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A book recommendation from Google Bard (self.sciencefiction)
submitted 11 months ago by AFKBRBChocolate to c/sciencefiction
38 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I was playing with Bard last night and gave it a list of books I've read and enjoyed recently, and asked it to recommend other books I might enjoy.

Here's my prompt

The following are the title and author of books that I read and enjoyed recently. Can you recommend other books I might enjoy?

  • Project Hail Mary, Weir
  • Fall, Stephenson
  • The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Gaiman
  • A Memory Called Empire, Martine
  • A Desolation Called Peace, Martine
  • Murderbot Diaries books, Wells
  • The Kingston Cycle trilogy, Polk
  • Ancillary Justice, Leckie
  • Ancillary Sword, Leckie
  • Ancillary Mercy, Leckie
  • Gideon the Ninth, Muir
  • All Clear, Willis
  • Blind Lake, Wilson
  • Nettle and Bone, Kingfisher
  • The Graveyard Book, Gaiman
  • Saturn’s Children, Stross
  • The Anomaly, Le Tellier
  • The Daughter of Dr. Moreau, Moreno-Garcia

Bard response

Based on your reading history, I can recommend several books you might enjoy:

Science Fiction:

  • The Martian by Andy Weir: If you enjoyed Project Hail Mary, you'll likely appreciate Weir's other work. The Martian is a gripping story of an astronaut stranded on Mars and his fight for survival.
  • Seveneves by Neal Stephenson: Like Fall, Seveneves explores a near-future disaster scenario where the moon is destroyed and its fragments threaten to destroy Earth.
  • The Bobiverse series by Dennis E. Taylor: This humorous series follows the adventures of Bob Johansson, whose brain is uploaded into a computer and who then travels the galaxy aboard a self-aware spaceship.
  • The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu: This award-winning Chinese science fiction novel tells the story of first contact between humanity and an alien civilization.
  • The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells: If you enjoyed the Murderbot Diaries, you may also like Wells' Raksura series, which features shapeshifting creatures and political intrigue.

Fantasy:

  • The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch: Like The Ocean at the End of the Lane, this book features a magical setting and a cast of memorable characters.
  • The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin: This award-winning trilogy explores themes of race, gender, and power in a post-apocalyptic world.
  • The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater: This YA series follows a group of teenagers who discover they have magical powers.
  • The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss: This epic fantasy series tells the story of Kvothe, a legendary musician and adventurer.

Other:

  • The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson: This timely novel explores the challenges of climate change and offers solutions for a more sustainable future.
  • Exit West by Mohsin Hamid: This magical realist novel follows the story of a young couple who are forced to flee their war-torn country.
  • Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders: This experimental novel tells the story of Abraham Lincoln's grief over the death of his son.
  • The Overstory by Richard Powers: This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel explores the interconnectedness of all living things.

In addition to these specific recommendations, I can also suggest some general tips for finding books you might enjoy:

  • Read reviews and recommendations: Look for books that have been praised by critics and readers with similar taste to yours.
  • Explore different genres: Don't be afraid to step outside your comfort zone and try something new.
  • Ask for help: Librarians and booksellers can be a great resource for finding new books to read.
  • Join a book club: This is a great way to discuss books with other readers and get recommendations for new titles.

I hope this helps!

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[–] AFKBRBChocolate 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Post was already long, so didn't want to editorialize there, but worth mentioning that I'd read The Martian and Seveneves earlier and really liked both of them. I read The Three Body Problem a week or two ago and didn't love it, but I can get why it was on the list; it's the sort of thing I might like, but parts of it just seemed too unrealistic to me.

Most of the others I hadn't heard of, so maybe I'll give them a try.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Keep in mind these things don’t really know anything. They’re good at saying things that seem to fit the situation because that’s how they’re trained. They are like that person you may know that thinks he knows everything and will just say stuff that sounds right to them. The only difference is the ai is a lot more practiced than the human. Google’s llm may have some filtering done on the output to at least make sure that all of the books it recommends are real though it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s a fake one in the list somewhere. These things are prone to “hallucinations” which some lawyers found out the hard way.

[–] AFKBRBChocolate 3 points 11 months ago

Oh, I'm well aware of what they are and what they're not. My guess is that at least a large part of these recommendations comes from the myriad discussions about these books that the LLM was trained on.

