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I feel like I'm the only tech guy who doesn't like these novels. I've tried a few times since so many people I respect like them. But it's a utopia. Everyone h
by aboodman 6y ago
I feel like I'm the only tech guy who doesn't like these novels. I've tried a few times since so many people I respect like them.
But it's a utopia. Everyone has everything they want and nothing can go wrong. That's like the context these novels start up in ... and I ... just can't get into it.
I imagine stuff must actually eventually happen, but I never get that far.
- Scarblac 6y agoWhich did you try? This is the reason most (all?) of the books focus on things outside or on the fringes of the utopia.
- aboodman 6y agoPlayer of Games and Consider Phlebas.
- aboodman 6y agoI'll try again at some point.
- Tor3 6y agoTry Excession. I agree "Consider Phlebas" may not be the best one to start with if you're not familiar with The Culture already, and even then it may be a bit hard to get through.
- p_l 6y agoConsider Phlebas is hard read, and considered the weakest book in the story. Excession is probably the most different one, as a lot of it is essentially email logs, and doesn't deal much with the utopian elements except as far background (a lot of the main characters are at least a little eccentric from Culture point of view). Look to Windward has a lot of the Utopia, but is IMHO quite good read except maybe for some of the chapters happening outside of Culture. Use of Weapons happens pretty much entirely outside of the main Culture body.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- henrikschroder 6y agoPretty much all of the novels take place on the edges of this utopia, and are exploring what motivates people who have immortality and material abundance. You have utopia. Now what?
- RangerScience 6y agoIf memory serves, Excession starts with something going wrong.
- scotty79 6y ago'Matter' at no point felt like utopia to me.
- detritus 6y agoAnd is the source of the wonderful term, an 'Outside Context Problem': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excession#Outside_Context_Problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excession#Outside_Context_Prob...
- RangerScience 6y agoAyup. And that concept then implies the corollary: Outside Context Solution. Fav example for both is Buffy shooting that ancient demon thing with a bazooka.
- neom 6y agoFWIW, imo you really have to start with The Wasp Factory.
- wombatpm 6y agoWasp Factory is not Culture. It is an Iain Banks literature novel and not an Iain M. Banks sci fi novel.
- detritus 6y ago(ed - I got mixed up - perhaps like Parent? I meant 'State of the Art' here, not 'Wasp Factory'. Need more tea. Wasp Factory's still worth a read early on though! ) - - - Wasp Factory has a Culture-related tale in it that is a quick, highly illuminating peek into the fundamentals of the expanded Culture universe.
- pas 6y agoDo you have a few book recommendations? Maybe others can recommend similar books?