Here's another perspective on The Book of the New Sun: It was unbearable. I gave up on it about 300 pages in when the robot fell in love with the alien. Actually the movie is an awesome piece of political satire that stands on its own as an enjoyable, intelligent work. Seriously. It departs hugely from the book - hell, even the basic themes are different - but that doesn't make the movie kick any less ass.
Feel free to not like the series (I think it's the best science fiction I've read, but a couple of people I know and respect feel like you do about it), but when the hell did that happen?
Both the book and the movie provide ample political/social commentary. We'll have to disagree about the "kick ass" qualities of the movie. To me it was the same old Paul Verhoeven sledgehammer (RoboCop, Total Recall): the same themes presented the same ways. But, I digress. To the original poster: do read the book; it is worth your time.
Hello i am zippy and cannot do a thread cos an unjust yellow card, i want to do a thread but you need to do so many posts first, so i looked for the least popular forum to do lots in, you could call it art i suppose Sorry to anyone who this will annoy Moderator please delete them
A moderator should really remove the prior post. Back to topic: Nice to see Ringworld in here. Loved Niven's Mote in God's Eye, too. John Varley's Titan trilogy (late 70's and 80's) also used a toroid structure. John Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar has been one of my favourites. John Heinlein's The Door into Summer is a fun time travel book. A mind-boggling take on time travel may be found in Paul Levinson's The Plot to Save Socrates.
Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy for some excellent reading. No time travel, but nevertheless u should read it if interested in sci-fi.
I can't recommend Frank Herbert's Dune series enough... I would say it's on par with the greatest works of imagination in every category. Run, don't walk, to pick up a copy. And make sure you read all six books, and don't bother with his son's stuff, as it's not in the same category at all. Besides Herbert, Heinlein is a pretty amazing author as well.
Dune has always put me to sleep, IMO it's sort of like a "hipster" sci fi title choice, absolutely no offense intended. Great book no doubt, just doesn't hold me. I usually go by authors more than strictly by titles; IMO you can't go wrong with any Heinlein or Isaac Asimov or Arthur C Clarke; personally I love Harry Harrison too though his stuff can be inconsistent beyond the Stainless Steel Rat books. Also the sci fi/fantasy hybrid stuff like Piers Anthony and Robert Aspirin is worth checking out. All time greatest title IMO is Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land", best series is Asimov's "Foundation" books. I absolutely can't deal with some of the newer stuff like William Gibson, it's just SO gimmicky and pithy and over the top in a really silly way. Guess I'm old fashioned when it comes to SciFi. Oh and its not stricly sci fi but you MUST read Adams' Hitchhikers Guide books.
Didn't you say somewhere that you took your screen name from the main character? Beats the hell out of someone calling themselves "Count Zero," IMO.
Did you read beyond the first book? The first three were conceived as a trilogy, and the last three are even better. I would recommend reserving judgement until you've read all of them. And while Dune is Frank Herbert's greatest work, his other books are all pretty amazing as well. He's actually very similar to Heinlein... I haven't read the Lazarus Long series yet, so Heinlein may very well jump up to first place after I've read that.