I'm a software engineering manager and I've let my folks know that they should not ever use code that was generated by one - it can look pretty good but it's harder to catch a bug in code that you didn't right and looks reasonable.

But there's not much risk in using one for something like book recommendations.

[–] JimmyMcGill 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

As someone that absolutely love the Hail Mary, as well as the Martian and literally just finished the teixcalaan duology (and quite liked it) is there anything else that you recommend? That way I don’t have to ask Bard.

What I really love about Weir’s books is that he goes quite deep into the engineering and math of his story, and as an engineer that is right up my alley. But I also enjoy good world building and politics.

In my shelf I have:

  • The three body problem
  • Children of time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
  • Contact by Carl Sagan
  • Neuronancer by William Gibson (and the sequel)
  • Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

Since I have those I will read one of them next but if you have other recommendations outside of these let me know :)

[–] AFKBRBChocolate 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Hmmm, well, I'd put the two Weir books and the Teixcalaan books in different categories, but I liked all of those as well.

I'm guessing you'd very much like the Imperial Radch series by Ann Leckie, the first of which is Ancillary Justice. You should for sure give it a try.

Of the books you have on your shelf, I've read them all except children of time. I didn't really care for 3 body, but it was very popular. All the others are all top notch and among my favorite books. Like Wier, Kim Stanley Robinson is a hard SF author (that is, his science is well anchored). His Mars series has lots of characters and politics, but also good science. Necromancer is on my short list of all time favorite books - one of the first cyberpunk novels. Really, all of those are excellent.

You would probably also like the series that The Expanse show on Prime was based on - the first is called Leviathan Wakes. I'm reading that one now, almost done with it, and I think it would check your boxes. Very well anchored science with three dimensional characters - really good.

I don't want to oversaturate, so I'll stop there, but if those recommendations work out for you and you're looking for more, let me know!

[–] JimmyMcGill 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Thanks a lot for your comment!!

Yes I understand that the Weir books and Teixcalaan duology are not that similar :)

I’ll keep that one on my list once I go on another shopping spree. Thanks for the recommendation. I’ve seen all of the expanse and really like it but because I’ve seen it I’m not too keen on reading the books. Even though I’m aware that there are differences.

Regarding the ones I had, yesterday I read more and yea 3 Body Problem seems like I’ll leave it aside for now.

I’m currently debating between the Mars Series or the Cyberpunk. I guess the question is if I want hard SF like you mentioned or not. There was this Mars TV show that I watched a few years ago and I really liked it so maybe there’s that, but I watched Cyberpunk EdgeRunners on Netflix and also liked it and made me want to try the game again. So it’s a hard call.

The Mars series seems quite beefy (in terms of size/pages) while Necromancer is like half the size. Would you say however that the Mars series is an “easy read”? What about Necromancer etc? What I mean by this is that the Weir books are quite easy to go through, especially PHM which both me and my gf devoured. Not only is the story more linear (not necessarily a thing I want it’s just a reason) but it’s also more simple language? The first Teixcalaan book was very interesting but at some point I was a bit lost with all the names and hidden plots.

As you can see I also like to write testaments in comments so no need to refrain. I will take any info/feedback that you want to share :)

[–] AFKBRBChocolate 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

Neuromancer is going to be the faster read of those for sure - if it were me, I'd probably do that one first.

Looking forward to hearing what you think of them!

Edit: autocorrect keeps turning "Neuromancer" into "Necromancer."

[–] JimmyMcGill 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Merry Christmas!!! In the end I had to choose one quickly before I went home for the holidays so I quickly read one page or so from these two and decided to go with Red Mars.

I’m now about 100 pages in and while I’m not in love with it, it is definitely intriguing. The writing style is very sober and not embellished almost at all. He does also go on quite a bit about random stuff from time to time but it’s quite clear that he put a lot of thought into so many things so I’m curious to see how it will pan out. The book is also rather long so I feel ( and in a way hope) that it will pick up a bit more and soon.

[–] AFKBRBChocolate 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, the story is really three long books so you can forgive some long setup. KSR never seems to be in a hurry, but his stuff is well thought out.

Let me know how you liked it when you're done.

[–] JimmyMcGill 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Hey!! I’m done with Red Mars

If you are still around I can add some of my thoughts.

The TL:DR is that I like it enough to read through the first one but not enough to buy/read the second and third books (at least for now).

