0:00:00the incomparable pod test number 99 july
0:00:10welcome back everybody to be
0:00:12uncomfortable podcast I'm your host
0:00:13Jason snail and I am joined by a
0:00:15fantastic panel today to create
0:00:17something we're going to call the
0:00:19incomparable summer reading list are you
0:00:21somebody who lives in within hemisphere
0:00:23if not we apologize but we all are so
0:00:26we're going to say that it's summer and
0:00:28we're going to come up with some
0:00:29suggestions for books mostly sci-fi
0:00:32novels but we may cheat a little bit
0:00:34just things we like books we like we're
0:00:37not going to go heavy into the spoilers
0:00:38i think books we like that we think you
0:00:41should read and at the end of this there
0:00:43will be a wonderful list that will be
0:00:44posted at five by five TV / incomparable
0:00:48/ 99 and it will be books that we at
0:00:52least some of us endorse and think that
0:00:54you should read if you haven't read them
0:00:56yet it's that simple
0:00:57and if you're saying to yourself this
0:00:58sounds Jason a little bit like you're
0:01:00doing a book draft but not calling it
0:01:02that you are very clever person and also
0:01:05very handsome i must say anyway
0:01:08joining me today to draft some books and
0:01:11talk about books we love our Dan Morgan
0:01:14hi dan I Jason I'm glad to be
0:01:16participating in this experiment in
0:01:18literacy that's good we will let you
0:01:21know the results one more time
0:01:22Scott McNulty is also here of course
0:01:25because he is the most well-read amongst
0:01:27hi Scott
0:01:28hello I'm also joined by serenity
0:01:31Caldwell hi thanks for being here
0:01:33yeah I'm happy to be here Jason I didn't
0:01:35think I would be able to but I managed
0:01:37to scrounge up some books
0:01:38that's good just got in under the wire
0:01:39and exactly and lex friedman is the
0:01:43least read among us but no but he's here
0:01:45anyway I'll I know I I don't think it's
0:01:48fair to say the least read i will say
0:01:49I'm the least qualified to appear on
0:01:51this podcast I side up what it was just
0:01:53a generic book draft but I still feel
0:01:55confident that I can contribute
0:01:56something at the very least the ability
0:01:59to be mocked mercilessly
0:02:01yes your confidence will be your undoing
0:02:03you may you may be mocked for not being
0:02:05key enough and that would make you
0:02:06perhaps one of the first people to be
0:02:08much so and also Glenn Fleischman is
0:02:10here hi Glenn
0:02:12hello
0:02:13I have no German books on my list okay
0:02:15and no Jermaine books that's also
0:02:18correct I would be less good
0:02:20alright so i am not going to be a cruel
0:02:23taskmaster and force a draft order here
0:02:25i'm going to just say the ground rules
0:02:27are of course if somebody else picture
0:02:28book you don't get to pick it but that's
0:02:30okay we're all friends here you can just
0:02:32you can file a concurring opinion so
0:02:34yeah that's it that is a great book good
0:02:36pic and when Glenn pics a book that
0:02:39we've never heard of we can say okay
0:02:40Glen so that's gonna be how this works
0:02:42for now this challenge that's how it
0:02:44always works
0:02:45damn or and why don't you go first then
0:02:46I'm gonna go first i'm gonna pick a and
0:02:48this is a science fiction book so i
0:02:51think i can check that box well done
0:02:53thank you thank you I'm done I'm done
0:02:55off to a good start a science-fiction
0:02:58book okay that's good look at that's my
0:03:00selection a science-fiction book so my
0:03:04first book is a book called altered
0:03:05carbon by a man named Richard K Morgan
0:03:08which is a sci-fi book i think that's
0:03:10about
0:03:12I wanna say early to mid-2000s and what
0:03:16I like about this book is that it's
0:03:18basically a neo-noir mystery set in the
0:03:21future in which people are variously
0:03:24downloaded into bodies that they call
0:03:26sleeves and that's sort of how they live
0:03:30out their existence and the book centers
0:03:33around one particular character whose
0:03:34name I'm going to butcher which but i
0:03:36think which is a to take a chico batch
0:03:38who is especially trained sort of a
0:03:43special ops guy he's an envoy i love
0:03:45that this is the future because you can
0:03:46tell it's the future and somewhat
0:03:48implausible because the like highly
0:03:50trained military convoys work for the
0:03:52United Nations in the future which I
0:03:55find entirely implausible but that's
0:03:56probably the most impossible thing in
0:03:57the book people gettin downloaded their
0:03:59consciousness downloaded different
0:04:00bodies you can't what about the United
0:04:01Nation relevant for the move but anyways
0:04:04he is sort of sucked into this mystery
0:04:07investigation and it's it's a great book
0:04:10it's really atmospheric reminded me in
0:04:12some ways of all the stuff i like the
0:04:14best from neuromancer which is sort of
0:04:17that that future bizarre future that's
0:04:20kind of like quite blade runner ask but
0:04:23its its kind of alien but the same time
0:04:25has these really recognize
0:04:26elements and it is probably the only
0:04:28book you will read in which one of the
0:04:31main characters is a hotel one of them
0:04:36one of them
0:04:39yeah it's followed by a couple sequels I
0:04:41didn't think either the sequel's were as
0:04:43good as the first one they take a kind
0:04:45of different tone and it I've read most
0:04:48of this guy's books and it is altered
0:04:50carbon is definitely my favorite and i
0:04:52would go so far as to call it one of the
0:04:53one of the best sci-fi books from the
0:04:55last decade
0:04:56wow ok altered carbon anybody else read
0:04:59that one of her life i have read it
0:05:02Scott you do you like it huh who knows i
0:05:06read it was gonna happen
0:05:08well you've even forgotten whether you
0:05:10like it I don't like it i did buy the
0:05:13sequel I haven't read the sequel that
0:05:14that hurts stick with the stick with the
0:05:16first moments the definitely the best
0:05:17throw the sequel in the wood chipper
0:05:20I will put it in the recycling bin okay
0:05:23that's even better
0:05:24Scott McNulty do you have a selection i
0:05:27do so I was unclear as to the format of
0:05:31tonight's show ok so was I and I came up
0:05:33with it so both excellent so i decided
0:05:36that i would just pick whatever the heck
0:05:37I want that so now if you are very clear
0:05:39on the format then excellent it wasn't
0:05:42whatever and we'll call it something
0:05:43else yes
0:05:44so one of the first books that i read
0:05:46that really set the course for my
0:05:47science fiction reading life
0:05:49isaac asimov's foundation trilogy which
0:05:52I i know many people are conflicted
0:05:55about isaac asimov because he was
0:05:57probably not the best writer in the
0:06:00world are he was quite prolific and he
0:06:04did he was part of kind of the be the
0:06:06golden age of science fiction writers
0:06:08that with all the pulp writers were
0:06:09around so you know he was a robber
0:06:11highland and you know lots of other
0:06:15people that whose names now escape me
0:06:18were writing at the same time in the the
0:06:20late fifties early sixties and so he
0:06:22wrote this foundation trilogy which is
0:06:24basically a sci-fi retelling of the fall
0:06:28of the Roman Empire I and and he it's
0:06:32just it really impacted me when I read
0:06:35it the first time because of
0:06:38it was the sweeping story of this this
0:06:41giant Galactic Empire and this character
0:06:43called Harry Sullivan who creates this
0:06:45form of predicting the future called
0:06:49psychohistory and he he goes to the
0:06:52Emperor who is on this planet called
0:06:54transit or that's a giant city planet
0:06:57which may sound familiar to some star
0:06:58wars fans who and so he tells the effort
0:07:02you know therefore the Empire is going
0:07:04to fall
0:07:05I know what it's going to fall and it
0:07:06will take 2,000 years for the Second
0:07:09Empire to rise unless we do what I tell
0:07:11you to do and then we'll take a thousand
0:07:12years and so he sets up this foundation
0:07:15to that basically preserves the human
0:07:18knowledge and can help the galaxy
0:07:21through the dark age but then also he
0:07:23sets up a second foundation that is
0:07:25really there to protect the humanity and
0:07:29Isaac has enough uses a this kind of
0:07:32this this this entries from this
0:07:35encyclopedia Galactica to to kind of
0:07:37tell you what's going on in the story
0:07:39which a lot of other science-fiction
0:07:40writers and pick up as a kind of trope
0:07:42that they use so he set a lot of things
0:07:45for the first time in this this series
0:07:48that a lot of other people have used
0:07:50over the last 50 years so it's a very
0:07:53important piece of science fiction
0:07:54it is also very much of its time so if
0:07:58you're reading it and expecting a
0:08:00science-fiction of like you know our our
0:08:04day you're going to be disappointed it's
0:08:06certainly reflects its time but i think
0:08:08it is well worth a read and the three
0:08:10books in the trilogy are altogether
0:08:12shorter than a lot of the current novels
0:08:14that are out now from the
0:08:16science-fiction writers so it's well
0:08:18worth a look
0:08:20yeah he would I don't know about him
0:08:23being bad right he's not a stylist right
0:08:25hehe just his style is very basic or as
0:08:29somebody in the chatroom just said karen
0:08:32j healey his pro styles like an IBM 360
0:08:35operating manual that got drunk one
0:08:37evening and decided to be a novel
0:08:38instead and that's really not that far
0:08:40off a very kind of workmen like pros but
0:08:43some really fascinating ideas now I see
0:08:46Glenn said that the first heat up the
0:08:48first book and foundation was good
0:08:51but the rest not so much is that using
0:08:52see i disagree i think the first book
0:08:54for me is one of the most dull but I
0:08:55think foundation an empire which is the
0:08:56second book really kicks it up a notch
0:08:58and gets more interesting i guess the
0:09:00third is pretty awful but i don't
0:09:02remember the third I like someone the
0:09:04later ones i felt like asthma style got
0:09:06a little better so some of the ones that
0:09:07go back and do the prequel yeah I found
0:09:09much more like I was a prelude to
0:09:11foundation and for the foundation i
0:09:12found was much more accessible i don't
0:09:14know if you could argue they're better
0:09:15books but I like the first one best
0:09:18because it was that its empire building
0:09:19right it's like with all the ideas are
0:09:21fresh and all the exposition is there
0:09:24and I thought it was so clever i think
0:09:25you're right maybe the second one
0:09:26actually is better like it moves Morris
0:09:29was not as much exposition but you have
0:09:30a little more you have a little more
0:09:32plot right you got the mule that comes
0:09:34in which is sort of that's the part i
0:09:35remember being really excited right love
0:09:37ya and that's a good that's a good
0:09:39hidden thing like you don't realize i
0:09:40mean at some point I don't think the
0:09:42first time I read it I got it until the
0:09:45and you're like oh okay that makes sense
0:09:47but it's just like it's some good faints
0:09:49and double faints and he doesn't he
0:09:51doesn't Telegraph everything that's
0:09:52going to happen some of its obvious and
0:09:55especially now because everything that
0:09:56he did was absorbed into other records
0:09:59later works but i mean i think it is
0:10:01literally a Scot says it's it's the
0:10:02foundation of modern science fiction as
0:10:04you can't walk away from the ideas in
0:10:06the book because everyone read them and
