Help offset server costs by donating. This is totally optional. Any overages will go to library fines or new books.
BarnerCobblewood
About
- Username
- BarnerCobblewood
- Joined
- Visits
- 2,761
- Last Active
- Roles
- Member
Comments
-
(Quote) Made me laugh.
-
I won't be able to run a discussion at that time. Just too busy in real life I'm afraid.
-
(Quote) I've never seen or heard of translation doing magic. The perils of translation at university are things more like carpal tunnel syndrome, and embarrassment when you make a boner mistake. Whoooops! As for the other point, I'm reminded of wha…
-
I'm not sure she loves Oxford, or university education. Oxford University is the centre of the villainy after all, unlike say the north of England, Canton, or anywhere else in the world at all.
-
(Quote) Michael Tomasello argues that it does matter when we learn things, that there are stages of growth when some learning is easy, and when that stage is finished learning the same thing is, well, not the same - more difficult. See his book Beco…
-
So far I find it a kind of Harry Potter book, but preachy. Since Harry Potter ended up a nice suburban magician, I guess we were going to get correctives published. Not really enjoying it - I find it a bit long. Continue reading.
-
I disagree that it is a true representation of the perils of translation, but never mind. I think the dichotomy is more between globalised and local elites.
-
I find myself curiously repelled by the world-building. So far I think she wants to convey that the problem is rooted in the fact that money matters more than technology to our villains, but I think that idea is both crudely implemented, as well as …
-
Also finished the reading for November.
-
(Quote) I think that at this stage they were an opportunity for what you call some mil-SF fun. Also some game and problem solving stories that have a patina of so-called hard-sf in them. That said, they still betray their American origin by immediat…
-
I think they are what comes out of industrial war, the Military-Industrial complex that Eisenhower famously warned about.
-
(Quote) Yeah, this was something that struck me as a bit of hand-wavy-ness. But then again, I thought that it was just part of the way the publication and creation of the world went hand in hand. (Quote) I thought that (so far) this was a missed op…
-
Like @RichardAbbott I di not think of the Borg, though it seems obvious once you say it. I think that Saberhagen realised early that the Berserkers as purposeless industrial killing did not provide a sufficient antagonist for plot, and so changed th…
-
I liked this part of the work - I felt we got to see Saberhagen building the world as he went. I though the framing work was shoddy - if you're going to do it, do it well please. I'm kind of curious if there are significant changes of tone in the se…
-
I don't think it has withstood the passage of time very well, but I'm not sure if the time that has passed is my subjective experience of time, or the zeitgeist.
-
It seemed like a missed opportunity to me. I saw the influence of Dune to be honest - I think pulp authors and publishers were starting to realise that there was efficient money to be made in serialisations turning into novels (low costs at the begi…
-
Not really. 2 points: 1) I thought the sequence (?) of stories about Johann Karlsen's adventures would have made a good novel, or novella, but 2) The connections were just too sparse. I would have preferred that he work out a proper novella, and the…
-
I agree with @Apocryphal, because I prefer to read a book in one shot. I find if I spread it out too much, and have other reading in between, it makes it harder for me to remember the forest for the trees. But however you guys like it.
-
I think that Auden's poem was composed in 1938 is also relevant to the theme of impending catastrophic failure in the novel. There is perhaps a critique of the the importance of technological advance in alleviating human misery that Tevis wanted to …
-
(Quote) Yeah the global political order was really inscrutable. The US seems to be in a heating up Cold War, but with who, and why it matters didn't seem important enough to tell us. Perhaps it's because it doesn't matter to any of our protagonists.…
-
Still thinking about this. I think playing it has many of the same problems as playing the Buried Giant would. Currently am tending towards it would be easier for a group to communally construct something new than adapt some individual vision, but I…
-
I too saw the movie before the book, but it was years ago. Remember it fondly, but I'm not sure my memory is faithful to its reality. Watching it again is on my list of things to do.
-
I think that for the book the point of the painting is that people don't care for exceptions because engrossed in everyday activities and concerns, but if you don't look at the picture you won't get that. I thought the book deepened my thinking abou…
-
I thought it was a good novel. Even though you didn't like the Buried Giant, I found this was similar in that it was concerned with the internal lives of characters who have passed their active times. As SF I think it holds up pretty well, but I wo…
-
Hi, Sorry to be late. Was away visiting my mother. I thought the story and all three characters were compelling. Thought it was a critical novel. It was interesting to for to think about how the story moved forward with almost no action once Newton…
-
(Quote) I don't think it's a question of deep or shallow, it's a question of training and skill, with maybe some talent in the mix. (Quote) I think you grok what I'm saying. If the game mechanics are like an instrument, how many good musicians don'…
-
Sorry, to clarify I meant listening on the part of the PCs, not the players. RPGs have a second layer of play over participant games and sports in that the the PCs are playing, and so are the players, and that makes a much more complex work to harmo…
-
I wonder if this relation of the relative importance of theme and action is a profound, or structural, difference between listening / reading and playing. Or maybe a civilisational difference. While watching sports I don't explicitly think of the de…
-
(Quote) But so often they don't, they have short memories, and despite all our tales and techniques otherwise, I'm pretty sure they, and so we, do not and never did. I suspect there is only so much one can remember at a time. However we can through …
-
(Quote) I think this suits many Arthurian quests quite well: They occur in some Land Perilous, and are not well located in time. (Quote) Those are stories for kings, who are interested in dominating space. This story is about dominating time (seeki…