Why These 10 SciFi Books Blew My Mind
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- Опубліковано 14 лип 2024
- Lets talk about how and why these scifi books blew my mind and introduced me to new or clever concepts. Beware of the spoilers throughout this video!!
#mindblowingbooks #scifibooks
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CHAPTERS
00:00 - Intro
00:29 - disclaimers
01:15 - Snow Crash
02:23 - Project Hail Mary
03:54 - Speaker for the Dead
05:05 - Childhood's End
06:09 - the Sparrow
07:23 - Foundation
08:56 - Trouble with Lichen
10:50 - Rama
12:42 - Calculating God
13:40 - Three Body Problem
15:12 - Children of Time
#mindblowing #spoilers #sciencefiction #booktube - Розваги
IMO the project manager in Hail Mary is the real scene stealer. She kicks ass. Loved the book also.
OMG, I wasn't aware of Trouble with Lichen. Such a great premise. Adding it to my TBR now!!!
Hope you enjoy it! Yay!!
I am just finding you, and I'm immediately subscribing...I love, love LOVE your take on Rendezvous with Rama...I've always said that people missed the point of this book...and finally someone agrees!!
Awesome! Thank you! Yay!!!!
Whitney... I loved this video. You're energy is contagious. I'm very excited to get to the books on your list that I haven't read yet.
The time stamps were a great idea
yes, vibes to get you motivated to get the mind blown
Yay! Thank you for watching!!
You need to read the next 2 books in the Three Body Problem trilogy. They are even more mind blowing. When I was watching this video my computer's mind was blown. Everything when black and silent. Luckily it only took a power off then on to resurrect it.
Hahah! Thats amazing!!
I have not read 3BP or its show that exists but Enjoy:
ua-cam.com/video/YrLompD6e_k/v-deo.html
Ender's Game got me into my first literary universe. I love the all the Ender's and Shadow books. Snow Crash is one of those that everyone but me loves. I think I found it at the wrong time. I feel like it is a YA novel and too on the nose. I love the Foundation series as well and got to re-read it after watching the show to remind me what it was like.
Yes snow crash is very on the nose, but was just what i needed in college. Will have to do a reread at some point.
@@secretsauceofstorycraft Let us know and the community could do a read along
I read Calculating God only because of your review (I found my dad's copy around the house) and was very thankful for the recommendation. I really enjoyed how the aliens were so different from the boring Star Trek humanoids.
I am sooo glad u enjoyed it!!
What a great list! This is one of the main reasons I love science fiction, to explore mind-blowing and thought-provoking ideas.
Among your list, I also loved Speaker for the Dead (it's a step up from Ender's Game in my opinion), Childhood's End and Three Body Problem. Just wait till you get to The Dark Forest and Death's End, they contain some of the most mind-bending concepts I've ever come across.
I also have Trouble with Lichen and The Sparrow on my TBR, hopefully I can get round to them both soon. Never heard of Calculating God before, but you've convinced me to add it to my TBR! Thanks!
Yaya!! I love adding to TBRs…. Thanks for watching. I am hoping to get to dark forest before summer…. 🤞
I’d also highly recommend Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. He absolutely nailed so many things about our modern 21st century - addiction to reality TV, watching the insipid lives of a family made famous merely by being on TV, the failing publishing industry, book banning, high-speed chases dominating the news, giant flatscreen TVs - and he wrote the book when television had just been invented! Incredible.
Only the short story “A Logic Named Joe” by Murray Leinster, written in 1946, equals it for astonishing prescience. In that story’s case, it’s about the internet and the way AI is currently taking over.
Wow… thanks for the short story recc i will see if i can get my hands on it!
I would recommend Altered Carbon by Richard K Morgan. It's a hyper violent action noir detective book, that wrestles with notions of immortality, and what the functional removal of death for most people might look like. The Gone World by Thomas Sweterlitsch is a different kind of time travel book. The protagonist detective travels to potential futures when cold case murders have been solved, and then returns to the present in an attempt to catch the serial killer sooner, and save the victims. Needle in the Groove, by Jeff Noon, is a nineties novel set in the near future. It has no capitalization or punctuation, which give it a lyrics/stream of consciousness feel. It follows a bassist in a band, the history of the Manchester Music scene, and a weird new substance that remixes music when you shake it.