0:10:09then they even if they hated it
0:10:10what they wrote was an opposition it's
0:10:12like atheists and the Bible right I I
0:10:14have to say I really enjoyed some of as
0:10:16most other works i have a soft spot for
0:10:19caves of steel which is his is murder
0:10:21mystery and the with a robot are jhoniel
0:10:24when lava la who which which actually
0:10:27not spoil too much which actually does
0:10:29link in with foundation that area
0:10:31yes but I i really enjoy that trilogy
0:10:34that he has with the Elijah Baley and
0:10:36Rdio lot solving mysteries and in
0:10:39various planets and stuff like that i
0:10:41can remember like I can remember that
0:10:42feeling of when when the way what's the
0:10:44fellows name the human work he works
0:10:46with daily my daily record which it goes
0:10:49on the surface the planet has never
0:10:50really been on the surface of the planet
0:10:52and just forces himself to do in that
0:10:54sense of being out of the terror of
0:10:56being an open space because he's lived
0:10:58his life underground you're like wow
0:10:59it's just that was actually some good
0:11:00writing
0:11:01ya know i think i think as much some
0:11:03some of this stuff is better
0:11:04and other stuff but foundation does and
0:11:06questionably sort of the the standard by
0:11:08which he is judged i think it's
0:11:10certainly the most influential work
0:11:11the big problem is there's all these was
0:11:13a great bear and some of the other some
0:11:14moderate size pictures were hired to
0:11:16write additional foundation books and
0:11:18those are sort of i've read a couple of
0:11:20them and I just remember anything except
0:11:21my screaming bad idea
0:11:24yeah and i am a devout as an offensive
0:11:28I've read all of his novels and I I like
0:11:30them all
0:11:31I do realize you know he's he's like
0:11:33jason said he's working so he likes
0:11:35water as let me ask you as an asthma fan
0:11:38i want to ask you i heard i remember
0:11:40when i was a kid I remember hearing this
0:11:42trivia that he had written something in
0:11:44every category of the dewey decimal
0:11:45system that is true and iíve also i
0:11:49don't know if it's true but that it is
0:11:50often said that he had it is it is an
0:11:53anti I don't know with your first get
0:11:55going to get that is true that is true
0:11:57it is uh i have read that I I cannot
0:12:00confirm whether or not it is true he had
0:12:02two previous it's true that he did it
0:12:04for all 10 major categories of pound ok
0:12:06but not sort of categories know and he
0:12:09was it was constantly writing he's also
0:12:12he has a PhD in chemistry he was he was
0:12:16a well at an accomplishment I've read
0:12:18his autobiography i'll have a great you
0:12:20know this is a joke but his
0:12:21autobiography over the title is in
0:12:23memory yet green and there's a sequel
0:12:25and he was asked to go use a line from
0:12:28poetry and then apparently he just
0:12:30invented a poem it's actually nice
0:12:31little poem but it was so convincing
0:12:33people thought it was some older you
0:12:35know 19th century work but he had
0:12:37borrowed from as a mom as well if a task
0:12:41out your sky was gonna ask it's like it
0:12:42usually takes a lifetime to read azimoff
0:12:44so you must be how many years old are
0:12:47you Scott
0:12:48i was born in 1887 that's right he just
0:12:51put the books under the pillow at night
0:12:53and wakes up having read them
0:12:55that's that's right alright so there is
0:12:57a as mob we have two items
0:13:00although really the foundation trilogy
0:13:02is more than one item but will let Scott
0:13:03have it
0:13:04let's move on to glen plan what is your
0:13:06selection and if it is in German then
0:13:09you will have to describe it in German
0:13:11it is not in channel right okay honey in
0:13:14English go tom
0:13:16I think I'm gonna pick do
0:13:17if we're picking great sprawling things
0:13:20and i can say with absolute definitive
0:13:23certainty that dude you should be doing
0:13:26and then forget that the word do exist
0:13:29in any other book title after that
0:13:31ah but the first book i mean i remember
0:13:33reading that this is one of these books
0:13:34are as a you know it's always a early
0:13:36teenager somewhere around there and I
0:13:38was totally absorbed by he created an
0:13:41entire universe full of improbable
0:13:43things that all sort of has some
0:13:45self-consistency and its mystical and
0:13:48there are these crazy
0:13:50none order that are like creating you're
0:13:53using genetics to bring about some kind
0:13:57of Messiah was going to unite the
0:13:59universe their giant sandworms and these
0:14:03evil horrible you know houses and it's
0:14:06just I think it's a great sprawling mass
0:14:08and it's very enjoyable great read and
0:14:11then freestanding you don't need to read
0:14:13please don't read the others because
0:14:17you'll be so disappointed is good in the
0:14:18summer because it's a very hot planet so
0:14:21if you're outright heat or you're
0:14:22beating the heat by staying inside you
0:14:24can you can kind of imagine the heat of
0:14:26the planet dude I i read dune in the
0:14:28summer in a hammock when I was growing
0:14:30up in high school and just like 90
0:14:32degree heat and some iced tea and out my
0:14:34hammock reading when i read i don't know
0:14:36how many books in that hammock but doing
0:14:38what I remember about it is that it was
0:14:39one of the first really long books that
0:14:41i read because it's like five computers
0:14:42long
0:14:43yeah and my review of it at the time was
0:14:45well it's pretty good after the first
0:14:46200 pages there's a lot of setup but i
0:14:49think i would argue actually the setup
0:14:51on a second reading is better because
0:14:53there's all this stuff that's like the
0:14:54house of Arcola in the house of the
0:14:56trade is a blog global you're like okay
0:14:58don't get it and then the intricacy goes
0:15:00in later and you come back and one that
0:15:03there's a lot of stuff in there too that
0:15:04I sort of like because it's um it's he's
0:15:07trying to throw he was trying to
0:15:08overthrow tropes there are so many
0:15:09trucks and this is sort of i think this
0:15:11was considered one of the first
0:15:12environmentalist science-fiction novels
0:15:15that there's a bent about you know it is
0:15:17the country he does the trope of like
0:15:19the noble native you know the people who
0:15:21are the framing on
0:15:23the planet Arrakis known as doing are
0:15:25you know noble and this great culture
0:15:28and the Warriors but they're tender and
0:15:30kind and they have secret names in the
0:15:32tribe and they're secretly gathering all
0:15:35the scarce water on the planet to turn
0:15:37it into a green planet one day to
0:15:39unleash the water and just like you know
0:15:42wheels within wheels and anyway it's
0:15:44just I don't know I just I have a fond
0:15:46spot for it and the movie of it just by
0:15:50the way I'm it was reviewed so horribly
0:15:52David Lynch movie I've seen it again i
0:15:55watched it I think it's not in the
0:15:56theaters and I seen it again not that
0:15:58long ago it has a kind of charm to it I
0:16:01will kill him things fact that i love
0:16:04staying a lot of big helper air and love
0:16:07them as a friend rather Patrick students
0:16:10am I my favorite I'll o'clock and b is
0:16:13the the naming scheme and he goes on to
0:16:16like children of dune and my god emperor
0:16:18of dune and convenience store clerk of
0:16:20dune like 36 years ready to keep going
0:16:22pretty much the entire time
0:16:24oh my god they just are so horrible i
0:16:25read them all I can't imagine i read
0:16:28them all i would keep picking I got you
0:16:29through shame this one can and then his
0:16:31son started riding with other people i
0:16:33think i read one or two of those and it
0:16:34was like no no it's pretty mother to
0:16:37death
0:16:37it's pretty much the death of any
0:16:38franchise I feel like when I definitely
0:16:40want a relative takes it over but but
0:16:43almost almost when anybody takes over
0:16:45white piano starts writing in somebody
0:16:46else's world with rare exceptions it's
0:16:49pretty much always like that is the time
0:16:51to give up i don't recommend there was a
0:16:54young made for TV series version of it
0:16:56that was much closer to my channel
0:16:58yeah yeah it wasn't it wasn't fantastic
0:17:00i thought it was a good watch that I
0:17:01thought that any service was good yeah
0:17:03yeah yeah it was good it was well done
0:17:05not the sequel that that fits with the
0:17:06books so haha that's true the original
0:17:09source i would say the dune again as one
0:17:12of those things that echoes in the minds
0:17:13of other writers so even if they aren't
0:17:14trying to ape Herbert style in that
0:17:17first and only good book i also have the
0:17:20way plagued by him as I say doing his
0:17:22first and only good book that the they
0:17:25pick up all these elements the things
0:17:26about travel between the stars and
0:17:28having these navigators who need a kind
0:17:29of drug to let them to enter hyperspace
0:17:32where do we see that mental state oh yes
0:17:35embassy town you know so you
0:17:37reactive across decades and decades to
0:17:39come from it and shine mr. town when
0:17:41someone is trying to provoke 10 more
0:17:42minutes
0:17:43let's work let's move on to Lex Friedman
0:17:47who has a as a selection that will be
0:17:49less science-fictional I suspect that's
0:17:51ok Lex what do you have a trice you are
0:17:54correct and i will say that i was
0:17:55talking with my wife who is a very big
0:17:57sci-fi fan before we started taping and
0:18:00she said she disapproved of all three of
0:18:02my choices saying the word science
0:18:04fictiony enough
0:18:05why is she on the show and it's a great
0:18:07question but my first choice its is the
0:18:11time traveler's wife which I believe
0:18:12you've discussed in Latin relax i was
0:18:14gonna pick that so don't feel bad i was
0:18:16gonna act as one of my know it occurred
0:18:18to it occurred to me my lieutenant
0:18:19that's a valid scientific it is
0:18:21absolutely is one of the better
0:18:22portrayals of some of time travel travel
0:18:24right well that's exactly what i was
0:18:26going to say is you know I i love time
0:18:28travel watch any movie with time travel
0:18:29i have seen those and I'll read any book
0:18:31about time travel because I I'm
0:18:33fascinated by it and when we did when we
0:18:35talked about back to the future sometime
0:18:37back we talked about how back to the
0:18:39futures rules of time-travel are the
0:18:41ones that if you if your fiction follows
0:18:43those rules you don't have to explain
0:18:44them because that's how everybody now
0:18:46understand such a time-travel thanks to
0:18:48that movie right
0:18:49the time traveler's wife obviously does
0:18:50not take that approach it goes a very
0:18:52different way in a way that I as time
0:18:55travel goes it seems in some ways more
0:18:57logical i agree i makes considerably
0:19:00more sense and and I and I felt like it
0:19:03was good for summer reading list because
0:19:05it's also you know it's a love story and
0:19:06it's romance and that's you know that's
0:19:08the kind of light-hearted fair you want
0:19:09but I mean I can't believe it's her
0:19:12I don't know how to pronounce your name
0:19:12so I'm not even trying with audrey and a
0:19:15head the niffenegger like so I can't
0:19:18believe it's her first novel and I think
0:19:21it's just so very brilliantly put
0:19:23together and assembled in the the story
0:19:25is is obviously it's it's told in a
0:19:28linear fashion that is not at all in any
0:19:30sense of the term linear linear and I
0:19:32just I think it's excellent i really
0:19:33i've read it more than once I enjoyed
0:19:35every single time i get new things for
0:19:36what each time the movie is terrible but
0:19:38the book is really i found just
0:19:40excellent and an excellent handling of
0:19:42of time travel and really not just
0:19:44enforcing its own time travel rules but
0:19:46truly sticking to them and respecting
0:19:48what those rules would be the
0:19:50anybody who watch Doctor Who in the
0:19:53Steven Moffat era has gotten the river
0:19:56song story is very much a Time
0:19:59Traveler's Wife a influence let's say
0:20:03storyline and and the nice thing about
0:20:05the time traveler's wife is that the
0:20:06storyline and the timelines are
0:20:09internally consistent and that's what
0:20:11what I really like about it is it is
0:20:13using and we have talked about this
0:20:15before but i love it so much that i'm
0:20:17happy i was going to talk about it again
0:20:18you know it it's it's got all the
0:20:21ramifications of being up unstuck in
0:20:23time and how you're seeing this
0:20:24relationship from different vantage
0:20:25points from the two characters and it's
0:20:28it is touching and it talks about the
0:20:32fact that all relationships and all
0:20:34lives and and that in it but it does it
0:20:37in the strange way where you different
0:20:39you know the last time that they see
0:20:40each other is different for each person
0:20:41which is fascinating
0:20:43I loved it a lot hurt her apparently i
0:20:46think my wife tried to reach her second
0:20:47book and it wasn't very good but this
0:20:48terrible i didn't i didn't even get past
0:20:50like three chapters but this is a great
0:20:52book i love this book so I think that's
0:20:53a great pic Lex
0:20:55thank you i don't want to spoil anything
0:20:56to but it's a it's emotional the whole
0:20:58way through the early ends that just
0:20:59grab you and pull you and hurt you
0:21:01that's great don't watch the movie read
0:21:03the book can isolate my my criticism the
0:21:06book is not that it's a bad book I
0:21:07actually loved it until i reached the
0:21:08point in which she telegraph was gonna
0:21:11happen so strongly I had to put it down
0:21:13because i was too invested in the
0:21:14characters and I mean exactly what's
0:21:16going to happen and I can I don't know
0:21:18how many pages in it was like I cannot
0:21:20read this anymore because I'm going to
0:21:21scream and cry so she doesn't tell I
0:21:23mean it's time travel right i mean it's
0:21:24hard after I know but it but it's time
0:21:26travel I mean that's the whole point is
0:21:28she knows and the character knows that
0:21:29something terrible is going to happen
0:21:31and I think she could have done a better
0:21:33job of of manipulating the streams all
0:21:36I'm because you have no heart
0:21:38alright well I liked it I liked it
0:21:41thumbs up as well
0:21:42look at that oh yes i am so proud of
0:21:45myself right now
0:21:46Lex when that happens to relax you
0:21:48actually get important at this time
0:21:50minus a minus points to a Glen because
0:21:53he's rocking that's right and i make i
0:21:55have made up in volumes so far ahead
0:21:57the 1i have not right you shouldn't you
0:21:58should read that Scott I think you might
0:22:00even like it because i liked it and you
0:22:02and I like things
0:22:03true in my wife it's one of her favorite
0:22:05books see there you go there's lots of
0:22:07recently lights it's in my top center
0:22:09yeah it seems like a lady book to me i
0:22:11don't know if that's true it is you know
0:22:14in the summer
0:22:15Scott in the summertime i like to wear
0:22:17always outside with a beverage and and
0:22:19and let the breeze blow over me and if
0:22:22thats ladylike then so be it
0:22:24read my lady book i'm casting their
0:22:26judgments are just saying that's what it
0:22:28struck me my next choice is fifty Shades
0:22:30of Grey serenity Caldwell you're up
0:22:34what do you think well um actually been
0:22:37read the time traveler's wife so I will
0:22:38refrain from commenting on lexus pic I
0:22:40in terms of my own summer reading if i
0:22:43go back most of all of the books that i
0:22:45read during the summer read at a cabin
0:22:48by the lake and this cabin had lots of
0:22:50older books so a lot of my pics are from
0:22:53the 1970s sixties fifties forties so
0:22:57it'll make the things a little bit
0:22:58interesting but I also i went to the
0:23:01local library and so in addition to that
0:23:03i would read like I read lots and lots
0:23:06of star wars books growing up because it
0:23:08was just readily available and there
0:23:09were a lot of them and I could get
0:23:10through them quickly but the one book
0:23:12that I kept on coming back to besides
0:23:14the large amount of Tim's and other
0:23:17wonderful writers that I kept coming
0:23:19back to I was Madeline legals wrinkle in
0:23:22time which is 0 will possibly one of my
0:23:24top five favorite books but it's also
0:23:28choice as well relax tesseract there is
0:23:31such a thing as a tender act so this is
0:23:35the book that mean I mean there are
0:23:37other books in this in this series are
0:23:39not in their competitors but in my pics
0:23:42that will indicate my love of science as
0:23:44a young child but this was really my
0:23:46love of science fiction science where I
0:23:50picked up this book and I'm like oh my
0:23:51god interstellar time and space travel
0:23:54this is blowing my mind and it's all
0:23:57identifiable kids you know when your god
0:24:01I must have been seven or eight when I
0:24:03first picked this book up and then i
0:24:04read it you know through the through my
0:24:06teen years and there's someone to
0:24:08identify with as you grow up with this
0:24:10book whether you're you know Charles
0:24:13Wallace's age or you get up to megs age
0:24:15you know you really
0:24:17you can go through the book and find
0:24:19something new every time and that's what
0:24:21i really really adore about this book
0:24:23and then also there the missus which the
0:24:26interdimensional spirit / stars / we
0:24:31don't quite understand what they are but
0:24:32they're you know they can travel through
0:24:34time so it's it's cool and it's you know
0:24:36a good versus evil battle where the good
0:24:39folks are artists and scientists and the
0:24:41bad you know big big black things and
0:24:45and I'm not going to spoil the ending of
0:24:47the book for the people who haven't read
0:24:49it and if you haven't read what are you
0:24:51doing listening to this podcast go read
0:24:53it right now it is the perfect summer
0:24:54read i haven't read it but my guess is
0:24:57at the end time gets Botox and no longer
0:25:00has a wrinkle is that right
0:25:01something like that standpoint selects
0:25:06minus ten points yesterday sorry you're
0:25:08gonna get influenced and again but yeah
0:25:12I really love this book and I and it's
0:25:14sequels are also very good i actually
0:25:17one of one of its sequels many waters is
0:25:20a sequel a little bit down the ways
0:25:23which involves the sum of the wrinkled
0:25:26time folks going back to know was time I
0:25:31believe so basically playing with the
0:25:34idea of Bible characters and that is a
0:25:40very interesting book for very different
0:25:43reasons but also a good summary so
0:25:45that's my my pitch for a wrinkle in time
0:25:47and its successors and also i know for
0:25:49those people who don't like lots of
0:25:51words there's a graphic novel coming out
0:25:53this fall which is also i am very
0:25:56excited for because the person is doing
0:25:58the not the graphic novels like
0:26:00absolutely in love with a wrinkle in
0:26:02time and she's like oh my god this has
0:26:04been my favorite project to work on so
0:26:05I'm crossing my fingers that this will
0:26:07be yet another thing i can add to my reg
0:26:09one-time bookshelf for haters of words
0:26:12or lovers of groundwater levels of
0:26:14graphic novels that I mean they're still
0:26:15quite a few words and i think the
0:26:17graphic novel is going to be something
0:26:18like for 500 pages so it's there's no
0:26:22there's not going to be a dearth of
0:26:23words just more pictures
0:26:26alright that's it that's a classic what
0:26:28I still have my paperback copy i believe
0:26:30from
0:26:31when I was a kid that's in my daughter's
0:26:32bookshelf now uh-huh that's great one
0:26:37alright i guess it's my turn I know I
0:26:41get a turn
0:26:42it's shocking because we've been here
0:26:44forever and this is the end of the first
0:26:46round so we're gonna have to go faster
0:26:47but I i have a bunch of different things
0:26:50here i'm not really sure what what to to
0:26:52go with first so I'm gonna go with the
0:26:54obscurity route with the first pick and
0:26:58I i was always a big fan of the
0:27:00cyberpunk genre and you know william
0:27:03gibson's neuromancer was you know just
0:27:06blew me away when it came out and i
0:27:09would be an obvious choice and i'm not
0:27:10going to pick it so then then my choice
0:27:13was I think there's a Gibson book that
0:27:14may be better than neuromancer and I may
0:27:16get to it but instead i'm going to go
0:27:17with a much more obscure cyberpunk book
0:27:20from 1986 it's called when gravity fails
0:27:25by George Alec a finger but it was a
0:27:28Scot McNulty seal of approval
0:27:31check it out it was a nebula nominee was
0:27:34a hugo nominee it is set in a cyberpunk
0:27:39middle-eastern locale it's area it's a
0:27:43kind of an Islamic culture that is is
0:27:47dominant and predominant the it is it is
0:27:51a new war kind of story
0:27:53the the main character is married now
0:27:55drawn i think it Murray did is they you
0:27:58know he's kind of got a bad job and he
0:28:01he's involved with like criminals and
0:28:03there's this whole like organized crime
0:28:05system in the place where he lives and
0:28:07his girlfriend is a let me see if I can
0:28:09get this straight
0:28:10it was born male has been changed into a
0:28:13female and now works as a prostitute and
0:28:16she and the other prostitutes are sort
0:28:18of like Marines buddies in this kind of
0:28:20underworld setting and he gets into the
0:28:23store into trouble
0:28:25there are these things that you can
0:28:26stick in people's heads that modify
0:28:28their brains you know it's a great
0:28:30cyberpunk novel it is really widely
0:28:32known and it's kind of a mind-blowing
0:28:35story it is you know maybe we'll from
0:28:39literary merit perspectives not as great
0:28:42as some of the gibson stuff but i think
0:28:44under
0:28:44appreciated and I just remember these
0:28:46three novels its first myth series being
0:28:49just fantastic when i read them I was
0:28:52blown away by them they're they're so
0:28:53different in a in setting and in mood
0:28:58while still having this great kind of
0:29:00nor underworld you know crime story
0:29:04happening which like a lot of the
0:29:06cyberpunk stuff but it really it has
0:29:08stuck with me to this day so when
0:29:10gravity fails is my choice and I'm glad
0:29:13it got the McNulty not there
0:29:16that's good well you win the the first
0:29:18book in this list that I have not read
0:29:19haha 2 i'll have to put that on my list
0:29:22it's good aware of that it is in it
0:29:24isn't printed tour is publishing now in
0:29:26Georgia like a finger actually very good
0:29:28writer and sadly was a very ill for a
0:29:31long time the huge hospital bills and I
0:29:33remember he had it is like apartment
0:29:35burned down and and Harlan Ellison did
0:29:38this thing where they raise money to try
0:29:40and pay his bills and and and and then
0:29:43he died fairly young and while writing
0:29:46the fourth book in the series about 10
0:29:48years ago i think so
0:29:50which is a real shame sort of sad life
0:29:52but I left some great work behind so
0:29:54George Alec a finger and I got the the
0:30:00Scot McMillan thumbs up in the damn
0:30:01morning huh
0:30:02so I consider that 242 uh oh man points
0:30:07thank you though I get points excellent
0:30:09i wish someone has on writing being
0:30:12let's go to dan moore and for a second
0:30:15selection dan back back around to the
0:30:17top all right well I'm gonna I'm gonna
0:30:19borrow page from the electromagnet
0:30:21playbook for a book about time travel
0:30:23very much very different from the first
0:30:26book i suggested and that is connie
0:30:28willis is to say nothing of the dog
0:30:29which is one of my favorite part that
0:30:32was on my list to as in mitotic area i'm
0:30:36wearing john against grace and tell you
0:30:38I've read it though so it's an excellent
0:30:40excellent book it's one of she's written
0:30:43I don't know four or five books now
0:30:45about this particular time travel which
0:30:46is to say but one of the things I like
0:30:48about is her time to books are always
0:30:49very grounded in the period to which the
0:30:52people travel so in some ways they're
0:30:53more like historical fiction to say
0:30:56nothing of the dog is my fav
0:30:58it because unlike the other one
0:31:01many of the other ones she writes about
0:31:03it's funny it's really really really
0:31:06funny like like laugh-out-loud put the
0:31:08book down because i'm crying funny and
0:31:11basically it involves some characters
0:31:14who are academics from Oxford going back
0:31:16to i think it's the is the nineteen
0:31:18twenties or so right yeah that's not a
0:31:21time period but back when back it when
0:31:23cats weren't extinct
0:31:25yeah it's sort of a it's sort of a
0:31:28mystery and sort of a comedy of manners
0:31:30and it's just it's incredibly delightful
0:31:34and I think it's really got me is I had
0:31:38not read anything by connie was proud of
0:31:39that and I think someone gave that book
0:31:41to me and I was like I was kinda
0:31:42interesting i'll start reading it and I
0:31:43loved it so much that I've gone back and
0:31:45reread many of her other books which are
0:31:47several of which were also close
0:31:49competitors on this list but to say
0:31:50nothing of the dog remains my favorite
0:31:52and I think that is because she manages
0:31:54to capture this beautiful madcap I say
0:31:59Woodhouse Ian a comedy aspect and I just
0:32:02I adore PG Wodehouse and I think she
0:32:04manages to sort of tapping to his psyche
0:32:06here with this with the comedy in to say
0:32:08nothing of the dog yeah I'm funny
0:32:10justjust I mean it is there are not that
0:32:12many site syfy comedies there are some
0:32:15yeah this is a sign right now well as
0:32:16done hilarious and I i think that you
0:32:20know for me it got started on the the
0:32:22thing that got me laughing so hard the
0:32:23first time I read it was that
0:32:25so in this university suffer from time
0:32:27lag as one might suffer from jet lag but
0:32:31one of the symptoms of time lag is
0:32:33increased sentimentality and so that's
0:32:35what the characters talking to a dog
0:32:37about our dog man's best friend you
0:32:39truly are better than the other
0:32:41characters are going like are you
0:32:43alright and so I think that does my
0:32:46favorite if you want the sort of darker
0:32:47turn on that one
0:32:49Doomsday vault which is also very good
0:32:51but extremely depressing and like you
0:32:54know is the tragedy to the comedy
0:32:55guessing everybody let's time travel to
0:32:57the Black Plague I is everything
0:33:00everybody dies
0:33:01basically yeah yeah and then and then
0:33:04sort of in the middle ground there you
0:33:05get the blackout all-clear ideology and
0:33:08then I think she wrote a short story as
0:33:10well fire watch which also
0:33:11so is in the same universe right and
0:33:14yeah and several other books are good
0:33:16I'd say they close the close runner-up
0:33:18there and it's less science-fictiony but
0:33:20the close runner-up for my favorite book
0:33:22by his bellwether which is a short
0:33:24adorable little book that we're out
0:33:26there but connie willis and authors but
0:33:28it is worth checking out and to say
0:33:29nothing of the dog in particular is my
0:33:31favorite good call let's move on to
0:33:34Scott McNulty yeah I I wasn't prepared
0:33:38to move about
0:33:39ah so in keeping with your cyberpunk of
0:33:43recommendation Jason I will i mentioned
0:33:46a book that is not to inform cyberpunk
0:33:50as a genre although when I read it I
0:33:52didn't pick up on that all the stars my
0:33:55destination by alfred bester oh yeah
0:33:58which is fantastic book also a kind of
0:34:02dark because the main character is a
0:34:05completely overtaken with a crazed needs
0:34:12to exact revenge he starts off the book
0:34:15it basically kind of a stuck in a Life
0:34:20pod in space basically for for many many
0:34:23months and a ship comes by anything so
0:34:26they're gonna pick me up but they don't
0:34:28and then through a series of events he
0:34:31gets out and then he he decides that he
0:34:33needs to get his revenge upon the the
0:34:36crew of the ship
0:34:38it's a very complicated book and this
0:34:41plot to a kind of the synopsis but the
0:34:47things that you need to remember is the
0:34:50the character main character crash-lands
0:34:53on this this planet that is constructed
0:34:56of discarded spaceships and unbeknownst
0:34:59to him the inhabitants of this planet
0:35:01tattoo a very elaborate tattoo on his
0:35:03face which they don't have mirrors so he
0:35:05never notices it and then he's picked up
0:35:07by another spaceship and they're like
0:35:09dude you have a tattoo on your face like
0:35:10oh my God he's also able to psychically
0:35:14teleport himself uh interstellar two
0:35:17different planets which other people
0:35:19can't do but they can do in shorter
0:35:21distances
0:35:23and other people can read people's minds
0:35:25its is very complicated out but through
0:35:27many kind of high jinks he eventually
0:35:31kind of gets revenge but doesn't there's
0:35:34a lot of twists and turns to the story
0:35:36it is kind of dark so be prepared for
0:35:39that but yeah it is very good really
0:35:41good really good
0:35:42I read that a few years ago and that's
0:35:44it is it's great that you can jaunt
0:35:47right is that like you teleport around
0:35:50but only so there's like a distance
0:35:52limitation or something but he doesn't
0:35:54have that he figures out how to get rid
0:35:56of that distance haha and and so people
0:35:59are quite interested in that diabolical
0:36:01another interesting point is that he
0:36:03gets exactly he gets the tattoo removed
0:36:05from his face so that he can you know a
0:36:10blend in with people so nobody knows
0:36:12it's him about except what he gets
0:36:14really excited the the faint tattoo
0:36:17where was kind of fills in again because
0:36:19the blood rushes to his face
0:36:21so that's a kind of a critical moment in
0:36:23the story he gets really excited and
0:36:25then people like I had to you all right
0:36:28the stars my destination could pick
0:36:30let's move on to glen me why are you
0:36:34also surprised i'm just going in the
0:36:36same order we did the last time we try
0:36:38to introduce element of tension in the
0:36:40shoulders haha you'll never know who
0:36:41i'll pick next except if you're paying
0:36:42attention then you'll know
0:36:44go ahead and also apparently wasn't I i
0:36:46am going to pick Hyperion by Dan Simmons
0:36:49also on my list great so 10 points to
0:36:52you
0:36:53thank you so the reason I i would
0:36:55mention Hyperion is I i think i try to
0:36:58pick all the things that might have
0:37:00along along with we will get to that
0:37:02perhaps we post our list on the side
0:37:03alone but the Hyperion is something like
0:37:06many other novels where when I read it I
0:37:08was struck I was struck by the beauty
0:37:10the intensity by unusual ideas that
0:37:13never entered my mind before and change
0:37:15my consciousness forever so iperion
0:37:18tells the story in a kind of not
0:37:21pilgrims progress but am
0:37:22a tracer what's the roster story the
0:37:26transfer anybody anybody transfer
0:37:28transfer yeah the canterbury tales
0:37:30characters yeah mom that opera this
0:37:34route is softer bigger slide on the
0:37:37showers
0:37:38suta hot that pair said to the ruta my
0:37:41god game hall where all English majors
0:37:43here i cannot i was art so i can just
0:37:46draw a picture of it so the candidates
0:37:47that has a loose structure of canterbury
0:37:49tales with stories told in turn by six
0:37:52different people on this spaceship that
0:37:53are all going off to something like
0:37:55uncharted space and they all center
0:37:57around a planet called Hyperion that
0:37:59theme of Glenn's evening like dune is a
0:38:02peculiar planet my period has strange
0:38:04properties and there's some like the
0:38:06sort of area that's almost impossible
0:38:08because it generates the plant life
0:38:10generates electrical fields and storms
0:38:12and lightning and you can't even really
0:38:14land spaceships there nobody really
0:38:16cares its kind of this beat-up old
0:38:17planet and mysterious events are
0:38:19happening or have been happening over a
0:38:21period of time and so there's a poet
0:38:23there's an ambassador or a diplomat
0:38:26there's a woman an old Jewish man whose
0:38:28daughter is aging backwards in time and
0:38:30a priest to has a actual well I won't
0:38:34tell that place too much of the spoilers
0:38:36yes technol the story but at the cross
0:38:38and the resurrection mean extra special
0:38:40things to the priest extra special so
0:38:42it's I think it's a great it's a great
0:38:43set of stories and apparently one of the
0:38:45stories about Cirie sis remembering
0:38:48serie very sorry it was originally a
0:38:50standalone story that we came to Germany
0:38:52this of the novel and it's you it's
0:38:54picaresque because you have different
0:38:56things happen that are facets of the of
0:38:58the same place but happening different
0:39:02hot right happen across space everything
0:39:03is coming to a point in Hyperion and
0:39:05there's this mysterious creature called
0:39:07the Shrike that is some enormous multi
0:39:10arms armored thing that no one quite
0:39:12knows what it is and I think it's got
0:39:13its full of mystery it's a it's
0:39:15beautifully written dan simmons
0:39:16everything he writes beautifully written
0:39:17but I find a lot of it so either
0:39:19hermetic or just you know it's
0:39:21impenetrable or just don't know I find
0:39:24an idiotic at this point that i can I
0:39:26try to read his stuff like the olympus
0:39:27and
0:39:28oh yeah only I'm not yeah Williams try
0:39:31red book is and i just found them so
0:39:33model I didn't know but he writes
0:39:34beautifully it carries man same thing
0:39:36with as with doing i would suggest if
0:39:38you read Hyperion read the first and
0:39:40don't read a full of Hyperion and demand
0:39:43rise of endymion because I think they're
0:39:44I think they lesson for me the
0:39:46appreciation that first novel there a
0:39:48second one especially it abandons the
0:39:50whole narrative structure and the app
0:39:52becomes kind of a space should be up
0:39:54with lots of study and then ends to the
0:39:56first of the Hyperion and so unfairly
0:39:58though as a reader because they
0:39:59descended into the valley and you like
0:40:01but but because the really the point is
0:40:03to tell you these seven stories of the
0:40:06travelers it's it's almost like an
0:40:07anthology set in the same universe along
0:40:09with this framing sequence and then the
0:40:11sequel is really like and this is what
