You will. The Great Silence was very poignant. But yeah, there’s a great variety of stories.
I’m just starting The Apt series (guess I’m doing Tchaikovsky in reverse) end will finally get to the children of time series when I can get it via my library or I might just bite the bullet and buy the audiobook.
Air sick low lander. How could you miss Tchaikovsky…
But seriously, he’s a great author. And Chiang is great too. I don’t think I’ve read any of his short stories and come away disappointed. I mean one of them became the basis for the movie Arrival.
They don’t always end on a happy note (most are hopeful) but they’re true to the story they tell.
Just hit me. More modern time… historical fiction at the start and blends into more sci-fi as the series goes on.
Neil Stephenson: Crypto series
Cryptonomicon Reamde Fall: or dodge in hell
Different perspectives from not alien but not human (unless otherwise specified not hard sci-fi)
Klara and the Sun (story of an android coming to awareness of themselves, to their purpose as a friend for a child, to attachment and love as well as dealing with the inevitable changes and loss as the child grows up)
Several short stories by Ted Chiang
Exhalation, The Lifecycle of Software Objects (technically hard sci-fi), The Great Silence
Kind of human
Murderbot Diaries (Autonomous killing machine/human cyborg going rogue that is learning what it is to be human, and just wants to watch serials and be left alone)
Ancillary Justice (Ships with remote/linked instances in control of human bodies and what happens when one of those “remotes” is all that’s left of that consciousness. Navigating the line of human/machine/etc.). Not political per-se but resonates with various political perspectives on autonomy/society vs individualism/ etc.
Dogs of War. Bio weapons part animal human hybrids and wars, morality, doing what your meant to do and made to do vs becoming aware of your actions and what is right/wrong.
Yeah. Three body problem is a well done translation of a Chinese authors work and so I suspect there’s some things that just culturally come across easily. Nothing makes that more obvious than the sequels where it feels like it wasn’t as painstakingly done to try to convey such things like the first.
I will say I really enjoyed the paper ménagerie by Ken Liu (the aforementioned translator) and it was a unique look from a different cultural perspective.
Back on topic to sci-fi. Do you prefer singular protagonist in a limited scale of time (person/crew) fighting against some local challenge (Martian/Expanse) or larger sweeping epics spanning centuries and a lot of perspectives (Dune, Foundation)?
More human/realistic perspectives (Martian) or are you open to Alien/Non-human perspectives (ex. protomolecule perception about the gates reopening)
I checked the good reads list of top rated hard science and saw a few items I can recommend.
Altered Carbon. A fun and intense read. Future hard science. If people’s consciousness could be transmitted/used for interstellar travel kind of thing then the scenarios listed here adhere to their own crazy rules.
Three Body Problem. First book is amazing. The sequels are good enough but the translations are a little rougher but the story carries through.
Enders Game. Tactical and hard science aspects to it. Gets more metaphysical later in the series.
Contact. Absolute gem that I re-read a few years back.
Ancillary Justice. More future/hard science but worth mentioning in any list I’m willing to put Altered Carbon in. It has a viewpoint and it’s use of alternate societal perspectives (from a society that is uniform in so many ways to organic “ship” drones to questions about what is a person/identity) all wrapped in a great sci-fi story
The moon is a harsh mistress. A little dated and the way women/people are referenced shows it (much like foundation) but a solid one that is a little more hard science and may be more in line with what you’re thinking of.
Going over this list I realize how hard it is to find true hard science (Martian) that doesn’t lean into the more future tech but consistent physical laws (Expanse) to way future nano tech or consciousness transfer (Altered Carbon, etc)
Do you like protagonists that use their wits to beat a scenario or the hard science more?
For example a fun read that’s, in my opinion, best experienced as an audiobook is the dungeon crawler carl. It’s definitely a good example of the first type. It’s not realistic. It’s literally real life made into a D&D game (LitRPG) it is just one scenario after another of Carl just finding ways to manipulate and play with the “rules” of the messed up game.
If you’re more into the hard science than The Expanse as others have said. Or maybe even the Revelation Space series where it is future tech but relativistic time plays a part. Less of the “one person/group against all odds” but a good read nonetheless.
Oh that sounds like fun.
Oh they could have. To be honest I’m not sure why they didn’t.
