Philosophical Science Fiction

books:


	• Blindsight Peter Watts Tor Books, 2008 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 64 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

5 stars for Jukka Sarasti

Imagine you are at the Tibetan plateau of hard science fiction, looking up, past the Bears and the Egans. Blindsight is what you 're looking at, the K2 of the genre, a novel as hard as SF can get. However, hard per se does not trademark a masterpiece. Peter Watts in this novel, feels a bit like the high scool basketball team super star who tries too many statistical categories for the team's benefit. He scores and steals and blocks and tries for a quintuple double every time, which is ultimately... unproductive. If Metzinger's Being No One (that inspired the writer so much to be acknowledged in the credits) is 700 pages long, dealing only with the idea of subjectivity, how can one expect Sentience VS Intelligence, First Contact, Strong AI, Singularity Society, and, to top them all, Homo Vampiris, to fit in 350 pages?
Now, Homo Vampiris. This is brilliant. So brilliant in fact, that he deserves a "there and back" novel of at least 3 volumes of his own. The creature is well thought, original and chilling. Even, narrated through a first person POV that is not his, Jukka Sarasti easily steals the show, an interstellar Harry Houdini among amateur spacespoon-benders. So, 3 1/2 stars altogether, 5 stars for the vampire, and really looking forward to more non - Euclideans in another book.

for more information click here

Philosophical Science Fiction

This is a first contact novel that's as interesting for the philosophical and literary questions it raises as it is for the narrative.

The book follows the adventures of the crew of a space ship sent to meet an alien object entering the solar system. Several of the twenty-first century crew are extraordinary: the narrator, whose autism has been partially repaired and whose job is to clarify events for the folks back home; a brilliant predator from an extinct race; and a linguist with multiple personalities. Besides the efforts to communicate with the intruder, flashbacks into the narrator's life are also included. The book also examines a future on where the human race is able to create a kind of spiritual heaven here on earth.

Readers concerned with structure will wonder at what the author is driving with this mixed bag of crewmembers and an alien with whom communication seems particularly difficult. Often events and conversations occur which lead the narrator to draw conclusions which he does not share with the reader, which may lead the reader to wonder if he is following the story as intended by the author. Moreover, the philosophical question that the author raises is not immediately apparent. Eventually it will be revealed and what has gone before will fall into place.

The literary question is whether the nature of the philosophical question should be cloaked for so long. To reveal the question early on will enable the reader to understand characters and events as they unfold. To delay confuses the reader but leads to the thrill of discovery as the puzzle is revealed. The author has chosen the latter course and so I'm not even able to reveal the main philosophical question without spoiling the tale.

If you require science fiction with plenty of action rather than character development and philosophical inquiry, this book may seem a little slow to you. Much of the action seemed to me like an H.P. Lovecraft story with a lot of talk about the feeling of horror, without ever revealing what the horror is. On the other hand, if you don't mind feeling confused as the price of considering a question about man's nature that is seldom asked, you should enjoy this novel. (By the way, some will even ask if this question is even philosophical rather than scientific.)

for more information click here

Brilliant SF

Take a bit of Star Trek (only here the Captain is a vampire and the crew an odd cast of psychological misfits) throw in a dash of Alien along with just a hint of Rondezvous With Rama and you have the makings for an enjoyable SF adventure. What makes this book rise above the average SF out there and become truly great is the writer's insight into the nature of human (and alien, and even vampire) sentience and self-awareness and how we perceive the universe around us not only through our 5 senses but also our minds and the collected perceptions of other observers. Watts takes us into deep territory here, a place where all pieces of the puzzle must be considered individually and together to even begin to fully understand what is going on, and--while I found myself constantly going back and re-reading sections just to follow the path he was laying out--it was an enjoyable and entertaining trip. This is not the easiest read, but if you like Science Fiction writers that comfortably play around just outside the cutting edge of modern science, give this one a try.

for more information click here

Free SF Reader

While Alastair Reynolds borrowed from the Muppets with his Pigs in Space, it seems that Peter Watts may have gone for Colin Wilson's Space Vampires, instead. Reynolds is someone I think you can compare Watts to in tone, although the first person type retelling style of this also brings to mind Robert Charles Wilson's Spin.

A vampire spaceship captain type. Yep, that is right. It doesn't seem dumb, either.

After some non-human contact, a ship is built to go and investigate. The crew are an odd bunch. Add a multiple personality linguist, a guy with half a brain, and a non-conventional soldier to the mix, among others.

When they find them, they struggle to understand their brand of consciousness and use of senses, which is where the title comes from.

Violence is done.

The endnotes for this book are extensive, a fair bit of work done there, and well worth a look after you have finished the book.

Almost another tweener this one, 4.25 perhaps. Rounding up is fine given the work put into the post novel text.

for more information click here

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, page 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

hot

not?

What's your opinion?

Write a review and share your thoughts!

search for books
blindsight

Impressum / about us