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26:20 everyday life in this extraordinary future... The exciting things in the mundane...

Sweet, put The Ferryman on the reading list.

Excited to hear the Starship Troopers discussion. One of my favorite books of all time.

The Ferryman was very good, and should have been on the Hugo list. Starter Villan was weak, but kind of fun and a quick read... Otherwise, unfortunately, sounds like a ton of uninspired works - though I have not read Translation State.

I'd like to see a video dedicated to 'the bad ones' or 'ones that disappointed us.' Ooooo starship troopers next week!

First video. Can someone recommend one where these two strongly disagree on a book? Just curious how that conversation would go. 😄

These symmetriads and asymmetriads are signs of thinking. These are material representations of extremely complex mathematical equations that the Solaris ocean performs. Mathematical equations can be presented as a three-dimensional object (if we add time, we have four dimensions). And the ocean does just that - it performs some very complex calculations using the matter of its own body as a computing machine.

I think a deeper discussion with spoilers would be appreciated. There isn’t one on youtube. Zero. I used the 20 minute + filter. I live in a 7 x 7 mile city of 700,000 with 30 billionaires. I’m a former academic in tech and have been to several cities in my city, some subterranean. 7,000 homeless.

9:18 funny not Adams’s Holistic Detective.

Accumulator tower, I think was the place where D-503 first time felt like he had intrusive suicidal thoughts, when he was looking down while on a tour as a child. Eventually, I feel like this is planted by authour as the seed for D-503 irrational destructive behaviours.

Stopped this episode when you gave it a 5/5. Just came back now that I've finished it. It was truly "speculative" fiction. Sci-fi to its core but with some absolutely stunning world building and prose as well. My first China Mieville book but not my last. Thanks for the recommendation. 👍

"Next discord member gets a free foot massager!". Totally agree, short Scifi's give me life! Asimov's last question is my fav of all time.

First off, I just want to say I am really happy to have found your reviews and discussions. I have a huge TBR which baffles me because I have been reading sci fi for years. But I had never heard of this author which I probably am going to embarrassed admitting. But the way you speak about this author and this book. Is going to force me to buy and move it way up the TBR.

I liked Story of Your Life but I actually think Arrival was better. People seem to love or hate This is How You Lose the Time War, I’ll have to try it out! And Cat’s Cradle and Way Station are two of my favorites!

You guys deserve more listeners … big fan .. enjoy your videos

Somehow I didn't felt the vampire dysonating with the rest, but now with the interview I like it even more! Great interview! I loved it!

I absolutely agree that listening to the audiobook makes a huge difference, the version i listened to feom audible also has some of the best voice acting I've heard in an audiobook. Some of the spooky sections were mind blowing with the audio editing and voice changes they pull.

Great job, so many good options. A short I recently read that's really good is Too be taught, if fortunate by Becky Chambers

I loved the book! Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to these questions.

I know you don't like your eyes, which are my eyes. I know you don't like your hair which is my hair.

"My friends would go out, and I would go home and watch Star Trek and play video games and read...." BECKY YOU ARE MY PEOPLE 🖖🏻

I *love* Samuel Delaney. Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones is a fantastic read. And my favorite is Stars in my Pocket Like Grains of Sand (even though it was supposed to have a sequel, which will never be written).

I'm curious if you guys have read Omon Ra by Victor Pelevin? Very VERY dark "comedy" sci fi based upon the Soviet Union space race. Only 153 pages. also thank you for this video! I need more short books for when I need a break from longer series.

Fun episode, gentlemen! I’ll be adding some of these to the TBR….when I return to my sci-fi break.

Got here via Quinn's Ideas and Blindsight. I really liked your take on Blindsight so I thought I'd watch some of your other episodes. Can I ask you both, but in particular Brent, to reign in your use of the word "like" a number of times in every sentence? I find it very distracting and it gets in the way of the point you are making.

