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Babel-17
Babel-17 | Samuel R. Delany
In the far future, after human civilization has spread through the galaxy, communications begin to arrive in an apparently alien language. They appear to threaten invasion, but in order to counter the threat, the messages must first be understood.
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Kryckett
Babel-17 | Samuel R. Delany
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Pickpick

Love an all-out nerdy scifi read about language and the things it does to your brain.

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Larkken
Babel-17 | Samuel R. Delany
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Maybe you‘re using Okorafor (yay #aam) or a classic like Delaney or Butler for the #booked2023 Afrofuturism prompt… but just in case here‘s some favorites and anthologies options that aren‘t hard sff🤗
-Brown Girl in the Ring, Hopkinson (Afrocaribbean fantasy)
-Lakewood, Giddings (medical experimentation)
-Library of the Dead, Huchu (new series)
Riot Baby + The Deep + Remote Control are novellas; & I found new authors to love in the 3 anthologies.

LibrarianRyan Library of the Dead also counts for a foreign book written by a BIPOC representative. I think that is for Read harder. I loved that book. I am getting ready to start book 3. 7mo
Larkken @LibrarianRyan ooo, good call! I‘ve only managed to read the first, I‘m glad the series continues to be great 😊 7mo
LibrarianRyan @Larkken book one to me was odd but good. But once I had the world figured out I enjoyed book 2 more than book one. Plus lots more information on the library. 7mo
28 likes3 comments
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kwmg40
Babel 17 | Samuel Ray Delany
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Pickpick

This 1967 Nebula Award winner felt dated and some of the linguistic ideas went over my head. However, I can appreciate how it would have influenced later works dealing with human/alien communications such as China Mieville's Embassytown.

#BookSpinBingo #JoysOfJune
@TheAromaofBooks @Andrew65

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 2y
Andrew65 Looks a fun read 👏👏👏 2y
kwmg40 @TheAromaofBooks Thanks for stopping by! 2y
kwmg40 @Andrew65 Yes, fun and thought-provoking too! 2y
26 likes4 comments
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JacintaMCarter
Babel-17 | Samuel R. Delany
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Panpan

#2021Book92
There were maybe two exciting chapters in this book. The rest of it just felt like it was trying to copy every other science fiction novel, but not doing as good of a job.

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LibrarianRyan
Babel 17 | Samuel Ray Delany
Mehso-so

3 ⭐
For me, I think this is a read and not a listen to book. This book was a co winner of the Nebula Award in 1966 for the best Sci-Fi book. It‘s co winner was Flowers for Algernon. I can see what Babel-17 isn‘t as talked about as Algbernon. It‘s harder to follow and understand.

See review on GR and LT and TSG - as it's way to long to explain the crazy here.

RamsFan1963 I find almost all of Delany's book hard to follow and understand. Saying that, Dahlgren is still one of my favorite books. 3y
LibrarianRyan @RamsFan1963 it was a first for me. I was looking for sci-fi by a black author before 2000 that was on audio and at my library. The picking weren‘t great. But I loved the concept. It will take a reread to understand it all 3y
30 likes1 stack add2 comments
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rwmg
Babel-17 | Samuel R. Delany
Pickpick

I liked the linguistics (despite the heavy reliance on the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis) and Rydra's recruiting of her crew and their interactions. The space battles left me cold apart from giggling at the strategy names. The ending seemed very perfunctory, as if the author had been having too much fun and suddenly realised he had now got to end it somehow. If I have to choose between a pick and a so-so, it will be a somewhat grudging pick.

Herschelian Oh that is good - grudging pick! Can I please nick it off you to use as a regular rating? 5y
rwmg @Herschelian sure, go ahead 5y
8 likes2 comments
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rwmg
Babel-17 | Samuel R. Delany
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Poolside reading

RamsFan1963 @rwmg How are you liking it? I've always found Delany a hard author to read. 5y
rwmg @RamsFan1963 I'm only about 1/3 of the way through it but keeping my head above water so far. I had more problems trying to work out what the intro explaining why it's a classic was talking about. 5y
RamsFan1963 @rwmg Have you read Dahlgren? I love the book, but it's in no way an easy read. It's worth the effort, but at times I wondered why I was continuing to read something that was such a struggle. 5y
rwmg @RamsFan1963 as far as I remember, this is the first of his I've read 5y
rwmg @RamsFan1963 A bit of a slog in places, and I thought the ending was rather perfunctory, but enough good things in it to make it a pick. 5y
11 likes5 comments
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rretzler
Babel-17 | Samuel R. Delany
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Love this whole passage of several pages where Rydra is trying to teach The Butcher the concept of “I” and “you” and he gets it backwards. Really makes one wonder how one‘s brain just seems to know the difference.

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rretzler
Babel-17 | Samuel R. Delany
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Pickpick

Enjoyed this Nebula winner. The writing wasn‘t perfect, but the author gives one a lot to contemplate about language. For instance, if there is not a word for an item in your language, how can you begin to think about it and how will that object be different to you than it is for one whose language has that word. Favorite passage is when Rydra tries to teach The Butcher the difference between “I” and “you” and he gets it backwards. 4/5⭐️ #2019

8 likes1 stack add
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ReadingVampire
Babel-17 | Samuel R. Delany
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Pickpick

So this semester I‘ve had to read some good and not so good sci-fi classics, let me tell you this was FANTASTIC! The story is about Language and what it can do. I really fell in love with the characters and it held my interest the whole way through! The narrator was just great! #wouldrecommend

AlaMich I have this on my Kindle because I‘m a language 🤓. Glad to hear it‘s good! 6y
DivaDiane I read this one off my TBR last year and loved it too! Total language nerd here too. Music nerd also and I geek for SF, so it scratched all my itches. 6y
55 likes4 stack adds2 comments
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threadmangler
Babel-17 | Samuel R. Delany
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IT‘S A PORT CITY. Here fumes rust the sky, the General thought. Industrial gases flushed the evening with oranges, salmons, purples with too much red.

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hlgreenfield
Babel-17 | Samuel R. Delany
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My quest to read all the great sci-fi classics continues! Hope this one lives up to the reputation! The premise certainly sounds interesting!!

29 likes3 stack adds
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twohectobooks
Babel-17 | Samuel R. Delany
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JamesChatham
Babel-17 | Samuel R. Delany
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I was tagged by @shawnmooney to do the #10AuthorRecommendations! No particular order, but I love everything I‘ve read from each of these authors. Thanks for the tag, Shawn!

ReadingEnvy Catherynne Valente is on my list too, although her last few books have me waivering a bit. 6y
22 likes1 comment
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rwmg
Babel-17 | Samuel R. Delany
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VioletBramble Where is this? 7y
rwmg Perth, Western Australia http://www.whitedwarfbooks.com/ 7y
2 likes2 comments