The Sword and Laser discussion

Ebook is my preferred format for reading these days. Back when I had a commute, I would sometimes spring for the audiobook also so that I could just keep "reading" even while driving. I had initially bought this book as an audiobook, maybe because there was a sale? In any case, I found it very tough going. Some of it was how slow the book is in revealing its scifi elements. Some of it was difficulty with the unfamiliar names. I gave up at around 17%. When it was announced as this month's pick, I decided to buy it as an ebook and give it another chance. I'm finding it way easier to process in written form. I can track the names better, and both the author and the translator made these useful footnotes explaining governmental bureaus, language subtleties, that sort of thing. I still feel like I have no real idea what's going on, but that just puts me in the same boat with the characters.

Audio fiction makes me zone out, and seeing names is better than hearing them for me.

Unless it's a fully produced audio drama with multiple actors, I can't do it. I find my mind drifting to random topics instead of paying attention to the story,

Trike wrote: "Audio fiction makes me zone out, and seeing names is better than hearing them for me.

Unless it's a fully produced audio drama with multiple actors, I can't do it. I find my mind drifting to rando..."

Usually I'm pretty much with you unless the narrator is tip top. I did particularly enjoy Midnight Robber because the narrator speaks in dialect. EDIT: I found it easier to understand by listening and finding the rhythm.

For me it depends a lot on the book. Something like The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet works fine in an audio format, but I tried the Gardens of the Moon and I couldn't make heads or tails of what was happening in audio. Simple thrillers work well in audio, but complicated plots become hard to follow.

I do more audio than not these days, but this one wasn't great. The narrator Luke Daniels is normally great, but he wasn't the best fit for this book.

It does depend on the book for me.
I find light, easier to digest books, better to listen to. Books like TTPB, which are a bit more complicated, with all the science and unfamiliar concepts, requires a bit more concentration than I seem to be able to give to audiobooks.

I would have had a harder time keeping track of all the Chinese names in audio.

I wish that it was possible to click on a name in an ebook and hear how its pronounced.

Brendan wrote: "I wish that it was possible to click on a name in an ebook and hear how its pronounced."

and alternatively, a way to see how a name is spelled in an audiobook.

Hmm, with whisper sync I think Amazon could make both of those possible, and a little easier. I'm almost surprised the audible app doesn't have a scrolling text string at the bottom. And with the kindle app already having the X-ray feature how hard would it be to just import those terms in audio form into the app.

By the way Rob and myself discussed the not great narration in the main thread. The more I think about it the more I believe it to be bad directing, that caused the poor voice acting. But you never know.

I just think the voices Luke Daniels uses in his narration aren't a good fit for a story set in China. I don't think the quality of his performance was bad (volume, inflection, etc).

They changed the narrator for the second book and it wasn't any better, in fact I probably liked it less.

Brendan wrote: "I wish that it was possible to click on a name in an ebook and hear how its pronounced."

Oh very yes.

After listening to The Dispatcher as my first audiobook I went with the ebook version for this one again. I usually struggle with names no matter what and having a name written somewhere helps me immensely.

But for this one I went even a step further and wrote all major characters down in my notebook and wrote a short reference of who they were. For some reason, if I write a name down somewhere instead of just reading it, it stays in my memory for longer.

Brendan wrote: "I wish that it was possible to click on a name in an ebook and hear how its pronounced."

Great idea!

Brendan wrote: "I wish that it was possible to click on a name in an ebook and hear how its pronounced."
I suppose the tricky bit would be defining which word units were names and then hooking it up to some sort of database.

For those that offer Whispersync for Voice, it should be possible, combined with the Kindle's X-ray feature perhaps.

Edit: Oh, John already suggested exactly that.

All good Tobias. :-)

It might be easier to just use clicking on the word to play an approximate audio clip. (ie play 10-20s of audio around where the word they clicked)

It'd be hard to map words 1-1 with the audio..but they should be able to get fairly close using whatever they do for whispersync for voice.

Horst wrote: "For some reason, if I write a name down somewhere instead of just reading it, it stays in my memory for longer."

That's actually a thing: http://www.lifehack.org/articles/feat...

I was glad TTBP had a list of characters at the front of the book, with their job and connection to the other main characters.

It made it easier to keep track of the minor players.

Also something not in the audiobook. But to be honest that might have sounded a bit like John Hodgman reading hobo names.

John (Nevets) wrote: "Also something not in the audiobook. But to be honest that might have sounded a bit like John Hodgman reading hobo names."

and as pointless ;-)
It would have been hard to keep referencing back to a name in audio.
It was handy to refer back to when characters went missing for a few Chapters.

Here is a text version if anyone wants it:

(view spoiler)[Chinese names are written with surname first.

