.

Friday 30 December 2016

My #top100 #scifi Num:46 Caves of Steel

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2fYSH7K



Life is cheap on Earth. Overpopulation and fear of attack have forced the population down into subterranean megacities. Elijah Baile and R. Daneel Olivaw (R for Robot) are dispatched to solve the murder of a 'Spacer', a person not from Earth, but one the pampered, Elite, K-Selected humans who moved beyond the Solar System with their legions of Robot man servants. Like Monty Python's British officers, Spacers shouldn't die. It is simply politically unacceptable.
Continuing the run of Asimov, this is another of his Science Fiction classics, ostensibly a story of robots and spaceships, but with a payload of prejudice and privilege tucked inside.  


Read More...

Thursday 22 December 2016

My #top100 #scifi Num:47 The Naked Sun

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2gZ5pEC




Social commentary masquerading as a Sci-Fi detective story. A planet of people avoiding human contact can only interact with each other via screens and their robots - uncanny and this was first published in 1956

Note: I realise now that the cover looks like a giant porn-star-bot having sex with a spaceship. I had this on my bookshelf for years as a child and it never occurred to me... 


Read More...

Sunday 11 December 2016

My #top100 #scifi Num:48 The Robots of Dawn

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2gYlBGa



Spoiled by reliance on robots, lacking a spirit of adventure the human colonisation of the galaxy has ground to a halt. I tend to think the Fermi Paradox is all about apathy in the end, this book might have been the seed that planted the idea.

Asimov begins tying his worlds together here with the first mention of psychohistory...


Read More...

Sunday 4 December 2016

My #top100 #scifi Num:49 Robots and Empire

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2fW12ch



Another Asimov classic. This one ties the Robots series and the Empire series together. One of my favourites. Daneel and Giskard wrestling with the laws of Robotics, basically the ethics of AI. 
Lots of philosophy, but not too heavy, and plenty of Space Opera to liven things up. 


Read More...

Saturday 3 December 2016

My #top100 #scifi Num:50 The Stars Like Dust

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2fWakF9



Space Opera Thriller Mystery. An innocent and nieve fairy tale set amongst the stars. Chronologically this is one of the Empire books, it takes place early on, before Trantor, the fall and the Foundation...

Another blast from the past, but good stuff. Enjoy!


Read More...

Brain Interfaces - Fiction becoming fact.

A brain implant which restores vision by stimulating the cortex directly, entirely bypassing lens, retina and optic nerve!

http://www.massdevice.com/second-sight-reveals-1st-implant-orion-visual-cortical-stimulator/

This is basically the tech used by Spex in my Singularity's Children books.



Read More...

Cyberhavior