157

And what's on your to read shelf?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] what_is_a_name@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Just finished a book from the 1930s by a Czech author Karel Čapek called War with the Newts.

It’s sci-fi based on earth in 1930s but what I found the most interesting is

  1. seeing an author from 1930s write and think on paper (casual racism and sexism, for example),

  2. the echoes of the looming WWII

  3. the retro futurism - I love seeing what people from the past imagined would happen with technology. They are often right, often cutely wrong.

[-] Dmian@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Oh! Never read anything from Čapek. Thanks for bringing him to my attention!

[-] Vuipes@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

TIL: His brother invented the word “robot”, which Karel Čapek used in the book R.U.R.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_%C4%8Capek#Etymology_of_robot

[-] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

John Brunner's 'Stand On Zanzibar' won the Hugo in 969 for its depiction of the early 21st Century. Amazing how much he got right.

this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
157 points (98.8% liked)

Ask Lemmy

27154 readers
1833 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS