this post was submitted on 01 Apr 2024
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Hard, computational SF aren't given nearly the respect they should, and these apply math, comp sci, and physics in a way nobody else does. If there's any civilization in the future, they'll be seen as visionary.
Runners-up are Robert L. Forward, Alastair Reynolds, but Forward has very little computation, and Reynolds doesn't show his math too often.
Reading Egan is like getting a PHD in mathematics and a PHD in quantum physics, then going to Burning Man and doing 18 hits of acid.
Strongly agree about Reynolds and VInge.
Haven't read Egan or Rucker, so I can't speak to them. Vinge had amazing ideas that still pop into my head from time to time, but I couldn't get into his writing style; he never really pulled me in, despite how much I wanted to bet pulled in.
I couldn't finish a Deepness in the Sky. It didn't seem like the sci-fi was important - it was just a setting.
Some of Rudy's books are free, and they will blow your minds. Software, etc. and Postsingular as "what technology can do to us", and White Light as "how does infinity work in a story context"; he also has a couple non-fiction books on infinity.
The problem I had with Vinge's Sky series is that the first book is so, so amazing. Like wonderfully amazing concepts that I wanted to read all about, so I immediately went and read the other 2.
Book 2 is ok but crap compared to book 1.
And book 3 sucks.
Neither book 2 or 3 explore any of the interesting concepts from A Fire Upon The Deep, and I wanted so, so much more, and it just left me deeply disappointed.
Reynolds sometimes lacks a touch on the human side of his work. That being said, I've not read much of his more recent novels so he might have matured since finishing his 10 year contract.
Vinge's Deepness in the Sky is a masterfully done book that's tough to chew through but I'll be dammed if it isn't one of the best books written with an alternative species perspective to that of the human