Name: Fuzzy Nation
ISBN: 9780765367037

Fuzzy Nation

Jack Holloway works alone, for reasons he doesn't care to talk about. Hundreds of miles from ZaraCorp's headquarters on planet, 178 light-years from the corporation's headquarters on Earth, Jack is content as an independent contractor, prospecting and surveying at his own pace. As for his past, that's not up for discussion. Then, in the wake of an accidental cliff collapse, Jack discovers a seam of unimaginably valuable jewels, to which he manages to lay legal claim just as ZaraCorp is cancelling their contract with him for his part in causing the collapse. Briefly in the catbird seat, legally speaking, Jack pressures ZaraCorp into recognizing his claim, and cuts them in as partners to help extract the wealth. But there's another wrinkle to ZaraCorp's relationship with the planet Zarathustra. Their entire legal right to exploit the verdant Earth-like planet, the basis of the wealth they derive from extracting its resources, is based on being able to certify to the authorities on Earth that Zarathustra is home to no sentient species. Then a small furry biped—trusting, appealing, and ridiculously cute—shows up at Jack's outback home. Followed by its family. As it dawns on Jack that despite their stature, these are people, he begins to suspect that ZaraCorp's claim to a planet's worth of wealth is very flimsy indeed…and that ZaraCorp may stop at nothing to eliminate the "fuzzys" before their existence becomes more widely known.

What Hacker News says

anotherevanJul 2018

Farmer in the Sky by Robert Heinlein [1]

The Complete Robot by Isaac Asimov [2]

The Wrong Unit [3] wasn't a bad little humorous tale.

Pretty much anything by Timothy Zahn (sans Star Wars novelisations) [4] or Robert Sawyer [5] floats my boat.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North [6]

Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard by Lawrence M. Schoen [7] made me care about sentient elephants.

Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi [8] is very funny. Audiobook version narrated by Wil Wheaton.

Of ones already mentioned:

The Bobiverse was surprisingly good (including the audiobook version).

The Expanse is good.

With regards to Dune, there are some like myself who only ever liked the first book in the series. (Also there is a good audiobook version out there.)

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and sequels are great world building and characters, although the plots seem to meander about with not too much purpose.

The Martian is great.

[1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50851.Farmer_in_the_Sky

[2] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50091.The_Complete_Robot

[3] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30959279-the-wrong-unit

[4] https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/12479.Timothy_Zahn

[5] https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/25883.Robert_J_Sawyer

[6] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18295861-the-first-fifte...

[7] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25667916-barsk

[8] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11167622-fuzzy-nation

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rektideJul 2018

Central Station by Lavie Tidhar is an amazing charming story of a world deeply steeped old sitting baking world where new things are coming about. It is charm & delight in the purest & simplest.

Spin by Robert Charles Wilson. "Robert Charles Wilson is a hell of a storyteller," said Stephen King and this wonderful tour through time and space, humanity & people's lives is incredible.

The Quantum Thief series by Hannu Rajaniemi is open, scenic, wild, & so so vivid, one of the most beautiful worlds I've ever visited, & it reminds me so much of a joyous wild swashbuckling run. The mystery of the main character is enchanting.

Infoquake series by David Louis Edelson is a gripping suspenseful rise of a star entrepreneur that redefines and radically expands the world, amid an already boisterous & full & busy beautiful world already overflowing in seamless technology everywhere. Although the plot line whips along with some suspense & tension, the scenery and the voyage is incredible.

Lathe of Heaven by Ursala Le Guin could quite easily, quite simply be the best first contact story story ever. Touching, and sincere, & simple. This world is not bright and shiny but her writing and the bonding of characters is incredible. See also the rest of the Hainish cycle.

Left Hand of Darkness also by Ursala Le Guin is a shifting chaotic shizmatic tale, about picking our fates. "Well, I did it through dreams. Phil would have done it another way. But yeah, homage to Phil [K.] Dick is right." - https://www.wired.com/2012/07/geeks-guide-ursula-k-le-guin/a...

Fallen Dragon is an early & involved Peter Hamilton adventure book. There's leaving home, & space ships, more space ships, bad guys, fighting back the bad guys, bigger ships, and action. There is A LOT going on, all the time, & violence, but damn this book comes together into something incredible, & telling, & powerful & strong, something that easily makes it my top pick for most-underappreciated Peter Hamilton.

Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson, which I'm providing largely as a counterweight to the Snowcrash & Sevenses recommendations here. Diamond Age is much less dark, and way more a fun tail about an incredible & mysterious primer for a young lady.

Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut.

