OMG - thank you, feeling honored! Thanks for including my book on the list. Whoop whoop! Terraforming planets, visiting new star systems, and mysteries is exactly what A New Eden is about.
Thank you for choosing my comment and as well as recommending me a book to read as a soft sci-fi novel. Absolutely awesome and thank you. Really appreciated.😊 Definitely going to read it.
I haven't watched the video yet. But I'm calling my shot from the outset: If Permutation City isn't on this list it's not a real "Words in Time" video and Jonathan has been kidnapped by aliens.
I was thinking about your recommendations, and I wanted to comment regarding Blindsight. I am a pretty sophisticated science fiction reader, and I found it difficult. In fact, it's sitting in a pile of shame stack. I want to finish it because so many Book Tubers say the high concept reveal is so mind-blowing. But, as you say, the story is difficult and cryptic, and I found myself thinking "life is too short and I have too many books on my shelves", so at about 70% in, I put it aside. I just wanted to say that, since you chose that as a recommendation for someone who said they are fairly new to the genre....I'm not sure it's an easy pick for a newish SF reader. I've read a lot of your other picks as well. I can't wait to pick up Solaris...it's coming in the mail this week! Love the channel.
I was feeling mixed on Blindsight and then the last 100 or 150 pages blew me away. It is a difficult read but seeing as they have read Cixin Liu I thought they might want to try Blindsight if they were looking for a sense of hopelessness haha I hope you enjoy Solaris as much as I did!
I got a little too giddy seeing you pick my comment! I'll definitely add Permutation City to my TBR. I loved the Bobiverse books, they were so much fun. I listened to them via audiobook due to my long work commute l, and they are very well done. Same narrator who did Project Hail Mary. And to anyone who wants to read or listen to Project Hail Mary, go in blind.
@@WordsinTimejust got my copy of Permutation City and started it. Greatly enjoying it so far and I'll be sure to let you know my final thoughts when I finish it! As a nurse, I already love the biochemistry it dabbles it. I always loved chemistry, and I'm a rare nurse where it wasn't my worst subject or the bane of my existence. The math buried in it just always made it make sense. Ergo, like physics, its a science Iove learning more about
Thank you Jonathan for your recommendation! I wasn't trying to dismiss Asimov's quality at all, in fact, The End of Eternity is my all-time second fave sci-fi book. I meant to say that those authors don't hook you so much with their prose, but rather with their ideas primarily, as you well said. Regarding the book you recommended me, thank you so much. I just bought a nice hard-cover edition of More than human a couple of months ago, and I wasn't sure which place in my next readings list should I add it in. I'm surely checking it out soon!
I'm a big Bradbury fan as well, Cristian! I recently re-read "The October Country" (a short story collection) that I had read as a little girl more than 50 years ago. It has held up incredibly well and I can't recommend it enough if you've never read it.
Great list. It would have been difficult in a way, because in some books, a great example of terraforming, for example, is a feature in the solution or elsewhere. Or the book being 1st contact is always a treat when going in not knowing it is about to be. From the books I have read in your list, I would agree with a lot of your assessment. Except Blindsight went over my head and I didn't end up loving it a ton.
Really like your videos as you cover a very wide range of authors. One thing I do suggest is that you give C. J. Cherryh another look. Along with Cyteen, Downbelow Station is another very good book. She is in my top 10 authors but I do understand we all have different tastes. The only thing missing here was finding a Science Fiction option for people who like mysteries or problem solving like McDevitt's Alex Benedict series, Niven'sGil Hamilton stories, Effinger's When Gravity Fails or Asimov's Caves of Steel.
@@WordsinTime Is it complete? I am scared committing myself to a series only for the author to pull a GRRM. I am so close to giving into Name of the wind but man I feel bad for everyone who is still waiting.
@@TowerBooks3192 It is not complete but the author has been very consistent delivering a book around once a year. Also, he knows what the ending will be as that was the inspiration for the series. 5 books are currently available, book 6 is coming out 2024 and book 7 will be the final book. He provides monthly writing updates so I have faith he will complete the series soon!
I really enjoy Replay and have reread it several times. Fun fact (mostly-in a sad way) The author died from a heart attack! I like to think he's out there reliving his best life over and over like the protagonist (Multiverse anyone?)!
Let's contribute to Francesca's depression by recommending Philip K. Dick's "A Scanner Darkly". THEN go take a shower and read "The Martian". LOL! Great picks (as always), Jonathan!
I greatly enjoyed Pandora's Star, so much so I'm mad at how much I disliked the Void trilogy. It felt like a great idea squandered (no shade if you like the trilogy though!)
@epiphoney I enjoyed the first book enough and tolerated Edeard. The 2nd book halfway through I had to start skimming or skippign his sections. 3rd book I just skipped them altogether except for the final dream since all the characters wouldn't shut up about it and it was a very dissapointing reveal. But if I'm skipping literally half the books, its hard to say I enjoyed them. It's sad becaues I really liked the Commonwealth characters and wanted to see more of them. Ozzy on the Silfin paths was a fun "fantasy inside sci fi" from the first 2 books, but the "fantasy inside sci fi" from the Void trilogy was.... a lot less enjoyable I will admit I did like the explanation for WHY the Void expands, but that was 1 sentence out of about 600 pages of Edeard's nonsense.
tried permutation city yrs ago but found it too "granular" to finish think many of egan's books like that slaughter house five is my fav vonnegut it really put him on the map will have to get solaris even mainstream literary book tubers say how good it is⚛
Its funny as I had stated in my comment thats what I like often in sci fi. I obviously enjoy books that get you absorbed in characters and plot like Brown and Weir. But I love my "throw a textbook at my skull" books the most
@@WordsinTime Hehe yeah, guess not a lot of a well known scifi have REM sleep/dream concepts. I was wondering if you was going to throw Paprika by Yasutaka Tsutsui at me since i forgot to mention i already knew it.
A bit of a coincidence in your first recommendation to @pieceofcake5314 - they said they liked Roadside Picnic and you recommended Solaris. Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky has made movies of both of them. Roadside Picnic he renamed to Stalker for the movie. It was filmed in an old industrial plant of some kind. He didn't like the result so started the filming all over again. Tarkovsky died of cancer a few years later and it was said that exposure to industrial waste on the film set was the cause. Ironically, if true, it was a very 'Roadside Picnic' way to die.
