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Probably my favorite sci-fi book

Great list!

Thanks for doing my tag. On The Beach sounds like a book I might like. A Short Stay in Hell seems to have a very interesting premise. Adding to the TBR ASAP. 😊💙

Great review. All of your critiques are justified. I still enjoyed it so much personally. Golden Son was definitely the tightest of the trilogy. But then again, I wouldn’t have wanted golden son 2.0.

What I never got (or have forgotten) is who sent the early dreams to Valentine and Carabella and Sleet? I get that Valentine's subconscious could cause his dreams, but why would the others get dreams about Valentine? And why would the Shapeshifters basically be telegraphing the swap?

Was wondering if you've read Gateway by Frederick Pohl? I see it in book shops alot and it has a SF masterworks print like lots of iconic SF books, but I rarely if ever hear people talk about it. It was one of the first SF books I read and I really enjoyed it.

As a novice reader who struggles to read consitently, Project Hail Mary is my favourite book I've read so far. I got through it in less than 2 days and loved the hard sci-fi in it.

Great review Benjamin! It’s been awhile since I’ve read this one but I remember having similar thoughts. The first 3/4 of the book are near perfect and the ending is frustrating but still enjoyable overall

You’ve got me wanting to read Valuable Humans in Transit. It sounds so good! Also, I’ve had A Short Stay in Hell on my list for what seems like forever, but I’ve not run across a copy I wanted to purchase! (Sorry, I don’t buy anything from The Evil Empire!) Thanks for doing this tag!

Fantastic job with the tag and thanks for the mention! I heard a recommendation for The Grip Of It just the other day, but it does get very mixed reviews. I plan on reading City Infernal over Halloween! 😂 A Short Stay In Hell has also stayed with me. Such a haunting, terrifying, thought-provoking little book!

It was a surprise to see On The Beach mentioned. I thought it had disappeared from view these days. I was a kid when it came out and my parents read it, told me a bit about it, but would not let me read it. Years later I was at university and got a copy. If somebody was to use the same theme these days the book would be very different. The nuclear fear of the 50s has morphed into something more like, "Everyone would get radiation sickness but they'd survive enough to form a dystopian society so I'd have something more menacing to write about."

A Short Stay In Hell really in frightening. It's the scariest 109 pages ever.

Thanks for tagging me. I've forgotten a lot of what I've read. I have even found myself inadvertently rereading a book and realizing after 40 or 50 pages I'd read it before. Some books I remember well even after years or decades like 1984. I remember On the Beach, too...I read quite a few Nevil Shute back in the day. A Short Stay in Hell sounds intriguing.

Love your list, but I have to ask. Rendezvous with Rama? Nothing happens. I found it interesting, but I found it to be a big meal that wasn’t filling. Children of Time, Blightsight, Ubik I think about all the time. RwR, not so much. Thanks for sharing. Try Roadside Picnic.

Abaddon's Gate is such an underrated book. Most seem to say it is the weakest of the series. I think it is prob my 2nd fav following Book 1. It also is the book that the TV series changed the most. Also, Children of Time was one of those books that I seemed to like it more as time as gone by after reading it. I have had a couple I feel that way about. Malice is another.

I have read Rendezvous With Rama and Project Hail Mary,both excellent! Got both from my library as ebooks.

The part you mentioned about how Darrow as the POV character is acting like he doesn't know what the plan is even though he's in on it, that bothered me the most, to me it felt like a very flawed and lazy way for the author to pull a twist on the audience

Great review. Yes, some of the humour did not work for me in this book, but I did enjoy it. I'm glad you like it.😊

Damn there is a bell going off.

I’m intrigued by the funny vibe this book seems to have. Sounds a bit like the novella “Nine Goblins,” which I loved. I need to bump this up in my queue. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! 🗡️

Salem’s Lot was my first horror book, actually first book I read

Joe Hill Nosferatu is like reading a SKing book. In Dr. Sleep characters from this novel are mention. The villains from Dr. Sleep mention the Villain from this book

Interesting and also boring because of the length of the internal philosophical conversations and there are no intervening doses of action to restore enthusiasm. I see that everything in this book is explained from a macro perspective of organizing humanity over generations and ages to reach a specific goal (the golden path). The ethics may raise questions and the method is not entirely morally acceptable, but we are not talking about individual rights and also the one who manages this goal has an absolute truth and a noble goal that he seeks, so there is no room for moral debate based on an individual perspective. The one who runs the project is the most knowledgeable, capable and worthy in the galaxy and has no equal or competitor. He contains within him countless generations of previous human experiences and accumulated information and has the ability to know the future with certainty and the power to rule and implement. He does not look at individuals or just the human collective, but rather looks at the development of humanity as a race over the ages physiologically, mentally and psychologically. He plays the role of natural selection to qualify humanity for the golden path that ensures their survival. Therefore, he has an objective truth that justifies his actions that he may not accept as an ordinary human being. Commenting on his view of women and men in a societal system, I think he looks at it as we look at societies of elephants, wolves, chimpanzees and bonobos, for example. And how do these societies interact in which leadership is male or female? Apart from our individual views on the subject (including the author’s view), women and men differ in the way they solve problems and interact with different situations, negatively and positively. There is also the rest of his human side, which shows us his personal suffering as the world changes around him and he becomes increasingly isolated, alienated, lonely and in pain. Humans are not meant to play the role of God, as they are not prepared for that.

