Author Topic: Best SF Book of all time?  (Read 84194 times)

eytanz

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Reply #275 on: November 23, 2008, 09:47:26 PM
Oh, ok:

( 8 ) The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester +1

#37 ( 0 ) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K Dick  -1

I didn't want to play the last move since I had already fed so many points to the winner, but since I honestly believe it deserves the win, here goes.



stePH

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Reply #276 on: November 24, 2008, 04:18:54 AM
Whatever.  I quit caring when the real best book got ganged up on and murdered last week.

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Heradel

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Reply #277 on: November 24, 2008, 04:30:36 AM
Whatever.  I quit caring when the real best book got ganged up on and murdered last week.

Your personal best book. There's a difference. I would have liked 1984 to win, but it didn't.

I Twitter. I also occasionally blog on the Escape Pod blog, which if you're here you shouldn't have much trouble finding.


Zathras

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Reply #278 on: November 24, 2008, 05:28:12 AM
Whatever.  I quit caring when the real best book got ganged up on and murdered last week.

It's not exactly the best format for deciding this.  As was demonstrated on multiple occasions, all it takes is 2 people not working against each other to skew the results.  I freely admit that at times I was just picking off weak entries or creating chaos.




Bdoomed

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Reply #279 on: November 24, 2008, 05:29:17 AM
HHG shoulda won.

I'd like to hear my options, so I could weigh them, what do you say?
Five pounds?  Six pounds? Seven pounds?


Windup

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Reply #280 on: November 24, 2008, 05:48:08 AM
I should point out for the sake of those that saw blade runner but didn't read the book - the movie is a very loose adaptation.

This is the case for every film adapted from PKD up until A Scanner DarklyTotal Recall and Minority Report are particular standouts; they have only a basic premise and a couple of character names in common with their source stories.  (I haven't seen Paycheck yet.)

In the cases of both Blade Runner and Minority Report -- especially the latter -- I thought the movies were better than the stories they were based on, which is very unusual for me.  PKD's Minority Report was a straightforward logic puzzle about the implications of a limited ability to know the future; the movie really grappled with the social implications of the technology.  I found Androids just plain hard to follow, though the audiobook format may have been part of the problem.  But I love Blade Runner.

"My whole job is in the space between 'should be' and 'is.' It's a big space."


eytanz

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Reply #281 on: November 24, 2008, 07:52:42 AM
Whatever.  I quit caring when the real best book got ganged up on and murdered last week.

It's not exactly the best format for deciding this.  As was demonstrated on multiple occasions, all it takes is 2 people not working against each other to skew the results.  I freely admit that at times I was just picking off weak entries or creating chaos.

Of course it isn't a good way to decide the best book - though I was trying to play as honestly (based on my own opinions) as possible. But this game definitely is skewed towards people who are playing aggressively, like Zatharas and I did, by posting immediately after anyone else does (and that become really easy if there are 2 peope like that playing at once), it is skewed towards early votes, as it's impossible to recover from being knocked off, and the arbitrary point halvings meant that it was skewed towards people who were online around the same time raving_lunatic was.

At the end this was basically a game of tug-o'-war played on book titles rather than with a rope. It was amusing, but not something anyone should take seriously, I would think.

That said, at least some people (including myself) seem to have been directed towards reading some books they would otherwise many not had tried thanks to it, so I would think it was worthwhile.



Raving_Lunatic

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Reply #282 on: November 24, 2008, 10:04:33 AM
I'd never dream of saying this was definitive. It's just a bit of fun.



stePH

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Reply #283 on: November 24, 2008, 02:18:06 PM
Whatever.  I quit caring when the real best book got ganged up on and murdered last week.

Your personal best book. There's a difference. I would have liked 1984 to win, but it didn't.

Says the person who almost singlehandedly murdered my book  ;)

"Nerdcore is like playing Halo while getting a blow-job from Hello Kitty."
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Windup

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Reply #284 on: November 24, 2008, 11:55:46 PM

That said, at least some people (including myself) seem to have been directed towards reading some books they would otherwise many not had tried thanks to it, so I would think it was worthwhile.


