THE (ALMOST) UNDELETED

Interesting article from the Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/ma ... ors-choice

Adam Roberts wrote:Herbert is sometimes praised for his "worldbuilding", but this isn't quite right (on the level of worldbuilding the novel has notable flaws, not least the absence of any means of oxygenating the planetary atmosphere).

Another close reader, obviously.

(Adam Roberts... who?)

I thought the same thing about several of his comments, but yeah, that one sticks out.

Wow, no love for Dune in the comments either. Jerk-offs.

There's some love there; you just have to search for it.

(Tosh? I thought that was what Captain Jack calls the Japanese bint on Torchwood... )

As Roberts mentioned, nowadays he only ever sees the negatives - but he still voted for it as his favourite SF novel ever, so why is everyone slagging him off

I posted some derogatory things he said about KJA over at Jacurutu a few weeks back, so he's okay in my book, even if I haven't particularly cared for the one book of his that I've read.

The negatives don't exist.

SadisticCynic wrote:The negatives don't exist.

That's the spirit!

Sev wrote:As Roberts mentioned, nowadays he only ever sees the negatives - but he still voted for it as his favourite SF novel ever, so why is everyone slagging him off

Well, for me, the point is that one of his supposed negatives is a mistake on his part.

I posted some derogatory things he said about KJA over at Jacurutu a few weeks back, so he's okay in my book, even if I haven't particularly cared for the one book of his that I've read.

Sorry, the name obviously didn't sink in... but then I'm a wee bit distracted at the moment.

Adu aduwi la daniman sadiqi. The enemy of my enemy is not always my friend.

Wow, what a bunch of whiners in the comments. Your own personal favorites weren't mentioned? Well guess what, you weren't interviewed for the article, get over it.

And almost invariably, whenever Dune gets mentioned in such a list, there will be someone to show up in the comments with a warning like "Dune was great but don't go near the sequels, they're horrible." Predictably, several such comments were made. Those people can fuck off.

I'd add my own comment saying the above, but I'm too lazy to register in order to do so.

I thought that was a pretty good list, actually. Interesting that the living authors I really admire mostly picked dead authors I really admire .

Pity about the weak Dune entry, but at least it appeared.

HBJ

SandChigger wrote:

Adam Roberts wrote:Herbert is sometimes praised for his "worldbuilding", but this isn't quite right (on the level of worldbuilding the novel has notable flaws, not least the absence of any means of oxygenating the planetary atmosphere).

Another close reader, obviously.

(Adam Roberts... who?)

im never quite sure what to think about him. He is some sort of French lit professor, and has a specialty in Jules Verne. He writes some highly critically acclaimed books that I think are great, and he has a very authoritative sound when he is talking about scholarly things. But some times I do think he misses the mark. But really, haven't we hashed the hell out of the oxygenation issue before ourselves? Not sure we ever came to a concensus. Maybe what he was trying to say was that Herbert was never too clear himself.

I know we've discussed it, but it's pretty clear that the adult worms produce enough oxygen to maintain a given level in the atmosphere. (Remember the quote about the output of one adult worm being equivalent to a square kilometer of jungle vegetation, or something like that?) I think what we were hashing over was just how much oxygen that would be, and what it implied about the size of the adult worm population planet-wide. I don't remember there ever being any question about Herbert not having addressed the issue, although the information is in the Appendices. (Whether the whole thing is plausible or not is of course a whole nuther kettle of sandfish! )

Maker knows I don't mind a good nitpick. I just prefer the nitpicker get the details right.

Meta-nitpicking. I like it.

You would.

Ultra-nitpicking.