6 ms·

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. My best friend in 7th grade had older siblings and they had all read Ender’s Game. He read it and told me I had to read it. B

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. My best friend in 7th grade had older siblings and they had all read Ender’s Game. He read it and told me I had to read it. Being the impressionable 7th grader (2006-7) that I was I gladly obliged. I found the book to be deeply fascinating. It opened my eyes to ‘new’ technology like ‘ansible’ (can communicate anywhere in the universe instantaneously) and really opened up my imagination to what I could do with my life. Growing up in rural South Carolina with dreams of being an explorer or an astronaut seemed kinda far fetched. Most people just wanted you to be a Dr. or Lawyer or get a job at BMW. Ender’s Game showed me that it was ok to be different. It was ok to love to read books and to think that one day I too could have an impact on society. For what it’s worth: Mark Zuckerberg also had Ender’s Game listed in his books section on FB. But truthfully back in ‘07 I was busy writing poems on MySpace (FB wasn’t rural yet) hoping that I would one day be as influential as the Demosthenes character in Ender’s Game

0-_-0 7y ago
I never thought of it like that before, that reading sci-fi at an early age opens up your imagination to what's possible, in your life and in the world. It definitely had that effect on me now that I think about it.
- bpanon 7y ago
  Bezos and Musk also were heavy sci-fi readers in their youth.
  - fossuser 7y ago
    I remember reading this is part of the reason China has encouraged Science Fiction writing recently (and been a little more lenient on censoring it).
  - 0-_-0 7y ago
    And now both are building rockets!
throwqwerty 7y ago
whenever someone mentions ender's game in a positive light i worry about that person https://web.archive.org/web/20070206121131/http://www4.ncsu.edu/~tenshi/Killer_000.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20070206121131/http://www4.ncsu.... tldr; orson scott card is a bigot and ender's game is nazi apologia. if you don't want to read the above it's been written about in numerous places (google "ender's game book fascism").
- quesera 7y ago
  That's collegiate literary analysis. Not everything Google-able is true. Many authors are difficult. Ender's Game is a great story.
- adaisadais 7y ago
  I think that's reading a little too far into Ender's Game for the average 7th grader... It is a fantastic novel. The author of the article you posted (who was basing the nazi thing on another author's work) stated this in regards to the "Ender is Hitler" argument, "...Radford’s essay says many things with which I do not agree, and its tone is often intemperate..." So your bias against Ender's Game is based on a guy who was biased against the very argument that has led to me writing this comment.
- mordae 7y ago
  I found this particular work to be quite balanced. You need to read Ender's Game as a prequel to the Speaker for the Dead where Ender actually grows up.
- teekert 7y ago
  To me Ender's Game is about how it is almost impossible to not start to love something you know deeply. He couldn't both understand and wipe out the buggers, because understanding them meant seeing their beauty, so he had to be tricked. This touched me deeply.
- adamsea 7y ago
  I agree. However as someone who read Enders Game as a kid but didn’t know any better I get some folks emotional attachment. I have fond memories though if I read it now there’s a good chance I’d hate it. Yet I’d recommend those folks who are now adults and cite it as their most influential piece of fiction to go out and read more fiction! :). Just to be snobby I’ll throw out Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain. Beautiful and contemplative.
betageek 7y ago
It is one of the great mysteries of life how an author can write a couple of books (this and Speaker for the Dead) that are literally all about loving the 'other' and still be homophobic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card#Homosexuality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card#Homosexuality
- throwqwerty 7y ago
  >In an August 2013 essay Card presented as an experiment in fiction-writing called "The Game of Unlikely Events",[173] Card described an alternative future in which President Barack Obama ruled as a "Hitler- or Stalin-style dictator" with his own national police force of young unemployed men; Obama and his wife Michelle would have amended the U.S. Constitution to allow presidents to remain in power for life, as in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and Hitler's Germany.[174][175] Card's essay drew extensive criticism, especially for its allusions to Obama's race and its reference to "urban gangs Further down in this comment chain I posted a link to a literary essay that enders game is about fascism. I got heavy downvotes. I'm sure that by quoting this paragraph from wiki I will get more downvotes. People are in denial about their heroes.
  - mcv 7y ago
    > "national police force of young unemployed men" How can members of a police force be unemployed? > "I'm sure that by quoting this paragraph from wiki I will get more downvotes." I normally downvote comments that complain about downvotes, but not for quoting well-sourced interesting/concerning background facts about relevant authors.
    - throwqwerty 7y ago
      >I normally downvote comments that complain about downvotes, but not for quoting well-sourced interesting/concerning background facts about relevant authors. Below I linked to a published literary essay and I got downvoted.
      - 7y ago

