Good Evening

[Music Head]

Oh well, "Oft expectation fails, and most oft there where most it promises."

don't do it mate
we just need prodding on occasion

[bob_32_116]

Hi BigEars.

Out of the bands you mention I only like Yes, but I'm surre there is lots more overlap with some bands you have not mentioned. Do you like anything else in the progressive vein?

Re sci-fi: I love Asimov but I think the Foundation trilogy is over-rated. My favourite from him is The End of Eternity.

If you are into real "hard science" sci-fi, as opposed to fantasy or space opera, try Greg Egan, an Australian author who happens to live in Perth, That's not why I like him, I just think he is very good at what he does.

[Big Ears]

Bob,

Pretty much all the seventies progressive rock, plus Saga!

The Foundation was ahead of its time, with the centralised knowledge system; although the more Asimov wrote about The Mule, the more I lost interest. I read the first three books from the early fifties and then stopped. The only sci-fi I've read since is Pratchett's Discworld, which was not my cup of tea.

I'll look out for Greg Egan.

[Jerome]

Read Ira Levin's 'This Perfect Day'

Considered one of the great dystopian novels―alongside Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World―Ira Levin's frightening glimpse into the future continues to fascinate readers even forty years after publication.

The story is set in a seemingly perfect global society. Uniformity is the defining feature; there is only one language and all ethnic groups have been eugenically merged into one race called “The Family.“ The world is ruled by a central computer called UniComp that has been programmed to keep every single human on the surface of the earth in check. People are continually drugged by means of regular injections so that they can never realize their potential as human beings, but will remain satisfied and cooperative. They are told where to live, when to eat, whom to marry, when to reproduce. even the basic facts of nature are subject to the UniComp's will―men do not grow facial hair, women do not develop breasts, and it only rains at night.

With a vision as frightening as any in the history of the science fiction genre, This Perfect Day is one of Ira Levin`s most haunting novels.

[Big Ears]

Talking of dystopian novels, in the last few years I've read Aldous Huxley for the first time, reread Orwell's 1984 (one of my all-time favourite books) and read the book that inspired them both, Yevgeny Zamyatin's We. A book that fascinated me was Ayn Rand's Anthem, in which she cleverly, but absurdly, turns the affluent into victims (I forget the exact quote). Fans of Neil Peart's lyrics, which are inspired by Rand, should read her outpourings.

[bob_32_116]

The thing about "science fiction" is that these days it comes in several varieties. I regard books like Dune as what I call "space Westerns" rather than science fiction. They are all characters and action, but they do not say anything to me. Very often I find the SF short story form to be the most rewarding. The author takes an interesting idea, and the story contains just enough content to present the idea and the ramifications of it, and to leave it in the reader's mind.

Works like Terry Pratchett's "Discworld" and Douglas Adams "Hitch hiker" trilogy are more comedy than science fiction, though I happen to enjoy those as well.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

I don't read SF, I just cant get into them, much prefer the visuals of the movie...
I read either biographies/autobiographies and Stephen King novels as a rule, but hate most of the adaptions of King's works into movies..
My partner and my dad read James Patterson novels, I don't like his books at all.
I used to read Agatha Christie novels when I was younger.
But that's it for me and books..
I do however enjoy the odd National Geographic/Time magazines which have interesting articles and breathtaking photographs.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

Damn, just remembered...
I have all of Oscar Wilde's published works and most of George Orwell's novels,
both of whom I think are genius's in the world of writing.

[bob_32_116]

^^ Oscar was very witty.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

He sure was,
My favourite piece of humour from him was when he arrived in the US and customs asked him if he had anything to declare...
His quick reply being...
" I have nothing to declare but my brilliance!"....