Guy Barnhart > Recent Status Updates

A lecture series that is verrrrry heavy on Tolkien but Professor Drout does a solid job justifying this approach. I really liked Dr. Drout's science fiction lectures, so while I find the content a bit unexpected and disappointingly, lacks coverage of other genre authors, it is still an engaging and informative course.

Finding myself less engaged with this novel opposed to the first. Feel like it requires a dedicated reading session. Will hopefully set aside some time this week to read a couple hours in a row and hopefully finish. I doubt I will read Book 3 immediately after.

Lecture 5  Advanced World‐Building in Avatar
Lecture 6  Action and Reaction in The Avengers
Lecture 7  Space Travel and 2001: A Space Odyssey
Lecture 8  Interplanetary Travel and The Martian
Lecture 9  Space Battles and Energy Weapons: Star Wars
Lecture 10  Advanced Rocket Systems in Star Trek
Lecture 11  Relativity and Time for the Stars
Lecture 12  Black Holes, Wormholes, and Interstellar

Lecture 1: Science and Fiction! The Wayfarers Series

Lecture 2: Cheating the Science: Protector

Lecture 3: Prediction: From the Earth to the Moon

Lecture 4: World‐Building in The Left Hand of Darkness

I’ve read that Herbert initially wanted to publish Dune and Messiah simultaneously. Coming off a reread where I enjoyed the first book even more the second time around, I plan to think about that storytelling decision with that original publishing context in mind.

Gosh, every time I read Tower of Babylon, I am blown away by Chiang’s prose and storytelling. It’s like something from a dream. If anything, this story has given me cool dreams.

Understand is solid but is really just an homage to the sci-fi trope of the super intelligent human and the consequences.

Looking forward to the other stories in the collection.

“Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic.”

I've been able to listen to three lectures so far - I am enjoying this course and have already discovered some authors I added to my TBR pile:

Lecture 1: Science and Fiction! The Wayfarers Series
Lecture 2: Cheating the Science: Protector
Lecture 3:  Prediction: From the Earth to the Moon

I am so happy I chose to reread this novel. My first time through this book, I still hadn't read much sci-fi, especially the classics of the genre. Now that I have several years of reading sci-fi, both modern and classic, I can really appreciate how far ahead Herbert was compared to his peers when this was first published. In fact, going back after having read Messiah, I recognize how good this is in comparison.

Rereading before part II of the Villeneuve film adaptation is released. Plan to re-read Messiah and then finish the mainline series this year.

Covered these lectures on Sunday:

Lecture XI - From Mars to Arrakis: The Planet in Sci-Fi
Lecture XII - The Science Fiction Wasteland
Lecture XIII - Invasions, Space Wars, and Xenocide
Lecture XIV - Religion in Science Fiction
Lecture XV - Science Fiction’s New Wave
Lecture XVI - Encounters with the Alien Other
Lecture XVII - Environmentalism in Sci-Fi
Lecture XVIII - Gender and Feminism in Science Fiction

Was able to listen to quite a few lectures today.

Lecture VI - The Rise of the Science Fiction Pulps
Lecture VII - The Golden Age of Science Fiction Stories
Lecture VIII - The Spaceship as a Science Fiction Icon
Lecture IX - The Robot: From Čapek to Asimov
Lecture X - The Golden Age of the Sci-Fi Novel

So far this has been a fantastic series of lectures. Here are the titles of the ones I’ve listened to so far:

Lecture I - Mary Shelley and the Birth of Science Fiction
Lecture II - Science Fiction in the 19th Century
Lecture III - Science Fiction Treatments of History
Lecture IV - Evolution and Deep Time in Science Fiction
Lecture V - Utopian Dreams and Dystopian Nightmares

Typical John McWhorter fare. A lot of repetition from his longer lecture series but still some interesting tidbits and he’s a pleasure to listen to. Moving through this one slowly.