March Books 2) Learning the World

[nwhyte]

2) Learning the World, by Ken MacLeod

I don't plan to get into a habit of meta-reviewing, but I have read coalescent and immortalradical here, and ninebelow here, also greengolux's observations, and papersky's praise. I am much more towards the coalescent and papersky end of the spectrum. I really liked it. I thought that it does indeed add something new to the old sf theme of first contact between humans and aliens

Comments

[bennmorland]

And it's going on my To-Read list. :D

[andrewducker]

I think that there's been misreading of ADITS. The spiders are portrayed so closely to humans because what we're reading is being filtered through the human translators, who are deliberately portraying them in such a way as to cause us to empathise with them. This is explained near the end of the book, when the plot is revealed. What they are _actually_ like is pretty much impossible to tell.

[nwhyte]

I think that there's been misreading of what I wrote, plus an unfortunate and I hope unintentional turn of phrase that makes your comment look arrogant and patronising.

In addition, I don't agree with your interpretation of A Deepness in the Sky. The Spiders are first introduced to the reader decades before the human translators have started observing them.

It is indeed very clear that the humans' understanding of the Spiders is necessarily formed by their own preconceptions, and the fact that the channel of communication goes through a particular set of humans is the key to the plot twist at the end (which I found completely implausible, taken on the book's own terms); but I did not feel that the reader was meant to share in the humans' misperceptions.

And I think that the human characters are simply nastier than the Spiders, on any reasonable scale of human behaviour.

[andrewducker]

I apologise for any offense I've given. I'd appreciate it if you could tell me what it was I said that was arrogant and patronising, so I don't do it again.

I'd agree that the humans are nastier than the Spiders tpp/

It is my recollection that the way the Spiders are portrayed is entirely through the translations of the humans, and given a positive "homely" spin, and that when this is explained to our heroes, the methods given for making the Emergent's friendlier to the spiders are explicitly the same as ones used in the sections of the book pertaining to them.

However, my copy of the book is 450 miles away at the moment, and buried in stacks. I'll have a dig about when I get back.

[nwhyte]

Andy,

Apology accepted.

I took offense at your introductory sentence, "I think that there's been misreading of ADITS." I would not have minded "I don't agree with your reading of ADITS", since obviously you don't or we wouldn't be having this discussion; but it seemed to me unnecesarily aggressive to say that my reading of it is categorically wrong; and then on top of that, irritatingly arch to not even dare to put it as directly as "You have misread ADITS" but instead say "There has been misreading of ADITS". The initial qualifying statement "I think that..." did help a little, but not enough.

I hope that is clear.