0-_-0 7y ago

I never thought of it like that before, that reading sci-fi at an early age opens up your imagination to what's possible, in your life and in the world. It definitely had that effect on me now that I think about it.

bpanon 7y ago
Bezos and Musk also were heavy sci-fi readers in their youth.
- fossuser 7y ago
  I remember reading this is part of the reason China has encouraged Science Fiction writing recently (and been a little more lenient on censoring it).
- 0-_-0 7y ago
  And now both are building rockets!

throwqwerty 7y ago

whenever someone mentions ender's game in a positive light i worry about that person https://web.archive.org/web/20070206121131/http://www4.ncsu.edu/~tenshi/Killer_000.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20070206121131/http://www4.ncsu.... tldr; orson scott card is a bigot and ender's game is nazi apologia. if you don't want to read the above it's been written about in numerous places (google "ender's game book fascism").

quesera 7y ago
That's collegiate literary analysis. Not everything Google-able is true. Many authors are difficult. Ender's Game is a great story.
adaisadais 7y ago
I think that's reading a little too far into Ender's Game for the average 7th grader... It is a fantastic novel. The author of the article you posted (who was basing the nazi thing on another author's work) stated this in regards to the "Ender is Hitler" argument, "...Radford’s essay says many things with which I do not agree, and its tone is often intemperate..." So your bias against Ender's Game is based on a guy who was biased against the very argument that has led to me writing this comment.
mordae 7y ago
I found this particular work to be quite balanced. You need to read Ender's Game as a prequel to the Speaker for the Dead where Ender actually grows up.
teekert 7y ago
To me Ender's Game is about how it is almost impossible to not start to love something you know deeply. He couldn't both understand and wipe out the buggers, because understanding them meant seeing their beauty, so he had to be tricked. This touched me deeply.
adamsea 7y ago
I agree. However as someone who read Enders Game as a kid but didn’t know any better I get some folks emotional attachment. I have fond memories though if I read it now there’s a good chance I’d hate it. Yet I’d recommend those folks who are now adults and cite it as their most influential piece of fiction to go out and read more fiction! :). Just to be snobby I’ll throw out Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain. Beautiful and contemplative.

betageek 7y ago

It is one of the great mysteries of life how an author can write a couple of books (this and Speaker for the Dead) that are literally all about loving the 'other' and still be homophobic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card#Homosexuality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card#Homosexuality

throwqwerty 7y ago
>In an August 2013 essay Card presented as an experiment in fiction-writing called "The Game of Unlikely Events",[173] Card described an alternative future in which President Barack Obama ruled as a "Hitler- or Stalin-style dictator" with his own national police force of young unemployed men; Obama and his wife Michelle would have amended the U.S. Constitution to allow presidents to remain in power for life, as in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and Hitler's Germany.[174][175] Card's essay drew extensive criticism, especially for its allusions to Obama's race and its reference to "urban gangs Further down in this comment chain I posted a link to a literary essay that enders game is about fascism. I got heavy downvotes. I'm sure that by quoting this paragraph from wiki I will get more downvotes. People are in denial about their heroes.
- mcv 7y ago
  > "national police force of young unemployed men" How can members of a police force be unemployed? > "I'm sure that by quoting this paragraph from wiki I will get more downvotes." I normally downvote comments that complain about downvotes, but not for quoting well-sourced interesting/concerning background facts about relevant authors.
  - throwqwerty 7y ago
    >I normally downvote comments that complain about downvotes, but not for quoting well-sourced interesting/concerning background facts about relevant authors. Below I linked to a published literary essay and I got downvoted.
    - 7y ago