Book meme

[compilerbitch]

Stolen from livredor's page:

1) What is your favourite book?

Against a Dark Background, Iain M. Banks. The one that isn't a culture novel. (Not that I don't like the Culture series, far from it, it's just that I think that this particular book is outstanding).

2) What is the book that has most affected/changed you?

A book on FORTRAN I borrowed from the local library, age 5 or so.

3) Your favourite character from a novel?

W

It is the widest. :-)

Or, being more serious and a little less typographical, probably Sharrow, the lead character in Against a Dark Background. I think I identify with her ability to do the right thing and yet lead everyone and everything around her to ultimate doom.

4) The best villain from a novel?

The Shrander, from Light by John Harrisson. (OK, I know the Shrander isn't necessarily a villain, but still... I don't tend to go for villains typically. The noocytes from Blood Music by Greg Bear would probably be the closest thing to a villain I'd typically go for).

5) What was the last book you read?

The new Harry Potter.

6) What are you reading now?

A couple of books on VHDL, and a book on Verilog.

7) What was the last non-fiction book you read?

Probably part of ML for the Working Programmer, Larry Paulson, sitting on the loo on Sunday morning!

Comments

[liv]

You know, I really didn't mean to start a meme... more than a third of my friends list seem to have answered these questions now! It's amazing how irresistable a series of questions is to the journalling world.

But anyway, these are cool and interesting. Can you explain to a non-techie why FORTRAN (or was it just programming in general?)

I'm really intrigued that you picked the noocytes from Blood Music as a villain. I can see why, but I think I was mainly on their side. I think I read them much more as a problematic hero than a villain.

Re:

[compilerbitch.livejournal.com]

Can you explain to a non-techie why FORTRAN (or was it just programming in general?)

More programming in general, really. I honestly don't know if that really was the pivotal moment that got me hooked on programming, but it is certainly the earliest memory I have of it.

I was (and still am) hooked on the idea that certain kinds of machine, when given very explicit instructions, can be made to go off and do very complex things. I suppose this probably sounds like so much yawn these days, but it's worth pointing out that when I was 5, it was roughly 1972. Computers were, emphatically, not something that the average person knew anything about, or even spent much time considering.

I am amazed, from a thiry-years-later standpoint, that you can stop nearly anyone in the street (especially if they are 25 or younger) and have them give you a vaguely plausible explanation for what an IP address is. This is a BIG change! People are starting to forget what it was like before the Internet, and it's only really been mainstream for a decade now.

I'm really intrigued that you picked the noocytes from Blood Music as a villain. I can see why, but I think I was mainly on their side. I think I read them much more as a problematic hero than a villain.

I think the best villains are problematic heroes. Full-on, arch nemesis/destroy the world characters just aren't believable for me, even if they might make for good Hollywood shoot-em-up movie script fodder.

A 'pure' villain should act only out of a sense of doing evil. They should be entirely murderous, entirely selfish, entirely antagonistic. But real villains aren't like that -- someone can murder 20 people, but be kind to animals.

The kind of villains I can believe in have their own self-consistent agendas. They aren't 'bad' people in the simplistic sense. They are just doing what they define as the right thing, albeit to a definition that is at odds with that of society as a whole. It is easy to paint a picture of such a person as being purely evil, simply by being selective in reporting their actions.

If I look at my taste in horror (both written and in film), I tend to like villains I can identify with, at least theoretically. A zombie (Mmmm... brains.... must.... eat... flesh... etc.) is really only acting out his or her agenda. Eating people is a consequence of this, but the zombie isn't specifically trying to make them feel bad. I saw the movie 'My little eye' recently. Whilst not perfect, it is a great Big Brother antidote. I really wanted the (annoying, self-obsessed, greedy) good guys to get wiped out. They did. Of course. It was that kind of movie.

But, no supervillians. No Joker. No Moriarty.

Re:

[compilerbitch.livejournal.com]

Also, going back to my example of the Shrander from Light. The Shrander is, most certainly, not a villain, but is misinterpreted as one, causing the person who makes that mistake to truly become a villain himself, by any conventional definition of the word. That book is to be recommended, by the way -- definitely one of the best SF novels I've ever read. Harrison isn't that well known, but this book is as good as anything I've seen by the accepted greats.