0:40:13happened when they got there and I read
0:40:15it and I liked it but you're right that
0:40:17it's sort of not the point of the first
0:40:19book and I love you guys did love it he
0:40:22just what I think kind of gave up on the
0:40:23narrative structure Andy but theta so I
0:40:26like a period i have the same problem
0:40:27with a lot of you know books that have
0:40:29sequels but i think this one in
0:40:30particular it's like a period fantastic
0:40:33one of the best science fiction novels
0:40:34ever written despite the ending issue
0:40:36you know the next novel thats not bad
0:40:38but not great and then like all so I'm
0:40:42yeah just a riparian restrain yourself
0:40:44don't worry about don't worry about what
0:40:46happens to the characters just out there
0:40:48i'd say it's really too to book the
0:40:50Paris and you could read fall of
0:40:52hyperion I really wouldn't recommend
0:40:54reading the Endymion rise of endymion
0:40:57that's sure that the only reason you
0:40:59could read the Hyperion resolution well
0:41:01he needed the thing he was revisionist
0:41:03Endymion and rising and oh yeah there's
0:41:04a lot of red khan in there yeah it's
0:41:05retcon it's very frustrating right calm
0:41:07because you're like dude you made your
0:41:08universe
0:41:09you gotta live with it or rewrite your
0:41:11box because you're just going SSJ
0:41:13reactors
0:41:14yeah but it's good stuff I like that a
0:41:15lot and it was on my list i had it open
0:41:17a little browser tab right here i was
0:41:18going to talk about
0:41:19well thank you so 2 plus 10 to climb
0:41:21thank you for being such good taste i am
0:41:23glad that people know yes got it was
0:41:25also my list just to look at that plus
0:41:2822 Glenn amazing thing to ya know that's
0:41:32good that's really good he can square
0:41:33let us move on you need for a low score
0:41:36right it's like golf
0:41:37it's like golf that's exactly it let's
0:41:39move on to lex free
0:41:41men what I can't wait to hear what legs
0:41:45Friedman has now it's just bad travelers
0:41:47way to Schmidt moment you guys are
0:41:50already being cruel and haven't even
0:41:51gotten to the embarrassing part yet i
0:41:53will say with some trepidation that for
0:41:55my second selection i debated between
0:41:57not one not two but three separate
0:41:59novels all by the same guy a very famous
0:42:02author not necessarily renowned for his
0:42:03sci-fi work but it was the King Stephen
0:42:07King and I looked at the first one was
0:42:11going to pick was 11 22 63 but i didn't
0:42:13have two choices that had already had
0:42:14incomparable episodes that covered them
0:42:16and let me happy 263 and time travel
0:42:20yeah right it's not over time travel and
0:42:22this is felt redundant so I looked under
0:42:24the dome which i think is over all his
0:42:26best written story where in the you know
0:42:29the opening scenes a strange
0:42:31impenetrable glass dome or a glass maybe
0:42:34not be the right material with an
0:42:35impenetrable dome comes down over this
0:42:37town and then you watch what happens in
0:42:39this town with these people who are cut
0:42:40off from the rest of the world
0:42:41I mean it's just it's great it's long
0:42:43its vivid and every scene is I think
0:42:45really draw beautifully and I i think in
0:42:48a failure that is too common to King the
0:42:50the ending is just really kind of
0:42:52terrible so I rejected that one and I
0:42:55landed on the least sci-fi ish of my
0:42:58three selections but will allow it
0:43:00because it's a summer episode it was the
0:43:02Long Walk which he didn't even write a
0:43:04stephen king at the time he wrote it is
0:43:05Richard Bachman but the long walk is I
0:43:07think my my most beloved Stephen King
0:43:10novel the one that i reread the most
0:43:12often about a a dystopian society of
0:43:17some sort and for reasons that are never
0:43:18clearly explained various children are
0:43:22called up each year to walk endlessly
0:43:24and it's all televised for your
0:43:26enjoyment and if you don't keep up with
0:43:28the crowd or if you with the crowd of
0:43:31young boys were all walking or if you
0:43:33stumble or if at any point you falter
0:43:35off the path they kill you where you
0:43:38walk until you die and so you just it's
0:43:40the whole book essentially is the walk
0:43:43and that's on and also that's that's the
0:43:45size i promise if ever there was a
0:43:47satirical and all that so yes Lex I'll
0:43:50allow it to
0:43:51yes so but I mean you just you walk and
0:43:53you walk
0:43:54and I don't know for me it's i like it
0:43:57for I like the story i like the fact
0:43:59that he can tell a story where the
0:44:00entire journey is the walking and it's
0:44:02still a compelling read and I also think
0:44:05it's a very clear very direct influence
0:44:08to the Hunger Games
0:44:09yeah so I think that is to his credit as
0:44:11well I think that's a great choice Lex I
0:44:13but the correct summer reading choice
0:44:15for stephen king is probably the stand
0:44:17but still good choice standards on my
0:44:20summer reading list 0 for tackling it
0:44:23o.o you should read it but you might
0:44:26need a couple summers if you read the
0:44:27full on uncut version but already
0:44:30through you know song of ice and fire in
0:44:33two months I think I care
0:44:35yeah yeah so it's good pics already
0:44:38called well you are next
0:44:40don't be okay to cry whenever ya with me
0:44:44what why do you possibly be now Jason I
0:44:47think for my second pick
0:44:49I'm going to have to go with another
0:44:51book that I read probably once a summer
0:44:53for four or five summers as I was
0:44:56growing up and that is flowers for
0:44:58algernon which started out life is a
0:45:01short story and turned into a novel I
0:45:03this book was also made it to eat not so
0:45:07great film called Charlie which people
0:45:10have probably seen it I've vastly prefer
0:45:13the the book as do i with most film
0:45:17adaptations but the plot of flowers for
0:45:20algernon it's basically written log book
0:45:23style wherein we basically look through
0:45:27the eyes of a of a guy named Charlie who
0:45:33has an IQ of 68 and you meet him and
0:45:38he's working at this bakery and people
0:45:40don't necessarily know people are making
0:45:42fun of him but he can't really see it
0:45:43because he's a little dim and he
0:45:47basically gets drafted to be a guinea
0:45:50pig in this experiment to supersize
0:45:53human intelligence and so you're taking
0:45:55on this journey as he basically becomes
0:45:58smarter than anyone in any world and
0:46:03sort of climbs up and in first you see
0:46:05oh he's finally fitting in with his
0:46:07surroundings and he
0:46:08shooing you know all of the all of the
0:46:11things that aren't working in his life
0:46:12and then bad things happen with the IQ
0:46:17test and everything starts to go wrong
0:46:18and I really love this book because it's
0:46:23it's weirdly disturbing in a sort of
0:46:27it's a it's a glimpse into humanity at
0:46:30its best and its worst because not only
0:46:32do you see sort of Charlie's
0:46:35transformation but because you see the
0:46:38entire world through his eyes
0:46:41I you really get to see you know the
0:46:44people that he's working with at the
0:46:46start he thinks that they're his friends
0:46:48and as he starts to gain intelligence
0:46:52and as he you know becomes more aware of
0:46:55her surroundings he begins to realize oh
0:46:57no these people are mocking me and oh
0:47:01this woman I was you know really
0:47:03attracted to all of a sudden I can't
0:47:07interact with her at all because
0:47:08everything she says makes me wanna you
0:47:10know just walk away and I can't focus on
0:47:16anything but you know my experiment now
0:47:19like it's I find the entire book really
0:47:22fascinating and i love the log book
0:47:24style it's also kind of why I love John
0:47:27Waltons among others it's it's really
0:47:29really fun and intriguing to go directly
0:47:34through a character's point of view and
0:47:35not very many authors can do it really
0:47:37really well and the Daniel Keyes who
0:47:41wrote flowers for algernon just does it
0:47:44spectacularly so if you if you haven't I
0:47:47mean the short story if you don't have
0:47:49time to read another story is
0:47:50spectacular
0:47:51I don't know if I've you read the novel
0:47:52by remembering the short story and being
0:47:53blown away by the novel is very good
0:47:56the novel is a bit more adults the short
0:47:58story i started off with a short story
0:48:00because we actually had the the I think
0:48:03there's a magazine that was first
0:48:04published in we have that at my cabin
0:48:06and I was so blown away by the short
0:48:09story and my dad was basically like yeah
0:48:11he wrote a full book of that that I went
0:48:13immediately to the lake tahoe public
0:48:14library or the South Lake Tahoe public
0:48:16library like all right I want the actual
0:48:18novel i think i may have actually payday
0:48:21payday lost book fee on that one because
0:48:24it just stayed around at the cabin for
0:48:25years on end after that you stole it
0:48:30from the line i know i'm a horrible
0:48:31person but it was a really good book so
0:48:33I I feel justified and i paid the
0:48:35library back in spades
0:48:37all right you might be will be Holly for
0:48:39everybody
0:48:41she's a betting it was Lake Tahoe she's
0:48:46gambling minus 24 everybody who's turn
0:48:50is it all for free cheese cases their
0:48:52attorneys let's look do that's
0:48:54unexpected
0:48:55I had no idea as foreshadowed i'm going
0:49:00to pick a william gibson novel next and
0:49:02I think it's his best novel and that
0:49:07comes a lot from somebody who's bought
0:49:08neuromancer in about five different
0:49:10formats but I i think his novel from
0:49:152003 pattern recognition is his best
0:49:19work it is sort of sci-fi but it's set
0:49:22in more or less the present day I think
0:49:24the premise here is that our world that
0:49:26we live in now is in many ways if you
0:49:28view it and in those ways uh
0:49:30science-fictional it's got a lot of his
0:49:33typical stories you know there's kind of
0:49:35a MacGuffin there's a mysterious
0:49:37billionaire there's some Russian
0:49:39mobsters but I think you just described
0:49:42the plot of Gilligan's Island
0:49:43yeah it is there is there are no Russian
0:49:46mobsters there on the other side of the
0:49:48island with the headhunters what are you
0:49:49talking about it you know it's um though
0:49:52the woman who is the protagonist is a is
0:49:54a cool find her she's finding she just
0:49:57kind of one walks around and discovers
0:49:58what's going to be cool and she uses
0:50:01that that's her consultancy but she
0:50:04discovers this strange set of of film
0:50:08clips that are posted that nobody knows
0:50:12what they mean and they're trained
0:50:13people are trying to figure out what
0:50:14these uh what these strange clips that
0:50:17are what are they called the found the
0:50:21footage of the footage and and there's
0:50:23like this whole internet group of people
0:50:25who are trying to figure out its like
0:50:27the sample is read this I couldn't
0:50:28already
0:50:29turn up the footage is viral alright
0:50:31it's like viral for viral was a thing
0:50:33for viral video was a thing his
0:50:34allergies all those earlier it and she's
0:50:37a marketing professional but she's
0:50:38allergic to branding which is so is she
0:50:40liking she if she sees the Michelin Man
0:50:43she like breaks out in hives and has a
0:50:45panic attack and even other brand names
0:50:48bother her and she's like special
0:50:50clothing that doesn't have have branding
0:50:53and it's and there's a there's a sep
