Lleena and I recently read Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem, together, and I just finished another book by Lem called His Master's Voice.

Lem is a wonderful writer. HMV is about how scientists discover, quite by accident, a "message" from outer space in the form of a stream of patterned neutrinos. The novel consists of the attempts by a group of scientists and others to decipher this pattern. It is both a send-up of academic discourse, with the infighting and pretense, but also ultimately a touching account of how we make sense of a world that seems random.

At one point, scientists do manage to decipher one bit of the code; I forget what exactly it is they do, but it results in these two substances called "frog eggs" and "lord of the flies" based on certain properties they have. These substances fascinate the scientists but they can't help wondering whether or not they are merely a by product of something else.

Out of this substance, they also create, at one point, a weapon that is more deadly than anything we have on earth: a weapon that can teleport a nuclear explosion anywhere in the world, thus negating the problem of "delivery" and undoing the kinds of cold war safeguards of mutually assured destruction etc that acted as a protection for humankind.

When the main character discovers this use, he questions the intentions of the sender of the message, seeing it as possibly diabolical. But he soon discovers (or others do, I forget) that the sender also included a safeguard whereby the substance could not be used as a weapon. This leads the main character to reevaluate his thoughts about the sender.

Lem's plot obviously has theological implications as well as scientific ones. How do we interpret/listen to a "voice" seemingly projected to us from above, by someone or something who bears no resemblance to us? Does this being have our interests at heart or our destruction; or just a cold indifference? We get lost (or at least I did) in the exchange of theories and political wranglings, until we feel that there may be nothing at all behind this message. But Lem is no skeptic, I don't think. There is a deep sense of longing in his words and a fierce desire for knowledge not as something we attain and hoarde, but as something that contributes to our deepest interests in life.

It's almost summertime! Recommend some good summer reading! I recommend Lem!

http://www.prince.org/msg/100/97382

Cloudbuster said:

Whoa.

That's a shit book.

2the9s said:

And the author's a dick.

your mind.

I'm reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck. i like it but it's not exactly beach reading. i think it's more of a winter book. just my two cents!

Im reading a post on Prince.Org entitled 'what R U reading'

i think the author's 2the9's or something

shit, someone already cracked that 1

I'm trying to read the new David Sedaris and The Scarlet Letter at the same time. I'm not really getting into either. I think I have attention span issues right now.

OH! But Sedaris did a book signing last week that I couldn't go to, so my friend had him sign a copy of Naked, and he wrote "Love, Amy's Brother".

I am reading a play called Boy gets girl... Its quite interesting!

The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis

"The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D Salinger! Should of read it years ago, it's a good book!

9s, books on tape don't count. i can help you learn to read if you like.

i plan to be reading this soon:

www.pxthis.com

she's the bomb.

Been quite busy at present so I'm still reading Atonement by Ian McEwan.

Darwin's children by Greg Bear.

A sequel to Darwin's radio. If you like plots like Lem's HMV 2the9s, i think you may like these two also. Plus its sorta in the field I work in.

Thanx for the HMV plot, gotta buy that one for the summer (does it have a sufficient number of pages, cuz i like those hefty ones)

AlfofMelmak said:

It is only about 200 pages but it is sufficiently dense in a way I think you might like, being one of those academics whose language he lampoons.

Thanks for recommending the Bear book! I just read about it on Amazon. Looks interesting! Would it be better to start with the Darwin's Radio?

I think I want to read another Lem book next!

If I read, at the moment, I do only the Bible, the Watchtower and the "Despertad". Really! Sometimes the TAO TÉ KING. That's all I can read for now.

sataninas said:

I didn't know you were a JW, arcamar. I thought you were a satanist?

2the9s said:

Yes, you better start with radio. And thank you for the Lem hint.

Solaris is a great book, I enjoyed it immensely, from the very first page to the last. It's the first time I have read this author and I was very impressed.

Lleena said:

you have to read to him, don't you llena?

starkitty said:

I had to explain the long words. It was very frustrating, especially when I had to spell them phonetically.

Lleena said:

have you heard of 'hooked on phonics'? it may work well for him.

good thing he can't read what we're saying.

Lleena said:

That's not a word!!

starkitty said:

It all looks like gobbledegook to him.

2the9s said:

Yes it is sunshine

Lleena said:

Don't call me sunshine, buttercup.

2the9s said:

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter