The Nonlinear Library LW - Sci-Fi books micro-reviews by Yair Halberstadt
Jun 24, 2024
Expert in science fiction literature, Yair Halberstadt, provides micro-reviews of sci-fi books. Ratings and insights given on 'A deepness in the sky,' 'A fire upon the deep,' 'Across Realtime,' and 'Children of Time.' Covering themes, technologies, alien civilizations, and recommendations for each book.
08:13
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Sci-Fi books micro-reviews, published by Yair Halberstadt on June 24, 2024 on LessWrong.
I've recently been reading a lot of science fiction. Most won't be original to fans of the genre, but some people might be looking for suggestions, so in lieu of full blown reviews here's super brief ratings on all of them. I might keep this updated over time, if so new books will go to the top.
A deepness in the sky (Verner Vinge)
scifiosity: 10/10
readability: 8/10
recommended: 10/10
A deepness in the sky excels in its depiction of a spacefaring civilisation using no technologies we know to be impossible, a truly alien civilisation, and it's brilliant treatment of translation and culture.
A fire upon the deep (Verner Vinge)
scifiosity: 8/10
readability: 9/10
recommended: 9/10
In a fire upon the deep, Vinge allows impossible technologies and essentially goes for a slightly more fantasy theme. But his depiction of alien civilisation remains unsurpassed.
Across Realtime (Verner Vinge)
scifiosity: 8/10
readability: 8/10
recommended: 5/10
This collection of two books imagines a single exotic technology, and explores how it could be used, whilst building a classic thriller into the plot. It's fine enough, but just doesn't have the same depth or insight as his other works.
Children of Time (Adrian Tchaikovsky)
scifiosity: 7/10
readability: 5/10
recommended: 5/10
Children of Time was recommended as the sort of thing you'd like if you enjoyed a deepness in the sky. Personally I found it a bit silly - I think because Tchaikovsky had some plot points he wanted to get to and was making up justifications for them, rather than deeply thinking about the consequences of his various assumptions.
The Martian (Andy Weir)
scifiosity: 10/10
readability: 8/10
recommended: 9/10
This is hard sci-fi on steroids. Using only known or in development technologies, how could an astranaut survive stranded on Mars. It's an enjoyable read, and you'll learn a lot about science, but the characters sometimes feel one dimensional.
Project Hail Mary (Andy Weir)
scifiosity: 8/10
readability: 8/10
recommended: 7/10
This is more speculative sci-fi than the martian, but still contains plenty of hard science[1]. It focuses more on plot, but that's not really Weir's forte and the sciencey bits suffer as a result. Still enjoyable though.
Seveneves (Neil Stephenson)
scifiosity: 8/10
readability: 8/10
recommended: 7/10
This is really two books. The first is a hard sci-fi, how do we build things rapidly in space using current technology. The second half is... kinda wierd, but still enjoyable. Stephenson is less good at the science than Weir, but better at plot, if a bit idiosyncratic[2].
Cryptonomicon (Neil Stephenson)
scifiosity: 9/10
readability: 7/10
recommended: 8/10
I was recommended this as a book that would incidentally teach you a lot about cryptography. That must have been targeted to complete newbies because I didn't learn much I didn't know already. Still it was enjoyable, if somewhat weird.
The Three-Body Problem (Cixin Liu)
scifiosity: 4/10
readability: 6/10
recommended: 5/10
This started off really well, but then got steadily sillier as the book progressed. I loved the depictions of decent into madness, the surrealism of the 3 body game, and the glimpses into Chinese culture as seen by Chinese. But the attempts to science-bullshit explanations at the end kind of ruined it for me.
Machineries of Empire (Yoon Ha Lee)
scifiosity: 4/10
readability: 8/10
recommended: 8/10
I would classify this more as science fantasy than fiction, since the calendrical mechanics seem to be made up according to whatever the plot needs, but it's a brilliantly written series I thoroughly enjoyed, if a bit difficult to follow at times.
Stories of Your Life + Exhalation (Ted Chiang)
scifiosity: 10/10
readability: 10/10
recommended: 10/10...
I've recently been reading a lot of science fiction. Most won't be original to fans of the genre, but some people might be looking for suggestions, so in lieu of full blown reviews here's super brief ratings on all of them. I might keep this updated over time, if so new books will go to the top.
A deepness in the sky (Verner Vinge)
scifiosity: 10/10
readability: 8/10
recommended: 10/10
A deepness in the sky excels in its depiction of a spacefaring civilisation using no technologies we know to be impossible, a truly alien civilisation, and it's brilliant treatment of translation and culture.
A fire upon the deep (Verner Vinge)
scifiosity: 8/10
readability: 9/10
recommended: 9/10
In a fire upon the deep, Vinge allows impossible technologies and essentially goes for a slightly more fantasy theme. But his depiction of alien civilisation remains unsurpassed.
Across Realtime (Verner Vinge)
scifiosity: 8/10
readability: 8/10
recommended: 5/10
This collection of two books imagines a single exotic technology, and explores how it could be used, whilst building a classic thriller into the plot. It's fine enough, but just doesn't have the same depth or insight as his other works.
Children of Time (Adrian Tchaikovsky)
scifiosity: 7/10
readability: 5/10
recommended: 5/10
Children of Time was recommended as the sort of thing you'd like if you enjoyed a deepness in the sky. Personally I found it a bit silly - I think because Tchaikovsky had some plot points he wanted to get to and was making up justifications for them, rather than deeply thinking about the consequences of his various assumptions.
The Martian (Andy Weir)
scifiosity: 10/10
readability: 8/10
recommended: 9/10
This is hard sci-fi on steroids. Using only known or in development technologies, how could an astranaut survive stranded on Mars. It's an enjoyable read, and you'll learn a lot about science, but the characters sometimes feel one dimensional.
Project Hail Mary (Andy Weir)
scifiosity: 8/10
readability: 8/10
recommended: 7/10
This is more speculative sci-fi than the martian, but still contains plenty of hard science[1]. It focuses more on plot, but that's not really Weir's forte and the sciencey bits suffer as a result. Still enjoyable though.
Seveneves (Neil Stephenson)
scifiosity: 8/10
readability: 8/10
recommended: 7/10
This is really two books. The first is a hard sci-fi, how do we build things rapidly in space using current technology. The second half is... kinda wierd, but still enjoyable. Stephenson is less good at the science than Weir, but better at plot, if a bit idiosyncratic[2].
Cryptonomicon (Neil Stephenson)
scifiosity: 9/10
readability: 7/10
recommended: 8/10
I was recommended this as a book that would incidentally teach you a lot about cryptography. That must have been targeted to complete newbies because I didn't learn much I didn't know already. Still it was enjoyable, if somewhat weird.
The Three-Body Problem (Cixin Liu)
scifiosity: 4/10
readability: 6/10
recommended: 5/10
This started off really well, but then got steadily sillier as the book progressed. I loved the depictions of decent into madness, the surrealism of the 3 body game, and the glimpses into Chinese culture as seen by Chinese. But the attempts to science-bullshit explanations at the end kind of ruined it for me.
Machineries of Empire (Yoon Ha Lee)
scifiosity: 4/10
readability: 8/10
recommended: 8/10
I would classify this more as science fantasy than fiction, since the calendrical mechanics seem to be made up according to whatever the plot needs, but it's a brilliantly written series I thoroughly enjoyed, if a bit difficult to follow at times.
Stories of Your Life + Exhalation (Ted Chiang)
scifiosity: 10/10
readability: 10/10
recommended: 10/10...