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dkadastra's review against another edition
4.0
This was a pretty cool collection of stories. Mostly I’m impressed by the variety of ideas and writing styles. I feel like most authors, even if they write between genres, are recognizably themselves, regardless of the medium. This work morphed into new shapes and styles for each story. The afterward was illuminating, as he outlined how he got the germ of each new idea. It was amazing to see how those seeds grew into each story. Overall, an incredible achievement.
thatsmrsnyder's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Spectacular. Not every story in this collection lands--the longest suffer the most, though they are still packed with interesting and unique ideas--but the ones that DO land are SO GOOD. Wonderful, thoughtful speculative fiction/sci-fi
foofers1622's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
lindcherry's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
cchapple's review against another edition
5.0
Another work of sheer brilliance, from the master of thought experiments! Each story seamlessly blends technicality and empathy. And all of them have this sense of messy complicated optimism that I feel is another one of his signatures.
unread's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
4.5
honestly i just thought all of these short stories were really interesting, and my favourite thing about this edition was that there was an author’s note for each too, placing it within context
doods's review against another edition
5.0
Really fantastic. Some very thought prevoking concepts about what can, could and will be in our future. I loved that they were broken up with him talking about how he was inspired to write that specific story giving us a look into what got him thinking about it.
So many to talk about so I want to talk about the story The Truth of Fact The Truth of Feeling
This Story was about a father whos struggling to decide (in the wake of a new invention that allows total recall) if being able to remember everything is something that would detract or add to life as a whole. He talks about memories and how they effected an african tribe in such interesting ways.
He talks about how introducing the tribe to writing has changed what truth is. A culture that only knew spoken comunication the truth was a more fluid thing. More about what was felt to be right. Without any writings from the past to prove something was one way the tribe relied on memory and once paper and pen was introduced that changed what truth was for them. The tribe then had to recon with this new tool and having it inform the things they believe.
Taking it back to the father of the story. The father is worries about this new change within the way he percieves truth. This possible future really got me thinking. In a world where we can totally recall anything at a request how would that inform our decision making. Im sure like the father in the story I misremember things and maybe it would be better if I knew the truth of the matter but is a world where we are all in a gray area more open to understanding eachothers flaws? im not sure just yet but I'll be thinking about it more and thats all thanks to this FANTASTIC book.
Give it a read
So many to talk about so I want to talk about the story The Truth of Fact The Truth of Feeling
This Story was about a father whos struggling to decide (in the wake of a new invention that allows total recall) if being able to remember everything is something that would detract or add to life as a whole. He talks about memories and how they effected an african tribe in such interesting ways.
He talks about how introducing the tribe to writing has changed what truth is. A culture that only knew spoken comunication the truth was a more fluid thing. More about what was felt to be right. Without any writings from the past to prove something was one way the tribe relied on memory and once paper and pen was introduced that changed what truth was for them. The tribe then had to recon with this new tool and having it inform the things they believe.
Taking it back to the father of the story. The father is worries about this new change within the way he percieves truth. This possible future really got me thinking. In a world where we can totally recall anything at a request how would that inform our decision making. Im sure like the father in the story I misremember things and maybe it would be better if I knew the truth of the matter but is a world where we are all in a gray area more open to understanding eachothers flaws? im not sure just yet but I'll be thinking about it more and thats all thanks to this FANTASTIC book.
Give it a read
lisagray68's review
challenging
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
anjugrao's review against another edition
4.0
A beautiful intersection of cutting edge technology and human emotion. Raises good ethical questions about where we're headed and should we go there.