...is "Pastwatch"
Book recommendation: "Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus," by Orson Scott Card. Sci-fi and historical fiction.
This is my favorite book. Period.
Oh man, where do I even begin. For starters, I think about this book all the time. I read it the first time about a year ago and it pops in to my head more than a lot of other things.
The book is so richly thought-provoking because it me made me ask loads of questions about myself and about the human race. What makes a person truly unique? How much of my character that I think is truly mine is actually just a product of my culture and neighborhood? Why did most of history have to be so terrible? What would the end of the earth really look like? What do I do that really matters, and what do I do that is just filler, or fluff?
What's cool about the book is that it doesn't ask you these questions at all; they just slowly mull over in your mind when you wade through the book's subject matter. Which is INSANE, by the way. K here a just a few snippets of they types of things that occur in the book:
The book centers around changing history and grappling with huge "what-if" questions. Imagining alternate presents by altering some event in the past is what the book does beautifully. If you want waves to take this exact shape, then where exactly do I need to throw the stone? If I want to stop slavery from ever happening, would stopping Christopher Columbus work? Et cetera. Card takes the reader on these logical journeys over and over again and it blows your mind. Plus, Card is unafraid to heavily include religion in his books, and what he does with religion in Pastwatch is put a giant spotlight over it. So much of history and our personal lives are dictated by religion in one way or another, and Card expounds on that. It's extremely interesting, especially reading with a Christian background. Ender's Game is great and all, but this book really takes the cake for me.
Basically I need you to read this book so I can freakin have someone to talk to about it. Literally no one I know has read it and I'm losing my mind
This is my favorite book. Period.
Oh man, where do I even begin. For starters, I think about this book all the time. I read it the first time about a year ago and it pops in to my head more than a lot of other things.
The book is so richly thought-provoking because it me made me ask loads of questions about myself and about the human race. What makes a person truly unique? How much of my character that I think is truly mine is actually just a product of my culture and neighborhood? Why did most of history have to be so terrible? What would the end of the earth really look like? What do I do that really matters, and what do I do that is just filler, or fluff?
What's cool about the book is that it doesn't ask you these questions at all; they just slowly mull over in your mind when you wade through the book's subject matter. Which is INSANE, by the way. K here a just a few snippets of they types of things that occur in the book:
- Discovering the true name of Noah and what the flood was 'actually' like (remember, this is fiction)
- Widespread famine and war wiping out most of the population in the next few centuries
- Using machines to be able to observe exactly what happened in any point in history (remember this is a sci-fi book)
- Someone viewing the lives of all her maternal ancestors and viewing their lives backwards: from death to birth, and the logic and perspective it gives to her own life
- Intense discussion and exploration of the subject of racism and slavery by observing the first Spaniards arriving in the America's and the logic they had to enslave everyone
- A swan dive into ancient maya religion and culture surrounding their gods
- What it means to be truly Christian
(I'm being purposefully vague because the entirety of the book is so plot sensitive and I don't want to give anything away.)
The book centers around changing history and grappling with huge "what-if" questions. Imagining alternate presents by altering some event in the past is what the book does beautifully. If you want waves to take this exact shape, then where exactly do I need to throw the stone? If I want to stop slavery from ever happening, would stopping Christopher Columbus work? Et cetera. Card takes the reader on these logical journeys over and over again and it blows your mind. Plus, Card is unafraid to heavily include religion in his books, and what he does with religion in Pastwatch is put a giant spotlight over it. So much of history and our personal lives are dictated by religion in one way or another, and Card expounds on that. It's extremely interesting, especially reading with a Christian background. Ender's Game is great and all, but this book really takes the cake for me.
Basically I need you to read this book so I can freakin have someone to talk to about it. Literally no one I know has read it and I'm losing my mind
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