SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Bobby wrote: "Allison wrote: "(Funny anecdote, I initially said tail, no thumbs. My spouse told me there was no way I could live without thumbs. So I tried to prove him wrong by picking up my sandwich without th..."

hahaha!

Nicki wrote: "IcantypefinewithoutthumbsbecauseItouchtypebutIcan'thitthespacebar.Dammit."

LMAO!

Liz wrote: "Having sliced a chunk off the thumb of my dominant hand and been unable to use it for a month, I can tell you that it's very possible to adjust to not having a thumb. It actually took me a little w..."

It's totally possible! One of my first impressions as a child was of a carpenter/museum curator with a missing eye and three missing fingers showing us how a tool worked in his museum. Clearly we can do this! (I hope you heal quickly though!! I once burned the crap out of my thumb, and it was an unpleasant couple of weeks.)

YouKneeK wrote: "So I’ll have to go for the prehensile tail with lost thumb(s) as the lesser of the two evils, since at least the tail could be used to compensate for the thumbs. I’d prefer to pick “none of the above”, though! What kind of sadistic choice is this? ;) "

lol! I thought of this one after someone asked me if I'd rather use my butt as a nose or my nose as a butt. I didn't want to go there. ;-)

Shanna wrote: "Funny, when I think of having heightened senses, I think of all the things I tune out that I wouldn't want to be tuned in to. Do I really need a better whiff of the catbox down the hall? Do I reall..."

Haha! Did you want a banana before you thought about not having thumbs? My mind is contrarian, so the more I think about being thumbless, the more I want to take up rock climbing.

Allison wrote: "Would you rather have a prehensile tail but no opposable thumb or have to sleep 14 hours a day but have heightened senses?"

The first option. I need more time to read books and binge stuff and (try to) have a social life.

YouKneeK wrote: "There is almost nothing for which I'd be willing to give up another 7 hours of my day. I already feel like there aren’t enough hours. I might do it in exchange for the ability to manipulate time, o..."

what she said

Living without thumbs: https://youtu.be/kazz36M6rrg

Go give this kid some views, make his day. :D

Trike wrote: "Living without thumbs: https://youtu.be/kazz36M6rrg

Go give this kid some views, make his day. :D"

Cute :)

Trike wrote: "Living without thumbs: https://youtu.be/kazz36M6rrg

Go give this kid some views, make his day. :D"

Done. I watched the other recommended video as well. Hilarious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzOXx...

Trike wrote: "Living without thumbs: https://youtu.be/kazz36M6rrg

Go give this kid some views, make his day. :D"


Done.

***

This is a hard one. I've always kinda thought it would be cool if humans had prehensile tails, but thumbs are important.

And I like sleep, but 14 hours doesn't leave a lot of time for anything else. :(

Er... um... uh...

I'll take the no thumbs and learn to adjust, I guess?

I would like to have a great voice. I love music but my voice is deadly. it was good to get the kids out of bed in the morning "get up or I will sing to you" worked well

I did 7 years piano at a conservatorium, given a new scholarship at the end of each year, and constantly was told, don't sing.

so yes I would love a great voice.

Would you rather only be able to read your favorite book for the rest of your life OR as many books as you wanted, but all in your least favorite (sub)genre?

Allison wrote: "Would you rather only be able to read your favorite book for the rest of your life OR as many books as you wanted, but all in your least favorite (sub)genre?"


I'll take my favorite book, even with the risk of getting tired of reading the same thing. At least I'd derive some enjoyment out of it, which I doubt I'd do with having to read stuff I probably won't like.

Allison wrote: "Would you rather only be able to read your favorite book for the rest of your life OR as many books as you wanted, but all in your least favorite (sub)genre?"

It depends on how the least favorite genre would be determined. If it would be the least favorite of the genres I already read, then I'd pick that. But if I had to only read non-fiction about wars, then I'd rather read will_name_book_if_this_becomes_reality forever.

Allison wrote: "Would you rather only be able to read your favorite book for the rest of your life OR as many books as you wanted, but all in your least favorite (sub)genre?"

On the scale of Beelzebub (1) to a cat (11), exactly how evil are you trying to be?

Trike wrote: "Allison wrote: "Would you rather only be able to read your favorite book for the rest of your life OR as many books as you wanted, but all in your least favorite (sub)genre?"