Rendezvous with Rama is also my favorite of all time! Hard SciFi First Contact genre is my absolute favorite. Do you have any recommendations?

Sounds like a really interesting book!

"Good guys" of course being a relative term in the 40k universe. Even the Space Marines are part of and fight for an authoritarian empire.

subbed

Just subscribed because you have the Animorphs series. Nice list. I notice the JP hoodie, have you read Raptor Red?

Read Ender's Game

Awesome tour, love your shelves! I love animal attack books so will keep an eye out for the Meg series, sound fun. I have yet to read sci-fi horror, Dead Silence is on my tbr, sounds kinda similar to Event Horizon? Maybe not.

Check out Illium By Dan Simmons

Saw the Gundam in the back... I trust all your opinions.

Congrats on the new shelves!

Thank you for the recommendations. Among my top 10 would be Hyperion, Red Mars (and continuations), Dune (without the continuations), Rendevouz with Rama, The Foundation Trilogy, and by P.K. Dick, if you liked Ubik, I recommend you read 'The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch' that it seems to me even better than Ubik. I have only read 'The Player of Games' by Banks, but I really liked it Your comments about 'Children of Time' made me to be interested on than book...

Great shelf, awesome books! I'm envious :)

I've had Kings of the Wyld on my list for a while. 500+ pages always scares me. 😬 Clearly, I need to get around to reading it at some point though.

The Meg movies are great fun I won't hear any slander!

The Martian was great!! Definitely read it

FYI, Omphalos (you pronounced it correctly) is the Greek word for navel. It's significance was that the ancient Greeks saw Delphi (where the oracle was) as the omphalos of the world, ie, the place where the umbilical cord between God and the Earth was attached. Early middle ages Europe saw Jerusalem as the omphalos of the world, and we see this is their early maps that had Jerusalem always at the centre of the map. I've not read Chiang's story but this info might broaden your understanding of what he was referring. Other stuff, the new set looks good, as does the new angle. The old angle that had you looking slightly skewed felt awkward to me, a bit like the uncanny valley of camera angles. Other other stuff. That mark on the centre of your jumper is distracting. Lighting can often make things stand out more in camera than they appear in real life.

hail mary came out of nothing, i picked it up OFF THE GROUND near a public swimming pool. i was like huh interesting, let's take it home and read it. turns out to be one of the most fun scifi books ever.

I like the idea of a continuing tier list! I've only read Stories of your Life and Others. I haven't seen Arrival and I'm happy I went in blind. The titular story is amazing! I wasn't a huge fan of the rest of them, so I'm not in a hurry to read Exhalation. But you can't deny that he has a knack for writing.

Great list! All of these are amazing books/series (at least the ones of them I've read, I haven't read Double Eagle or Brothers of the Snake). Maybe I'll check them out after I finish Kingmaker. My first Warhammer book was The Infinite and the Divine, and while fantastic I think having a good amount of prior knowledge on the setting was really helpful. Any reason you didn't choose the Dark Imperium trilogy? When I think of an introduction to "modern" Warhammer, that's the first series that comes to mind.

The bobaverse we are bob is well worth a look.

I loved Altered Carbon, good review! The Netflix is pretty good; they did not try to exactly replicate the book, but the changes are good. Rendezvous' With Rama is one or my faves as well.

I'm with you on several points. I liked Lies (and used it for the same square), but those chapters and the dual narrative style made for a slower read than it could have been. Now I want gentleman bastards who are more bastardly.

One of my all-time favorite books! I thought the second book was almost as good. It took so long for the third book to come out, I still haven't read it!

Great review. I haven't read The Lies of Locke Lamora because there so much mixed reviews out there. Apparently, the author is one of those ones who doesn't like finishing his series. For those reason I don't want to pick it up.😊 Kings of The Wyld was a fun read. It's not the best thing I've read, but a fun pallet cleanser. 😊 Hope you enjoy it.

Great video and summary once again Benjamin. I like Nadia - she's all business. Still not sure what Frank's angle is. Not much else to say really, you summed up my thoughts pretty much. :) See you in two weeks.

based on your general tastes, i think you'd love books by Octavia Butler and Samuel Delany

It looks like we have similar tastes. I agree with PKD right into S-tier, Solaris C tier (it was a slog for me), and your excitement over There is No Anti-Memetic Division. You got a new sub, cheers!