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MicaelS

(8,747 posts)
12. Yes, I have read both books.
Mon Oct 20, 2014, 08:21 PM
Oct 2014

I wouldn't have recommended them otherwise. I don't recommend books I have not read. Yes it has a Libertarian bent..so what? A lot of SF has a Libertarian bent. And it has done so ever since Heinlein wrote The Moon is a Harsh Mistress back in 1966. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is considered to be one of the most important and influential science fiction novels ever written. Rand influenced a lot of people, and it is pretty obvious that Heinlein was one of them. And Heinlein influenced a lot of people, not just writers. Countless engineers and scientists have stated they were influenced by Heinlein. If you find the Libertarian bent "quite bothersome" then you're going to write off a lot of SF, and I, for one am not willing to do that. YMMV.

Of the Big Three of Heinlein, Asimov and Clarke.. Heinlein was a Libertarian, Asimov and Clarke were Liberals.

I am quite able to divorce my political beliefs from literature, film and music. My criteria are as follows:

(1) Does the creator of said work create and tell a compelling story that grabs and holds my attention?

(2) Do they create a world where I am willing to engage in a willing suspension of disbelief?

If the answer to both is yes, then I will cut them plenty of slack when it comes to politics. After all, what a creator / writer / film maker has his characters saying does not necessary mean they are speaking for him / her. To point this out, if you want to read some really horrifying dystopic SF go read S.M Stirling's The Domination of Draka series. Stirling deliberately wrote this series to show how bad things really could get, and got accused of all sorts of things.

Stirling's use of the Draka as point-of-view characters has led to accusations that he has some sympathy with them (for example, in his entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction), to his dismay. He describes the Draka series as dystopias based on "supposing that everything had turned out as badly as possible, these last few centuries." The title page of his non-Draka novel Conquistador has the quotation "There is a technical term for someone who confuses the opinions of a character in a book with those of the author. That term is 'idiot'."

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

My favorite book describing a post nuclear holocaust Dystopia Warpy Oct 2014 #1
+1 HuckleB Oct 2014 #3
It's not sci-fi AlbertCat Oct 2014 #2
I'll give you that! HuckleB Oct 2014 #4
I've been reading s-f for about SheilaT Oct 2014 #5
Awesome! HuckleB Oct 2014 #6
The Truth Machine MicaelS Oct 2014 #8
Have you read it? SheilaT Oct 2014 #9
Yes, I have read both books. MicaelS Oct 2014 #12
Just another example of how two people SheilaT Oct 2014 #13
Sounds like good stuff! HuckleB Oct 2014 #10
Well, not an NGO. DetlefK Oct 2014 #7
Awesome! Thanks for the tips! HuckleB Oct 2014 #11
Fritz Leiber's "Poor Superman" is a Fifties example. Orsino Oct 2014 #14
Ah, fantastic. HuckleB Oct 2014 #15
Latest Discussions»Culture Forums»Skepticism, Science & Pseudoscience»Any Sci-Fi Fans In This G...»Reply #12