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Phred
Fred's son


Registered: 10/18/00
Posts: 12,949
Loc: Dominican Republic
Last seen: 9 years, 18 days
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Re: I never wish I had been born into a different time period. [Re: OneMoreRobot3021]
#8018088 - 02/13/08 03:10 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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That's "The Stars my Destination" (no comma) by Alfred Bester. One of the absolute classics of science fiction. I've read it many times. A fabulous book. So much imagination packed into such a short space.
Gully Foyle is my name And Terra is my nation Deep space is my dwelling place The stars my destination
I can't recommend this book too highly. Just a fabulous work of art. Raw, brutal, punchy, imaginative, brilliant, muscular writing.
Here's the first paragraph of chapter one. I love the first sentence. I can still quote it from memory --
"He was one hundred and seventy days dying and not yet dead. He fought for survival with the passion of a beast in a trap. He was delirious and rotting, but occasionally his primitive mind emerged from the burning nightmare of survival into something resembling sanity. Then he lifted his mute face to Eternity and muttered: 'What's a matter, me? Help, you goddamn gods! Help is all."
Later parts of the book describe synesthesia -- the confusion of sense known to some psychedelic voyageurs where colors are tasted, sounds are smelled. It is so well done you'd swear the author had tripped repeatedly on high doses of purest LSD -- yet the book was published in 1956.
Just over two hundred pages in pocketbook format, this is a staggering achievement considered by many readers -- and writers -- to be the greatest single science fiction novel ever written.
Do not miss this book. It can be tricky to find, sometimes, but worth the effort.
Phred
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TheCow
Stranger

Registered: 10/28/02
Posts: 4,790
Last seen: 15 years, 6 months
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Re: I never wish I had been born into a different time period. [Re: Phred]
#8018097 - 02/13/08 03:11 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Yea decent book. My grandfather had an absurd amount of science fiction which we took when he died. I peruse that whenever Im back home and grab a bunch of stuff. One day I picked that up
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Kamin



Registered: 02/04/07
Posts: 449
Last seen: 12 years, 3 months
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Re: I never wish I had been born into a different time period. [Re: hpi]
#8018180 - 02/13/08 03:35 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Sometimes I wish I had been born in the medieval times, but then i remember the plague, and I'm happy where I'm at.
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Cowgold
Bullshit


Registered: 04/04/05
Posts: 12,486
Loc: .
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Re: I never wish I had been born into a different time period. [Re: TheCow]
#8018185 - 02/13/08 03:36 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Multi-vac would be awesome.
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Ferris
PsychedelicJourneyman



Registered: 03/12/06
Posts: 11,529
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Re: I never wish I had been born into a different time period. [Re: Phred]
#8018256 - 02/13/08 03:57 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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RE: "The Stars, My Destination"
Sounds like my type of book. I'm a casual scifi fan and I like when authors try to add a unique style to their work (ie Ulysses, Sound and the Fury).
-------------------- Discuss Politics
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Shroomism
Space Travellin



Registered: 02/13/00
Posts: 66,015
Loc: 9th Dimension
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Re: I never wish I had been born into a different time period. [Re: OneMoreRobot3021]
#8018276 - 02/13/08 04:04 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Well said... and I concur.
This is quite a fascinating and exciting time to be alive. Could very well be a turning point of human evolution. I'm glad I'm here to witness and take part in it.
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PyroBurns
душа кофе


Registered: 10/14/07
Posts: 4,343
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Re: I never wish I had been born into a different time period. [Re: Shroomism]
#8018840 - 02/13/08 06:32 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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I kind of wish I were born 4000 years ago or some such.
Being a pure animal. Living with the land seeing the beauty of it all everyday. Running into people and talking about fucked up shit.
I feel to far removed from my roots living today. It really is a pain to see a big ugly red tin building labelled STAPLES with paper laying all over the place accumulating by a rusting ugly fence. I also hate relying on other people's devices to live.
Oh well, maybe I just need to adapt.
-------------------- Remember to cut your nails regularly.
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ApJunkie
part-time Ninja



