Post AokXTCZdVR1QL2qL7Q by futurebird@sauropods.win
(DIR) More posts by futurebird@sauropods.win
(DIR) Post #AokTkugiLOwiGKLNrs by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-12-05T21:57:54Z
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Listening to the audio book "Consider Phlebas" by Iain M. Banks, and it's just so good. And relevant.If you haven't read it? Now is a great time. It's not like what a lot of people suggest... reading about dictatorships the dynamic is very different, but there are parallels to the current political fault lines. And it's a hopeful book in its own way. If you have read it? It's better the second time. I missed so many little things!Iain M. Banks was taken from us too soon.
(DIR) Post #AokToAIEmTOLWuRglE by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-12-05T21:58:29Z
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I'm not a huge fan of the title. Don't worry about it too much.
(DIR) Post #AokU2cIvQuKUSVetEG by bwebster@dice.camp
2024-12-05T22:01:03Z
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@futurebird I just read this for the first time recently! It was quite good, but I couldn’t help feeling like I was missing some of the commentary within it that I’ve seen others talk about. Maybe it was just a bit too subtle for me or something? I’m not sure. Definitely going to continue the series to see if I pick it up on further reading though
(DIR) Post #AokU58V2haiMtGWlm4 by Nonya_Bidniss@infosec.exchange
2024-12-05T22:01:17Z
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@futurebird I love the Culture novels and revisit them from time to time.
(DIR) Post #AokVPSZ5uQfArrg4hc by mdsumner@rstats.me
2024-12-05T22:16:18Z
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@futurebird appreciate this, I started it some hungover morning long ago but actually never read any of his "sci-fi"
(DIR) Post #AokVQqJT6HGOoJ1oHo by Jon_Kramer@mastodon.social
2024-12-05T22:16:40Z
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@futurebird It is literally the top of my 'to be read' pile.
(DIR) Post #AokVUCz9GIC3zo8288 by luigirenna@infosec.exchange
2024-12-05T22:17:16Z
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@futurebird I like Consider Phlebas, but love more Use of Weapons which was my introduction the series. The Culture is the only fictional setting where I would gladly live a full human life (400 years or so)
(DIR) Post #AokVnxF5VGDsxh02uO by jayrobw@fosstodon.org
2024-12-05T22:20:50Z
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@futurebird rereading The Player of Games for the first time in a long time, and I'd forgotten how both on the nose and completely accurate it is.
(DIR) Post #AokXTCZdVR1QL2qL7Q by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-12-05T22:39:30Z
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@bennomatic @gleick "Excession" is my favorite too!
(DIR) Post #AokYRdlvVqFs4EPYzQ by darac@furry.engineer
2024-12-05T22:50:25Z
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@futurebird I read it recently. What got me was that I'd heard that these were Culture books, so I was expecting something epic along the lines of Dune or Asimov's Foundation. But I like that the Culture is quite light at this stage (I'm only a couple of books into the series so far).
(DIR) Post #AokYmqZJ8AVjptcYO8 by donlamb_1@mastodon.online
2024-12-05T22:54:14Z
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@futurebird my favorite Orwell title 'Keep the Aspidistra Flying'.
(DIR) Post #AokblpQKCZ0LrGcpBQ by runoutgroover@mastodon.nz
2024-12-05T23:27:39Z
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@futurebird @bennomatic @gleick Ditto! Such a great book.
(DIR) Post #AokbutF5NBweJ9gmgq by Dervishpi@mastodon.social
2024-12-05T23:29:17Z
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@futurebird Now if only I can figure out what struck so many readers here where I live so negatively about the story. I found the Culture and the kinds of problems it worried about fascinating and encouraging while they found the same story to be a huge dystopia.Anyway, from here: huge thumbs-up. Definitely recommend - and look at what bothers you, if it does!
(DIR) Post #AokepV9xmfVG21PoNU by secminded@infosec.exchange
2024-12-06T00:01:58Z
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@futurebird strange, I have Use of Weapons but no others and I can't remember a thing about the book. Been looking for hard sci-fi and having been out of reading for a while I've been asking around for who to read that's writing now. The Goodreads reviews of Weapons brings to mind Modesitt's Edolotin books but I may be way off.
(DIR) Post #Aokj0x5ChpiRdUu9Fw by MedeaVanamonde@chaosfem.tw
2024-12-06T00:44:18Z
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@bennomatic @gleick @futurebird You didn’t read The Wasp Factory?You’ll never known what you are missing
(DIR) Post #Aokj0yLY0YNpYTYiMy by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-12-06T00:48:50Z
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@MedeaVanamonde @bennomatic @gleick That book is a nightmare. Total horror show. I honestly don't know how I feel about it.
(DIR) Post #AokjLZYTNSUekMQZJA by PhoenixSerenity@beige.party
2024-12-06T00:52:35Z
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@futurebird I just added to my reading wishlist. I have not read it yet.
(DIR) Post #AokjMiouPopNltfCHg by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-12-06T00:52:49Z
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@edsoldat the audiobooks are pretty good. I like to go for a long walk and listen to a book.