All Systems Red series by Martha Wells is a underprivileged barely coping robot dealing with the humans she hates having to talk to & a shitty planet trying to kill them. Simple, fun, some action & violence, but the main character is a total hoot the whole time with more loner/zero/drop-out attitude & spunk than anything I've read & it's unbelievably charming.

Lords of Light by Roger Zelazny has more style, pizzaz, & spirit than I feel like any of us deserve. An interesting, storied tale from the post-singularity, with a remarkable & robust cast.

Illium/Olympos by Dan Simmons, are, in my mind still the clear winner, far above Hyperion. The cast is charming beyond belief, stumbling through a world they both know all too much about & far far too little. Some really incredible worldbuilding here.

Rainbow's End by Vernor Vinge. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE A Fire Upon the Deep. But Rainbow's End really is our planet, sometime not far out, and Vinge has the most tour of this next place we're headed, with threads, and annotations, and group chat being the defining new technologies of humanity. And the tale of the misfit happenstance adventurers who wind up ensnared in the plot line is a fun, roving hoot of a journey, a wonderful second chance at a coming of age story.

Medusa Chronicles by two of my favorites, Alastair Reynolds & Stephen Baxter is probably my favorite exploring the solar system book, about a guy/robot a bit apart from humanity that really wants to see what the local area has to offer. A lot of high tension conflicting societal impulses that our somewhat aloof lead stumbles through, on his personal mission of exploration. Lots of interesting robot philosophy & very varied elements of space come together with the characters to make an incredibly fun space epic, set in a delightful & intriguing alternative history

Other's recommendations I'd +1: Dune (but super heady material), The Stars My Destination (brimming with class & substance), Mote in God's Eye (some of the best Space Colonial Marines style stuff out there), Accelerando (and Iron Sky and ... overflowing playful scifi), Blue Ant series (dripping with style), Foundation series (and much more Asimov!), Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy (simple direct exciting hunt for treasure in Star Wars), Fuzzy Nation (fun tale)

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sandebertApr 2015

Just a couple of weeks ago I got back into reading books again, and mainly scifi. It feels great to read again!

I loved The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, recommended previously in this thread, and that got me to Old Man's War by John Scalzi. (It might be interesting to note that Ridley Scott has hold the movie rights to this book for many years now. I can't see it really becoming a mainstream movie without cutting out some themes from the book.)

The theme in Old Man's War are sort of the same as The Forever War, but in such a minor way that it didn't bother me even once. Scalzi then turned that book into a series, all very well worth reading (except Sagan's Diary - give that a miss). After his Old Man's War series I read Redshirts (so and so), Agent to the Stars (good read) and now I'm reading Fuzzy Nation, which is shaping up nicely.

In the afterword to Agent to the Stars Scalzi actually recommends other scifi books, and per his recommendation I tried out Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein (of Starship Troopers fame) but that quickly grinded to a halt. Might give it another chance later.

Oh, I also read Haldeman's Camouflage. Seems to be liked by the reviews I find online, but I found it to be a waste of time due to a very weak end chapter.

After this I plan to dive into Rama territory and perhaps Dune also.

Please keep the book recommendations coming, this thread is a goldmine. :)

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OnionBlenderMar 2022

The novel Fuzzy Nation has cameras like that. Regular cameras are basically inadmissible in court.

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OnionBlenderDec 2021

Is it worth the effort? I've picked up snow crash a few times in the past 20 years and found it a hard read. I really want to enjoy it but I find it hard to swallow. I suppose it has been hard because it doesn't take itself seriously. My sci-fi reading history has been:

- several William Gibson novels between 1995-2008 - Most of the ender's game series and home coming from 80's to 2008. - Between 2008 and 2018 I read only 1 novel, which was Ready Player One. - From 2019 to today I've ready 40+ novels: The Expanse, Red Rising, Bobiverse, Planetside, Magic 2.0, Singularity Trap, Vicarious, NPC, Childeren of Time, Project Hail Mary, Fuzzy Nation, Space Between Worlds, The Salvage Crew.

I feel like I've exhausted sci-fi and have been checking out fantasy novels like Riyria. I've been having a hard time finding something new to sink my teeth into. Piranesi was weird but good.

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yetanotheraccDec 2015

Absolutely amazing, changed the way I look at the society, will re-read:

- George Orwell, Keep the Aspidistra Flying

Loved:

- Alastair Reynolds, House of Suns

- Andy Weir, The Martian

- Neal Stephenson, Seveneves

- Greg Egan, Teranesia

Liked:

- Arthur C. Clarke, 3001: The Final Odyssey

- Arthur C. Clarke, 2061: Odyssey Three