What you’re doing here is refusing to suspend your disbelief.

I understand. But just imagine that, for example, Shakespeare is like, "Hmm... Will Romeo fall in love with Juliet? Well, I'll leave everything to chance!" A little strange, as for me.

Like Tarot, the I Ching has a lot to offer, and little of it has to do with telling the future. It's more about looking into the unconscious/subconscious. Just thought I would add that in case you decide to go down that route.
I would highly recommend the Tao Te Ching and I Ching to anyone.

I do, I don’t want to miss anything tbh, and I don’t mind spoilers. Plus, I feel like if I were to write an introduction for a work I’d really want people to read it haha.

I usually skip 😕. I do read intros to short stories-- Neil Gaiman once hid an extra and now I'm in the habit. Plus curated anthologies usually have a good essay at the beginning or helpful background info. And I'll read intros to old af epics because there's good context for translation choice, etc. But novels- I skip bc they generally assume reader is already familiar with the tale and spoilers abound. Sometimes I go back later but usually I forget

>“Good night,” she murmured.

>He did not answer, except to continue to caress her. He did not say good night until she had become supple to his gentle, seductive entreaties.

-Kate Chopin, The Awakening

This passage is a sex scene. Later in the book she describes a woman in labor, and does so in such a circumspect way that I didn't realize she was talking about childbirth until almost an entire chapter later, at which point I had to go back and reread the section.

Unlike Joyce, Chopin otherwise wrote plain and straightforward prose. This is just the standards of the time for discussing taboo topics.

If they're by the author, yes.

I mean, sure, there are more ways to address an issue than have characters pontificate about it, especially if it's a "fact of life" in your setting that's meant to cause values dissonance with the audience. But what bothered me in this particular story involves something that isn't typical (in fact, some characters do view it as an abomination, but they're hypocritical background villains who aren't given any depth) and classic sci-fi novellas (which is essentially what Sanderson wrote, whether he calls it fantasy or not) are all about pontificating over moral issues.

> check out his letters to Nora

Or don't if you want to save yourself the trauma.

> (and I'm sorry you're getting downvoted for it).

That stuff doesn't matter, plenty of fake internet points to go around.

>But I feel that some things cry out to be addressed if they're included

Again do they need to be to tell a good story, and specifically the story the author wants to tell? Additionally, the absence of consideration can be a trait, point or setting in and of itself. If everyone is genetically modifying or casting spells on their offspring in a novel, past the YA audience do you need a character to stop and pontificate about the nature and dangers of what they're doing or do you follow one character's story and mindset living in that world?

This was me reading the book. I couldn't even finish it because of how bad it was.

so 100% understand what you mean!!

I think I get what you're saying now (and I'm sorry you're getting downvoted for it). There's a limit to how much ground you can cover in a story, especially a short one. But I feel that some things cry out to be addressed if they're included--a bit like Chekhov's Gun, but applied to themes. I don't necessarily want the author to tell me "AI bad!," but if they're going to have their protagonist play God, I think that's a really serious matter and deserves to be examined at least a little bit. What bothered me wasn't that I dislike the outcome (I'm not entirely sure that I would morally condemn it), what bothered me was that the main character does something that's inherently a Big Deal and there's little serious thought given to it. To use a better analogy than Moby Dick, it'd be like having a story where the protagonist kills someone to achieve a goal, but barely discussing whether it was justified or not either before or after doing it. It might have been justified, it might not have been, and there might be an interesting debate to be had about that, but what you can't do is just ignore it.

(To deflate all this, it was pointed out to me in another thread that I didn't interpret the story quite right in the first place--the nature of the magic in the story forces the artificial soul to be extremely similar to the original. I think the story would still be improved by having the characters spend more time thinking about whether creating an artificial soul is justified, or whether they should make any changes to it at all, but they're not really creating a whole new person in the first place, which makes it a less serious matter than I had perceived it to be, and thus not as essential to address.)

Hi there. Your post would be better asked in our Simple Questions thread. It helps us keep the main subreddit focused around broader discussion rather topics which only apply to an individual. Thank you!

I'm moving between continents next month. It's definitely not great for the luggage situation that I bought so many books over the last few years.

Introductions, especially of great novels, have grown into a kind of bloatware. They seem to exist primarily for the writer of said intro to demonstrate their cleverness in analyzing the text I'm about to read. My pet peeve is reprints of great books that add lengthy prefaces and/or introductions, often running 20+ pages. If I want to dive into literary criticism, I look for it separately.

Out of curiosity, let's have a bit of that discussion. In the context of the world of the story, what are the issues with creating a fake soul like this?

I'd personally buy a few nicer editions of books I know I love/have been coveting if I had a chunk of change devoted just to books laying around. I'm good at saving money but bad at giving myself permission to spend a lot of money on one item. I'll happily spend $50 on 5 books (what a steal!) but spending $50 on one book would make me pause. Also not sure what your financial situation is but if you usually don't have as much money to spend on books it's worth considering how long you'd have to save/restrain from buying other books to buy the nicer editions you want.

It can also just be fun to pick up a few cheaper books you know you want every once in a while (as opposed to a ton at once). Feels a lot easier to say 'ive wanted this book for a while and now I have it' then to say 'ah yes I just spent x amount of money on books I've never seen before'.

I’d say classics are the safest best. And then the classics of sci fi and fantasy as well. Ones that even if you don’t love them you’ll be glad you read them.

Ohhh not to worry. There is never a lack of reasons to buy more books 😂 Each new one opens the door to at least a handful of others.

Consider the abusive for profit residential treatment centers in this present day.

That is good cautionary advice. My tastes could change. I wouldn't be going all in on any specific genre. I'd say a good mixture between fantasy, science fiction and the good ol classics.

However if down the line my tastes do change, I'd have reason to buy even more books!!!!

If you can afford to & if you have the space for them, live out the bibliophile's dream & buy them all now, en masse, then start saving up for any special editions you'd like.

(ETA some words)

Close to 1/4 of my collection is TBR and my list of books I’m interested in acquiring is unknowably long at this point. For reference my collection is north of 1000.

The cautionary example I’ll give is that my taste in novels have changed. I went from a genre fiction reader to a reader of literature. Nonfiction mostly stayed the same. So many of the genre fiction books I picked up and didn’t get to I no longer have an inclination to read in large quantities.

Some book interests will never change and some could. If you recognize your likely trends you’re good. Depending on price constraints I’d use some caution but not too much lol. If you pick up 10 books for a buck like at some book sales go hog wild by all means!

Periodically I’ll pick up Franklin Library or Folio editions of a few favorites or if they slip through the cracks for cheap.

Really? I feel she reads like what a majority of Redditors would like to think of themselves as, down to the lack of self awareness and victimhood. I think that probably explains a large part of its popularity as well.

I loved this book. Finally a story about deep creative partnership that stays true to that concept

Hoard as many as you can, you never know when one you're looking for will be available again.