Wooo Sci-Fi English Course

2008 March 10

A picture of the books I needed to purchase this semester for aforementioned class:

This does not include the numerous short stories that are online, or full novels posted on the net, like The Time Machine. I really don’t mind, because I haven’t really had to read for a class in a while, and sci-fi rocks. Getting an upper-division credit for reading Starship Troopers = amazing. Out of the ones I’ve read so far, the Star Trek one was easily the worst. But that was mostly because I already knew the vast majority of the physics talked about in the book. And the fact that I’ve seen maybe a dozen episodes of Star Trek (TNG only) in my life, and I don’t even remember them. I just have a vague memory of watching Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S.S. Enterprise with my dad. Or maybe that’s just YTMND getting to me.

A Canticle for Leibowitz could barely be classified as science-fiction, as it follows a monastery through 1800 years after a nuclear holocaust. But it’s pretty interesting how it shows the Church paralleling the book-copying and knowledge-storing service it provided the Western world during through the Middle Ages, and how independent intelligent thought begins to arise again. It’s also one of the most depressing novels I’ve ever read.

The Forever War was a pretty cool exploration into a war-driven future economy of Earth, the effects of time-dilation (time slows down when you approach the speed of light) on human beings, and possible future technologies. The manner in which many of the breakthroughs are detailed and explained makes them sound plausible. With regards to the human and war side, you can tell that it was written by a Vietnam vet. The best quality of the book is how quick of a read it is.

Man, I should writing shit up FOR this class, not ABOUT it.

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