0:50:55tember 11th reference in which in which
0:50:58he you know I think added in the latter
0:51:00stages but gives it gives it an
0:51:02interesting feeling and firmly a 21st
0:51:04century feeling and you know what he's a
0:51:06great writer but this is this is the
0:51:07book where like I like the characters
0:51:09especially the protagonist Casey Pollard
0:51:14but also big and is in it who is the
0:51:18thief was in all three of the novels in
0:51:20this series the Belgian ad agency
0:51:24millionaire or billionaire that the
0:51:27solution to what does true story of the
0:51:29footage is leads to there's some action
0:51:31but there's also sort of a touching
0:51:33situation where they go to Russia and
0:51:35try to figure out what who's behind it
0:51:37and along the way he just he he SAT
0:51:41arises so many things about our modern
0:51:44culture and also extrapolates just a
0:51:46little bit forward as somebody is a big
0:51:48fan of Max Headroom when it was on the
0:51:50eighties this is that feel of the 20
0:51:52minutes into the future it's not it's
0:51:53not you know 500 years in the future
0:51:56it's just where our world is going to be
0:51:59not long after and i love that I i think
0:52:03it is him at the top of his game taking
0:52:05you know the skills that he's built up
0:52:07over the years and then and then I
0:52:09thought his middle trilogy did the first
0:52:11trilogy that was with neuromancer he did
0:52:13the bridge trilogy in the middle that I
0:52:14thought wasn't that great and then he
0:52:16came out with pattern recognition which
0:52:18turned out to be the first of this great
0:52:20trilogy of books and it's on its own you
0:52:25know it's a standalone novel you don't
0:52:26have to read the other books really good
0:52:28highly recommended so pattern
0:52:29recognition that's my choice
0:52:30that's the only give us in book I've
0:52:33ever read
0:52:34wow wow I like what I've said I would i
0:52:38think i would neuromancer above pattern
0:52:40recognition for me but i do like pattern
0:52:42recognition
0:52:42part of it was maybe when i read it let
0:52:44them kind of cold because i felt like it
0:52:46was it was so unless it was so I read it
0:52:50years after it came out and so all that
0:52:52stuff seemed kind of like old hat at
0:52:54that point like oh yeah viral video on
0:52:56the internet
0:52:57yep we're gonna put that together yeah
0:52:58alright and like it just seems like i
0:53:01don't know it lost a little something of
0:53:02a of the magic of it in there I think
0:53:04but I I it's an interesting book and
0:53:08there's a lot to like about it
0:53:09so the book so far ahead of its time
0:53:11when the time comes it seems to
0:53:13understand how well the reason i picked
0:53:16over over in romance because neuromancer
0:53:18is so iíve read that so many times and
0:53:20it was so influential but I felt like it
0:53:22was I not only is it is it of its time
0:53:26and it is it is more kind of clearly a
0:53:30new aurash you know if there's a
0:53:33megaphone one there and I right now I'm
0:53:34like 20 years after it came out and
0:53:37still found it like engrossing idea of
0:53:38getting very late to neuromancer and and
0:53:40really loved it
0:53:41yeah I I wanted to be less obvious too
0:53:44so there you go i think is going to
0:53:45choose to not not picking pattern
0:53:47recognition know i think i think is not
0:53:49is not appreciated as it should be by
0:53:53because neuromancer is such an
0:53:56influential novel so that's what a pic
0:53:57okay we're in we are into the third
0:54:00round now so we should move this on a
0:54:02little bit faster but i would like
0:54:04another set of books so we are going to
0:54:07go to glen fleischmann ha see what again
0:54:10i change the order Glenn what's your
0:54:12pick
0:54:13all right thing oh where the what the I
0:54:18want to pick something broad because
0:54:20Phil k dick i want everything he wrote
0:54:22no no you can't i'll pick out up a few
0:54:25but here is what you get for going to go
0:54:26and philip k dick is not Philip do you
0:54:30have anything my fellow Kate you're
0:54:32googling him right now I don't have that
0:54:35type of the field k dick you wrote an
0:54:39enormous amount and i'll recommend a
0:54:41couple in love when name one book
0:54:43Oh
0:54:44it starts with the Galactic pot healer
0:54:48which is the craziest title i think i
0:54:50found out about this book from blind or
0:54:52something and I it's a great release
0:54:54prolly weird thing with that you know a
0:54:56creature from another planet that sort
0:54:58of recruits the guy from this dystopian
0:54:59version of Earth many peers is like
0:55:03flames and a Phoenix and people can't
0:55:06see him in this like this underwater oh
0:55:09my god it's a great sprawling massive
0:55:11it's funny it's weird it's a if you want
0:55:15to get job advice you have to come up
0:55:16with actual quarters which cost a
0:55:18fortune and put them in like a phone
0:55:19booth and and robot gives you advice
0:55:22it's just it's a crazy thing I can't
0:55:23even explain it like I'm trying to
0:55:25explain really said that is but actually
0:55:26plant ecologist man in the high castle
0:55:28ubiq also like these are all some of
0:55:31them I think man the high castle is
0:55:33better known but I i would say pick up
0:55:35pick up some dick there's a couple of
0:55:37collections out now there's three from
0:55:38the new American Library came out with
0:55:41like officially edited and collected
0:55:44novels and have the first of them and I
0:55:47think it's he's a great it's not it's
0:55:50not easy summer reading always BUTT
0:55:52STUFF is interesting and
0:55:53thought-provoking bizarre and you don't
0:55:54find anything like it in most other
0:55:57science fiction because most people were
0:55:58not as seriously disturbed as philip k
0:56:00dick go active pot healer is that your
0:56:03choice
0:56:04well let's just put that over because
0:56:05it's just a personal but you know Phil
0:56:07okay to get a minute you gotta take one
0:56:09you gotta pick one all picked galactic
0:56:11particular for 200 Alex all right
0:56:14ok let's go to the mornin but wyd
0:56:22writers don't know what you're on the
0:56:24pie
0:56:25I'm going I'm going to veer off the
0:56:27science station train slightly to a oh I
0:56:31know I know
0:56:32282 a supernatural themed books are
0:56:34still the same
0:56:35that sounds about right it's a book
0:56:37about supernatural now it's the
0:56:39novelization absolutely you know maybe
0:56:41it's only that's easier if you watch the
0:56:43show opening tom and so yeah i know i'm
0:56:46just going to talk to myself now
0:56:48no it's a book called the devil you know
0:56:50by a writer named mike carey mike carey
0:56:53cut his teeth doing vertigo comics
0:56:55including of a very
0:56:58popular run on Lucifer which is branches
0:57:01off the story from neil gaiman's sandman
0:57:03about the the devil and he is the author
0:57:05of the unwritten which we talked about
0:57:06my comic book club episode I'm said I
0:57:08seconds i'm just i'm reading that now
0:57:10oh it's good yes it's very good i like
0:57:12it i like it it's like a better version
0:57:14of the magicians and so little richmond
0:57:18Christ so I'm gonna pick I'm gonna pick
0:57:20the w know which is the first in his
0:57:21series about Felix fix caster who is a
0:57:24freelance exorcist and i love this book
0:57:28because it is again as sort of with
0:57:31altered carbon which I talked about the
0:57:33top of the top of the show it's very nor
0:57:34its so basically sub out you know
0:57:37Humphrey Bogart as a private eye for
0:57:39this you know slightly schlubby guy who
0:57:41you know wanders around and dispatches
0:57:43ghosts or alternatively does magic at
0:57:46children's parties to me to pay the
0:57:47bills but he gets roughed up like all
0:57:49your new our heroes and he always
0:57:51stumbles upon these things which are
0:57:52somehow going on that are even bigger
0:57:54and I just I love it's so well drawn in
0:57:58the world is so well drawn it all takes
0:58:01place in London and there's there's i
0:58:04think five books so far and they kind of
0:58:06build there is sort of an ongoing plot
0:58:08that involves his best friend who has
0:58:11been possessed by an extremely powerful
0:58:12demon and there are some interesting
0:58:16characters and and the plus that develop
0:58:20along the course of these books some of
0:58:22them are better than others but i think
0:58:24most of them are actually really good
0:58:25and if you like sort of mysteries and
0:58:27enjoy any sort of supernatural ghost
0:58:29story type thing
0:58:31it's an excellent excellent pic i love
0:58:33the fact that every exorcist has to have
0:58:35their own particular stick sort of for
0:58:38dealing like none of them can really
0:58:40explain how their powers work but they
0:58:41have some method that works for them and
0:58:43for fix it say he carries around a tin
0:58:46whistle and uses music to sort of
0:58:48ensnare the ghosts and and send them on
0:58:50to their final resting place and it's
0:58:52one of the few books that actually start
0:58:53to get a little bit philosophical about
0:58:54like the heck to these guys go after we
0:58:57dispatch them like this and what does
0:58:58that all mean so it's a it's a great
0:59:00great series books highly recommend it
0:59:02alright the devil you know my carry
0:59:05let's go to a serenity Caldwell ok
0:59:10my next book on the list is carl sagan's
0:59:14contact which is actually been made into
0:59:17a film that's actually half decent but I
0:59:20i really love how about Jason that's I
0:59:24like moving
0:59:25I like it the movie has good point it's
0:59:27not it's not a perfect film but it has a
0:59:30lot of really really nice visualizations
0:59:33so the novel contact for people who
0:59:38haven't read it is basically about
0:59:39scientists and first contact with an
0:59:44alien species and how aliens might
0:59:47contact us and trying to get the world
0:59:52to believe that they actually have
0:59:53contacted us at how that related to
0:59:55faith and gets mired in all those fun
0:59:55faith and gets mired in all those fun
1:00:00fun subjects i love this book again I
1:00:03mean female protagonists always a good
1:00:05thing especially when they're pretty
1:00:07awesome but in addition its I like how
1:00:12this book makes you question faith and
1:00:15fate and moments in time I as a kid I
1:00:20loved aliens
1:00:21I love the idea of my dad was a ham
1:00:23radio operator so the idea of contacting
1:00:28another planet or another race of you
1:00:33know through the stars through radio
1:00:36waves with such a fascinating concept to
1:00:38me that I just don't write in which is
1:00:40why again the the 1997 film not a
1:00:44perfect movie but i must have washed it
1:00:4640 or 50 times after it came out and got
1:00:51it like I wore out that VHS just because
1:00:53you know it's there's something really
1:00:57excited about the idea of wanting you
1:01:01know first contact and and wanting that
1:01:04to be true and questioning your own
1:01:06sanity and you know it's I I think it's
1:01:09a really good book i've also think it's
1:01:11a really good film and it's it's light
1:01:13enough to be an easy beach read but it
1:01:17leaves you with some interesting
1:01:18questions at the close and it's great to
1:01:21read right before desk so you can you
1:01:23know go up on your growth for sit out on
1:01:25a dock and look up at the stars
1:01:27it's about in many ways the fundamental
1:01:29science fiction story right it's the the
1:01:31ultimate is what if there were other
1:01:34creatures out there and what would
1:01:37happen if we found out and that's and
1:01:40then take the science of it which carl
