Posted by Carlos on March 11, 1999 at 15:34:03:
In Reply to: Methodology posted by Bryce on March 11, 1999 at 14:23:40:
Although not really bored, I did take a look at your page, particularly your list of books (always interesting to see other people's lists).
For your sci-fi/fantasy list, I have a couple recommendations that I would consider essential to any fan of the genre: The two "Thomas Covenant" trilogies by Stephen Donaldson, and the "Hyperion" series by Dan Simmons.
And a question: I note that you've read "Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge" by Wilson. I'm about 2/3 of the way through that book, although I haven't picked it up for a couple weeks - obviously I haven't exactly found it riveting. My objections are two-fold: first, that consilience is patently obvious in many contexts (so why the need to write a book about it); second, in those instances where it's not obvious Wilson seems to be over-reaching to try and prove his point. As a biologist, Wilson time and again seems to define "consilience" in terms of the application of biology to other fields - a necessarily limiting perspective.
That's my mini-critique - I'm curious what you thought of the book.