nostr:note19xvqdct827na30skd6meyh76q3pxgn3hdzaj4yc0tpsk0w7q8j3sknyn7d
Havenât read it yet, but adding it to the list!
Discussion
This book as well as Demian by Hermann Hesse and Grendel by John Gardner were transformative to me as a teenage boy.
Any that you loved and youâd like to share?
Transformative fiction?
For me that would be Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein and The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks.
Thanks! I havenât read those yet, adding to my list!
Stranger in a Strange land is one of a small number of books Iâve read more than once.
Another is The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov. Although I wouldnât characterize it as transformative, for me anyway. Just a great story, IMO.
Iâve wanted to read Asimov forever and somehow never actually done it. One day.
Asimov stories are good, but they tend to be less philosophical than Heinlein, IMO. When Asimov does go philosophical, it tends to be narrow.
For example, in âI, Robotâ, Asimov explored the philosophical implications of his proposed laws of roboticsâhow they might work in practice, in what ways they might conflict, etc. But that work is a series of short stories, as opposed to a holistic, contiguous story.
Arthur C. Clarkeâs books tend to be somewhere between Heinlein and Asimov in this regard. Childhoodâs End would be an example, IMO. I canât say much about the story for risk of spoiling its, but IIRC it explores the nature of consciousness and evolution.
So whereas Heinlein will explore the impact on human behavior of various hypotheticals, and Clarke will explore the impact on humanity, Asimov tends to take human behavior and humanity as givens, and then noodle on extra-human topics.