1:01:42sagan is quite capable of doing and then
1:01:44take the you know a realistic look at
1:01:47what the ramifications would be and and
1:01:49that then you've got the story
1:01:51yeah it's it's quite beautiful let's go
1:01:54now to lex friedman I cannot think of a
1:02:00worse book to follow-up contact within
1:02:02my last election but I was a
1:02:05novelization of effects of Star Wars
1:02:08it's called about a novelization of the
1:02:12movie contact
1:02:13adapted from the book content and I was
1:02:17thinking about reading and summer
1:02:19reading and I don't think of the truth
1:02:21is you know I don't think of some
1:02:23reading is a specific kind of reading
1:02:25for me anymore the way to do when I was
1:02:27growing up because now i just read all
1:02:28year long and I don't have extra reading
1:02:30time in the summer because I don't take
1:02:31a big summer vacation most summers I
1:02:33thought back to summer sci-fi reading
1:02:36that I would have done while growing up
1:02:37and I thought about a book that I
1:02:39consider my introduction to sci-fi genre
1:02:42i thought hey i enjoy reading this and I
1:02:44want to read more about it and so it
1:02:47would be the book that I say introduced
1:02:48me to sci-fi and scared me so thoroughly
1:02:50when I wasn't reading it I don't have to
1:02:52leave it face down because the cover was
1:02:54scary and that is my teacher is an alien
1:02:57by bruce coville and you know it's
1:03:01there's a whole series of my teachers an
1:03:03alien books that goes into my teacher
1:03:05fried my brain and glows in the dark and
1:03:07flunk the planet and it's all of them
1:03:09center on the same basic premise which
1:03:11is that aliens have invested this
1:03:12clearly a school with very poor hiring
1:03:16standards but it is up to various stock
1:03:19children from that school to prevent the
1:03:22aliens from taking over the world and
1:03:23the world really is endangering these
1:03:24stories for children and but luckily the
1:03:27children are there to to rescue us in to
1:03:29prevent the aliens from achieving what
1:03:31they hope to achieve where I glad now
1:03:34talk about the time that bruce coville
1:03:36came to my school and went around the
1:03:37classroom helping us having us each
1:03:39describe a characteristic of an alien we
1:03:41all created together and you know he had
1:03:42the first person so you know how tall is
1:03:44it insane person what colors and it got
1:03:46to me said eyes and I said three and he
1:03:48said you're the first person to ever say
1:03:50a number when I ask for is everybody
1:03:51else's provides a color and he thought I
1:03:53was great so I also think bruce coville
1:03:54is great but that did not influence my
1:03:56selection of my teachers an alien today
1:03:57so this is the book that you can slip in
1:03:59your kids bag to take to the beach yet
1:04:03you know once right now might my
1:04:05five-year-old loves chapter book shoot
1:04:07but she likes reading about fairies and
1:04:09princesses and magic and stuff she gets
1:04:11scared a little bit too easily for my
1:04:12teachers nearly now but I think come
1:04:14seven or eight she's gonna be ready but
1:04:16anyway I really did enjoy my teachers
1:04:17only in you know
1:04:19I looked at it again this week and it's
1:04:23because i still have all those books
1:04:24because I suppose was filled with books
1:04:26I saved from when I was a kid and I mean
1:04:28they don't hold up well in a sense of
1:04:30you know it's not like children's
1:04:32literature that's really great for
1:04:33adults to the way some might consider I
1:04:35don't know Harry Potter hunger games
1:04:36plus this target i think a younger
1:04:38reading audience but the stories are
1:04:40well-crafted and they you know you can
1:04:42see that it's scary in the right ways
1:04:44and it's the science fiction stuff is at
1:04:47least well done it's got its own you
1:04:48know thing and it works with it i know
1:04:51it's it's it's well-crafted and it's
1:04:52well targeted to its youthful audience
1:04:54that's great pic great pic all right
1:04:58we've got two selections left and cut up
1:05:01next is me haha see i changed it around
1:05:05i'm going to pick for some more
1:05:09contemplation in your summer reading if
1:05:11you'd like to think a little bit read
1:05:14joe haldeman is classic the forever war
1:05:17from the 74 here here just added that to
1:05:20my summer reading list actually oh
1:05:21that's that's a good one that was me
1:05:24working retro actively through time to
1:05:26put that on your list about the past few
1:05:28days so so well it's all that time
1:05:31dilation so that forever war which was
1:05:32written at toward the end of the Vietnam
1:05:36War and it is a kind of meditation on
1:05:38the the disaffection that soldiers felt
1:05:41it when returning home from Vietnam I
1:05:45think it's sort of fundamentally what
1:05:46it's about but it's not about a lot of
1:05:48other things about cultural ships during
1:05:51a war time and just in general it's
1:05:54about you know the life of a soldier and
1:05:58being removed from the people that
1:05:59they're fighting for it's about the
1:06:01question of whether war is necessary
1:06:04ever whether you know regardless of what
1:06:07the soldier we are doing is is war
1:06:09something that should never happen
1:06:12lots of big ideas you know there's a
1:06:14whole subplot about the well i'm not
1:06:18going to go into too much I mean suffice
1:06:19to say the culture of humanity changes
1:06:22and changes radically as these soldiers
1:06:24keep moving through time because when
1:06:27they they go out on a battle there's
1:06:28huge time dilation so battles are fought
1:06:32by the time you return hundreds of
1:06:33thousands of years have passed and so
1:06:36these future soldiers are quite
1:06:39literally returning to a place that
1:06:41isn't home and they are recognizable and
1:06:44they don't fit in with with what they
1:06:47got coming home to so it's just it isn't
1:06:49it is a masterpiece
1:06:51it is one of the classics of science
1:06:53fiction and it's got a lot it's in that
1:06:57mold of science fiction that not only is
1:06:58it telling you he's telling a good
1:07:00entertaining exciting story but the
1:07:02social commentary that he's doing while
1:07:05telling that story using all of the
1:07:07things that's sci-fi can do as a kid
1:07:10grew up watching Star Trek and realized
1:07:12as i as i watch the original Star Trek
1:07:13just how they were using science fiction
1:07:16to tell you know make commentary on the
1:07:18world that you might not get away with
1:07:20it wasn't science fiction and people
1:07:21with ray guns and things like that and
1:07:24the forever war does that to the forever
1:07:25war has this whole layer of commentary
1:07:29that it is able to get away with by
1:07:31having it be said in the science
1:07:32fictional premise so it's a classic and
1:07:35I recommend it and it's not a it's not
1:07:37really a downer it's just I mean it's
1:07:40weighty in its subject matter but it's
1:07:42not really a downer it's not like going
1:07:43to bum you out if you read it on the
1:07:44beach it's just gonna make you think so
1:07:47that's my choice I have to think there
1:07:49occasionally so that's my choice and
1:07:52that leaves us with Scott McNulty well I
1:07:56I approve of that choice Jason and thank
1:07:58you
1:07:59just in case you're wondering I took
1:08:01your silence as a descent but that is
1:08:04good and dan have you read it i have
1:08:07actually not ready to it's sort of been
1:08:09my perennial list for a long time right
1:08:11now we could work together with it gets
1:08:12put up there is no yes forever at war
1:08:15I've been with myself for know it's it's
1:08:17been put up there is sort of the polar
1:08:18opposite or in some ways the
1:08:20conversational opposite of the Starship
1:08:22Troopers which i think is an interesting
1:08:25yeah I green technology lets uh atom
1:08:29bombs in the forever wars i remembered
1:08:31but uh my pic is a book that I like
1:08:37honestly really yeah i-i've just tried
1:08:41to both without this works I
1:08:43going a little different route up the
1:08:46sparrow by married or Russell oh
1:08:50excellent excellent that was on my list
1:08:51to excellent
1:08:53yeah that thinking like this percent
1:08:54great it is always fantastic book not
1:08:57not a really uplifting story but I it
1:09:00revolves around so the Jesuits find this
1:09:05plant they hear a signal from a planet
1:09:07so they send a space mission to it to
1:09:09discover that there are aliens on this
1:09:12planet and you know through a series of
1:09:16unfortunate events they've really a kind
1:09:20of ruined the the aliens culture and the
1:09:24main character who's a Jesuit priest is
1:09:27can captured by this alien who is an
1:09:31artist and who does not nice things to
1:09:35this priest
1:09:35ah but it's in keeping with the alien
1:09:38culture so if they don't think of it as
1:09:40not nice but uh the Jesuit priest
1:09:43certainly does and he ends up coming
1:09:45back to earth a kind of doubting his
1:09:48faith and hating God for making him take
1:09:50this mission to this planet I it's
1:09:53beautifully written
1:09:54yeah it i went to a Jesuit High School
1:09:57so I i'm interested in the Jesuits
1:09:59connection but I think even if you were
1:10:02not taught by gesture with you will
1:10:03highlight like this book i would not
1:10:05read the sequel you know but I if you
1:10:10plan to read the sequel just read the
1:10:13sparrow again
1:10:14yes you will be happy i think i was
1:10:17hoping she was going to write some
1:10:19additional science fiction but then
1:10:21she's become mired in as i recall like
1:10:24alt history Holocaust rating or so now
1:10:26she's she's not alter history I mean she
1:10:29really actually oracle historical sure
1:10:31thing about world war two and in Italy
1:10:32with that and and her latest is about
1:10:35doc holliday and my wife read it and
1:10:37said it was actually quite ok well
1:10:38that's called doc but that the the the
1:10:41sparrows great although my one complaint
1:10:43about the sparrow is and i said in the
1:10:45podcast a couple of times you get to
1:10:48about eighty percent of ninety percent
1:10:49of the weigh-in and a lot of the detail
1:10:52kind of drops off and it becomes all
1:10:54about the plot and it's as if she
1:10:55realized she needed to
1:10:57in her manuscript which is unfortunate
1:11:00because all the stuff that I really
1:11:02loved about it up to that point kind of
1:11:05a lot of that fell away so she could
1:11:06finish she does finish which is good
1:11:08that is good she didn't just stop i know
1:11:11you'll see my dad or like the
1:11:13instruments but crappy exactly and seen
1:11:16exactly that's a great pic the sparrow
1:11:19that is one of my that is one of my
1:11:21favorites that is on my top ten and
1:11:23maybe even my top five list along with
1:11:25the along with the time traveler's wife
1:11:27honestly so if I had remembered that
1:11:29movie with the player but I'm glad Scott
1:11:30picked it
1:11:31yes I Scott saved us from jenny and save
1:11:34this just again it's what I do
1:11:36thank you Scott thanks for saving us all
1:11:39right we have reached the end of our
1:11:41list we have created a 18 books that we
1:11:45suggest that you consider reading this
1:11:47summer in the next six weeks before yes
1:11:49before we go or or put them on the list
1:11:52before we go I will go around and see if
1:11:54anybody had any others that they want to
1:11:56mention the titles of just to get them
1:11:58out there because you did the work why
1:11:59not show it off and while you're
1:12:02thinking of that i'll throw out to that
1:12:03I had I had the diamond age or a young
1:12:06ladies illustrated primer by neal
1:12:08stephenson which is my favorite maybe
1:12:11Stephenson although I like many of his
1:12:13books and I had a million open doors by
1:12:16john barnes which I mentioned on the
1:12:18podcast before which is the first book
1:12:19in a series where they there they invent
1:12:24things that let you step from one planet
1:12:25to another and there's lots of cultural
1:12:27hub that happens then because cultures
1:12:29are mixed for the first time in hundreds
1:12:31of years and it's very interesting
1:12:33dan do you have any extra names you
1:12:34would like to throw out there
1:12:36well I throw out a couple that we
1:12:37already talked about on the podcast in
1:12:39earlier editions which are John Scalzi
1:12:41his old man's war
1:12:42oh yeah right which-- someone in the
1:12:44chatroom also mentioned good companion
1:12:46my list that and the forever war that's
1:12:48not a bad one in fact I i recommend all
1:12:51three of the sequels that that's cause
1:12:53he has a certain for the old man's we're
1:12:55all very good yeah is about to embark
1:12:57upon writing ace sort of a not-quite
1:13:00serialize novel but an episodic novel
1:13:02which will be released in in weekly
1:13:05installments I think starting in
1:13:07december Wow contours website which
1:13:10sounds
1:13:10very interesting so I put that out there
1:13:12and of course the day i think one of the
1:13:14first books we talked about on this
1:13:16podcast which is Nick Harkaway is gone
1:13:17away world which remains one of the best
1:13:19science fiction novels i've read in
1:13:20recent years
1:13:21it's a good book we should talk about
1:13:22angel maker and future pot yes we should
1:13:24it's not quite your makers not quite
1:13:26science-fictional that's why I special
1:13:28woman now
1:13:28kind of yeah okay kinda we'll talk about
1:13:30that that's good that's good glad you do
1:13:33you have any leftovers on your list
1:13:34I got a bunch i'll go through superfast
1:13:36leavin have a nurse Lee kayla quinn
1:13:38great on my bookshelf yes uplift war of
1:13:41all the different
1:13:43yeah they bring we can talk about
1:13:44Everett bring a future podcast I think
1:13:46up therefore of all of those I think I
1:13:48reds 6 uplift universe novels anymore i
1:13:52think up therefore I like it's got a
1:13:54great plot great character is kind of
1:13:55fun
1:13:56its moves along and there's some really
1:13:58hilarious stuff and it was the gorillas
1:14:00not going on with all the things exactly
1:14:02much better uh NM because it rewired my
1:14:05brain I think it's one of my favorite
1:14:07Stevenson's red mars blue Mars screen
1:14:09Mars Kim Stanley Robinson yeah varied
1:14:12you know long series very involved
1:14:14million characters but i think he pulls
1:14:15it off quite well
1:14:16shadow of the torturer claw of the
1:14:18conciliator by Gene Wolfe I've read a
1:14:20lot of Gene Wolfe I wish I hadn't read
1:14:22much changed much of Gene Wolfe but
1:14:24those to the first in the the torturers
1:14:27rates than the ones that some of the new
1:14:29earth series of anger was called those
1:14:31first two I quite liked and solaris
1:14:34stanislav alem magnificent crazy
1:14:37difficult book that makes your brain
1:14:39working different ways after you read it
1:14:41awesome alright that's good Lex do you
1:14:44have anymore laughter work with were
1:14:45those your three science fiction books
1:14:46that you've ever read
1:14:47no I had others i am I couldn't decide
1:14:50between various I couldn't decide from
1:14:53various kurt vonnegut novels so I
1:14:54rejected them all but I was considering
1:14:57you know I think obvious Monica choices
1:14:58like sirens of titan and slaughterhouse
1:15:00five and uh help me another one after a
1:15:04long battle and butt
1:15:08and if you guys hadn't all hated it I
1:15:12would have mentioned ready player one
1:15:14because I think you all need wrong about
1:15:15it as long as we didn't all hitched
1:15:17which I do i read on because Scott
1:15:20McNulty mentioned it on twitter so i
1:15:21bought and read it and such a and i
1:15:25think yeah that's that's what i was
1:15:27thinking about kurt vonnegut nothing
1:15:28ready player one and I knew that
1:15:29mentioning the 2nd one would get me
1:15:31really cool too i left it off alright
1:15:32Kurt Vonnegut is much better than ready
1:15:34player one is that strong ordered or
1:15:36feed which nobody has mentioned my
1:15:40certainty Caldwell do you have any
1:15:42leftovers and a couple of guesses for
1:15:45space which I've mentioned several times
1:15:46on this podcast was a short young adult
1:15:48collection by Ray Bradbury is fantastic
1:15:52I i adore it American God's neil gaiman
1:15:56pseudo fantasy Sudan I had that on my
1:15:59list and then I decided it wasn't sci-fi
1:16:01really yeah but a great book i love it i
1:16:04feel really really not see boys American
1:16:06Gods looks better than boys yeah you'd
1:16:08like American I would tend to agree and
1:16:10that's it was kinda like a fable
1:16:12american gods as I don't know there's a
1:16:13little more in there's me a little more
1:16:15meters more than shall return it yeah
1:16:17that's good i can't believe no one
1:16:19mentioned hitchhiker's guide to the
1:16:20galaxy
1:16:21I think of that ya next time reading
1:16:23you're right you're on
1:16:24true you're a deficient because i hated
1:16:26I thought it was too obvious but yeah I
1:16:29michael crichton's Jurassic Park
1:16:30actually i have on my list when i read a
1:16:33lot of Creighton growing up over the
1:16:34summer and weird
1:16:36yeah it's a well I mean it's not it's
1:16:38again books that aren't maybe the best
1:16:40books in the world but are good
1:16:41interesting sci-fi and have been made
1:16:44into i guess most of my pics we've made
1:16:46it to weird movies and I didn't have
1:16:50ender's game on the list because I know
1:16:52it's a controversial book but i can't
1:16:54help but always grateful yeah its
1:16:56controversial author google
1:16:59controversial exactly i love the book
1:17:01but i always feel guilty mentioning it
1:17:03and people in the chat room ER yeah and
1:17:06then finally I I'm i keep on debating
1:17:08about following Joe Waltons science
1:17:12fiction list among others because there
1:17:14are a hundred nineteen or so really
1:17:18potentially good science fiction books
1:17:20on there and i have read very
1:17:21few of them like maybe one summer all
1:17:23just sit down and read one of those a
1:17:25day but that's that's always a good book
1:17:28to read if you want pics for even more
1:17:30science fiction novels i agree just read
1:17:33your walls and and it's also my pic and
1:17:36Scott's pick for the for the hugo award
1:17:38so you could read a good book and and
1:17:41find out about what about the good grade
1:17:43that's great and did Scott did i ask you
1:17:45I think you're the last one left without
1:17:47you you did not ask me and so i will now
1:17:50answer please please do i I keep
1:17:52flashing back to when I was a in high
1:17:54school
1:17:55one of my friends father's head like a
1:17:57shelf of Star Trek novels and I spent
1:17:59the summer reading like 40 Star Trek
1:18:01novels they weren't very good i remember
1:18:04one where Captain Kirk was in a pie
1:18:08fight with Klingons was located but and
1:18:12Spock's world those sticks out to me as
1:18:15a good book i don't remember anything
1:18:16about it but i do remember is being
1:18:18probably the best one out of those that
1:18:20i read but also AM banks has written a
1:18:24series of books about the culture it's a
1:18:27space opera good they're really good
1:18:30what else can i record bed i have ai
1:18:33throw an easy is his other non culture
1:18:35book the algebra is too which is a yes i
1:18:37have the out of my copy of the algebraic
1:18:39I didn't have the last two pages in it
1:18:41so how was a crucial Scott able my work
1:18:45together because formula incomplete sad
1:18:48i am currently in the midst of reading
1:18:51the Middle Kingdom by David wingrove
1:18:55which is it came out and the eighties is
1:18:57this like a nine or 28 or tens volume
1:19:02series of books uh the first one is
1:19:05chunko it is one of these series of the
1:19:08last book is absolutely horrible and
1:19:10kind of retro actively ruins the entire
1:19:12series but i haven't read the last book
1:19:14and the first book is incredible so I
1:19:16wouldn't suggest reading that and he's
1:19:18actually in the process of releasing
1:19:20them and as twenty volumes I don't
1:19:23really know how that works but he is
1:19:25doing that so that's kind of interesting
1:19:27i'd also there's a book the reason
1:19:30empire by scott westerfeld which is on
1:19:32which we mentioned yes it's a another
1:19:34kind of space opera anything although
1:19:36keep in mind that it was originally it's
1:19:39a two books it was released as two books
1:19:41that was originally one book that so
1:19:43they just kind of cut it in half so make
1:19:45sure that you have the second book
1:19:47immediately after the perfect because it
1:19:49does just end up in the middle of a
1:19:52sentence no less it's why I immediately
1:19:54you know it's funny that you mentioned
1:19:55Spock's world because that's Diane
1:19:57Dewayne and she wrote the wounded sky
1:19:59which I thought was the best of the Star
1:20:00Trek novels will see there's no which is
1:20:03like at she makes a real attempt to try
1:20:06to understand what a space battle would
1:20:08actually be like instead of just saying
1:20:10that their phasers and then no its
1:20:11twenty percent we can't take another hit
1:20:13and she had a there's like tactics and
1:20:16all and that was really cool
1:20:17he also wrote a large amount of very
1:20:19good fantasy books for people who don't
1:20:21know yet
1:20:22yeah yeah yeah but also also wrote star
1:20:26trek episode and the couple star trek
1:20:27novels is multifaceted should write the
1:20:30one with the Klingon to the pies though
1:20:32no I hope not gonna fix it
1:20:35alright so on that note we're going to
1:20:39close up the incomparables first annual
1:20:43and maybe only annual summer reading
1:20:46list we hope you've gotten a lot of
1:20:47books that uh some of which have struck
1:20:49your fancy and that you might take time
1:20:51to read if not this summer then later on
1:20:54this year just put them on your list and
1:20:57with that I would like to thank my
1:21:00guests for being here tonight Scott
1:21:02McNulty thank you thank you this summer
1:21:04i plan to read nothing but feed over and
1:21:07over and over again mixing deadline a
1:21:09little bit
1:21:10Glenn fleischmann you'll be reading only
1:21:12in the German this summer I assume he
1:21:15died I ya novel LOL thats let's say I
1:21:20then more and thank you for being here
1:21:22I was just static and put my own book on
1:21:24the list ya next year maybe next year
1:21:26maybe maybe back in Jerusalem i'll be
1:21:29hosting that is the most of that podcast
1:21:31i Lex Friedman thanks for being here
1:21:33thank you thank you nobody picked my
1:21:35books either and i already ordered
1:21:36pattern recognition to my kindle yeah I
1:21:39i win and cindy caldwell thank you so
1:21:42much for being here it is a pleasure as
1:21:44always I'm gonna go curl up in bed and
1:21:47the diamond age before bed now look at
1:21:49that it could be your illustrated primer
1:21:51I could know
1:21:53yeah I and for the uncomfortable once
1:21:58again I am Jason cell thanks for
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1:22:09will be number one hundred and it will
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1:22:31so thanks for listening and we'll see
1:22:33you next time
1:22:37[Music]