(DIR) Post #AokjeBU75uh1b1GNjE by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-12-06T00:55:57Z
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@3PlayerPolitics Maybe?Did you like the main character Horza? He's kind of horrible in many ways, and that can be a dangerous thing ... to have a main who's just not that great of a person. In fact, I had to take a long break from "Alien Clay" because the protagonist got on my nerves so much. (But I did read the rest, and it's alright in the end in some ways)Banks does making terrible people interesting rather well. Though I think were I a teen I wouldn't have got it exactly?
(DIR) Post #AokjrbsgGUhjE99kX2 by ptmesis@writing.exchange
2024-12-06T00:58:23Z
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@futurebird @3PlayerPolitics I just reread Use of Weapons. I think that's the pinnacle of his making terrible people into likeable protagonists.
(DIR) Post #Aokk0B8J5BiMsNYE6q by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-12-06T00:59:56Z
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@3PlayerPolitics reading "Consider Phlebas" and shouting "Horza you BETA!" at the book.
(DIR) Post #AokkEHNmdxPUJTVvZg by hazelnot@sunbeam.city
2024-12-06T01:01:06Z
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@3PlayerPolitics @futurebird I read it a couple of years agoI love the world it takes place in and I thought the story was cool but I disliked Horza and the ending lol
(DIR) Post #AokkEIlDWJkUaRU9js by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-12-06T01:02:27Z
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@hazelnot @3PlayerPolitics He's so pathetic. Though I have known more annoying people like the protagonist from Alien Clay, than I have known Horzas but lord knows I've met both.
(DIR) Post #AokkMIkJSTjwrGsRBw by joncounts@mastodon.nz
2024-12-06T01:03:53Z
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@futurebird Here's my favourite line:"The game went on. Time, according to who you were, dragged or flashed by."Iain M. Banks. 1987. Consider Phlebas. Futura Publications. p. 202
(DIR) Post #AokkOK3RZ2JdUnmyrg by Seanochicago@mastodon.sdf.org
2024-12-06T01:04:17Z
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@futurebird @3PlayerPolitics I thought “Consider Phlebas” was such a railroad plot that when it moved to an actual railroad, I thought Banks was letting me in on the joke.
(DIR) Post #AokkRFbkYMIwZcEQy0 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-12-06T01:04:49Z
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@Seanochicago @3PlayerPolitics I just thought he wanted to celebrate and make fun of foamers.
(DIR) Post #Aokn0psVtOYV6kAWjA by MedeaVanamonde@chaosfem.tw
2024-12-06T01:33:39Z
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@futurebird @bennomatic @gleick It’s his Scottish Naked Lunch for sures
(DIR) Post #Aokqo1PI7LY8uoe5fU by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-12-06T02:16:09Z
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@tezoatlipoca @bennomatic @gleick That's one of the best ones. It was the first book of his I read and it makes me think of late nights at the local college wasting time when I should have been grading tests.
(DIR) Post #AoktwT6hJS8n0MfTTk by graymiller@me.dm
2024-12-06T02:51:18Z
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@futurebird @3PlayerPolitics oh, the Culture books are SUCH a treat! And &$@? Horza!
(DIR) Post #Aol6DNuV5P8FGCnNmC by flyingsaceur@ioc.exchange
2024-12-06T05:08:49Z
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@futurebird It feels like a reply to Brave New World, especially Huxley’s letter to Orwell on “my dystopia is more dystopian” (it wasn’t) and Dune: an interstellar empire of John the Savage and Butlerians versus a hedonistic, impersonal Culture. And the Culture proved to be better than the alternative. Not telling, but showing, cold as space
(DIR) Post #AolMt5EeVYoWlo7vTE by randomphrase@masto.nyc
2024-12-06T08:15:37Z
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@futurebird Yes! I’m re-reading all of #TheCulture books myself, and started there. I don’t get why some people say to skip it, and I love the character of Horza and the whole story. Peter Kenny’s narration is exceptional, and it’s a real shame that some of the Culture audiobooks are no longer available.
(DIR) Post #AolPeo2Nx6GLExGy1Y by Dtl@mastodon.social
2024-12-06T08:46:39Z
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@futurebird Complicity is pretty good too. Non-culture.
(DIR) Post #AolhnlARn49s7WSkOu by fnordius@muenchen.social
2024-12-06T12:09:58Z
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@futurebird I think Surface Detail is more apt, with the Ultra-Wealthy in opposition to the ultimate socialist Culture who horribly outgun them and deals with religious beliefs in hell and virtual realities.
(DIR) Post #AolsMpCrlSDmK9x9o8 by evoterra@podvibes.co
2024-12-06T14:08:08Z
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@futurebird @3PlayerPolitics Full transparency—I recognize a lot of attitudinal traits of Horza in me. Very few of which are to be celebrated, and most of which I’m actively working to suppress.But a lot of what he does in the book rings familiar of a younger, less empathetic, and way more solipsistic version of me. @theculture #CultureSeries