Read a Book, Save the World


I've always been a Science Fiction fan, although I've noticed that the older I get the less tolerance I have for the more frivolous Sci-fi and the more I appreciate "hard" Sci-fi. For those of you not familiar, "hard" Sci-fi is based out of current scientific theory, attempting to remain as close as possible to what can reasonably be thought possible based on that theory. This is not escapist Sci-fi, this is Sci-fi that really makes you think about where we're headed and what life will be like in the future.

So I was pleased to discover that in a recent poll by the Sci-fi channel, other fans of the genre came down firmly on the side of hard Sci-fi, especially with regards to books. Not only that, but the number one thing you can do to save the world? Read.


1. 1984 by George Orwell
2. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
3. Dune by Frank Herbert
4. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
5. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
6. The Stand by Stephen King
7. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
8. 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
9. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
10. The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton

I've read all the books in the top ten except The Andromeda Strain (Sorry Crichton, I've had a hard time liking your stuff since Jurassic Park, and I didn't read The Andromeda Strain first), and they will certainly change your outlook, if not the world. So if you haven't yet, give them a try. If you have, think about what you are doing right now to bring about the good and prevent the bad that they depict. And remember,

"Now they can see us."



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Barackary Clintama

I've started to hold out some vague hope for the next presidential elections. At least, unlike the last time, it looks like I'll have enough choices to make voting in the Democratic primary worth my while. Last time I was so non-plussed with my choices for Democratic nominee that I voted in the Republican primary just so I could have the pleasure of voting against Dubya twice in the same year (which had the unfortunate side effect of putting me on the Republican mailing list. Although I've often entertained the idea of showing up at some of the party events I get invites to just to blow their minds). Don't get me wrong, I like John Kerry just fine. I just think it's an indication of how badly people wanted to get rid of Bush even in 2004 that Kerry did as well as he did. Speaking as a fellow tall, funny-looking egghead, he just wasn't electable. So at this point it looks like it will be Obama vs. Clinton for the Democratic nomination (although lord knows ...
Read more

Springing Backwards

Image
I hate daylight savings time. I really do. Maybe it's a silly thing to hate, but it has always seemed utterly pointless to me. And now the additional monkeying around we're doing with this already absurd device is making it even more pointless. IT departments all over the country are having to scramble to reprogram all the automatic clock settings on all the computers everywhere. At my own work, after the patches were applied we all had to go into our calendars and manually move all of the appointments from March 11th through April 8th one hour earlier, since the patch advanced all the times that were already in the system. This has got to be costing millions nationwide. And for what? Apparently the goal is to get a jump on the amount of time people are using lights and thereby save energy costs. Putting aside the fact that with a stroke of the pen congress could mandate 45 mpg minimums for vehicles and thereby save a heck of a lot more energy, how much are we really sav...
Read more