Yeah, I'll 'fess up and admit that I've never read The Stars My Destination, and now I probably will.

"My whole job is in the space between 'should be' and 'is.' It's a big space."


deflective

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Reply #285 on: November 25, 2008, 12:37:17 AM
apparently eytanz has convinced a lot of us to give it a try.

the local library doesn't even have a copy, guess i'll have to get a copy and donate it.



cuddlebug

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Reply #286 on: November 25, 2008, 10:36:16 AM
apparently eytanz has convinced a lot of us to give it a try.

the local library doesn't even have a copy, guess i'll have to get a copy and donate it.

He has certainly convinced me and I went and bought a copy,

... in fact he did such a good job of it that I now have TWO COPIES, not realizing I already had it on my bookshelf for some time.

So if someone wants one, let me know, and we'll figure something out (maybe a swap?). Or I'll just return it to the bookshop and get another one, already have Dick's 'Androids and Electric sheep', but want to read 'Flowers for Algernon' as well. Oh and I haven't read 'Hyperion' either.



Corydon

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Reply #287 on: November 25, 2008, 01:22:17 PM
The Stars My Destination is really good, and most definitely worth your time.  I'm happy to see it win (I'm aware of the limitations of this contest; it was still fun.)  I'll confess to holding a minority opinion: I think that the Demolished Man is a better novel.  And, actually, I enjoy Bester's short stories better still. 

I've never read Gateway, and this thread has reminded me of that.  So I'm off to find a copy this weekend, hooray!

edited to add: never read Cyteen, either.  That doesn't appeal to me quite as much, but maybe I'll give it a shot.
« Last Edit: November 25, 2008, 01:25:22 PM by Corydon »



eytanz

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Reply #288 on: November 25, 2008, 02:15:12 PM
I've never read Gateway, and this thread has reminded me of that.  So I'm off to find a copy this weekend, hooray!

edited to add: never read Cyteen, either.  That doesn't appeal to me quite as much, but maybe I'll give it a shot.

Same here, for both of them; or more accurately, I read bits of Gateway when I was in my early teens and wasn't particularly interested in it; I should really try again. Cyteen is on my to-read list, and has been for a while; I should bump it up.



stePH

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Reply #289 on: November 25, 2008, 02:18:58 PM
Cyteen is on my to-read list, and has been for a while; I should bump it up.

Lots of people, even Cherryh fans, claim to have bounced off that novel -- the first sixty or so pages seem to be a sticking point (mostly involving a council meeting and general political set-up).  But I ate the whole thing up with a spoon.

By contrast, I bounced off of The Lord of the Rings and Dune at least twice each before I was able to finish them.

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Raving_Lunatic

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Reply #290 on: November 25, 2008, 04:57:35 PM
Gateway is good, hyperion I have three copies, all unread, and Flowers for Algernon is one of my favourite books of all time. Very worth a read, if that makes sense. I recently re-read The Stars My Destination.



Windup

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Reply #291 on: November 26, 2008, 03:33:28 AM


Gateway is good...


I remember reading it when I was in high school; I think it was a Science Fiction Book Club edition.  I remember not liking it all that well, particularly the ending.  Potential Spoiler, quote to read: The idea of making an emotional connection with the implications time dialation just seemed too far-fetched. 

"My whole job is in the space between 'should be' and 'is.' It's a big space."


stePH

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Reply #292 on: November 26, 2008, 05:26:59 AM


Gateway is good...


I remember reading it when I was in high school; I think it was a Science Fiction Book Club edition.  I remember not liking it all that well, particularly the ending. 

I haven't read it, but I have it and the three follow-up volumes in my personal collection.  I've heard from some that it's better without the sequels.

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Raving_Lunatic

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Reply #293 on: March 13, 2009, 05:30:31 PM
OK, I'm tempted to start this up again. if anyone's interested, here's the plan: Everyone makes lists, and those that get mentioned the most go into the eventual final list which we play the game with.