Thanks for the reccs!!will have to check them out. I loved altered carbon tv show and have been meaning to get to the book…
Good call on Altered Carbon. Yes it’s violent but the story is original and it does make you think what if we found a way to avoid death. Good SF.
Thank you for posting the books and time stamps in the description. I've read some of these books, but not all of them. I am bookmarking your video so I can come back to it after finishing your list. Also, thank you for the book recommendations! I just finished my dozenth read of "Foundation" about an hour ago, and need another one to start on.
You are so welcome! I want to talk about books but I dont want to ruin the story for anyone!
Great video Whitney. You've really got me excited to read Project Hail Mary. Still working on the Martian and I am really liking it. It's taking longer than I'd thought. Me and my son just get through about a chapter a night on the nights that we read it but he is really enjoying too and doesn't want me to read it without him. I've never tried reading two books at one but I think I will go ahead and order Project Hail Mary. I think I'll start a TBR from the books on this list that I haven't read. Thanks for all your great suggestions.
Anytime… and something to think about, project hail mary audiobook read by ray porter really made my experience of the book so much better. Consider checking it out and also enjoying reading with your son :)
The first RAMA book was fantastic. The feeling of mystery and pure awe was palpable. The subsequent Rama novels (not written by Clarke) were things to be endured rather than enjoyed.
Sad to hear that
Now I know that you're definitely going to enjoy SOLARIS
by Stanislaw Lem.
Loved your book rant 👍🏾💯 I'd rather have a spoilery hint 😏 than a vague rant 🤐that leaves you clueless 😳and incapable of relating to what did it for you in the book🤔🤨 just a mere slideshow of titles like a clueless book vendor. "Looks good, what is it about ?" 🤔 "Ah! Not quite sure, I just blurt out books titles, but you should try it, he's a great writer,🤑 is what I hear"😵💫 "How would you know? 🤨You should try your own advice"
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Great list! I agree with you on almost all the books, including Rendezvous with Rama. I read it many years ago and totally forgot about that!
I have not read The Sparrow or Snowcrush. This review means I’m adding them to my tbr! Thanks .
Wonderful! I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!
Very nice and interesting video about your experience with those books. Would love to see “Another 10 books that blew my mind”. Loved the little clips. Hope you will get lots of views.
Thank you!! i know I have enough to do one :)
Rama blew my mind for the same reason. The biology based evolution was cool to think about.
🔥 glad im not the only one!!
Love this list - a few I was already mildly aware of but others not at all, so I'm definitely going to check them out. I also find the concept of first contact being selfish an interesting one, I had only ever encountered it in one book which was Stanislaw Lem's The Invincible.
Glad u liked it! So many cool ideas out there :) you’ll have to let me know if u try any
Good to see you back, hope you're feeling better
Yes, thank you. i am.
What blew my mind was this video 🤯❤ I loved all your recommendations ❤ thank you 🙌
Thank you!! Anytime!
Great to see you looking well again, and thanks for another really good presentation. I liked the theme. I have to say that although I liked The Martian I was not so impressed by Project Hail Mary. Yes, both of the alien contacts are really imaginative and well thought out, but I thought after that the book descended into a space-born 'Perils of Pauline' with one thing after another going wrong (but I won't spoil it by saying anything else). I think I'm in the minority here though. But I totally agree with some of your other picks - Childhood's End, Rendezvous with Rama, Foundation, Children of Time - all thought provoking books with big ideas. I have yet to try the others, but Snow Crash sounds really interesting so that's on my 'to be read' list. Thank you.
Alan! Thank you for the well wishes. I know PHM isnt for everyone, and Im not blind to its flaws- but I had just such a good time with the audiobook and I am able to recommend it to just about everyone in my friend group- thats what made it so fun for me
The Sparrow sounds pretty interesting, and I'll be adding it to my TBR.
Several decades a go I read a book where one of the characters declared that " Humanity's greatest virtue is curiosity and the greatest vice is curiosity." I honestly wish I could remember the author's name or the book title. Your review of The Sparrow reminded me of that.
That does sound interesting and is similar to what i got out of sparrow… you should consider reading it- i hope u like it
Great video! Loved your presentation!
Thanks so much!
Nice video. The only one on this list I haven't read as yet is the Sparrow. I really have to check it out.
It is a hefty one….i didnt enjoy it at first.. it had to simmer for awhile
I dont think I've ever thought about a book more than Childhoods End
!!!! It really was so good 😊 thanks for watching.
Great video. A few of my favourites in that list. For some mind blowing I recommend Permutation City by Greg Egan.
Its on my list!! I am excited to pick it up ow thank you!
Great video! Children of TIme!!!!!!! I've read them all except Snow Crash and Trouble with Lichen (getting now) Thank you
Awesome!! Hope u love it! Let me know how u like it…
Great video. It blew my mind! 🙂 Nice work.
Hahaha thanks!
Welcome back, as you discuss reviewed books and reactions are different for everyone, disclaimer here, I have started a number of books recommended by yourself and MDC and have never finished a one, currently I am reading Silo series and so far so good, as for your list in this video, have read and finished Project Hail Mary, Childhoods End, Rama and loved them all, tried the Three Body Problem and gave up, one book on your channel, unfortunately you didn't like but I did to the extent I went out and read her other books, Sea of Tranquility, then Glass Hotel & Station Eleven, some that may be added to your list that I enjoyed, Rama II, another disclaimer IMO Rama 3 & 4 were awful but I finished just to complete the series, other books, surprisingly Dean Koontz Elsewhere, it was great, Blake Crouch series Wayward Pines is also very good, also check out Recursion, last one Tom SweterlitschThe Game World, The Border Robert McCammon, long comment I know but whoops there it is,
Love the recommendations!! I havent given up on Emily yet, I own her station eleven and hope to get it to it soon. I havent heard much in way of positives for other Rama books so Im worried about picking them up. Might checkingout Rama 2 on your recc
I only read two of these books (Project Hail Mary and Three Body Problem) and I'm halfway through Children of Time and absolutely love it and I think it's going to be one of the best books I've ever read.
Your video is going to help me choose what to read next. so thank you so much.
Wonderful! Children of Time really is fantastic and it only gets better :)
GOod to know about Children of Time - i had written it down after seeing this and/or other recommendation videoa, and found Tchaikovsky in a bookstore but not that one. I picked up Dogs of War and it's great. Will definitely pick up more of his work. I loved Hail Mary - i couldn't put it down, even during work hours!
The Dark Forest (Book 2, Cixin Liu’s three-body), which I see prominently behind your book table. I won’t spoil it for you since you mentioned you hadn’t read it yet, but all three books are filled with ‘wow’ moments, but especially this second book as the Dark Forest is a possible explanation/solution to the Fermi paradox. I’d been aware of several such solutions except for this one, and once I read/re-read Liu’s explanation of it, it truly resonated. I am of the opinion that the observations of the universe are compatible with us being alone within it, but still this one concept was wild.
Great topic for a video!
Thank u! I cant wait to get to it- ive hear it is really thought provoking…
You could easily add Recursion to that list .time travel, of a sort, with a difference
Havent read it yet.,,
I LOVED Project Hail Mary, and I find the best way to enjoy it is 100% blind. Go in knowing nothing. You learn while the MC does.
For me the book(s) that utterly blew my mind are a variety by Steven Baxter. Namely Ring, and the Manifold Trilogy.
And of course Enders Game. How does that ending not blow your mind?
I guess i called the ender’s game ending before I got to it….but the second book def got me! 🥰
Great Video!
🙏 thanks!
I want to read snow crash so bad it's been on my TBR and it will probably be the next thing I start reading. But for now I just finished BOTNS citadel of the autarch. For 3.5 books I kept saying "people that say this book requires multiple readings are overrreacting" .. till I reached the end and realized I not only had to read the 5th book if I wanted to know wtf I just read, I also had to reread the other 4 books preferably while it's still fresh in my memory.
I too do not like rereading stuff... but man I've never had a book come to the end and go this wild and just change everything on me and change my view of a lot of people, events, motivations etc. Sentences that meant nothing before now carry secret messages etc.
Wow so glad u enjoyed it!! Ive never had patience to get there - but maybe in future… and snow crash is good 👍🏻
Great video 👍
Thumbs up
Can we +1 the new Snow Crash Book Cover? I love it!