Exactly. It’s not that it’s a small amount. It’s the “why”.
What did I mess up and is it going to require a team of people to prove there isn’t some nefarious thing going on.
Same reason you get mailed a 12 cent check that cost them more than 0.12. It makes the books make sense and if the check expires then the amount moving into the right account then also makes sense.
So they can sign off on the numbers as being correct.
Or any company. Accountants absolutely hate Pennies missing. Dollars are easier to stomach but Pennies makes them nervous that some miscalculation that signals a bigger issue is going on.
Back in my day we both uploaded and downloaded, using bare HyperTerminal*, over audio “snow”. And we liked it that way!
*Or Netscape navigator….or iRC
In case there are any who dont know A/S/L is Age/Sex/Location
And because the wire gauge is less than the wiring in the wall the breaker won’t trip before it reaches the point where it’s overloaded either.
Possibly to deal with the ozone things like this can produce.
And to add to the conversation(if there’s anything incorrect please let me know) from videos I’ve seen by MentourPilot, Captain Joe and online sources
The process will most likely look like the following (assuming an emergency descent is needed because the cabin can’t be pressurized like with the window vs some smaller hole air leak):
They will put on their own o2 masks (it’s critical to do this as you can lose consciousness in under a minute)
They will set the transponder to a code that denotes the emergency to both ATC and nearby traffic
They will radio the distress both for ATC but also nearby planes to give them a heads up that they’ll be rapidly descending. If it’s in a high traffic area they may wait for approval to begin descent (and you can be sure ATC is going to be moving planes out of the way.). If it’s taking too long they will begin descending anyway.
They’ll announce to the cabin that they’re doing an emergency descent
They will start a rapid descent to 10,000 ft (if terrain allows it, otherwise down to whatever they can safely get to). This is because the emergency o2 is limited to about 15 minutes.
Some interesting things I learned about this.
They will often use autopilot for the descent and level flight. This is because of limited visibility and a risk of possible issues caused by low o2.
They turn on all lights to make sure they’re as visible as possible to other traffic.
This descent will be really unpleasant. Not a gentle descent but the safest one (especially if they’re unsure if there’s any structural issues) they can do. Which will be quite a bit steeper than anybody is used to.
So passengers on the plane will experience this as:
Loud rushing noise. Possible moisture filling the cabin now that you have outside cold air mixing with warm air and surfaces inside
Masks dropping and seatbelt signs
Shortly after the Captain saying “Emergency descent” 3 or so times
Flight screw scrambling to seats and putting on masks
The sound of the wings adjusting for speed brakes, shuddering from the flight profile change,
The sounds of the engines being revved up to the planes maximum speed as the nose of the plane tipping down. It will feel like it’s faster than it really is with the shift in gravity followed by being pressed back due to the increase in speed during descent.
The plane shifting as they turn away from the main traffic area as they descend (unless told otherwise by ATC, etc)
Not a fun experience I’m sure
Some sources to check out
Emergency descend!! Cockpit video
Explosive decompression at Simulador TCP. EAS Barcelona pilot school
Me ordering the ribeye.
Wait… wait… [chewing] he’s got a point
It’s a foil in Majora’s Mask but, after a little bit, a kind of ally in this one.
You find yourself waiting for it, as it enables you to move on to the next jaunt you’re going to make.
The entire game is one giant puzzle rather than MM where it’s alot of smaller ones that the mechanic gets in the way of.
I went and edited more into the answer. Trying to capture the feeling about it so that they aren’t afraid of being annoyed. Hopefully I handled it gingerly enough.
They can be. Anathem was a bit more of a slog that sped up.
I found cryptonomicon to be slow at first (but not like Anathem) but it sped up quickly.
It goes back and forth between “modern” early 00’s? And WW2.
Stephenson is the kind of author you start a book and after a bit you’re like… ok… I don’t think this is for me… wait… what? And then you’re hooked.
Anathem is one of the worst that was like that. Snow Crash would be the polar opposite and one of the rare ones that just jumps straight into the world building.
Unrelated: I just finished Wind and Truth. So weird to think somebody got me hooked on Sanderson about 2 years ago and I’ve burned through all his books (except for Reckoners and the Alcatraz books). The first because I haven’t tried one but seems a bit more youth oriented and the latter because it is more youth oriented than my usual tastes.