July 23, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Bruce W Cassidy (7/23/2009)
Lynn Pettis (7/23/2009)
Philip K Dick may have been mental. Any one read Valis? It was a bit strange.[font="Verdana"]It's beaten out in weirdness by "Stars In My Pocket Like Grains Of Sand" by Samuel R Delaney. But only just.
Philip K Dick shows that you shouldn't combine drugs (speed) with an over-active imagination. Michael Moorcock on the other hand shows that you shouldn't combine drugs (LSD) with an over-active imagination. 🙂
[/font]
You know, Horse Lover Fat may just agree with that analogy. 😉
July 23, 2009 at 4:36 pm
For the younger crowd, I'd stay away from Delaney. His "Dhalgren" is perhaps the strangest book ever written and x-rated to boot. As a work of style, construction, and imagination, it is amazing, but not for the faint of heart.
July 23, 2009 at 4:59 pm
David Webb (7/23/2009)
For the younger crowd, I'd stay away from Delaney.
[font="Verdana"]I don't think any of us were recommending him for younger readers. 🙂
Having said that, I'd be happy giving Nova to a younger person to read. But that would probably be my one exception for Delaney.
[/font]
July 23, 2009 at 5:09 pm
David Webb (7/23/2009)
Andre Norton has some excellent material for that age. I'd recommend Star Man's Son.I'd also recommend Zelazny's "A Night in the Lonesome October" for anyone, like me, who enjoys old monster movies, Lovecraft, and Sherlock Holmes. The story is told from the viewpoint of Jack the Ripper's dog. Priceless.
+1 on Star Man's son, but I tried him out on it and he wasn't into it at all.
----------------------------------------------------The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood... Theodore RooseveltThe Scary DBAAuthor of: SQL Server 2017 Query Performance Tuning, 5th Edition and SQL Server Execution Plans, 3rd EditionProduct Evangelist for Red Gate Software
July 23, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Kit G (7/23/2009)
Yes, Philip K Dick is an acquired taste. Personally, I can't read his books but, in my opinion, they make pretty good movies. I love Blade Runner (the original theatrical release), but couldn't take the book it was based on "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep". I tried to read some of his other stuff as he is listed among the great SF writers but could never get through them.
I sort of agree. I think PKD's books would make great movies if they ever bothered to stick to the stories in the books.
But I agree PKD is an acquired taste, but after you read A Scanner Darkly... well, it's kind of like crack. You're hooked.
----------------------------------------------------The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood... Theodore RooseveltThe Scary DBAAuthor of: SQL Server 2017 Query Performance Tuning, 5th Edition and SQL Server Execution Plans, 3rd EditionProduct Evangelist for Red Gate Software
July 23, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Lynn Pettis (7/23/2009)
Philip K Dick may have been mental. Any one read Valis? It was a bit strange.
VALIS and UBIK were the light stuff. You should read his Exegesis. The unpublished writings and journal entries... Whoa! Made for a great time in London once many moons ago. Sitting in English pubs reading that stuff & knocking back good beer. Ahhh, life before children. It had its rewards.
----------------------------------------------------The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood... Theodore RooseveltThe Scary DBAAuthor of: SQL Server 2017 Query Performance Tuning, 5th Edition and SQL Server Execution Plans, 3rd EditionProduct Evangelist for Red Gate Software
July 23, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Bruce W Cassidy (7/23/2009)
Lynn Pettis (7/23/2009)
Philip K Dick may have been mental. Any one read Valis? It was a bit strange.[font="Verdana"]It's beaten out in weirdness by "Stars In My Pocket Like Grains Of Sand" by Samuel R Delaney. But only just.
Philip K Dick shows that you shouldn't combine drugs (speed) with an over-active imagination. Michael Moorcock on the other hand shows that you shouldn't combine drugs (LSD) with an over-active imagination. 🙂
[/font]
What about Delany's Dhalgren? It's loosely based on the area in NYC known as Alphabet City or Alphabet Soup, the nasty areas around Avenue A (mostly gentrified now). I was reading the book & hanging out in clubs there in the 80's (when it wasn't gentrified, at all). Walking home late at night was like walking through the novel. Freakin' weird stuff.