I love that the most interesting character, Jukka Sirestri, is essentially pointless! I really can't understand why he's even there when his role could have been better filled by Siri in every way.

I wasn't as hot on the Expanse as a lot of other people. I'd give the series as a whole probably a 6 or maybe a 7. A lot of cool ideas, plot points, and characters, but I did feel like it dragged a lot. There were some exciting moments, but they were far too sparse for me. Plus, there were many, many questions I had that never got answered so that was annoying

I just finished this last week. I listened to it twice. Great novel.

I think I described Perdido Street Station as like, *kinda* steampunk, but more Terry Pratchett meets David Lynch.

I was in the worst mood, punched a wall, drank a liter of vodka to fall asleep. Now, life seems exciting again. it really does

Just rewatched your video and once again I thoroughly enjoyed it. If we're including dystopian novels as a sub-genre of science fiction, shouldn't Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, and 1984 deserve consideration for the top 15?

Keep up the good work Kings

Am I the only one who couldn’t get passed the racist bit in the beginning?

The narrator voice in this book is what completely sold me on it within the first few pages. It hit a lot of the same vibes for me that hitchhikers guide did. It was just so over the top that I fell in love with it, and I probably reread this book four or five times a year because it is such a fast read.

Hyperion 1 & 2 The Left Hand of Darkness Foundation trilogy The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Forever War (book 1 only)

Herbert is a better writer than you think! The Herbert-Anderson prequels are not well written. The prose of the prequels is light and lacks the solidity of the books by Frank!

All the characters are survivors.

No House of Suns? That's suprising...

Well, you cannot bat a thousand, I suppose. I didn’t think the writing was bad, so I would be willing to try this author again, but I couldn’t get into it. Thanks for the spoiler section - I am perfectly fine with that summary.

Nice job, fellas, particularly skirting around spoiling the experience. I enjoyed it as well and am looking forward to discussing on your Discord and the upcoming short fiction selections. Were any also represented on the survey?

wow, this sounds right up my alley. might pick up a copy once I'm done with Rise of Endymion.

What a happy coincidence. I am currently 70% done with this book. I'll come back to see the video when I finish reading the book.

Tried blindsight earlier today. But only got through 2 hours of audiobook before giving up in boredom. Sounds like it gets better shortly after that point and maybe I'll go back and try more of it. The author is clearly creative and enjoys "what ifs" to a high degree. The kind of people I enjoy spending time with most. However so far Im not a fan of his writing or characterization. Enjoyed the interview 👍

Just listened to your podcast, very much enjoying thank you. I wanted to say that the second and third books I found were perhaps a bit more low stakes more similar to beck chambers books imo. I enjoyed the story character progression and interaction but I agree I was left wanting more and more high level intergalactic conflict, more about other ships and their ai would have been interesting. That said I see Ann has released some more books in the world so I'm looking forward to giving them a go.

Listening to the audiobook right now and loving the novel. Brother Spots introduction as the first mutant we meet in the book was a great part I thought, I love how they describe this giant spotted pony of a mutant covered in hair horrifying looking but he is a personable lovely and jovial fellow who everyone at the monastery loves.

Aaaah, dudes... The Accumulator Tower extracts electricity from the sky! He does mention it at some point, I'm sure. It powers all of the machines in the city. I imagined it like a giant lightning rod or Tesla coil. I wonder if there's a flaw in the translation if you find it ambiguous. I don't speak Russian, but in German 'Akku' means a battery, and would bring to mind something to do with electricity. In Russian, the word 'аккумуля́тор' can mean a 'battery', but I don't think it usually refers to an electrical battery in modern usage.

Fun episode and excellent character. Probably will not usurp my favorite Heinlein, but is a contender. Also, I feel like this could serve as a SciFi gateway.

canticle = little song

Love Blindsight! Got the novel and the audio-book

Good job! I think one of the the other key themes that you didn’t address was Siri’s lack of empathy (the philosophical zombie) and him attaining it at end of the book to become human