Will probably read Contact by Sagan next.

[–] AFKBRBChocolate 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I'm still around. Was it the giant cast of characters or politics that put you off? It's been a long time, but I read through the series.

Contact is a wonderful book. Also been many years since I read it.

[–] JimmyMcGill 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

At work atm so I’ll keep it succinct but definitely the giant cast of mostly uninteresting characters. The politics were actually quite ok but I usually like that sort of things.

Also sometimes he goes on these long paragraphs were he describes all the driving instructions in mars and expecting the reader to have lived on Mars for 10 years as well XD

He also gave as much emphasis to a teenager-like love drama as to a global scale terrorism operation which is, let’s say interesting

[–] AFKBRBChocolate 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

KSM is definitely detail oriented. I sometimes think that's just part of hard SF: they want to make sure everything is explained, and it doesn't stop at the science.

I like those books, but I get that they aren't for everyone. Contact is different, as is neuromancer.

[–] JimmyMcGill 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Hey!!

Contact is read!!

I really liked it. In a story about ET contact, the focus is basically almost 100% on humans but I actually liked the approach. Halfway there were some chapters where it went on some tangents and it seemed weird filler but by the end it all wrapped up rather nicely.

It was also a much easier read, having taken like 1/10 of the time Red Mars took me.

I’ll probably read Neuromancer next, even if my gf found it a hard read.

[–] AFKBRBChocolate 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Great, I'm glad you liked it. I hope you like neuromancer, it's one of my favorites. Stay away from the audiobook read by Gibson though, it's awful.

[–] JimmyMcGill 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Noted

I don’t really listen to audiobooks but it’s always good to know.

Also what’s your opinion on the rest of the trilogy that neuromancer is part of? I have the second book as well as my gf bought it but she didn’t have the courage/will to actually read it after neuromancer. Just curious

And yes I’ll let you know how it goes :)

We got our own book club in this thread haha (at least what I read)

[–] AFKBRBChocolate 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I've read them all, but Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive I haven't read since the late 80s, so I don't remember them well. Broadly, I think they were all worth reading. Count Zero was nominated for all the big SF awards, but I didn't think Mona Lisa was as well received. I'm not sure I could even tell you the plots of them other than the second book has a lot about AIs, and the last one about online identities or something.

[–] JimmyMcGill 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I see

Thanks anyway for the input

I realize now that you probably have like twice my age and I’m very much an adult. Which is pretty cool, don’t get me wrong :)

[–] AFKBRBChocolate 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, in in my 60s, so old. When I was in my mid 20s, I was in a bad marriage and needed some escapism. One of my coworkers was a reviewer for Locus Magazine, which is a major SF publication. I asked him for recommendations, so he went with me to the bookstore and said "Try that one, that one, to and that one." One of those first was Neuromancer. I chewed through them, and it became a routine to go to the bookstore with him.

I eventually got divorced, and didn't need the escapism anymore. My reading went way down, maybe a few books a year. Now I'm heading towards retirement and I've been reading more than ever.

More detail than you wanted.

[–] JimmyMcGill 2 points 2 months ago

It’s all good share how much you want.

That sounds like a cool friend. Thank you for your recommendations as well :)

[–] JimmyMcGill 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Neuromancer read!

Already started Count Zero and also started playing Cyberpunk 2077 on PC

Overall it’s a pretty cool book and considering it was written like 50 years ago he got a lot of shit right

The beginning was rough not because the story isn’t interesting but because he starts at 100 and takes almost no time to explain the world. Also I’m not a native English speaker but I usually don’t don’t issues with reading novels in English (haven’t read one in my native language in more than a decade probably) but his writing style was super hard to follow. He jumps a lot and it was many times difficult to know who said what. Definitely had to keep myself fully focused most of the time. Overall pretty cool book. Super imaginative world

[–] AFKBRBChocolate 1 points 2 weeks ago

Glad you enjoyed it, it's one of my favorites.

I'm not sure if there's a name for it, but there's a style of story telling (not exclusive to SF) where the writer jumps right into the universe they've created without any explanation, and it's impossible to fully understand everything at first. My wife is always a bit frustrated by those, even when she ultimately enjoys the book.

Your written English is great, especially if it's not your first language. Did you start very young?

So what are you planning to read next?

