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Blindsight

By: Peter Watts
Narrated by: T. Ryder Smith
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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

What listeners say about Blindsight

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  • Overall
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    3 out of 5 stars

Very, very imaginative work

I struggled to finish this one for months. It was very dense, and conjured some very realistic, possible future technologies. But its density has mostly to do with intelligence, consciousness, and its role among the stars.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

meh

was a highly recommend book for xenoarcheology, but I really wasn't satisfied by it much.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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First contact story asking why consciousness?

While the book reads like a biology textbook at certain moments, it never felt out of place or expositionary. The ideas explored give me chills as I mull over the implications for humanity.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The most alien aliens.

This is the most interesting first contact story I have read. The biology is so interesting and unique and leaves you thinking.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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profound commentary on life

this book will make you see the world I'm a new way. mind-blowing and engaging.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing story, absolutely amazing.

I could have listened to this tale for a thousand years. It is an incredible story with more depth than the oceans on Europa. Fantastic, will listen to it again.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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Incredible, even at its most opaque.

The first act betrays the magnificence of this book. An enjoyable, and even scary, mind fuck that will definitely warrant subsequent listenings.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Cosmic Dissonance

Can become overburdened with scientific jargon and technical buzzwords. Not really an issue for me but I can see it being so for others. Ultimately, I was engrossed by the vast cosmic indifference Watts' universe embodies. Its horror elements weaved within this science fiction piece won me over. Easily my top five favorites.

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I'm going to be thinking about this for a while

Great scifi sticks with you. It changes how you see the world in a fundamental way. I found out about this book in subtle ways that didn't prepare me for the impact it would have.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Sagàn?!

has the narrator never heard of Carl Sagan?

anyway, the story is interesting and engaging if not totally rational. they seem to be playing a prisoner's dilemma kinda thing with a potential alien species but they're so petrified of giving the slightest advantage that they all end up interacting with the aliens in riddles and when that doesn't work, torturing captives to see what makes them tick. at the end, the conclusion seems to be a bizarre assertion that it's "chinese rooms" all the way down and the entire story doesn't really conclude in a satisfying way.

interesting that all the protagonists are non neuro-typicals with a wild assortment of maladies and remixes. the protagonist himself is very uncomfortable in his human skin and stands outside of humanity looking in and wondering why everyone does what they do. does make me wonder if the author himself is autistic to some degree because a lot of the musings and thoughts about being on the outside feel genuine and well trod over.

a bit frustrating, a bit elliptical, a bit on the side of MORE EXPLANATION NEEDED HERE... but a nice dip into space horroresque fiction.

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