Mind Blogging. Mind Boggling.

Just finished the second Sci fi read of the year, and a very different experience from the first.

1. While the first read, Infinite Detail, was here and now, extending the present tech and circumstances 20 years out, the other, Consider Phlebas, is what’s called a ‘space opera’ sci fi which is altogether different. Space operas are vast in scale crossing multiple galaxies, make big leaps in available science. For example, Consider Phlebas has hyperspace (faster than light speed travel) and laser blasters. Infinite Details is set very much on earth, and the tech is VR goggles and such.
2. Infinite detail belongs to the dystopia genre sci fi, and while in Consider Phlebas, one of the main civilizations, ‘the Culture’, is in a state of AI supported utopia.
3. Infinite detail is as recent as 2019, while Consider Phlebas is 1989 vintage. In fact, Phlebas has some Communist overhang in the lexicon, albeit not in the premise.

Consider Phlebas is a good read- racy plot, interesting characters, just the right amount of science, good writing, and some gentle humour interspersed. Think I’m going to venture forth further into the Culture series.  

How did I get to Consider Phlebas? The ‘Culture Series’, of which Consider Phlebas is a book in , is a fav of Mr Musk and Mr Bezos. Not much love is lost between them in their recent twitter wars, but this is one thing they could agree on- their love for this series.

Also, hat doff to Mr Musk for interspersing so deep cultural references in his company. Sea based landing ports for Space X’s rockets have the quirky names ‘Of Course I Still Love you’ and ‘Just read the instructions’, which are actually the names of giant spaceships in one of the books of the Culture Series. Space X created a milestone in being the first company to recover rocket first stages, by landing them on these sea based  rocket landing passed.

End Credits: Thanks S for urging me to record immediate thoughts.

Labels: Books

# posted by Ashwin Ravikumar @ 6:27 PM