Blindsight

By: Peter Watts

Narrated by: T. Ryder Smith

Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

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

Only for fans of HARD science fiction.

Casual readers are going to struggle with this one. That said, I’ve read hard science fiction that did a better job keeping me either engaged or appealing to my sense of curiosity enough to compel me to keep reading even when certain concepts were either beyond me or outside my knowledge base. The novel is well known and respected in science fiction literary circles, so my opinion should count for very little her, but I don’t think it’s unfair to say that this is a book will not be for everyone. I wanted to like it more, but I guess I just don’t possess the intellectual prowess to appreciate all the nuance and sophistication that I’m sure it contains.

great concept

Great book looking into things like consciousness, sentience, and the like. look forward to catching the next book in the series.

Great concepts

The story does a good job of introducing an alien species that is truly alien. The parallels between Siri and Rorshach were a nice touch. It gets a bit goofy towards the end though.

One of my all time favorites

I've both read and listened to this book multiple times (which I probably haven't done with any other book). It is such a good story and makes the reader do a lot of thinking. It probably has done the best job (of any science fiction that I've come across) of representing aliens as, well, actually alien... to the point where the characters have trouble even understanding what they're looking at.

good book, awful voice acting

I want to write more than than the voice acting made it all but impossible to enjoy or get invested in. But. That's really it. Just...not good.

Details

I loved that this author brings you into the story with all the technical sci-fi details.

the complex vocabulary I spent most of the book looking up.

narrator did his best, but had more bass in my speakers than an edm song. couldn't tell too much who was who. I spent 3/4 of the book trying to figure out what was going on since the vocabulary and descriptive process used way above average. I finished it though cuz I ain't no quitter.

Refreshing and cerebral!

Many sci-fi novels treat the communication barrier between aliens and humans as a minor inconvenience, to be hastily patched by something like a 'universal translator' so that we can get on with the plot. Refreshingly, in Blindsight, the communication barrier between the aliens and humans IS the plot.

Watts imagines an alien species so unlike us, evolving in such different conditions, that it is unclear whether the humans are communicating with a consciousness or an elaborate stimulus/response system like a computer program. The narrator, Siri Keeton, has seemingly been chosen for the mission because his bizarre personality is well-suited to dealing with this problem. A childhood brain hemispherectomy has removed Siri's ability to empathize with people, so he negotiates social situations as an elaborate computer program would, calculating and adapting responses that result in successful interactions.

The other characters are as interesting and bizarre as Siri, but his (understandably) emotionless narration style does keeps the reader from knowing their motivations and feelings very well. Aside from a stupid bit about vampires and crosses, this book avoids almost every sci-fi cliche and keeps the reader thinking at every step.

Needlessly overblown with metaphors...

Poses some interesting theories and follows them down pretty deep rabbit holes. This was presented to me as scifi space-horror in many reviews. It's more existential and thought provoking. Some of the story presented uncomfortable biological truths and portents of impending doom on an intellectual level but never does it really give a good ceepy. I would say that it left a feeling reminiscent to the first book in the Rama series with a much darker view of sentience, life and our place in the universe. i would recommend that outlook when considering reading this book my enjoyment was slightly diffused by the anticipation of a more traditional stab at horror.

fairly well written, early chapters have an abundance of additional flowery expressions and descriptions that try way to hard to convince you of a depth not yet established in the characters personalities. only later upon reflection do they make a bit more sense.

good hard sci-fi

there's a tremendous amount of detail and the story reflects the narrator's unique personality type.
this makes it a little hard to follow and I found myself having to rewind many many times in order to get a grasp on the various and intertwined concepts.