On the scale of Beelz..."

Mmm...I think I'm at like "eats cake in front of person who just started up at the gym" amounts of evil. So...I think that's like a 3? 4? Probably a 4.

Allison wrote: "Would you rather only be able to read your favorite book for the rest of your life OR as many books as you wanted, but all in your least favorite (sub)genre?"

That one's tough. I did read The Name of the Wind six times one summer and that was OK. But a steady diet of Math or Philosophy or Religion would drive me batty, so I'd probably go with a favorite book option

Allison wrote: "Would you rather only be able to read your favorite book for the rest of your life OR as many books as you wanted, but all in your least favorite (sub)genre?"

I'd have to say my favorite book. Especially if I could cheat and use the full kindle version of the Wheel of Time with all the books in one volume. Either way, I am not reading non-fiction books for the rest of my life....or ever again for that matter. *shudders*

Least favorite genre for sure which is clearly Sci-fi. Please don't throw me into that briar patch!

A choice I hope to never have to make even in minor form.

Hank wrote: "Least favorite genre for sure which is clearly Sci-fi. Please don't throw me into that briar patch!

A choice I hope to never have to make even in minor form."

Heehee!

indoor plumbing please.

Would you rather have a clone or be one body in a hivemind/AI?

(100% I would prefer the hivemind. I think I'd kill my clone, but I would love to do multiple processes at once)

Can you add more bodies to the hivemind over time? Because that could potentially be immortality.

It's certainly in the realm of possibility!

As similarly situated in the realm as re-cloning yourself with whatever the memory set is of the last clone.

I would take a clone. Then I would send it to work while I stayed home to read all day! :P

Allison wrote: "Would you rather have a clone or be one body in a hivemind/AI?"

I think my clone and I will get along great, so I appreciate this opportunity you’re offering! ;) Imagine what we'll accomplish. We'll divide-and-conquer everything. We'll take two skills that we both want to learn, have each of us learn one of them, and then teach each other what we've learned more concisely and quickly because we'll share the same thought processes. We'll also divide up our to-be-read list and then let each other know which ones are worth reading because our tastes will be the same. And I also know I'll be able to rely on my clone to do what she says and meet her obligations. As time passes, our skill sets and knowledge will start to diverge a bit due to our individual experiences and then we can have some awesome brain storming sessions on various issues. How soon can she be ready?

A hive mind, on the other hand, sounds horrifying. I prefer to choose which thoughts I share and I value my privacy and independence over just about anything else in life. Happily, my clone and I will know when it's time to leave each other alone and bask in our solitude!

Oh, Youkneek, you crack me up so much LOL!

I wouldn’t trust my clone not to slit my throat in the night and make it look like an accident. It’d be the easiest way to replace me, which every reader of sci-fi knows would happen. At least with the hive mind I’ll see it coming, so sign me up the no privacy option.

Definitely a clone.

I prize individuality far too much to want to be part of a hivemind. *shudders*

I’m assuming that *I* am the hivemind, so I will then clone myself and then I shall become legion. I choose both.

Would you rather be a part of (i.e. live in/write/read, whatever) a well-liked but mediocre series, or an astonishingly perfect standalone?

Allison wrote: "Would you rather be a part of (i.e. live in/write/read, whatever) a well-liked but mediocre series, or an astonishingly perfect standalone?"

At first I was torn. Because sometimes something less perfect but with more volume is better because you get to live in it longer. But, the perfect book is always so rewarding.

Then my dorky brain provided the word "FanFiction." And really, with some of the fic writers out there, their quality is just as good as published works. So I would go with the Standalone, and if I needed another hit, I'd probably just search out some Fic. : )

I prefer quality over quantity. Perfect standalone gets my vote.

Perfect standalone. With each lesser entry in the mediocre series, the scales will tilt more toward the subpar end of the spectrum. "It's better to burn out than fade away."

Allison wrote: "Would you rather be a part of (i.e. live in/write/read, whatever) a well-liked but mediocre series, or an astonishingly perfect standalone?"

Perfect Standalone. With an imperfect series I'd be tempted to rewrite the whole thing as a fanfiction, and I don't have the time for that. I've already spent a lot of time doing that in other media.

In general, I'd go with perfect standalone.

