Science Fiction Writing Series

[Magnetar]

I recently became aware of this series, consisting of four books:

World Building by Stephen Gillett (which I ordered and am reading)

Aliens and Alien Societies by Stanley Schmidt (which I'm considering ordering)

Space Travel by Ben Bova

Time Travel by Paul Nahin

My question, and the purpose of his thread, is to ask if anyone here has read any of these and what they thought? I'm particularly interested in opinions on the second book I list, since I'm considering ordering it next.

These books came out in 1996, so I'm sure some of their information is now out of date, considering the new things we have learned in the last 13 years about astronomy, but I think they're probably still useful.

[Noclevername]

There are so many free online sources about worldbuilding, etc. that paying good money for books about those subjects is slightly puzzing. Many, many RPG, scifi and fantasy sites and blogs contain all sorts of how-to and comments from experts and talented amateurs.

[AsimovIsaac]

sound intersting ....nice post tnx to share..

[Solfe]

I seem to recall Harlan's World, which was a shared universe from the eighties.

/smirk mode on.
Sharing was big a counter culture thing in the 1980's just like the information super highway of the 90's and adding twenty to front of the dates in the twenty-ohs-somethings.

/smirk mode off.

[mike alexander]

Medea: Harlan's World.

With stories by such slackers as Jack Williamson, Larry Niven, Fred Pohl, Hal Clement, Tom Disch, Frank Herbert, Poul Anderson, Kate Wilhelm, Ted Sturgeon and Robert Silverberg.

How ancient. How not-with-it.

[Solfe]

Medea: Harlan's World.

With stories by such slackers as Jack Williamson, Larry Niven, Fred Pohl, Hal Clement, Tom Disch, Frank Herbert, Poul Anderson, Kate Wilhelm, Ted Sturgeon and Robert Silverberg.

How ancient. How not-with-it.

I liked it.

For the OP how about wikinovel?

[nithska]

I have and have read Space Travel. I thought it was good and a worthwhile read, though a lot of the information could now be found online. I also disagree with some of the author's positions, such as that on terraforming. He basically states that terraforming is a bad idea (if you want an earth-like environment, stay on earth or do it in an orbital). It seemed over-generalized to me.

Recommended despite criticisms.

BB

[Noclevername]

He basically states that terraforming is a bad idea (if you want an earth-like environment, stay on earth or do it in an orbital). It seemed over-generalized to me.

Hmmm. Seems the main flaw in this line of thinking is that a space station limits the size and diversity of your ecosystem. While space structures can in theory be made very big, it'll take an awfully long time before they can match the scale and complexity of a whole planet's potential biosystem, if it's even possible in practice.

Better to do both-- have planetary and space-based life systems. More redundant, more diverse, and able to survive a wider range of potential problems.

And of course, staying on Earth only works if nothing happens to Earth.

[EDG]

(bit of a bump, sorry - just noticed this).

I've got the Worldbuilding book, and I think it's worth its weight in gold as a worldbuilding resource. Sure, nowadays similar stuff is online (I found that an odd comment. I guess we should all stop buying science books because it's all online too?), but it's worth getting just to have it all in one place.

Other decent books to look for are "How to build a habitable planet" by Wallace Broecker, and "What if the Moon Didn't Exist?" by Neil F. Comins (skip the sequel though, it's nowhere near as good). Both are good resources for worldbuilding!

[Noclevername]

(I found that an odd comment. I guess we should all stop buying science books because it's all online too?)

The trouble is when it comes to science it's not all online, at least not yet. Getting printed books on a subject can be invaluable if the books convey information that isn't available electronically: I own a Kindle but still buy books because not all the things I like are available for electronic transfer. But in the case of worldbuilding, I don't believe that to be the case-- the internet has a glut of worldbuilding data.

[EDG]

But in the case of worldbuilding, I don't believe that to be the case-- the internet has a glut of worldbuilding data.

The internet has a glut of science data too. I don't think it's really about "conveying information that isn't available electronically" at all - I think the point of having it in book form is that the wheat can be separated from the chaff by the author and that information (and new information) can be presented and condensed into one easily-referenced source.

[Noclevername]

The internet has a glut of science data too. I don't think it's really about "conveying information that isn't available electronically" at all - I think the point of having it in book form is that the wheat can be separated from the chaff by the author and that information (and new information) can be presented and condensed into one easily-referenced source.

I don't know, I've seen some pretty chaffy books.

[Solfe]

(bit of a bump, sorry - just noticed this).
Other decent books to look for are "How to build a habitable planet" by Wallace Broecker, and "What if the Moon Didn't Exist?" by Neil F. Comins (skip the sequel though, it's nowhere near as good). Both are good resources for worldbuilding!

This is a textbook? How cool! The used prices are very reasonable and my ordering fingers are itching.

As for science books being online, I find that the paper book form is more "digestible". Perhaps if I had a Kindle or something I would feel differently, but I think an authors "character and style" comes through better on the written page.

Now science data on the web is far better than book form, but that is data in the raw and is not really fun reading. It can be a huge time saver for school papers, research and such.