“You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.” –Antonie de Saint-Exupery Earlier this year, Jo Walton’s The Just City began a fascinating trilogy centered on a thought experiment wrought by the goddess Athena: what if, instead of being only an exercise for Philosophy 101 students, fervently dedicated scholars were given the opportunity to make Plato’s Republic real? […]
This week’s new books specialize in tech-loaded military SF, epic fantasy romance, and a philosophical thought experiment with robots. Which pretty much covers all the bases.
It’s the middle of January. Chances are good that it’s very cold outside. Hole up somewhere warm with one of this week’s most exciting new releases. From a terrifyingly plausible alternate history of World War II, to a fascinating thought experiment that mixes philosophy with robots from the far future, to a potent mix of […]
Most authors are known for a particular kind of book—David Weber? Spacefaring military sci-fi. Alastair Reynolds? Dark and gritty hard SF. Peter F. Hamilton? Dickensian space opera. Then there are authors like Jo Walton, who seems to be able to write whatever kind of book she wants, and write it very well. World War II-era alternate history? […]
In The Just City, the gods are real—the Greek ones, at least (the jury’s still out on Jesus and Buddha). Athena, goddess of wisdom, decides one day to put a grand thought experiment into action: she founds a city, one constructed and operated on the framework laid out by Plato in The Republic. She gathers […]