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Reading Globally : One more 'round the world - eairo reads from Helsinki to Helsinki		168	eairo, Saturday 9:29am
Mini-Challenge: 6 Degrees of Separation : eairo's six movements		5	eairo, November 9
The Green Dragon : October 2009 stuff bought		68	katylit, November 1
Science! : We are in a simulation		22	Arten60, October 28
1010 Category Challenge : avatiakh's 1010 challenge		25	wandering_star, October 26
Book talk : Stuck on Alastair Reynolds		17	omaca, September 7
Science Fiction Fans : Top 100 Sci Fi Recommendations for New Readers of the Genre: Post Your List		362	RobertDay, August 17
50-Something Library Thingers : What books did you read that were highlights for 2008?		36	donitamblyn, July 16
Folio Society devotees : For those of us who like Sci-Fi/Fantasy		32	chase.donaldson, June 14
Literary Snobs : No sacred cows--bad books by good authors		158	GeoffWyss, May 8
Science Fiction Fans : Iain M. Banks Culture Novels		60	Noisy, March 28
Science Fiction Fans : What are you reading? ( February 2009 )		117	bobmcconnaughey, March 11
75 Books Challenge for 2008 : flissp 2008 books		109	flissp, January 9
Science Fiction Fans : Hugo Nominations for 2008		53	LamSon, December 2008
Science Fiction Fans : Favourite & least favourite aliens		30	puddleshark, November 2008
Group Reads - Sci-Fi : Coffeehouse		193	CD1am, September 2008
Science Fiction Fans : What are you reading? Q3 July - Sept 2008		266	CliffBurns, September 2008
Dormant: Science Fiction Fans : What are you reading Q1 '08?		305	rojse, April 2008
Dormant: Science Fiction Fans : What You're Reading In The Genre Q3 07		76	CliffBurns, September 2007
Dormant: Science Fiction Fans : SF Book Group		28	bluetyson, September 2007
Dormant: What did YOU buy today? : What did you buy today (July, 2007)?		91	thioviolight, August 2007
Dormant: Book talk : Memorable First Sentences		76	varielle, July 2007
Dormant: What Are You Reading Now? : What book came into your home today? - June 2007		116	Kell_Smurthwaite, July 2007
Dormant: Recommend Site Improvements : Selecting a specific edition when adding a book		15	jmeisen, April 2007
Dormant: Bug Collectors : Adding in search gives copy in wrong language		10	egyptophile, November 2006
Dormant: What Are You Reading Now? : What You're Reading the Week of 21 Oct 2006		88	warbrideslass, October 2006

... far. I visited Ireland only for one book, but I read Ulysses just before starting this journey. Enough is enough. The Algebraist may seem a bit far fetched in the context of Reading Globally but having read other books by Banks the interstellar adventure in this book wasn't really that ...

ooh boy - I finally picked up a copy of Slaughterhouse 5 yesterday, as well as my first Iain M Banks book - The Algebraist.

... /> 5) Science Fiction I have a shelf full of scifi waiting to be read. 1: Flash Forward by Robert Sawyer 2: The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks 3: Neuromancer by William Gibson 4: 5: 6: 7: 8: 9: 10:

... goes to show you that the old truism, "Different strokes for different folks" is accurate! I have mixed feelings about The Algebraist. To be honest, it is my least favourite Banks book. I felt the Gas Giant creatures were extremely anthropomorphic (just large balloons with human ...

... They certainly deal with quite a few unpleasant characters (but not as bad as the main villain in his non-Culture novel The Algebraist), yet they certainly have very rounded and well described characters. Take Use of Weapons for example. Wonderful characterization.

... is only part of a giant simulation is part of the prevalent religion in one of Iain M Banks's recent novels, The Algebraist. I won't bother mentioning the Matrix films. Silly movies.

... surprise: same author. Will read that when I feel like that. I was thinking of reading a Culture novel instead of The Algebraist but the Algebraist was what I found in the local library first.

... diversion for that one. My first book for this challenge is the one I was reading when I first heard of the 6 Degrees: The Algebraist. I also try to align the two challenges so that the sixth book here will be common for the both of them. And another extra rule for me will be that I ...

