Blindsight Audiobook By Peter Watts cover art

Blindsight

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Blindsight

By: Peter Watts
Narrated by: T. Ryder Smith
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Set in 2082, Peter Watts' Blindsight is fast-moving, hard SF that pulls readers into a futuristic world where a mind-bending alien encounter is about to unfold.

After the Firefall, all eyes are locked heavenward as a team of specialists aboard the self-piloted spaceship Theseus hurtles outbound to intercept an unknown intelligence.

©2006 Peter Watts (P)2008 Recorded Books LLC Fantasy First Contact Hard Science Fiction Science Fiction Emotionally Gripping
Thought-provoking Concepts • Unique Alien Portrayal • Excellent Character Differentiation • Complex Philosophical Themes

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This is a terrific exploration of intelligence/sentience, or what humankind understands intelligence to be, and the potentiality of meeting/becoming aliens that exist in a manner inconceivable to us.

The concepts are DEEP. Are we really human if we're hitched to computers. Can our brains hold more than one functional personality? Are there aliens so smart and fast that to them we'd look like imbeciles? If there are aliens, what are the chances that we'd ever find them, ever understand them, ever "know" them?

The vampire component is sort of beside the point - it's just one more alien (meaning foreign to human) in a book that is exploring the nature of being alien. (Even those characters that are human are explored for their "alien" characteristics).

Don't read this if you're expecting action (there is little action) or if you're not in the mood to explore the nature of alien-ness because you'll be disappointed. That being said - the narration is very good and the story is engaging and very hard to put down once you get started.

(Though I'm not making any promises that it makes sense in the end... I'm still not sure I understand.)

I don't claim to understand it...

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I can't believe I just wasted that much time. it's as if the writer is so smart that his writing jumped around. the narrator was fine. it was the sloppy cohesiveness.

good luck.

I won't give it one star. but ...

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If you have some understanding of human neurophysiology this is a great story. That said, there is quite a bit of technical jargon. This is not your average "humans meet aliens" space opera. Instead it's an examination of the nature of consciousness and how humans would be able to understand beings that have a totally different way of existing and communicating.
The reader was adequate, but his tendency to have very similar voices for all the characters sometimes left me confused as to who was speaking and when transitions were happening.

Challenging story

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The story is great. A little too verbose but overall thought provoking. The narrator is monotone and puts me to sleep. He sounds as if he is recording in a library trying not to disturb the other patrons.

Narrator Is Awful

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I’m tearful at the moment. Absolutely gutted and in love. What a phenomenal story. It mixed all of my favorite ideas; Do androids dream of electric sheep, Prometheus, ALIEN, cyberpunk universe. It’s perfect. i’m blown away. please read and read again!!!

How can i even put my feelings to words?!!!

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The story is a great story. But dear God Watts jumps around so much and leaves sooo many holes in the back story. This is an extremely tedious listen/read. He goes out of his way to use words that were absolutely unneeded and it feels like the contemplations he is trying induce in the reader are his and.not the characters. I say this because he doesn't use language that fit the characters. His historical recollections of society in up to 2083 makes no sense and assumes the listener will fill in the missing information. I am only three hours in and I am struggling with his syntax and word choice. They don't make sense. You add that with the holes he has left and oddly timed character recollections and listening to it feels like a job. If I were reading this I would have had to go back and reread so many pages i would not have made it past chapter 2. I will probably only finish it because I already spent the money. But so far it is a frustrsting experience. the bouncing ball scene at the crew meeting was such a useless scene and waste of time. If you enjoy an author who wore out his thesarus and puts too much effort into seeming extremely smart then this book is for you. For me it felt like simply telling the story would hsve made this a blockbuster or even a chance at a movie.

The performance was good enough. You could tell the narrator wasn't enjoying the story either because at times he comes across flat as though in his head he to is trying to figure out parts of the story but he is on a time limit.

Watts has seriously overcomplicated a grest story

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I had some difficulty following parts of this book. the fragmented timeline isn't an issue, as some other reviewers mentioned. jumping around makes sense to draw parallels in the story. for me, some of the language used made it more challenging to follow in places. there are some really interesting ideas around consciousness and other forms of life/ intelligence. ultimately, I'll need to read a cliff notes review to be sure I can understand some of the deeper implied meaning. the big picture eluded me on this one, that failing could be my own.

interesting parts, grand vision escapes me

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I'm not sure I would have had the brain power to get even the plot of Blindsight solely from listening to it, even twice. But listening to the audiobook after reading the novel slowly, and doing a lot of rereading as I went, was very satisfying. Reading let me figure out what the heck is going on (key plot points are addressed obliquely) and listening let me bask in the atmosphere and vibe of the book. Highly recommended.

I took off one star from the Performance, but it would be more fair to take the star off for editing. There should be more of a pause between sections of the book. As it is, the performance/editing rams these sections together. White space on the page should be a pause in the audiobook. But Smith's performance overall worked very well for me.

Brilliant audio rendition of a brilliant novel

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Heard about this on JRE and I’m glad I gave it a listen. I love the concept of the vampires in this story and would love to explore that a little more.

Very interesting story. Looking forward for the movie

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Engrossing depiction of the manifestations of intelligent, technological beings. Both the multifarious versions of us and the astonishingly alien aliens.
This story spawned in me feelings of vast desolation but even more profound gratitude to be the type of thing we are.

incredible exploration of personhood

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