Also, wow I've read and liked 9 / 11 of these books. I think you'd like my new novel. It's near-future and about an AI therapy company that goes off the rails, called Above Dark Waters.
If you haven't, read Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber series. Incredible in scope. Of course pretty much anything by Zalazny is good! Definitely mind blowing.
I'll check it out! Thank u!
I love your reviews so much, they're so thoughtful and well, mind blowing. The concepts of religion, left and right ideologies, crime or race as constructs that facilitate control of the many by the few are extremely intriguing concepts in a book, looking forward to reading snow crash, thank you..
Thanks for sharing your reactions! Its helpful knowing what folks like 👍🏻 will try to keep them coming…
I will definitely pick up Snow Crash now! I loved Neuromancer so I’m thinking this will be a hit for me too
As long as you can appreciate over the top satire - i think it’ll b awesome 🤩
Neal Stephenson is an absolutely incredible SF author - his books are incredibly deep and brilliantly conceived.
Wow I read Calculating God many moons ago. It blew my mind for sure a re-read to me. Love your videos.
Wow, thank you! So glad that others have read it :)
The Trouble with Lichen sounds intriguing. And it also reminded me of The End Specialist (aka The Postmortal) by Drew Magary. I believe you may enjoy it.
Will check it out!!
❤Thanks 😊
💜 🚀 🪐
Project Hail Mary: If the book continued with Eva Stratt, that would have been just fine. #NotJazzHands
The Sparrow sounds interesting.
Yes more on that coming soon :)
Great recommendations, as always! I’ve been meaning to read Tchaikovsky, but he has so many books I don’t know where to start.
You should! it depends on what kind of reader you are… u could start with some of his novellas if u want short reads. If u are a fantasy reader you should start with his shadows of apt series. If u want just a quick go, dogs of war is only a duology…. But if you want to dive right in, children of time is my first taste and was really good!
@@secretsauceofstorycraft Dogs of War seems like a manageable task. Later I’ll try Children of Time. Thanks for the suggestion. Highly appreciate it!
🔥🔥🔥
Old book you might like "Macroscope" by Piers Anthony. I may have been a little too immersed to be objective when I read it ( on LSD ) but it stood up well to a re-read.
Hmmm will check it out. Never read anything by piers anthony, but i have been meaning to
@@secretsauceofstorycraft may not be easy to find. My copy burned up with my collection in a log cabin 1/2 century ago.
A few more I would recommend "Doorways in the Sand" by Roger Zelazny ( actually anything he wrote )
"Lord Kalvin of Otherwhen" by H Beam Piper.
Both very entertaining.
I really liked it, God, probably 40 years ago...I've often thought about reading it again.
Velocity Weapon
by Megan o' Keefe
1800 pages of intensity.
That's all I can say.
My other favorites since 1965
Ender
Foundation Trilogy, Caves of Steel, I Robot, Naked Sun, all of the Elija Bailey Robot Series ❤
Haze
Expanse ---first 3 books
Dune, Whipping Star, Dosadi Experiment
Prefect, Chasm, Revelation Space
Excession, Matter, Algebraist
RAMA
Ooh some of these i havent heard of! I will check it out. I loved velocity weapon- that twist!!
شكرا جزيلا
Sounds like you read Foundation recently-I loved it decades ago but wondered how it would hold up (vs eg Dune or Hyperion) since Asimov didn’t write character depth, nor was it thrilling action.
I did read it recently! Held up well i thought.
@@secretsauceofstorycraft thanks.
Brave new world has the very same themes of human struggle as childhoods end.
It does!! Slightly more depressing tho 😢
Great video! New to the channel. Only thing... the high pitched sound between books messes with my ears.
Sorry about that- i am working on it
Have You read Axiomatic by Greg Egan? Many mind blowing conceptions.
I havent! But need to!
A book that blew my mind is The Unincorporated Man the plot is centered around the idea that individual people can sell stock in themselves.
Woah!?!?! That does sound mind blowing. I will add that to my tbr right now.
@@secretsauceofstorycraft It's at least a trilogy Unincorporated Woman and War, they are OK but not as good as the first one.
words in time sent me
Welcome!!
I think your wrong about the Sparrow. The humans were changed by the first contact.
Hi Whitney!
Hello!!! Thanks for dropping by
I went to Catholic school and decided I was an agnostic in 7th grade so religion as social control was a given before I graduated from grammar school.
