h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello Just Another Victim of the Ambient Morality, okay, before you get mad at me, I must confess that I've never read any Ian M. Banks, sorry! I've heard of him, seen his books, but never really known anything about them and never really paid attention enough to find out. So, what are his books about, then?
(But then, I've only just started reading Terry Pratchett, so I'm not doing well on the modern-author list)
Still, as you're new, I'd like to help you get used to the guide. There is New user page:-
http://www.h2g2.com/A5752
and a good place to meet other researchers is at the Beach:
http://www.h2g2.com/A208676

So I hope to see you around!

<BB<

Hi Bluebottle,

Save your fingers, just Ambient is fine or JAVAM if you prefer.

Fret none about your lack of education in all things Banksian. Time is a great facilitator.

It is very difficult to provide a general overview on what his books are about as the non M ones for a start are incredibly diverse. Best to go to Amazon or similar and look at the synopses and reviews, as they will do a better job than I.

Terry P is ok and I have read about 95% of his books as well, but if I may draw a comparison he is Uncle Buck and not Saving Private Ryan. When you read are you looking for just entertainment or are you looking for thought provoking, edge of the seat, involvement? A TP book is fine for a bit of easy on the brain enjoyable escapism, but Banks provides griping, gritty, visionary story lines which although are occasionally uncomfortable to read are always difficult if not impossible to put down.

I cannot guarantee you will not be disappointed because I am unsure of your tastes but the only way to find out if I am speaking the truth or if I am just a misguided fool is to try him for yourself. If you lean more to SF a good starting point is Consider Phlebas, if more to non SF I would say go with the Crow Road.

Anyway end of lecture. If you get a chance give him a go and post your opinion, but if you don't I will not hold it against you.

Thanks for the info links, when time allows I will investigate thoroughly, as my home page leaves a lot to be desired, but at the moment time only seems to allow for work, sleep and the most basic of postings. In the future I will don factor 25 sun-block and head down to the beach.

JAVAM

Okay then, JAVAM it is - defiantely a lot easier to spell
So, what do I look for in a book? That's a very good question. I tend to like more depth than Terry Pratchett tends to give. My favourite authors are Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Donaldson, Frank Herbert and of course Douglas Adams. I also am reading books by J.R.R. Tolkein, Julian May, Terry Pratchett and lots of others, and I seem to be the only person I've found who likes the Silmarillion. Does that help at all? I don't know.
Still, see you about,

<BB<

If I may make a suggestion, Blue, I would recommend Piers Anthony. He would seem to be your type of author. Vic, I too must admit to never having read Banks, but if I can find anything of his I am willing.

3

JOTD: After much careful research it has been discovered that the artist Vincent Van Gogh had many relatives. Among them were: Painting

Piers Anthony is a good call.

Although I go on about Banks my favourite books are actually Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons. The other 2 in the Cantos, Endymion and Rise of Endymion are good books but Hyperion and Fall are in a class of their own.

If you are into very technical sci-fi I would recommend Stephen Baxter, particularly Voyage.

Probably going to destroy any credibility I may have now and will prepare myself for flaming, but I have to confess to not having read any Julian May, Stephen Donaldson, or even the Silmarillion. With you on the rest of your list though BB.

.... Just checked out Amazon, Donaldson sounds like my cup of tea so will give him a go once I have finished the two books I picked up last week; The Martian Race by Gregory Benford and The Star Faction by Ken MacLeod.

Loads of my friends rave about May, it has just been a case of so little time and so many books.

Always open to recommendations though

I definately know the feeling of so little time, so many books. At the moment I've been encouraged to read Terry Pratchett (I hadn't before, and so far I've read all of his non-Discworld books, very amusing, but definately not technical), and I am starting with C.J. Cherryh, and Ursuala LeGuin. But it's so very true as to so many books, so little time, and so little money to spend on them all
I'll definately keep both Piers Anthony and Banks in mind, along with Simmons and Baxter. I'm always open to recommendations too.

I read Gregory Benford's "Beyond the Fall of Night" as a sequal to Arthur C. Clarke's "Against the Fall of Night", and I wasn't impressed, sorry. What do you think of him apart from that?
And incidently, Stephen Donaldson is a good author, yet with Thomas Covenant, the plot isn't exactly orignial, and is very much like "The Lord Of The Rings". Some people dislike him for this, but although it is similar, it's still very much worth reading.

The money issue is a valid one. I used to be very happy to go to the library and just borrow, but when I moved down to London and had 2 hours a day on the train to fill I found myself buying a lot of books. Partly because I never made it to the library and partly because I worked for a publisher so I could get a discount from most other publishers. Now I have left both publishing and London I cannot seem to reacquaint myself with the library system so books are eating a large hole in my wallet.

To be honest I thought Benford's Beyond the Fall of Night was a load of abstract tosh and I have avoided him since, but I have a bit of a thing about the Red Planet, and have heard reasonable things about this book so thought I would give him a second go. So there is no need to apologise on that one.

Rama - with or without Gentry Lee? Personally I think there was some law of diminishing returns at work with that series. I put it all down to Lee at the time, but after reading 3001 I started to think that maybe Clarke is just getting lazy. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of his, but nothing he has written in the last 10-15 years has sparked my imagination as much as the work prior to that.


Is it just me or is the whole H2G2 site running like a pig-dog today?

I have spent hours just trying to get my home page up and I am sat at the end of a reasonably quick connection.

All proving a bit frustrating and making it very hard to do anything.

I definately agree with you as far as "Beyond the Fall Of Night" is concerned - how could he have written something so awful? You can tell he thought about it a lot when he described how wonderful the moon looked, whilst in Arthur C. Clarke's original the moon was destroyed. And yes, Arthur C. Clarke's books have been going downhill. I didn't think the Rama series was too bad, although yes, it did go downhill, but "Cradle" was just his worst book I've read of his. Which is a shame as I think he is a good author, but then he is getting old. I still think that Gentry Lee had an effect on Arthur C. Clarke to make him write more about emotions and motivations, which isn't really his strong point.

Was it Benford who wrote some of the second Foundation trilogy?

And sadly, H2G2 has been quite slow today, which yes, is very annoying.

Don't get me wrong on Rama, the original book captured my imagination like no other when I read it as a young lad and probably accounts more for my resultant love of SF than any other book. I really enjoyed the second one as well, they just seemed to lose the plot a little on the 3rd and a lot on the 4th. I suspect this is an indication of the effect of age on Clarke and thus an increasing influence of Gentry Lee in the proceedings.

I cannot remember if I have read Cradle or not, which is a bad sign.

At least he has not gone the way of 'and her nipples went spung!'

Yes, Benford is one of the 3 responsible for the second foundation trilogy along with Greg Bear and David Brin. I have to confess I have taken on the outlook of an old fart with this one and just shake my head and mutter things of the 'back in the old days, price of bacon, more tea vicar' type when I hear mention of this trilogy. I have avoided it primarily because of Benford, but as much as I like Greg Bear both this and the Star Wars book he has written recently seem strange choices.

But on the subject of Greg Bear I would recommend Forge of God, Eon and Blood Music to name but a few. Forge of God enjoyed a brief period at the number one spot before I read Dan Simmons. However, if you do happen to read Eon or Forge of God don't go out of your way to read the sequels Eternity and Anvil of Stars, respectively. Ok but disappointing in both cases.

(If this carries on we are both going to have to take out loans to buy all the books we have been recommended)

Greg Bear - I'm trying to remember what of his I have read, so I guess my memory is failing in the same way yours did about Cradle, so I wouldn't worry.

It's not only the money that will be needed if we keep recommending books, it's going to be the time too! At the moment I've a pile of 40-50 books I've bought to read (all second hand, so quite cheap, luckily) and haven't had time to. I keep buying 3 or 4 books a week, and read one or two - it soon adds up!

I'll definately keep Greg Bear in mind. I'm not sure what to think about the Foundation Trilogy, just as I haven't read Allen's Asimov's Robot trilogy. I read "Prelude To Dune", though, and that was disappointing, but not as bad as I'd heard.

*notices the words Iain M Banks, and leaps in *

The best Iain M Banks book to read first is Excession... Consider Phlebas, and Use of Weapons follow shortly. And whatever you do, never ever read Feersum Endjinn. It's fearsomely bad.

Time is definitely the big factor, I have only managed about half a book in the last 2 weeks which is no good at all.

I suppose the only way to find out if the 'pretenders to the throne' can pull it off is to read the books. I just need to shake off my reservations and bump them up my reading list I guess.

Always been a bit of a pessimistic optimist though.

Hi Njan

Agree with your selection but not sure as Excession is the best place to start as I think Phlebas introduces the Culture and the idea of Minds in a more absorbable manner.

As much as I love Excession it can have a tendency to leave people cold and thinking ' just WTF is going on'.

But note to anybody else reading this and thinking of picking up an Iain M book. Don't whatever you do read Inversions without at least reading Use of Weapons first or you will miss out on an awful lot of what makes it an enjoyable book.

And whatever you do, don't read either player of games, or against a dark background, without having read several other M Banks books...

Good point.

Against a dark background, now there is a potential film script if ever I have read one

Yes.. it's a wonderful book. ... but I still think Excession would make the best film, as long as you had a -off huge budget, and a really really good director. (And some good actors)

Indeed, a big budget, good director etc are a must, but I would still worry about the script (unless Banks was in control).

Portraying the minds personalities and the speed of conversation and thoughts would require a very clever aproach.

Banks would have to be in control. It would be impossible to do it otherwise... Although I'd prefer films not to be made, because I imagine everything culture-esque in a certain way, and to have a piucture of it would probablyt conflict with the image I already have. Like the TV series of the guide..