But I wouldn't recommend it to my kids until they were at least into their twenties. A bit too much sex (& oddball off the wall stuff at that).
I should have a copy of Ender's Game somewhere around here. That's a great suggestion.
----------------------------------------------------The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood... Theodore RooseveltThe Scary DBAAuthor of: SQL Server 2017 Query Performance Tuning, 5th Edition and SQL Server Execution Plans, 3rd EditionProduct Evangelist for Red Gate Software
July 23, 2009 at 5:18 pm
David Webb (7/23/2009)
For the younger crowd, I'd stay away from Delaney. His "Dhalgren" is perhaps the strangest book ever written and x-rated to boot. As a work of style, construction, and imagination, it is amazing, but not for the faint of heart.
Finally. Another human being that's read Dhalgren. I thought I was the only one. Quite the experience wasn't it?
----------------------------------------------------The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood... Theodore RooseveltThe Scary DBAAuthor of: SQL Server 2017 Query Performance Tuning, 5th Edition and SQL Server Execution Plans, 3rd EditionProduct Evangelist for Red Gate Software
July 23, 2009 at 5:22 pm
I tried reading Delany's Dhalgren in High School. I couldn't get through the first chapter before putting it down and never picking it up again.
July 23, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Grant Fritchey (7/23/2009)
What about Delany's Dhalgren?
[font="Verdana"]Nah. I don't dislike kids that much.[/font]
July 23, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Grant Fritchey (7/23/2009)
David Webb (7/23/2009)
For the younger crowd, I'd stay away from Delaney. His "Dhalgren" is perhaps the strangest book ever written and x-rated to boot. As a work of style, construction, and imagination, it is amazing, but not for the faint of heart.Finally. Another human being that's read Dhalgren. I thought I was the only one. Quite the experience wasn't it?
When I read it the first time, I was stunned. It was like trying to make sense of a dream that you know is revealing something but you can't quite put all the symbols together. I've re-read it 3 times since then and I get a different interpretation every time. It's like a literary inkblot test.
I've never found anyone else who had read it, either. I saw a new edition of the bookstore shelves lately, so there must have been a fair number of readers, or the publisher is willing to be the younger generation is more ready for it than I was....
July 23, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Just had to toss my own thought on the pile about what I enjoyed reading at that age. There was of course Tolkien and Asimov with a fair amount of Clarke and Sagan thrown in. I vaguely remember the Dune books, and eventually found my way onto old King (not the newer crap he's been pushing out), Creighton and Hawking. Of the lot probably King was as close as I got to Zombies and such, and perhaps your kids are a bit young for them, but he did write some a children's book (said he wanted to tell a story his kids could read) and I vaguely remember reading Cujo, Christine and perhaps the Bauchman books while still in grade school or junior high.
Cheers,
-Luke.
July 23, 2009 at 11:28 pm
jcrawf02 (7/23/2009)
I was looking for a rotary dial phone a while ago as a nostalgia item, and couldn't find any. They have lots that *look* like rotary, but have push buttons instead.
Paul White
SQLPerformance.com
SQLkiwi blog
@SQL_Kiwi
July 24, 2009 at 3:47 am
Excellent feedback. Thanks everyone.
----------------------------------------------------The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood... Theodore RooseveltThe Scary DBAAuthor of: SQL Server 2017 Query Performance Tuning, 5th Edition and SQL Server Execution Plans, 3rd EditionProduct Evangelist for Red Gate Software
July 24, 2009 at 6:09 am
Zombie book - not read it myself, and have no idea how age-appropriate it would be for an 11 year old, but I have heard very good reviews of World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
Might be worth a look? It's on my to-read list, for sure
Edit:
I'm particularly intrigued because of this statement by the author:
Everything in World War Z (as in The Zombie Survival Guide) is based in reality... well, except the zombies. But seriously, everything else in the book is either taken from reality or 100% real. The technology, politics, economics, culture, military tactics... it was a LOT of homework.
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