The Algebraist finished my stay in the UK---there are a lot of books I should and I'd want to read related to UK but I also feel like moving on. To France, or something like that: my first French book is actually a Finnish novel, Kadonnut Pariisi, The Vanished Paris. What if Paris wasn't? ...

... The good stuff is still good, but the result is less than the sum of its ingredients. And you know that all the way. The Algebraist by Iain M Banks is that meal. There are lots of good things in it. I really admire his imagination, his ability to create societies, cultures and lifeforms, ...

2008 is over already. God, the passage of time sure gets confusing as you get older: The Algebraist, Iain M. Banks Animal Farm, George Orwell How Fiction Works, James Wood Mary Stuart, Friedrich Schiller No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy Reading like a Writer, Francine Pros ...

... Archives - Charles Stross The Dispossessed - Ursula K. Le Guin The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin The Algebraist - Iain M. Banks Welcome Chaos - Kate Wilhelm The Fresco - Sheri S. Tepper Thirteen - Richard K. Morgan Gridlinked - Neal Asher Cowl - Neal Ashe ...

I must admit to liking all Banks' books including The Algebraist and which I liked somewhat better than Feersum Endjinn. I thought Matter was very readable and didn't take that long to get through even though I'm no a fan of doorstoppers. It was certainly more readable than Asher's Brass Man ...

I must admit to liking all Banks' books including The Algebraist and which I liked somewhat better than Feersum Endjinn. I thought Matter was very readable and didn't take that long to get through even though I'm no a fan of doorstoppers. It was certainly more readable than Asher's Brass Man ...

One person's "bloated" is another person's... well, "enjoyably discursive." Or something. I really enjoyed The Algebraist, and was happy to stay on the journey wherever it wandered. With Matter, less so -- it seemed to take an awful long time to get to the escalation of events that you were ...

... distracted by something and he was gone before I could ask what the Culture evidence might be. >22,232,4 I thought the Algebraist wasn't so much bloated as filled with too many disparate elements. It's as though Banks had accumulated several notebooks filled with ideas that he didn't ...

I don't recall Matter feeling bloated - although I certainly had that sense when reading The Algebraist. How it compares to earlier Culture novels... Not sure. some of them I've not read for several years. I really should reread them one of these days.

Matter more bloated than The Algebraist? Hardly.

The Algebraist wasn't a Culture novel, and I thought it very disappointing. His best are, IMHO: Against A Dark Background (not Culture) Use of Weapons The Player of Games Non-sf: The Crow Road Whit The Bridge

My sense of Banks in general is that his books have become much fatter in recent years, and The Algebraist at least could have used some cutting. I think he may have reached that point where an author can say no to editing and get published anyway. That usually results in a decline in quality - ...

The Algebraist is a curate's egg. There is some really good bits in it (the comic sections in particular) but it doesn't really cohere as a whole as well as it should.

No, I didn't think The Algebraist was all that good. Pantomime villain, bad aliens (and Banks doesn't do aliens very well), and an interesting plot thrown away halfway through for a chase sequence. Not his best by a long shot.

Ian - would you say The Algebraist was up to snuff for Banks? It's the only book of his i haven't finished.

... com/ They have a small catalogue (121 books), and though I don't know most of the authors, they have a LE of Iain M. Banks' Algebraist which is a big thumbs-up in my books. P.P.S. And another one: http://charnelhouse.com/ Mostly Dean Koontz, but some other niceties as well; check the photo ...

Heh. Personally, I loved the Dwellers in Banks' The Algebraist. They're delightful. (Well, except maybe for the bit about enslaving and hunting their own young.) Great depths, covered up by a lot of comedy bumbling.

You didn't like Matter? I didn't think it was Banks' best novel, but it was much better than The Algebraist. I found House of Suns disappointing. I've not read Rolling Thunder yet, but I very much doubt it's award-winning material. Same for Going Under.

The Algebraist was disappointing, as were Dead Air, The Business and Song of Stone. I quite liked Matter - it wasn't a full return to form, but it was close to the Banks we know and love. The Crow Road is excellent, and I really enjoyed Whit and Espedair Street. My favourite ...

... he's good, he's amazing (EXCESSION, CONSIDER PHLEBAS) but when he's off the mark...er... I didn't bother with ALGEBRAIST and gave up on MATTER. Our mutual crony Mr. Sales knows Banks better than I do, so I cede the floor to him...

