hesperiidae

4 ms·

1.
by hesperiidae 5y ago
>First time they mention it is page 10: Yeah, so it is! I guess I ran into the same weirdness as ShamelessC, since when I first Ctrl-F:ed the PDF, hit 1/11 was on page 11. Now that I try my damndest to reproduce it, I get 12 hits an
2.
by hesperiidae 5y ago
I agree with you that Gurgeh was just a piece getting manipulated and that that was the point, but Gurgeh was still the best piece that they could use for the job. The Culture is (in this story) pretty much only bound by their own constra
3.
by hesperiidae 5y ago
Yeah, he wouldn't have reached such a good solution with help, and that was also originally taken into account by the Culture when they sent him out in the first place, since they knew him that thoroughly.
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by hesperiidae 5y ago
Yeah, it's making fun of the human desire for gravitas when it comes to ship names, since it's just exponentially more and more over the top.
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by hesperiidae 5y ago
The Player of Games is my favourite exactly for the same reason: it explores the Culture in contrast to the Empire, and even the drama is just an expression of the clash between the two structures.
6.
by hesperiidae 5y ago
Yes! And also, "why is a weapon?", "how is a weapon?" and "what isn't a weapon?" Really, Culture is a great setting for discussing a lot of interesting philosophical questions and topics.
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by hesperiidae 5y ago
Yeah, it does take its time to build up, but in my opinion that just lays a stronger foundation for the latter half(-ish) of the book. Use of Weapons is more than a decent intro, but I'd still personally recommend The Player of Games s
8.
by hesperiidae 5y ago
It's a great starting point, since not only is the story both fun and interesting, but it also shows what the Culture's values and methods are in a very satisfying way by juxtaposing them against the Empire through the tournaments
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by hesperiidae 5y ago
Yup, "In chess, we evaluated PoG against Stockfish 8, level 20 [81] and AlphaZero."