We have something in common… i also went to catholic school for a bit. But you were more perceptive than I.
@@secretsauceofstorycraft
I started reading science fiction in 4th grade.
SF puts dents in the skull from the inside. Works better at an early age.
That's a very odd interpretation of Foundation, given that the actual theme of the book is that human behaviour on a galactic scale is statistically predictable through the mathematical equations of psychohistory, and so the acts of individuals have little impact on the grand narrative of history. Its an idea that gets away from him as the series progresses because it doesn't make for good narrative, but the first book is very clear that the actions of each individual we come across had already been predicted by Hari Selden using statistics and maths because whoever had wound up as the leaded of the Foundation at the time of each crisis was statistically highly likely to behave in that exact way. Its a book that explicitly rejects the heroic rugged individualism you are ascribing to it.
This was my first read through and I havent completed the trilogy yet. But his chapter by chapter concentration on each individual and the impact the decisions (or lack of) decision had seems the opposite- but I do plan to reread, sometimes I get the wrong thing out of books. Im def not a scholar, just a girl who reads books and talks to the internet about them. But thanks for making me aware.
@@secretsauceofstorycraft I get that. But literally after the first crisis there is a scene where the hologram of Hari Seldon, who has been dead for years, says "there is a 98% chance that this is the situation you are in and these are the actions you have chosen to take" and then explains exactly what has happened in the chapter. Because he predicted it with maths. The next book does ask what would happen if someone utterly abnormal threw off the predicted course of psychohistory, but again the point is that it takes extreme X men style abnormality for an individual to change the predictable course of history.
Which is a far more radical idea than "great individuals shape history individually", or Great Man Theory, which is currently the mainstream interpretation of the course of history.
Sooooo anyone else think there were spoilers?
Haha
The theme of Childhood’s End negates the idea of heaven existing. If heaven is a place where are your questions are answered, perfect understanding and only love, no hate etc, then it is a place where you are not human anymore, you are not yourself anymore, your friends and family too. Existing would turn out to be not a utopia, but a hell. As the Talking Heads say in a song, imagine going to a party and see your favourite band over and over for eternity. Or for golf lovers, to play golf for eternity etc. Heaven doesn’t exist. No evidence for an afterlife anyway
So interesting to see all the different interpretations- you should come chat in the discord!!
For the Sawyer book…atheists ask themselves this question all the time. That’s what science does…try to critically think about deconstructing or attacking you favourite ideas. Bill Nye’s debate (on UA-cam) against Ken Ham on evolution is a great example. Nye says if he got any credible evidence at all he would change his mind. The religious Ham said nothing would change his mind. Bingo
Thats interesting! Didnt know about that debate but I appreciate these questions are also in fiction…. Thanks for letting me know.
Am I the only person who hates Project Hail Mary?
Haha probably 🤭 but why did you hate it?
@@secretsauceofstorycraft I dunno, I read it last year. I guess I just don’t like his writing style. I didn’t like Artemis either (I e not read the Martian). There were things that seemed like ‘just so’ stories to further the plot along… like the ease with which he was able to decipher the aliens language etc… it really irked me. And I just didn’t like the characters. I just finished Man in the High Castle which I loved! And am about to start G Bear blood music.
I LOVE that you simply recommend books and authors for various reasons, but never RANK them.
I just posted a comment on a list of the Top 5 Science Fiction books recommended by Adam Savage.
As I pointed out to him, I hate ranking books and authors of ANY genre in such a way, as, to me, that's anathema to what reading should be.
It's not an event that can be quantified in such a way as to be compared to another author or book. Each is unique.
Recommending books the way you do is the way to go...🥰
I really want to recommend Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Forward. I think you'll love it...😋
I have been intimidated by this book but would like to get to it…. maybe i will push it up in my list- again I have to get ahold of it…
@@secretsauceofstorycraft Don't be intimidated. It's an incredibly fun read. It's definitely hard Sci-Fi, but it's not stiff or formal, it's a fun story...😏
I read it when it first came out when I was 15. And while I was a huge Sci-Fi fan, and even hard science fiction, I didn't like a lot of hard Sci-Fi that wasn't also a fun story.
This was one of the best.
pour le référencement
Thank you!!