... my shelves when i get home..I find Iain M Banks very up and down..when i like a book of his, i like it a lot, when i don't The Algebraist i can barely get through 50 pages.

As Banks sf novels go, The Algebraist is probably his weakest. So you've got some good stuff to look forward to.

The Algebraist - Iain M. Banks - My first Iain Banks novel, and quite enjoyed it. Several groups are after a document that might reveal the existence of a group of wormholes. Some of the ideas in this were excellent, but I felt it was let down by some formulaic characterisations (a pity when the ...

#10 and #12 If you're going to read Banks, don't start with The Algebraist. It's one of his weakest. #9 I can't think of anything I'd sooner not read than a late Clarke (er, no pun intended). The quality of his books plummetted as he got older and more infirm. 3001 was dreadful. Hyperion ...

Ian Banks, The Algebraist - it's a newish book that i've started several times. I'd like to read it, i think....and if it were a group read i think i'd get through!

... of Banks (Wasp Factory, Player of Games and Against a Dark Background), my husband is a big Banks fan. He thought The Algebraist needed editing and thought it not his best work. He has the latest Matter in his TBR pile. I also tend to read several books at a time, sometimes it ...

... 17) Gustave Flaubert - November: Typically depressing, but the descriptions are so vivid. 18) Iain M Banks - The Algebraist: I've enjoyed his normal fiction, so I thought I'd give his science fiction a go. Hmmm. I borrowed this from the library and have now had to renew it 3 ...

... set up the central dilemma, worked it through... and then we get some final guff involving nanotechnology or something. The Algebraist... He throws in one of his trademark twists in the main character's past, but then never uses it. Instead, it's off to the Dwellers - and Banks has never ...

I just started Matter this morning, and I was very disappointed by The Algebraist.

... quite a bit more sympathetic than you but I appreciate that that may change as I read on. But then again I didn't find The Algebraist as great as you did - good certainly, but not great.

... Matter. In short, wait for the paperback, or maybe the movie. And I say this as a BIG, BIG fan of Banks. I thought The Algebraist was brilliant (and I have a long diatribe somewhere where I deconstruct why it is an anti-Culture novel). Now I am going to lower my IQ a dozen points by ...

Banks's last sf (non-Culture) novel The Algebraist was disappointing. He has a new Culture novel out in a week or two - Matter. It's getting good advance reviews already.

Having finished The Algebraist ('A') I've moved on to Orphans of Chaos.

I just finished up Crossing the Line ('A'). The Algebraist is the next novel in the que.

... ith Ismael by Daniel Quinn recommended on a reading list in another room Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury The Algebraist by Iain Banks. I think I am going SCI FI!!!!! (my credit card is, anyway!!!)

... Richardson; Fortune's Fool by Lackey; Emperor: Time's Tapestry #1 an Alternate History Epic by Stephen Baxter; The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks; and, last but certainly not least in the wonderful pile of books and one I am longing to get into: Never Suck a Dead Man's Hand by ...

... always get the shakes before a drop." - Starship Troopers, by Robert A. Heinlein "I have a story to tell you." - The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks "It started in mud, as many things do." - City of Golden Shadow by Tad Williams

... status in the US: his sf is now in Bantam mm pb. Edited to add: (Though, come to think of it, for his latest (The Algebraist), Banks DID revert to a small press here in the US.)

I'm with ringman, I have read Islands in the Net and The Algebraist as well.

... save-for-later list so that I have an excuse to mooch one of them... *Commitment Hour - James Alan Gardner *The Algebraist - Iain M. Banks Obviously, I haven't read either, but I've gotten favorable recommendations for both.

... and started adding his books into my library. When I checked my library afterwards, I noticed that I had added the German Der Algebraist instead of the English The algebraist; similarly, for one other book I had somehow added the Swedish translation. The reply at http://www.librarything.co ...

I don't know how LT selects which edition to add, but that isn't the explanation. On the book information page for The Algebraist the language is shown as German, although there are 8 copies with the German title and over 400 with the English title.

... Franklin Library edition of Jane Eyre - I didn't think I was meant to enjoy this, being male, but I am ;), and rereading The Algebraist.