The Ye Family

Ye Zhetai
Physicist, professor at Tsinghua University
Shao Lin
Physicist, Ye Zhetai’s wife
Ye Wenjie
Astrophysicist, daughter of Ye Zhetai
Ye Wenxue
Ye Wenjie’s sister, a Red Guard

Red Coast Base

Lei Zhicheng
Political commissar at Red Coast Base
Yang Weining
Chief engineer at Red Coast Base, once a student of Ye Zhetai

The Present

Yang Dong
String theorist and daughter of Ye Wenjie and Yang Weining
Ding Yi
Theoretical physicist, Yang Dong’s boyfriend
Wang Miao
Nanomaterials researcher
Shi Qiang
Police detective, nicknamed Da Shi
Chang Weisi
Major-general of the People’s Liberation Army
Shen Yufei
Japanese physicist and member of the Frontiers of Science
Wei Cheng
Math prodigy and recluse, Shen Yufei’s husband
Pan Han
Biologist, friend/ acquaintance of Shen Yufei and Wei Cheng, and member of the Frontiers of Science
Sha Ruishan
Astronomer, one of Ye Wenjie’s students
Mike Evans
Scion of an oil magnate
Colonel Stanton
U.S. Marine Corps, commander of Operation Guzheng (hide spoiler)]

My problem is that I was raised speaking a certain dialect of Chinese, watching Hong Kong films and TV, a different dialect once again, and also being American born, my own pronunciation of Chinese names is all over the place. So seeing it in print is easier for me.

A few recent audio books have come with a PDF. Typically this had character names or a glossery/appendix. I think all audio books should give you that. It's handy.

I wish I had seen that character list at the beginning. I read the kindle version and I think it jumped straight into chapter one upon starting the book. I had to jump around I remember characters.

I am currently reading The Dark Forest, and it too has the character list. Thank goodness because it seems this book has more characters to follow, and it jumps around quite a bit. It can get confusing, and fast.

The character list is nice. So is the X-ray function on Kindle.

I always forget about the X-Ray function on the Kindle.... do I need to worry about spoilers if I use it?

Steven wrote: "I always forget about the X-Ray function on the Kindle.... do I need to worry about spoilers if I use it?"

Yes, use with caution.

It is easy to accidentally scroll through to events ahead of where you are up to.

On my Kindle it hides them. If I scroll past my furthest page read it sayd "Clips beyond your furthest page read are hidden. Tap to show all clips."

Tobias wrote: "On my Kindle it hides them. If I scroll past my furthest page read it sayd "Clips beyond your furthest page read are hidden. Tap to show all clips.""

That's how it should work. On the iPad Kindle App it will keep scrolling until you stop.

There is a handy graph at the top of the page that shows where you are in relation to the page you are up to.

I use it rarely anyway.

I am not having much of a problem with the audio book, but I know Chinese too, so that probably helps smooth out some difficulties with this book at least.

Joanna wrote: "Ebook is my preferred format for reading these days. ...I had initially bought this book as an audiobook... I'm finding it way easier to process in written form. I can track the names better,..."

Yes, completely agree. I got the audiobook on overdrive and found it very hard to track the names. While the narration was fine, it was pretty hard to follow who the heck was talking to whom lol.

I eventually broke down and bought the e-book because I wasn't going to be able to get it from the library anytime soon.

For me, Kindle x-ray was a life saver. :-)

Horst wrote: "After listening to The Dispatcher as my first audiobook I went with the ebook version for this one again. I usually struggle with names no matter what and having a name written somewhere helps me i..."

My ebook had a list of characters at the front. Did yours?

Even with the list at the front of the book, I'm having a hard time keeping track of the new characters in The Dark Forest. Its a bit hard to juggle so many Chinese names in my non-Chinese speaking brain.

I can't even follow regular English names in a book, so this actually isn't that big a deal for me.

Ivy wrote: "Even with the list at the front of the book, I'm having a hard time keeping track of the new characters in The Dark Forest. Its a bit hard to juggle so many Chinese names in my non-Chinese speaking..."

How far in are you? I had trouble for the first 40 pages or so, but once Luo Ji is introduced, the new character introductions slow down and it was easier to keep track.

I loved Luke Daniels reading Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicle's. But it really got to me in this book whenever Shi Qiang spoke because he used was the same voice as Oberon. It's hard to take the hard ridden cop seriously, when all you hear is a rambunctious wolf hound.

Steven wrote: "Ivy wrote: "Even with the list at the front of the book, I'm having a hard time keeping track of the new characters in The Dark Forest. Its a bit hard to juggle so many Chinese names in my non-Chin..."

I'm at the halfway point and I feel pretty comfortable with most of characters. You're right...the introduction of new characters does slow down dramatically once the story gets going.