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SoylentNews Book Club - Discuss: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Start Reading: Fiasco

posted by martyb on Wednesday February 13 2019, @01:22AM   
from the cell-ular-automaton dept.

takyon writes:

March: We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse #1) by Dennis Taylor

Discuss The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein in the comments below.

Fiasco was translated into English in 1988 by Michael Kandel:

Fiasco (Polish: Fiasko) is a science fiction novel by Polish author Stanisław Lem, first published in a German translation in 1986. The book, published in Poland the following year, is a further elaboration of Lem's skepticism: in Lem's opinion, the difficulty in communication with alien civilizations is cultural disparity rather than spatial distance. The failure to communicate with an alien civilization is the main theme of the book.

Previously: Announcement post • Mars, Ho! • Foundation • The Three-Body Problem • Snow Crash

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Original Submission

• Re:It's well written and... (Score: 2) by deimtee on Friday February 15 2019, @06:53PM

  by deimtee (3272) on Friday February 15 2019, @06:53PM (#801715) Journal

  It's been over a decade since I read it. (from an ancient socialist thing called "a public library") While I enjoyed it, I was very skeptical of a society that was basically anarchy. Everyone armed. Anyone could kill anyone at any time, but you could be sure revenge would ensue. It seems more like some of our barbarian history. It seems like the very worst in human nature would emerge. As it does in our society, but in a more violent and brutal fashion.

  Very few people were armed, only the warden's guards and a few hidden weapons I think. But it was a closed, very harsh environment and the book even says there was huge attrition in the early years. When there is nowhere to go and the guy next to you can let you die by doing nothing it is a survival skill to not be an arsehole.

  I don’t care for such work at zero pressure; mishaps in pressure suit is too permanent—especially when somebody arranges mishap. One first thing learned about Luna, back with first shiploads of convicts, was that zero pressure was place for good manners. Bad-tempered straw boss didn’t last many shifts; had an “accident”—and top bosses learned not to pry into accidents or they met accidents, too. Attrition ran 70 percent in the early years—but those who lived were nice people. Not tame, not soft, Luna is not for them. But well-behaved.

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  If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.

  Parent

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