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Post by kaiserwilhelm on Feb 28, 2017 20:06:30 GMT
Has anyone encountered a good "hard sci-fi" book which you would recomend
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Post by bigbombr on Feb 28, 2017 20:15:53 GMT
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancillary_JusticeIt has FTL, and no mention of radiators. So it isn't really hard sci-fi. However, it takes an interesting look at AI, what it means to be an individual, mind uploading and shared consciousness between multiple bodies.
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Post by teeth on Feb 28, 2017 20:32:00 GMT
The Expanse is very hard, the main thing that's unreasonable are stealth ships and stealth in space, their Epstein drives are questionable but I think it's just magnetically accelerating the plasma from a normal fusion torch, because bringing it any hotter to increase exhaust velocity would be unsafe.
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Post by David367th on Feb 28, 2017 20:55:02 GMT
If anyone has managed not to read them yet, books like The Martian are a must.
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Post by mrsandman on Feb 28, 2017 21:11:36 GMT
A Sword Into Darkness is a really good sci-fi book, and if I remember correctly, it has the Atomic Rockets Seal of Approval.
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Post by thorneel on Feb 28, 2017 21:38:51 GMT
Those I recommend without reservation whatsoever: The Human Reach - www.thehumanreach.net (though I'm starting to fear that he won't write that third book, which makes me very, very sad) House of Suns (a rare gem, a colourful Space Opera in SF hard enough to break amorphous carbon) Those that I found quite nice: Torchship A Sword into Darkness Those you probably already heard about: The Martian (better than the film, though the film's last scene is better so I recommend watching it after) The Expanse (not as "dark and gritty" as the series, which makes it sort of better IMHO in this case)
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Post by xenophon13 on Feb 28, 2017 21:46:37 GMT
I've been enjoying The Tales of Pirx the Pilot by Stanislaw Lem. It's overall pretty hard sci-fi (though the ships all use some ridiculous torch drive), and it tackles some of the psychological repercussions of space travel. Lem also has a really dry sense of humor.
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Post by thorneel on Feb 28, 2017 21:51:11 GMT
Oh, and I forgot:
Old hard-SF that is still surprisingly good: War of the Worlds The Time Machine The Sleeper Awakes You can find those (and other great books) on gutenberg.org as they have fallen into public domain
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Post by argonbalt on Mar 1, 2017 5:28:38 GMT
If anyone has managed not to read them yet, books like The Martian are a must. The Martian is a weak baby fart compared to Red Mars, Blue Mars and Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
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Post by David367th on Mar 1, 2017 13:09:04 GMT
If anyone has managed not to read them yet, books like The Martian are a must. The Martian is a weak baby fart compared to Red Mars, Blue Mars and Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson Well of course, but as hard sci-fi goes The Martian is pretty hard.
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Post by thorneel on Mar 1, 2017 14:02:14 GMT
The Martian is not the best-written book, as it begun as a series of blog posts by someone who never had written novels before. Still, it's an engaging if straightforward story (and the hard-SF side is more prominent).
On the other hand, I found the Mars trilogy to be something of a mess.
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Post by kaiserwilhelm on Mar 1, 2017 14:28:04 GMT
I've been enjoying The Tales of Pirx the Pilot by Stanislaw Lem. It's overall pretty hard sci-fi (though the ships all use some ridiculous torch drive), and it tackles some of the psychological repercussions of space travel. Lem also has a really dry sense of humor. Yeah I have read them altough you really have to read them in the originall language because to my expirience at last some of the humor goes missing if you translatr it. Edit: The martian was actually the book thath got me started to think more deeply about the science of space travel.
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Post by nomnomguy on Mar 3, 2017 20:57:34 GMT
I highly recommend Three Body trilogy by Liu Cinxin. Across the three books, Three Body, Dark Forest, and Deaths end, Liu tells a story with unparalleled scale and depth. Although I do speak some Chinese, the book is far too complicated for my pre-school level Chinese. The english translation does not feel translated. I listened to the book as an audio book. The style and pacing of the book is unique. I would describe it as slow, methodical, highly technical, and extremely detailed but somehow it is always gripping and keeps you on the edge of your seat. It has lot of hard science fiction. Personally it has made most other Sci-Fi seem a little trivial due to the depth, scale, and implication of the events and story. If you love Children of a Dead Earth, I highly recommend this series.
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Post by the_Demongod on Mar 3, 2017 21:31:11 GMT
I highly recommend Three Body trilogy by Liu Cinxin. Across the three books, Three Body, Dark Forest, and Deaths end, Liu tells a story with unparalleled scale and depth. Although I do speak some Chinese, the book is far too complicated for my pre-school level Chinese. The english translation does not feel translated. I listened to the book as an audio book. The style and pacing of the book is unique. I would describe it as slow, methodical, highly technical, and extremely detailed but somehow it is always gripping and keeps you on the edge of your seat. It has lot of hard science fiction. Personally it has made most other Sci-Fi seem a little trivial due to the depth, scale, and implication of the events and story. If you love Children of a Dead Earth, I highly recommend this series. Surprised this wasn't mentioned earlier. I'm only halfway through the first book and the depth is indeed unparalleled in my experience. The english audiobook narrator is extremely good, perfect for the pace of the story, and really brings it to life. Because the book was originally written in Chinese, it has a unique style, unlike anything I've ever read in english. I too highly recommend it, and encourage you to get the audiobook if possible; it turns it from a book to a story almost as vivid as an actual, visual movie. The book is very scientifically accurate and the author clearly has a highly technical background.
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Post by Crazy Tom on Mar 3, 2017 23:09:49 GMT
The Succession books - 'The Risen Empire' and 'The Killing of Worlds' are fantastic and not nearly as well known as they should be. The only departures from reality are the existence of gravity manipulation and FTL comms - but both are used to great effect. And it's one of the few military sci-fi books I've read that have a political character that is sympathetic, engaging, and just as important as the military plot.
Also, the Lynx has to be one of my favorite ships in sci-fi:
I can't vouch for the exact values quoted, but qualitatively at least it sounds great. We've got heat radiators, drones, and casaba-hotwitzer or bomb pumped x-ray laser, mentioned all at once.
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