The Goliath Stone
by Larry Niven, Matthew Joseph Harrington
by Larry Niven, Matthew Joseph Harrington
science fiction
copyright 2013
read in February 2015
read in February 2015
rated 6/10: read to pass the time
High speed super science. Really, really annoying.
The nanotech science is entirely implausible -- but that's no worry. After all, this is science fiction.
What is really annoying, is the attitude of the characters... Meaning, the attitude of the authors.
The authors are always, oh so absolutely, right.
Not just clever, but right. Worse yet, the rightness of the authors' opinions means that the reader either agrees -- or is wrong.
No middle ground. No acceptance of alternate views. Either agree with the authors -- or you are wrong.
It's an arrogant attitude which comes through very strongly, via the thoughts, words and actions of the main characters.
Global warming is so stupid -- according to the authors -- that it gets several put-downs. NASA employees are such a bunch of morons that there are many uses of insulting alternatives for the NASA acronym. No sympathy. Just arrogance and insults.
The intelligence of the reader is also insulted. Have you read the same books as the authors ? Have you memorised the same, possibly clever, quotations ? If not -- you are a fool.
For example... Regular references to other books and movies. A character will say, "What the... Oh, wait, now I get the reference... Oh how funny and clever... " The reader gets no hints. Either you have read that particular book -- and memorised that particular line -- or you, like the secondary characters, are a fool.
This book is a fairytale of wish fulfilment. If you are a clever person with a good understanding of science, you will get to rule the world. You will get to kill all the people who disagree with you. You will get to humiliate all the people who support other points of view.
Science fiction often has a world being saved by science and by scientists.
Let's hope that the real world is never "saved" by this particular group of egotistic pseudo scientists.
===
10dec16:
Third attempt to get a post to post. Let's summarise:
This book is rubbish. An insult to the reader. Absolute and utter rubbish.
This book is rubbish. An insult to the reader. Absolute and utter rubbish.
14dec16:
I had a lot of trouble with the previous post (10dec16)...
I was typing on a tablet. Extending the entry window required a finger the size of a pinhead, to drag at the exact point. Impossible. The tablet display did not clear some text within that same data entry area. So I was typing behind some of the blogger explanation. Then the final post failed. Twice. Ah well.
Back to the book itself:
I've now checked what I read in the original review. Absolutely right. The authors treat their readers with contempt. There are unexplained references to old American TV shows (I guess) and science fiction books (again, a guess). You don't understand the references? Then you must be an idiot. That's the authors' attitude.
Near the start of the book I thought, Isn't it obvious what has been happening out in space? Is that going to be some sort of "surprise" which is no surprise at all? Possibly... but I failed to find out.
Within ten pages, I realised that I had already read this book. No worries, some books are worth a reread. Less than 100 pages in and I thought, the authors have just insulted my intelligence. Again. Every healthy woman will have enormous breasts and a seductive manner? In whose teenage boyhood fantasy... This on top of the you-must-be-in-the-know "literary" references.
I stopped reading. Checked the original review. Realised that I had missed nothing worthwhile in the rest of the book.
My six out of ten rating could have been a bit too generous.
I was typing on a tablet. Extending the entry window required a finger the size of a pinhead, to drag at the exact point. Impossible. The tablet display did not clear some text within that same data entry area. So I was typing behind some of the blogger explanation. Then the final post failed. Twice. Ah well.
Back to the book itself:
I've now checked what I read in the original review. Absolutely right. The authors treat their readers with contempt. There are unexplained references to old American TV shows (I guess) and science fiction books (again, a guess). You don't understand the references? Then you must be an idiot. That's the authors' attitude.
Near the start of the book I thought, Isn't it obvious what has been happening out in space? Is that going to be some sort of "surprise" which is no surprise at all? Possibly... but I failed to find out.
Within ten pages, I realised that I had already read this book. No worries, some books are worth a reread. Less than 100 pages in and I thought, the authors have just insulted my intelligence. Again. Every healthy woman will have enormous breasts and a seductive manner? In whose teenage boyhood fantasy... This on top of the you-must-be-in-the-know "literary" references.
I stopped reading. Checked the original review. Realised that I had missed nothing worthwhile in the rest of the book.
My six out of ten rating could have been a bit too generous.
"I want the satisfaction of achievement without the effort of actually achieving" per Ginger Meggs
====
Problems ? Solved
Problems ? Solved
No comments:
Post a Comment