OT: Time for another thread on books? (Retorical)

[Iron Giant]

To participate in the original thread:

I just finished "Speaker for the Dead" - Orson Scott Card's sequel to my favorite SciFi book ever, "Ender's Game". I was told that "Speaker for the Dead" was better than "Ender's Game". Um, not imho. "Jane" was cool. The porquinhos were interesting, but it really didn't have the same draw to me.

I'm still trying to finish "Histories" by Herodotus. The story is really dragging through the Greek / Babylonian war. I'm 2/3 of the way through, I'll probably finish by the summer. The introduction even warns you that the first half of his book is the better part, but the 2nd siege of Babylon was worth reading...

[Emperor's Child]

I have to say that Card's "Speaker for the Dead" is a must read for anybody who is interested in SE... Good background, good fodder for military strategy.

I'm currently re-reading Niven's "Mote in God's Eye," and am very surprised on how it works for a SE setting (ie: ships use warp points at the edges of the system). That and the author spins a really-good yarn about a first contact scenario. I'd highly recommend this book to anybody who has found SE(series) to be an enjoyable game, this will be an enjoyable read.

[Iron Giant]

Emperor's Child said:
I have to say that Card's "Speaker for the Dead" is a must read for anybody who is interested in SE... Good background, good fodder for military strategy.

I'm currently re-reading Niven's "Mote in God's Eye," and am very surprised on how it works for a SE setting (ie: ships use warp points at the edges of the system). That and the author spins a really-good yarn about a first contact scenario. I'd highly recommend this book to anybody who has found SE(series) to be an enjoyable game, this will be an enjoyable read.

Mote was good. Its sequel was good too. "Well look at that, the horse DID learn to sing..."

But "Speaker" as military strategy? There wasn't any military period. Did we read the same book?

[Ron_Lugge]

Honor is hardly "always right".

Right most of the time, sure.

But she is not "always right". SPOILERS:

Point in case: second book she tries to kill prisoners. Fourth book: She looses her temper (in a long-time bad mood rather than murderous rampage way) to kill someone else.



On another topic, I wish this forum had spoiler tags...

And I strongly recomend anything by David Weber, and most of Orson Scott Card (I haven't read his "religious" works like Sarah, but his Ender's Game and Shadow quadriligies are good, as is his homecoming / seventh son series).

[Emperor's Child]

Iron Giant said:
But "Speaker" as military strategy? There wasn't any military period. Did we read the same book?

I'm not kidding. Speaker for the dead (or was it Enders game? can't recall exactly) is on a list of books recommended for professional military reading within the USMC due to its strategic warfare conceptual discussion. (at least it was about 3 years ago last time I saw the list)

Edit: Out of curiosity I looked it up: Enders Game and Starship troopers are both still on the list. The former for training concepts, the latter for its tactical concepts. They are considered easy / light reading on the subjects.

[Iron Giant]

Edit: Out of curiosity I looked it up: Enders Game and Starship troopers are both still on the list. The former for training concepts, the latter for its tactical concepts. They are considered easy / light reading on the subjects.

Ok, Ender's Game makes sense at tactical strategy.

PS: you might do others a favor and edit out the ending to Enders Game in your last post......

[Emperor's Child]

Done and Done!

[Caduceus]

The Ender's Shadow books are quite good, following Bean, Petra et al.

I would recommend these as they seem to follow in the vein of Ender's Game more than the actual sequels (Speaker, Xenocide) do..