But if I'm "living" in a world, and not necessarily constrained by the writing, then I might pick a mediocre series as long as the world was interesting enough and we sort of had our own lives off-screen, as it were.

Kristin B. wrote: "Then my dorky brain provided the word "FanFiction." And really, with some of the fic writers out there, their quality is just as good as published works. So I would go with the Standalone, and if I needed another hit, I'd probably just search out some Fic. : )"

I am completely the opposite! My first inclination is toward a perfect standalone, but if fanfic is included, I might lean a bit more toward the mediocre series. I prefer fanfiction that comes from big, sprawling worlds with lots of things and characters left unexplored (and it's honestly usually a bonus if I'm not deeply invested in the source material). So I agree with colleen, basically.

Kaa wrote: "My first inclination is toward a perfect standalone, but if fanfic is included, I might lean a bit more toward the mediocre series. I prefer fanfiction that comes from big, sprawling worlds with lots of things and characters left unexplored ..."

This is an excellent point! I'm so glad we don't really have to choose!

Magic world! At least life would be more interesting and I wouldn't have people tracking me constantly.

Would you rather have to read a book no faster than a page a day, or be able to read (and comprehend) a book instantly via papercut?

Cut me!

I think I'd have to go paper cut, but neither are really great. With a page a day, cliff hanger chapters and intense passages would be torture. With paper cut, you don't get to enjoy the act of reading. Sitting on the couch with my dog curled up against me and a book or tablet in my hand reading, with music on in the background really multiplies my enjoyment. So I guess I'd rather get to absorb all of the information at once and give up my reading time over being constantly frustrated that I can't find out what happens next.

In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values he says reading a book one page a day is a really in-depth way to read something and really take your time considering it. I think I would prefer this, as long as I had books of sufficient depth. Not appropriate for a light beach read.

Hmm… Jen’s post almost swayed me, and Bobby also made a great point about the enjoyment of the process of reading, but I think I’d have to go with the papercut option.

If I’m reading something for personal education, being limited to a page a day would be a serious hindrance. It would take me years to learn and implement something I could have learned in a week or so. Plus, if it’s only one page per book but you can read multiple books a day, I might be tempted to join all of you polygamous readers in a really big way. I’d be reading 100 pages from 100 different books each day and I’d be really confused!

With the papercut method, I’d just have to try letting some time pass between books during which I spent some time thinking about what I’d read in order to better digest it.

By the way Allison, I really love these posts. :) They’re funny and they make me think.

YouKneeK wrote: "By the way Allison, I really love these posts. :) They’re funny and they make me think."

heehee! I am glad people are still having fun with them, because the people IRL around me are starting to become immune to this game, and I still have all these questions that need answers!

Allison wrote: "heehee! I am glad people are still having fun with them, because the people IRL around me are starting to become immune to this game, and I still have all these questions that need answers! ..."

I'm pretty sure you'll always have a willing group of "What if..." conversationalists here. It's one of my favorite things to do and my friends don't particularly enjoy it either.

I would go with the paper cut. I would miss the act of reading, but it would make it at least possible for me to finish my reading list. I would however have to avoid the temptation to just keep sitting there absorbing book after book. Can you imagine how many band-aids I would need!? I would look a mess.

I have a feeling it could become a kind of drug. A small sting and then you are immediately immersed in a whole other world with a myriad of emotions playing through you all at once. *shivers* I'm totally straight edge myself. Never had any recreational drugs or a drop of alcohol. But I could see myself becoming a real addict in this scenario.

Would you rather read out in the sunshine or inside while it rains?

Allison wrote: "Would you rather read out in the sunshine or inside while it rains?"

If there is ever a way to avoid the sun, I'll take it. Rain is just an added bonus! In fact, I would rather read outside in the rain, than outside when it's sunny. I'd just have to make sure my Kindle is protected from the rain.

Inside all the way. But I’m exceedingly pale so I don’t ever just sit in sunshine if I can help it.

My greatest joy is waking up late on a weekend, realizing it's sunny out and taking my coffee and my book to a lounge chair until I get sleepy again (or, sometimes, too hot).

Inside and rain, please! Though, I'm usually more keen to venture out on a rainy weather, rather than sunshine. I too avoid direct sun if only possible - does no good for pale complexion.