Blindsight

De: Peter Watts

Narrado por: T. Ryder Smith

Set in 2082, Peter Watts' Blindsight is fast-moving, hard SF that pulls readers into a futuristic world where a mind-bending alien encounter is about to unfold.

After the Firefall, all eyes are locked heavenward as a team of specialists aboard the self-piloted spaceship Theseus hurtles outbound to intercept an unknown intelligence.

©2006 Peter Watts (P)2008 Recorded Books LLC

First weird contact

I like weird !!! But this might be too weird in the unexplained areas. A big idea/question in this story is the difference between sentience and intelligence, also predators, also time, how we deceive ourselves.This just also had a lot of missing transitions in the story line, which made it for me depressingly and prohibitively hard to figure stuff out. I guess that is why some reviewers said that they listened to it twice. Yes, there is tension to find out who survives to the end, or when and how they'll get to really communicate deeply and interestingly with the alien(s)(?) It did well in conveying a sense of futility and lonely mess that really not makes me want to buy another book in this universe for now. There is already too much depressing, bewildering, unexplained ugliness and violence in my world . Since the book did not reward me with many insights( I might be too uneducated in the areas of biology and other areas some people really find brilliant & interesting in this tale, according to their reviews), nor interesting or beautiful descriptions of any kind, I am not very motivated to read more of this author's universe right now . I would like to find out more about what the hinted on future holds; but it is really left open ended. If you're going to get this; I think the odds are 60:40 wether you'd like it (40 % on that you might like it)

Philosophical Treatise packed in great story

An excellent story that goes deeply into the science, philosophy and evolution of consciousness. Listen once for the story, then a second time for deeper absorption of the concepts.

Tries to do too much

This book has no focus and just goes down rabbit holes of random aspects of a potential future society. The reader is not great at having separate voices for each character and often falls back to his normal voice mid sentence

What's so great about people?

Where does Blindsight rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top 5

Who was your favorite character and why?

Siri Keeton because I can relate to him (sort of). He's an outcast even among outcasts. I also enjoy the very mechanical way in which he views people. I understand that, though Siri , due to his radical hemispherectomy takes it to the nth degree.

Which scene was your favorite?

When the characters start to question the importance of sentience. Sent chills down my spine.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes. It made me think. Hard. I was brooding all day after this one. It put my brain to work as I tried to sort out my feelings on it. What am I? Am I meaningless? Could my intelligence survive without my consciousness?

It really made me think.

Any additional comments?

There are so many ideas batted around in this story that it will be worth a second, third, and even fourth read.

mind-blowing

this book changed how I perceive my reality, and I'm thankful for it. love is the answer

Very fun book. Requires some vocabulary

As a mathematician and historian, I found this a great listen. The narrator has the perfect voice and style for this book. Like all sci-fi, science progress sometimes diverts the main themes a bit, but if you liked Jurassic Park and futuristic notions of computing, this will be your cup of tea. The average reader may find a dictionary of some use but diving in will probably be okay if you stick with it. Fun.

really cool premise

amazing book and would recommend my only issue was that the action scenes weren't very clear so I got confused in some situations about what was going on

Ideas and ideas & a space vampire

The author had some top notch world building: believable space vampires, unique and fascinating alien first contact, cyborgs, it goes on and amazingly all fits nicely together. Usually that would be an end in itself but this guy clearly did all that purely to allow him to explore ideas themselves- this is what Sci Fi is for

A favorite

An outstanding story. My audible library is getting pretty large and this is the only title I have ever listened to more than once. Performance is good too - the vampire sounds every bit as creepy as he is written. Lots of first contact stories out there but not many are about contact with something so alien - highly recommended.

The Hardest Science Fiction

Very thought provoking.
It has a alot to say about what it means to be human.
Not a story for the faint of heart.