Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was an extremely funny, extremely british part of my late middle/early high school experience. It was the first science fiction book I’d ever read that was actually funny, but it never felt condescending or rude. It celebrated the tropes and norms of science fiction. It was laughing with science fiction fans instead of at them. Later in high school I’d discovered the magic of podcasts and audio dramas. It was nice to have some way to access stories without having to be focused with my eyes, it left me time to do things like cooking, exercise, or laundry while still enjoying excellent storytelling. As a fan of both podcasts and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , learning that there was an audio drama version of it was a wonderful revelation, and listening to it was like experiencing it for the first time all over again. When I listened to it, I set the playback speed to 2x speed. Most of the dialogue played out like a fu...
Andy Weir’s The Martian has been praised for its excellent humor, commitment to hard science, and general well-told story. I don’t read too many survival narratives, because I’m faint of heart and I can only handle so many suspenseful life or death situations. The Martian ’s humor and constant refusal to take itself too seriously helped to temper all of that suspense. However, as much as I enjoyed The Martian' s wit and entertainment value, there was one thing about it that bugged me beyond belief, and that is how this book treated women. The men in this book seem It’s no secret that there is a general lack of women in the STEM field, this is due to many things, but a big reason is the way that women in STEM get treated by their male coworkers. I can only assume that Weir was aiming for realism when he portrayed the men in this novel generally just treating and talking about the women around them in a way that's just generally pretty icky. An example of this is when Teddy and...
1. What is your reaction to the text you just read? I feel unnerved by this story. Being raised as breeding cattle and kept from rebellion with mind-altering eggs but a giant insect race of aliens is kind of a bleak thing to read about or imagine, no matter how unlikely it is. I also felt the sort of powerlessness and oppression that the characters in the story were feeling. In the story there was no mention of escape or revolution, just acknowledgement of the cage and the situation, and anger, but no clear way out but death. 2. What connections did you make with the story? Discuss what elements of the story with which you were able to connect. I was able to connect with multiple aspects of the story. I connected with Lien’s desire not to participate in a society that leads to the oppression of her family and people, and to witness the atrocities being committed by her oppressors, while simultaneously being helpless to stop it. I connected to...
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