The Fifth Science
by Exurb1a · first published 2019
100% recommend
The Galactic Human Empire was built atop four sciences: logic, physics, psychology, and sociology. Standing on those pillars, humans spent 100,000 years spreading out into the galaxy: warring, exploring, partying — the usual. Then there was the fifth science. And that killed the empire stone dead. The Fifth Science is a collection of 12 stories, beginning at the start of the Galactic Human Empire and following right through to its final days. We’ll see some untypical things along the way, meet some untypical folk: galactic lighthouses from the distant future, alien tombs from the distant pa
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…How You Lose the Time War" by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (a new all-time fave for me) "The Book of Strange new Things: A Novel" by Michel Faber "The City and the City" by China Miéville "The Fifth Science" by Exurb1a "The Initial Fold" series by Nick Adams "Peacemaker's Code" by Deepak Malhotra (still not sure why this is not more well-known) "Eifelheim" by Michael Flynn (a most unusual premise and…
on “Ask HN: What are some underrated sci-fi books?” ↗…hours if you really dig into it, took me like 4 or 5 IIRC. Also, because it's timely. A friend recommended me the above book, and it reminded me of this book that I have yet to recommend to him... The Fifth Science by Exurb1a Other good ones in no particular order. House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds -- probably my favorite starting point for his work as it's a standalone novel, but I've read everything he's written…
on “The Intelligent Forest” ↗…the most (and which I did not think I would enjoy based on the book jacket blurb) is "Children of Time" by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I highly recommend to anyone who listens. I also recently encountered "The Fifth Science" by someone named 'Exurb1a' and enjoyed it so much that I am now reading another of his books named "Geometry for Ocelots" Andy Weir's "Hail Mary" is an imaginative and fun read, as is "The Startup Wife"…
on “Ask HN: Modern Sci-Fi Book Recommendations?” ↗…also worth reading. He's better known for his YouTube video essays (which vary between bleak and profound, usually within the same video), but he has published several books. I got about halfway through Fifth Science before leaving it on a plane (yesterday); I plan to rebuy it so that I can finish it. Here's one of his stories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKouPOhh_9I
on “Life is more than an engineering problem” ↗