Last Blog

I’m just going to talk about my overall impression of the class. I thought it was a great class (with the exception of blogging twice a week and that huge paper I have yet to write). Honestly, I have never been able to read such enjoyable books for class (with the exception of the other Jackson class I took because we got to read The Tipping Point and how statistics lie). But, having a class where I could read Ender’s Game…it doesn’t get any better than that! So I will admit that before I took this class I was merely a dabbler in scifi (I still cannot compare my knowledge to the majority of the people in our class…I actually went to see The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy the other day in the movie theater and was one of three of a group of about fifteen people that did not bring a towel, so apparently I have not been fully converted to nerd-dom yet). The point is, now I have moved beyond a superficial understanding of science fiction to a much deeper understanding and appreciation of it (though I still don’t understand what’s so great about Dune).

In terms of the books we read, Orson Scott Card’s books still remain my favorite. I did, however, become acquainted with some other excellent scifi authors, Isaac Asimov, for one. After reading his Foundation trilogy (which I think should be part of the curriculum by the way, at least the first book) and The Gods Themselves, I can truly claim to be an Asimov fan. Robert Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress was amazing (apparently because it is pre-Heinlein’s turning every book into a giant sex triangle). The Professor’s blueprint for structuring a revolution was interesting, especially in how it involved Mike (I think I will have to keep it in mind for when I plan to start a revolution of my own to take over the world). I really liked the character of Mike (I even named a computer in our office “Mike” because it was petulant, but then it started causing serious problems…), especially as the issue of superhuman computers and artificial intelligence is prevalent in scifi, including other books we read such as He, She, and It. Speaking of He, She, and It, that was a fantastic book. I had to appreciate the fact that the protagonist was female, especially after our previous discussions on the lack of females in scifi. Finally, I have to point out my look of Todorov. I truly enjoyed his perspective on the American conquest, maybe because I like to sympathize with the oppressed and not the conquerors, or maybe because of its incredible similarity to Speaker for the Dead. I actually think we should read Pastwatch, as well, to compliment Speaker and Todorov.

One last point…the discussions. Having a class with uncensored discussions where anything goes was amazing for two reasons. One, because we could engage in unrestricted speculation and hypothesizing about different political situations without worrying about whether our thoughts were too extreme or outlandish to be considered, and even discussed. And two, because I got to engage in endless rants about Bush and other things that I disagree with or that just plain piss me off (and taking this point in light of the fact that most of my school career I have been the nerd who raises my hand to answer questions with academic references to the textbook or some reading instead of my own personal opinions, I enjoyed being dissenting and a big radical for once). All in all, I thought the class was fantastic and I really enjoyed it.