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November: The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin.
December: Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.
A poll for the January 2019 book will be around the 15th, unless you want it sooner (not sooner than the U.S. midterms).
Discuss Foundation by Isaac Asimov in the comments below.
As for Liu Cixin's best known novel:
"Wildly imaginative, really interesting." ―President Barack Obama on The Three-Body Problem trilogy
The English translation for The Three-Body Problem was published in 2014 by Ken Liu under Tor Books.
Consider using <spoiler>text</spoiler> wherever you feel the need to do so.
Previously: Announcement post • Mars, Ho!
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SoylentNews Book Club: Discuss Foundation, Start Reading The Three-Body Problem
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
The clothes have no emperor.
-- C. A. R. Hoare, commenting on ADA.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday November 06 2018, @05:09PM
My sophomore year in high school saw some pretty drastic life changes. Granddaddy died, for starters, and I, being the only grandchild mature enough to act responsibly, was sent to live with Grandma. Which was cool - that ultimately delayed some other important life changes. Not to mention, I loved my grandparents, and was quite happy to be Grandma's gopher.
Anyway - Grandma was also the only family member who understood my love of reading. She asked one day what I was reading, and I showed her some pulp fiction magazine. She asked what I wanted to read next, and I mentioned Asimov and Foundation. Soon after, I had not just Foundation, but the entire trilogy, in hard bound editions. Nice!
Nice, but intimidating. How many pages is that? The BIBLE isn't any bigger! Holy CRAP!
I dove into it. The beginning was dry, and tough for a sophomore to absorb. But, the further I got, the more interesting it became. Soon enough, those pages just went flip, flip, flip. I can't remember how long it took to finish the first book, now. Weeks, anyway. I laid that first book aside, eyeballed the next one, and felt intimidated again. What with chores, gophering for Grandma, school, it literally took weeks to read the first volume. I actually put off starting that second book for at least a couple weeks. And, again, I didn't fall directly into the story - it took a few chapters before I became immersed in the book. Then, again, the pages flipped as fast as I could flip them! Took a little less time to finish the second book, than the first. And, then I dove into the third. No delays, I put book two aside one evening, and the next evening, I picked up book three. I was HOOKED, I tell you!
If I may quote MostCynical's post:
That scale, and that scope, floored me. I had not seen such a thing before. I was the nerd who picked up a paperback novel, and left undisturbed, could read it in a single day. Not Foundation! This story kept me entertained, and occupied my mind for two months or more. I'll never know how quickly I could have read it, if I could have spent all the time I wanted with it. But, as things were, I could read some, be called away, and think about the story until I got back to it. That was annoying at the time, but in retrospect, it was a luxury. That huge scale, and scope, were made to last, and last, and last. It was always waiting for me, when ever I could get back to it.
The only other story that has ever matched that experience, was Tolkein's Middle Earth stories, including the Silmarillion.
I've re-read the trilogy since my high school days. But, even re-reading the story can't match that first experience. Asimov and Tolkein each contributed unique experiences to my life. For that reason, if for no other, I am a fan of both men.
As bzipitidoo posted:
I was very much aware of that fact while reading the trilogy. In fact, it altered my impatience with history, and history teachers. Prior to reading the Foundation, I seldom found any reason to even be interested in the lessons.
Sorry, that's not really a "book review". But, I wanted to share my love of the book, and my love of Asimov's story telling in general. Isaac had few peers, and I'm sure that all of you can agree with that!
Let me throw in a bonus!
https://www.military.com/undertheradar/2018/11/05/how-giants-science-fiction-helped-americas-world-war-ii-effort.html [military.com]