egan so far which was Schilds ladder. Definitely a brain melting author.

[@WordsinTime]

@@RobTheCanadianGeek1 Haha I will have to read Schild’s Ladder next.

[@zoefezius6615]

ah, Eon, like it, and most of that author... still looking forward to find womeone with Stand on Zanzibar and Mars Trilogie an his lists 😶‍🌫

[@WordsinTime]

@@zoefezius6615 I own them. It’s hard to get to everything on the TBR but I will eventually!

[@mattrobson3603]

I read Eon a long time ago, and I remember being pretty lukewarm about it. (I also read The Forge of God by Greg Bear, and being lukewarm on that as well.) My copy of Aurora Rising is titled The Prefect, and I prefer that title. It's a favorite of mine, and Reynolds is a favorite author. I've yet to read more of the Dreyfus books, but I'm definitely going to - though my expectations are a bit managed, since I just read the Poseidon's Children trilogy and didn't like them as much as his earlier books. (While he's fantastic as making space seem huge, ancient and mysterious, a lot of the ideas in those three books seemed like less-compelling rehashes of stuff he laced into previous novels.) Still, subpar Reynolds is better than most other authors on their best day.

[@mattrobson3603]

Forgot to add: Light and Quarantine sound good, an I think I'll add them to my TBR list.

[@WordsinTime]

@@mattrobson3603 Thanks for the info! I’m glad you enjoyed Aurora Rising!

[@FrankOdonnell-ej3hd]

read light several yrs back and would give it a B letter grade. Even though I didn't think it was particularly original it was interesting how the author managed to combine the various themes such as serial killers, a warp-drive type invention that makes interstellar travel possible and a young woman traumatized by sexual abuse as a child who travels the stars in search of some sort of salvation. Have to admit I've never finished a greg egan book including PC but I've got a very early one by him that looks readable though don't think it's quarantine. Greg bear was always one of my fave sci-fi writers and eon is one of his best along with the sequel eternity. I vividly recall reading the black cloud as a kid coming back from a school field trip and couldn't put it down.. such a great way to spend what would have otherwise been a boring night on a bus!⚛

[@WordsinTime]

@@FrankOdonnell-ej3hd Thanks for the info! Glad you mostly enjoyed them!

[@vivskarpins]

Jonathan i love you!!!

[@WordsinTime]

@@vivskarpins Haha right back at you friend

[@mondostrat]

I have the Eon Series , Aurora Rising, and Light on my kindle, but haven't read them yet. You'll have to tell me which one you like best!

[@WordsinTime]

@@mondostrat Will do! 🤜 🤛

[@Kim_Miller]

I thought you were describing Ring when you first started. And now that I got hooked I'll have to add Quarantine to my TBR. Being an eBook reader means it's too easy to just click through to downloading another one so they build up much faster than I can read them. All of these could claim space on my eReader, especially Light and Eon which sound to be the wackiest of the list. I've got to stop watching booktube. 😀

[@WordsinTime]

@@Kim_Miller Haha the eReader is filling up quickly!

[@kanguruster]

Fred Hoyle wasn't just an astronomer, he was the Astronomer Royal, so I guess whenever Queen Liz wanted to know her horoscope for the week, she'd call him?

[@WordsinTime]

@@kanguruster “Today’s horoscope: The destruction of the solar system.”

[@kanguruster]

@@WordsinTime There is a dark cloud over your future, but the silver lining will be powerful new friends entering your life. Focus on your communication to address nebulous challenges and when the sunshine returns you will enter a phase of new beginnings. Beware of casting criticism, consider the outcome when such barbs return as they inevitably will. Your lucky number is 21.

[@WordsinTime]

@@kanguruster Hahaha “nebulous challenges” 👏

[@baconeggburger6826]

I loved Eon,one of my all time faves,the sequel, not so much. The Prefect was ok,but my least fave by AR. I loved Terminal World which I thought was better..gasp!..than House of Suns.

[@WordsinTime]

@@baconeggburger6826 I’m glad you enjoyed Eon! And I guess I’ll have to read Terminal World haha

[@colin1818]

Bio-engineered? No, I was just assimilated. Big difference.

[@WordsinTime]

@@colin1818 🤯

[@bookdmb]

I’ve been watching Sugar lately and feeling drawn to detective sci-fi. Aurora Rising could be just the the thing! The City and the City is another one that came onto my radar. Reading Mieville’s book on The Communist Manifesto right now. He is a hardcore leftist, but also has some serious intellectual cred.

[@WordsinTime]

@@bookdmb I hope you enjoy Aurora Rising! I read The City and the City and was mixed on it, but should give another Mieville book a try.

[@BD-rk6hx]

Maybe I dont fully understand what constitutes "hard scifi" but I'm surprised Aurora Rising is on the list. To me it was all Space Opera with minimal Sciencefictionals going on. I found this especially true for the entire series. I read House of Suns first and I loved that. It was filled with a lot of cool sci fi ideas that kept growing over time and space and I think maybe that set up my expectations for the Aurora series. Which ultimately let me down. I still enjoyed it but, for my taste, it relied too much on the drama of the characters moment to moment and didnt really expand much on the universe. So much of it just felt like a police procedural TV show mostly set in just a couple habitats. Thats what I would have loved too. Exploring more of the unique habitats that existed in the colony and the politcal and sociological oddities that governed them. We saw a few and they were quite interesting but I think there needed to be more of that exploration.

[@WordsinTime]

@@BD-rk6hx I haven’t read Aurora Rising yet but in regard to Reynolds in general, as mentioned I would describe him as medium hard sci-fi as he does incorporate some science and technical descriptions but they aren’t constantly the focus. I will have to see how Aurora Rising compares. I’m glad you liked House of Suns!

[@BD-rk6hx]

@@WordsinTime Im so sorry. It just completely went over my head that you haven't read these books yet. I honestly wouldnt have said anything at all as to not impact your enjoyment of them or spoil them in any way. Im gonna check out the two other Reynolds books you mentioned that you liked alongside House of Suns. If they are anything like that I'm sure ill love them.

[@WordsinTime]

@@BD-rk6hx No worries! Redemption Ark is book 2 in Revelation Space and it’s my favorite in the series. It has similar qualities to House of Suns. Eversion is a standalone, and a little bit different in style. The first half is not very sci-fi, but the second half feels more like a Reynolds book. I hope you enjoy them!

[@rolanchristofferson9363]

blood music, meh. Eon, yes!

[@WordsinTime]

@@rolanchristofferson9363 Glad you liked Eon!

[@thomasrockhoff]

Id love to see some hard scifi in genres Im not used to seeing it in. If anyone knows good hard scifi in less common sciences, hit me up.

[@WordsinTime]

@@thomasrockhoff Good question!

[@Zivilin]

👀 Dont mind me, just adding comment in case anyone gives recommendations.

[@gearoidosullivan356]

It's very hard to think of something specific with such a broad ask. Like, is there a branch of science in particular you're looking for? For example, Peter Watts has a novel called STARFISH (first of the rifter trilogy) which has a marine biology slant to it. Physics will be the dominant field by far, but there are others for sure. Like Kim Stanley Robinson had his mars trilogy which dealt with terraforming mars, and he subsequently wrote a number of novels that deal with climate change.

[@TalonBray]

When my guy Jonathan uploads..I click play, I'm a simple man

[@WordsinTime]

@@TalonBray When I see this comment, I click the heart button ❤️

[@ichirofakename]

Black Cloud is too dated for my taste. Science is not gripping. Not recommended.

[@WordsinTime]

@@ichirofakename Thanks for the heads up.