4 ms·

This is the original short story. I recommend that people read the full book instead or at least read the book first to avoid spoilers. It's at least as good as

This is the original short story. I recommend that people read the full book instead or at least read the book first to avoid spoilers. It's at least as good as the short story but expands on the ideas and the story line significantly.

matthewdgreen 3y ago
There is also a terrible 1968 movie called "Charly" that is worth watching just for the motorcycle scenes.
ajmurmann 3y ago
Does the book add significant new ideas or is it just more explicit about the consequences? I generally love scifi for the ideas much more so than for story and am torn between the book and the short story.
- abraxas 3y ago
  The main thrust of the story (the main sci-fi component) is contained in both. But it is fleshed out better in the full book. However, neither is a story that contains a ton of novel Sci-Fi ideas. For that I would direct you to stories and books by Greg Egan.
  - ajmurmann 3y ago
    Thanks! Yep, Egan is one of my favorites
- z3dd 3y ago
  I'd recommend picking the story or novel depending on which you can finish in one go. It's gripping and I feel like breaking it up might take away from the experience.
nottorp 3y ago
> It's at least as good as the short story but expands on the ideas and the story line significantly. I don't know about this one (I only read the story) but every time I've read a full novel that was originally a short or novelette it felt dragged out. Even when I didn't know beforehand it was made out of a short. It's sad that the market for shorts is basically gone. Oh... wait! Let's go on a tangent. I used to subscribe to Asimov's on Kindle before they kicked separate subscriptions out and left only Kindle unlimited available... Asimov's went to some dubious solution through some distributor that had their own mobile app, so I didn't renew there. Well guess what: I checked Asimov's again and now they still have the dubious app but it looks like you can subscribe directly on their site and get epubs and pdfs! Guess I wasn't the only one who didn't like the dubious app... There is hope for shorts after all...

matthewdgreen 3y ago

There is also a terrible 1968 movie called "Charly" that is worth watching just for the motorcycle scenes.

ajmurmann 3y ago

Does the book add significant new ideas or is it just more explicit about the consequences? I generally love scifi for the ideas much more so than for story and am torn between the book and the short story.

abraxas 3y ago
The main thrust of the story (the main sci-fi component) is contained in both. But it is fleshed out better in the full book. However, neither is a story that contains a ton of novel Sci-Fi ideas. For that I would direct you to stories and books by Greg Egan.
- ajmurmann 3y ago
  Thanks! Yep, Egan is one of my favorites
z3dd 3y ago
I'd recommend picking the story or novel depending on which you can finish in one go. It's gripping and I feel like breaking it up might take away from the experience.

nottorp 3y ago

> It's at least as good as the short story but expands on the ideas and the story line significantly. I don't know about this one (I only read the story) but every time I've read a full novel that was originally a short or novelette it felt dragged out. Even when I didn't know beforehand it was made out of a short. It's sad that the market for shorts is basically gone. Oh... wait! Let's go on a tangent. I used to subscribe to Asimov's on Kindle before they kicked separate subscriptions out and left only Kindle unlimited available... Asimov's went to some dubious solution through some distributor that had their own mobile app, so I didn't renew there. Well guess what: I checked Asimov's again and now they still have the dubious app but it looks like you can subscribe directly on their site and get epubs and pdfs! Guess I wasn't the only one who didn't like the dubious app... There is hope for shorts after all...