This video was so timely because I finished Solaris yesterday and started Ubik today. Now I know of other great recommendations by Lem and PKD! Thanks for this wonderful collab!
A Psalm for the Wild Built is one of my favourite books, seeing it discussed makes me want to read it again. It also has my favourite book quote, it's a brilliant read.
@@bartsbookspace you keep asking why your work is not enough, and I don't know how to answer that, because it is enough to exist in the world and marvel at it. You don't need to justify that, or earn it. You are allowed to just live. It's a beautiful passage and truly resonated with me.
Nice collab from two of my favourite BookTubers! Great recommendations. A Maze of Death is not a PKD book I've heard much about, but I definitely want to read it now.
Thank you Robin, chatting with Jonathan here was the highlight of my booktube “career”. 😀 I hope you both enjoy Maze of Death, I had a blast reading it.
No Peter Hamilton books then ? 🤣 I read the Maze of Death recently. A good story. And Way Station just before that. LIked your summary. Also, unlike most Simak books, it doesnt have a disaffected or confused android in it. For a light, short (and humorous) read, let me recommend Doorways in the Sand by Zelazny.
Clockwork Orange is so under appreciated. It's not that there is so much violence, rather the violence is so vivid & personal. Then there's the music, the political angle, the social commentary & Nadsat is a brilliant invention. Oh, and it's definitely & defiantly dystopian!
Most, but not all, versions have a glossary in the back explaining all the slang terms used. It really helps to know this rather than struggle through the book and then discover it. I have a copy that has both the glossary and the extra final chapter. So there at least 3 versions.
I believe early editions intentionally did not include the glossary as struggling through the vocabulary, and eventually learning it through context, was very much the desired reading experience Burgess was going for. Immersing yourself in the Nadsat argot and allowing it to kind of wash over you as you begin to understand it slowly.
This was amazing! I read a lot of big books, so I'm often looking for shorter ones as breathers along the way. A Psalm for the Wild-Built and Way Station in particular seem like they could be right up my alley!
While you are thinking about Lem coming up with the idea of a tablet or e-reader, consider this. Frank Baum who wrote The Wizard of Oz wrote lots of short stories. He was also a newspaper owner and editor. One of his stories blends futuristic scifi with newspapers in that he had a tablet gadget that people carried that would give them access to news from around the world almost as it happened. Baum died in 1919 so I think he might have suggested the tablet (not the e-reader) a bit earlier than Lem.
@@WordsinTimeI chased up the Baum book. It's called The Master Key from 1901. A teenage boy is experimenting with electrifying things and suddenly the 'demon of electricity' appears and grants him a series of wishes for electrical gadgets. Here's two of them from the Wiki page of the book. -- A "record of events," which provides remote views of important events taking place in any part of the world at any time within the last twenty-four hours -- An "Illimitable Communicator. It is a simple electric device which will enable you, wherever you may be, to converse with people in any part of the world".
Interesting! I misspoke, I meant E-reader packed with hundreds of books. For the fear of spoiling Futorological Congress I won’t mention Lem’s idea for how reading and knowledge acquisition in general takes place this book, but it is fascinating.
I do want to read Way Station. A while back i bought a few PKD books i hadn't heard of before, and it was a great haul. I enjoyed A Maze of Death, found The World Jones Made found slightly better, and loved Dr Bloodmoney.
To Be Taught, if Fortunate is another wonderful shorter book by Becky Chambers. It’s tied for 1st with A Psalm for the Wild Built as my favorite books of hers. A bit more hard SciFi but not unapproachable. Shining examples of short books that are impactful and memorable.
Thanks for the recommendations. I already have read and enjoy "Clockwork Orange" and "Slaughterhouse Five". Just recently read a very short novel by Adrian Tchaikovsky, "Elder Race", have you read it? I found is like the perfect combination of a sci-fi novel and a fantasy novel... it depends on the character you choose.
It's good to get another good recommendation for a PKD book. I've read a lot but not Maze of Death. And ... here's a twist. I watched Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 before i read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Many people will know that Ridley Scott didn't want to use that title and one of his production team said, 'I've just read this book called The Bladerunner. That's a catchy title for the movie". So Blade Runner came out with a 'stolen' name. I chased up the original book The Bladerunner by Alan Nourse and am currently reading it. It's from 1972 but Amazon has a kindle edition. And a further twist reading it so soon after covid, it's about a deadly air-borne respiratory disease pandemic and a large proportion of the population refuse medical care. I wonder where I've heard that before.
@@WordsinTime Nourse was also a practicing physician and I remember in college his memoir " Intern" was a bit of a hit in the mid=1960's. I have not read his work but I bet he works in his medical knowledge from time to time.
Please add Cities In Flight by James Blish to your list for 2024 or 2025. It's very thick, comprised of four sections dealing with the discovery of a space drive that carries humans to the stars coupled with longevity drugs that extend a persons lifespan. The spacedrive is nicknamed the Spindizzy because it imparts a spin to the ship or massive chunk of planet that can house a city's worth of people. This book reminded me of R. A. Heinlein's works.
Love hitch hikers guide to the galaxy? Looking for something that is just as crazy, surreal, off the wall & SF comedy? I highly recommend the german TV show: “ Ijon Tichy: Raumpilot” which is based on Star dairies and other books by Stanislaw Lem! I Can’t express how brilliant it is, it’s more hitch hikers than hitch hikers itself ! Stanislaw Lem is a genius with these crazy SF comedy tall stories, I’d argue Ijon Tichy is better, And should be more known in the west. 😎👍
Try MIndswap by Sheckley, Which also, not really a spoiler but dont jump ahead to it because it wont make sense anyway, has one of the best closing sentences of a SF book I've read.
"Star Diaries" is one of my favorite works of fiction. Full stop. So many clever stories and Ijon Tichy is THE best intergalactic hero of all times! He boldly goes where no sane astronaut would even consider going!
I read Lem in Russian translation. Give a try to Cyberiad. 😂 Also in case you haven't noticed, the book that you have mentioned is the first in the series (why it marked 2? I am not going to give a spoiler)
If I'm remembering right, The Clockwork Orange had an additional chapter added for the American release. The original ending was optimistic but the publishers didn't think that would fly in the US. I can't remember how the movie ends, if it is based on the original or the US edition. I believe it was re-released without the extra chapter (was chapter 21?) Correct me if I'm wrong.
The original version had a last chapter that was slightly more optimistic but the US publisher removed it from the US edition. The film was made on the version without the last chapter. I believe most editions nowadays include the original final chapter.
