z*i
发帖数: 58873 | 1 In the first sentence of the book, the Moon blew up. And soon everyone knew
what kind of disaster would happen next. It is a shocking first chapter
indeed, but the book only gets better from here. Like a thought experiment,
here is the initial condition and here is a systemic shock, and now let’s
see how the system will go and change from here, in great detail. Actually
Neal Stephenson went on for 800+ of pages of detailed world-building, with
some brilliant twists and turns of the plot as well.
The book is definitely sci-fi, but it is kind of funny that the technologies
described in 2 of the 3 sections of the book are not speculative or
futuristic. They are actually today’s existing tech put into a hypothetical
disaster scenario. Stephenson showed us what amazing things those
technologies can achieve, e.g. bringing the ice core of a solar comet back
using some nuclear steam-punk set-up. The name of the book is awesome too; a
blatant spoiler right in front of the reader’s eyes, but all secrets are
kept well until the reader realizes what it actually means... And then, BOOM
~ 5000 years later...Despite the book is all about details, still a lot of
details in the book are in fact left out unsubstantiated (let's say ... half
?). Well, the world is built, maybe more books about that world will come
later. I certainly hope.
Behind his 800+ pages of technical calculations and space maneuvers, and
5000+ years of disaster, survival, evolution and development (all logically
deducted from scientific facts and theories), Stephenson was actually an
extreme optimist of the capacity of human race. The Spacers, the Pingers,
and the Diggers all survived the hard rain. This puts the success rate of
the types of “arks” to at least 75%. And if the Martians somehow managed
as well (for some reason we were not told whether they made it or not), the
rate will be a mind-blowing 100%. That, together with that there were no
major conflicts/wars/chaos before the Hard Rain (yeah, Venezuelan Navy was
nuked, but it was sort of OK...), are something only the most optimistic of
human race could write.
Another thing interesting is that at the beginning of the book, Stephenson
gave the “power” that broke the Moon into pieces a name – “Agent”. And
then 5000 years later it was resonated by a movement of the spacers called
“Purpose”. The words don’t appear often in the story, just mentioned a
few times here and there. While reading, I felt there was something behind
these names – something either conspiracy-like or alien-related. But in the
end there was not. I don't feel cheated though. The truth is that shit
happens. Good or bad, disaster or miracle, they are simply results of
randomness of our universe. People sometimes find it hard to accept the
randomness and want to find some “reason” or “purpose” behind them. They
coin terms and develop theories to satisfy their minds and direct their
efforts and behaviors. All these are just human nature and there might not
be much more than that, though Stephenson did subtly acknowledge some of the
benefit of this reason/purpose-seeking in the book. Being a sort of an
atheist, I found myself in agreement with him on this part.
Rating: 5/5.
Favorite details of the book: Dinah bringing Ymir back alone. Moirans’
ability of going “epi”. | a****5
发帖数: 10854 | 2 purpose seeking是人对日常经验的自然外延，可惜是invalid的
knew
,
technologies
hypothetical
【在 z*i 的大作中提到】
: In the first sentence of the book, the Moon blew up. And soon everyone knew
: what kind of disaster would happen next. It is a shocking first chapter
: indeed, but the book only gets better from here. Like a thought experiment,
: here is the initial condition and here is a systemic shock, and now let’s
: see how the system will go and change from here, in great detail. Actually
: Neal Stephenson went on for 800+ of pages of detailed world-building, with
: some brilliant twists and turns of the plot as well.
: The book is definitely sci-fi, but it is kind of funny that the technologies
: described in 2 of the 3 sections of the book are not speculative or
: futuristic. They are actually today’s existing tech put into a hypothetical
| b*s
发帖数: 82482 | 3 Neal's science fiction can be quite parculiar. Quoting from a forum comment:
"Like Victor Hugo and Umberto Eco, Stephenson uses (sometimes, pages of)
this so-called showy trivia to allow the reader to understand pertinent and
fascinating details about human relationships, physical phenomena,
regulations of social castes, progression of technology, etc., in ways
impossible without said trivia. I've read everything Stephenson has written
and I love that he, without fail, educates me as well as entertains."
Another one:
"He can't end a book to save his life (save Reamde). He once spent 20 pages
very early in a 1,000 page book taking about 17th century numismatica. He
once spent ten pages talking about Captain Crunch. He celebrates competant
people, guns, libertarianism, the military, capitalism and rugged
individualism but he's hardly right wing. He's a sci-fi writer more
fascinated with the past than the future. He's endlessly sarcastic and
sardonic but he's also almost entirely optimistic and celebratory of human
accomplishment. He focuses on world bulding, philosophical concepts,
architecture and engineering far more than he focuses on plot, indeed some
of his (1,000 page) books barely have a plot. He's nerdy but not dorky: he
might include a rocket ship in his books but it's a realistic, carefully
considered (and carefully explained) rocket ship that's there for a distinct
, practical purpose, not simply because rocket ships are fun. You often have
to reread his books to understand what the hell is going on. He's probably
my favorite writer but I have a hard time selling him to others. Of course I
'll be getting this."
I agree with most of it...
knew
,
technologies
hypothetical
【在 z*i 的大作中提到】
: In the first sentence of the book, the Moon blew up. And soon everyone knew
: what kind of disaster would happen next. It is a shocking first chapter
: indeed, but the book only gets better from here. Like a thought experiment,
: here is the initial condition and here is a systemic shock, and now let’s
: see how the system will go and change from here, in great detail. Actually
: Neal Stephenson went on for 800+ of pages of detailed world-building, with
: some brilliant twists and turns of the plot as well.
: The book is definitely sci-fi, but it is kind of funny that the technologies
: described in 2 of the 3 sections of the book are not speculative or
: futuristic. They are actually today’s existing tech put into a hypothetical
| b*s
发帖数: 82482 | 4 I also noticed that if you love Umberto Eco, you will love Neal Stephenson,
and of course, Victor Hugo. Some hates those "digressions", or info dumps,
but for me, they are the choice bites.
comment:
and
written
pages
【在 b*s 的大作中提到】
: Neal's science fiction can be quite parculiar. Quoting from a forum comment:
: "Like Victor Hugo and Umberto Eco, Stephenson uses (sometimes, pages of)
: this so-called showy trivia to allow the reader to understand pertinent and
: fascinating details about human relationships, physical phenomena,
: regulations of social castes, progression of technology, etc., in ways
: impossible without said trivia. I've read everything Stephenson has written
: and I love that he, without fail, educates me as well as entertains."
: Another one:
: "He can't end a book to save his life (save Reamde). He once spent 20 pages
: very early in a 1,000 page book taking about 17th century numismatica. He
| b*s
发帖数: 82482 | 5
technologies
hypothetical
a
BOOM
half
这个我看的时候也想到了。其实这个跟凡尔纳的科幻类似：凡尔纳想到的那些，其实在
他那个时代已经是可以实现的技术了，并不是特别的超前的想法。潜水艇的基本原理和
操纵方式已经在那里了，热气球和飞艇的基本原理都已经搞清了。而且他跟凡尔纳一样
，也注重细节。阿波罗宇航员都曾经说过，凡尔纳的登月计算跟后来的实际登月好多数
据都是吻合的……
Stephenson的那些轨道力学好像是有专家帮忙验算的……
【在 z*i 的大作中提到】
: In the first sentence of the book, the Moon blew up. And soon everyone knew
: what kind of disaster would happen next. It is a shocking first chapter
: indeed, but the book only gets better from here. Like a thought experiment,
: here is the initial condition and here is a systemic shock, and now let’s
: see how the system will go and change from here, in great detail. Actually
: Neal Stephenson went on for 800+ of pages of detailed world-building, with
: some brilliant twists and turns of the plot as well.
: The book is definitely sci-fi, but it is kind of funny that the technologies
: described in 2 of the 3 sections of the book are not speculative or
: futuristic. They are actually today’s existing tech put into a hypothetical
| z*i
发帖数: 58873 | 6 他在Bezos的Blue Origins里搞了一段时间。
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Origin
【在 b*s 的大作中提到】
:
: technologies
: hypothetical
: a
: BOOM
: half
: 这个我看的时候也想到了。其实这个跟凡尔纳的科幻类似：凡尔纳想到的那些，其实在
: 他那个时代已经是可以实现的技术了，并不是特别的超前的想法。潜水艇的基本原理和
: 操纵方式已经在那里了，热气球和飞艇的基本原理都已经搞清了。而且他跟凡尔纳一样
: ，也注重细节。阿波罗宇航员都曾经说过，凡尔纳的登月计算跟后来的实际登月好多数
| z*i
发帖数: 58873 | 7 说白了不就是迷信么。lol
【在 a****5 的大作中提到】
: purpose seeking是人对日常经验的自然外延，可惜是invalid的
:
: knew
: ,
: technologies
: hypothetical
| b*s
发帖数: 82482 | 8 Sean Probst是Bezos？或者更像是Elon Musk？
【在 z*i 的大作中提到】
: 他在Bezos的Blue Origins里搞了一段时间。
: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Origin
| z*i
发帖数: 58873 | 9 好像思维的严谨更像Bezos， 干事的雷厉风行和大嘴巴更像Musk. lol
【在 b*s 的大作中提到】
: Sean Probst是Bezos？或者更像是Elon Musk？
| b*s
发帖数: 82482 | 10
logically
Actually, that's not the case. He didn't write those who had prepared, but
did not manage to survive. 75% is just a percentage of his characters he
actually described, not the whole human race in the book.
【在 z*i 的大作中提到】
: 好像思维的严谨更像Bezos， 干事的雷厉风行和大嘴巴更像Musk. lol
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