[–] JimmyMcGill 2 points 10 months ago

Thanks again for the input. I will probably read a few pages of those two and see what I feel like reading the most.

I’ll try to remember to let you know in the future :)

Have a great weekend

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I love James P. Hogan's early work, especially Thrice Upon a Time and the original Giant's Star trilogy had some really interesting ideas. I fell out of him eventually, and found out after he died that he became a contrarian in his later years. But I'd suggest TUaT and the original Giant's Star trilogy.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

@athos77 @AFKBRBChocolate @JimmyMcGill the Giant’s Star trilogy was pretty terrific. One of the great space archaeology series.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Solid recommendations. I would add Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series by Tad Williams.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Interestingly, the recommendations are almost all stuff I have read, and are what I see the algorithms at Likewise generate as recommendations there for people with similar tastes to mine.

[–] AFKBRBChocolate 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Well, it's likely generating recommendations based on other web content that has recommendations, so maybe that's to be expected.

If you have a list of stuff you've read and enjoyed, maybe it's worth trying the same thing. I only started writing down the books I've been reading this past spring, so I just took that list and deleted the ones I didn't really like.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Here’s what I got:

Odyssie One series, Evan Currie The Bobiverse series, Dennis E. Taylor The Quantum Earth series, Dennis e. Taylor The Murderbot diaries series, Martha wells More better deals, Joe R. Lansdale Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir The Black Fleet trilogy, Joshua Dalzelle The rise and fall of d.o.d.o., Neil Stephenson Federation trilogy, Tony Harmsworth The Razorland trilogy, Ann Aguirre

Recommendations based on your favorite books: Space Opera:

  • The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey: A sprawling space opera with a rich world-building, strong characters, and political intrigue. Similar to Odyssey One, Bobiverse, and The Black Fleet Trilogy.
  • The Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey: The first book in the Expanse series. A detective story set in a solar system divided by political tension.
  • A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge: A classic space opera with complex themes and a large cast of characters.
  • The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle: Another classic with interesting aliens and galactic politics. LitRPG/Sci-Fi Humor:
  • Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman: A hilarious, action-packed LitRPG with a unique premise. Similar to Bobiverse and Murderbot Diaries.
  • The Gam3 by Cosimo Yap: A LitRPG series with a strong focus on character development and world-building.
  • Ready Player One by Ernest Cline: A fun and nostalgic read about a virtual reality game. Hard Sci-Fi:
  • Seveneves by Neal Stephenson: A realistic and thought-provoking novel about the aftermath of a moon-shattering event. Similar to Project Hail Mary and The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.
  • The Martian by Andy Weir: An engrossing survival story about an astronaut stranded on Mars.
  • Artemis by Andy Weir: Another great read from Andy Weir, this time set on the moon. Military Sci-Fi:
  • Old Man's War by John Scalzi: A fast-paced and action-packed military sci-fi series. Similar to Federation Trilogy and Razorland Trilogy.
  • The Lost Fleet by Jack Campbell: A series about a rediscovered fleet of ships fighting against an overwhelming enemy.
  • Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein: A classic military sci-fi novel with a focus on social commentary. Crime/Mystery:
  • The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury: A collection of short stories set on Mars, some of which are crime/mystery. Similar to Project Hail Mary.
  • The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein: A classic sci-fi novel with a strong political and social message, also includes some crime/mystery elements.
  • The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells: A series of novellas about a robot that hacks its own governor and becomes a freelance detective. Other:
  • The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers: A heartwarming and optimistic space opera about a crew of misfits traveling around the galaxy.
  • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams: A hilarious and absurd sci-fi comedy.
  • The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu: A thought-provoking and mind-bending Chinese sci-fi novel.
[–] AFKBRBChocolate 1 points 11 months ago

Most of the ones of those I've read are all top notch excellent. Those are:

  • A Fire Upon the Deep
  • The Mote in God’s Eye
  • Seveneves
  • The Martian
  • The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
  • The Murderbot Diaries
  • The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

I quite enjoyed Ready Player One, but I'm totally the target audience, having spent a lot of time in arcades before personal computers in the 70s, and then getting into computers in the 80s. I'm not sure it's a great book, but it was fun nostalgia.

I also read The Three Body Problem, but I didn't like it a lot. It just seemed too unrealistic for me to get absorbed into.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Ministry for the Future and Overstory are both great, I read them this fall.