Registered: 08/17/06
Posts: 2,735
Loc: Loc:Loc:Loc:Loc:Loc:
Last seen: 5 years, 2 months
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Re: I never wish I had been born into a different time period. [Re: PyroBurns]
#8020661 - 02/14/08 12:32 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Hell no you don't need to adapt! Buy yourself a couple acres of lands (with some forest, and maybe a little open field as well) and then just fend for yourself. if you're a good enough hunter/farmer you should be able to live out the rest of your life without complications
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Robo
R Series 66Y
Registered: 05/08/07
Posts: 14,861
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Re: I never wish I had been born into a different time period. [Re: OneMoreRobot3021]
#8020693 - 02/14/08 12:42 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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A dude I knew swore he didn't belong here, opposite of you. He said he wished at his age he'd have lived in the 60s instead.
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Robo
R Series 66Y
Registered: 05/08/07
Posts: 14,861
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Re: I never wish I had been born into a different time period. [Re: Robo]
#8020699 - 02/14/08 12:43 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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I myself am interested to find out what happens 2012
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wrestler_az
PsiLLy BiLLy



Registered: 08/11/02
Posts: 13,676
Loc: day dreams of a mad man
Last seen: 13 hours, 35 minutes
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Re: I never wish I had been born into a different time period. [Re: Robo]
#8020718 - 02/14/08 12:47 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
Omni said: A dude I knew swore he didn't belong here, opposite of you. He said he wished at his age he'd have lived in the 60s instead.
im in the same boat as the guy you talked with. sometimes i feel SO out of place here in the time im living. i make the best with what i got, i cant complain too much. but i would really really like to have been the age i am now in the height of the 60s psychedelic craze.... i would have fit right into that mess of shit.
-------------------- how's your WOW?
Edited by yageman (04/20/06 4:20 PM)
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Robo
R Series 66Y
Registered: 05/08/07
Posts: 14,861
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Re: I never wish I had been born into a different time period. [Re: wrestler_az]
#8020750 - 02/14/08 12:56 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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It didn't last though, the whole psychedelic craze. It was a counter-culture with idealogy going nowhere, it was almost fake.....the whole hippy movement. It would have been fun,yes...but you would have just grown out of it inevitably. Still would have been fun to have lived through it I guess. Must of been fun times, nonetheless.
Edited by Ombient (02/14/08 12:56 AM)
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Konyap


Registered: 06/30/07
Posts: 33,945
Loc: Planet Piss
Last seen: 4 years, 2 months
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Re: I never wish I had been born into a different time period. [Re: Robo]
#8020788 - 02/14/08 01:06 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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gangsta music revolution
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wrestler_az
PsiLLy BiLLy



Registered: 08/11/02
Posts: 13,676
Loc: day dreams of a mad man
Last seen: 13 hours, 35 minutes
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Re: I never wish I had been born into a different time period. [Re: Robo]
#8020816 - 02/14/08 01:17 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
Omni said: It didn't last though, the whole psychedelic craze. It was a counter-culture with idealogy going nowhere, it was almost fake.....the whole hippy movement. It would have been fun,yes...but you would have just grown out of it inevitably. Still would have been fun to have lived through it I guess. Must of been fun times, nonetheless.
sure... and i am willing to accept that, in this hypothetical time travel scenario. actually, im sure that the current position i find myself in with the psychedelics and such, will also be something i grow out of, eventually. nothing lasts forever you know. i wouldnt expect it to last... i dont think id even really want it to. but to be alive in a time when acid flowed like water... would be nice.
-------------------- how's your WOW?
Edited by yageman (04/20/06 4:20 PM)
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PinballWizard
Naive and Gullible as usual

Registered: 03/20/04
Posts: 2,804
Last seen: 9 years, 9 months
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Re: I never wish I had been born into a different time period. [Re: PyroBurns]
#8020832 - 02/14/08 01:21 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
PyroBurns said: I kind of wish I were born 4000 years ago or some such.
Being a pure animal. Living with the land seeing the beauty of it all everyday. Running into people and talking about fucked up shit.
I feel to far removed from my roots living today. It really is a pain to see a big ugly red tin building labelled STAPLES with paper laying all over the place accumulating by a rusting ugly fence. I also hate relying on other people's devices to live.
Oh well, maybe I just need to adapt.
I have really grown to enjoy the age of comfort we live in. Imagine sleeping in the dirt night after night, no aspirin for a headache, having a bad tooth pulled out with only ice for anesthetic (if you're lucky), dying at age 30...
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