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.

You'll just have to imagine you're Siri Keeton

I had read multiple reviews of this book that said it was dark, and it is but only in a nihilistic, deterministic way--it was not that depressing to me, but maybe it should have been. Either way, I could hardly resist the quirkiest character ensemble since the Wizard of Oz. The crew selected to make first contact consists of a biologist so interfaced with hardware that his wetware is now buggy, a linguist with surgically induced Multiple Personality Disorder, a military officer with too much empathy for her enemies, and a designated observer who comprehends more with his one remaining brain hemisphere than most do with both. The mission commander is a genetically resurrected vampire and the ship is captained by an AI.

They are off to see some truly alien aliens whose actions are less scary than their implications. The book is a study of consciousness, sentience, and the Chinese Room concept. This is definitely hard SF with lots of scientific concepts and terminology, but most of the time you can grasp the science from context when it is not explained outright. That was not a big deterrent for me and I actually learned a great deal.

The Peter Watts website also has some interesting end notes.

Intelligent and Fun

I chose to give this book a 5 star rating because I couldn’t put it down. I found the science part just as interesting as the fiction part. The science was heavy, which I like, but I did have to slow my normal listening speed down a bit to keep up. I also liked that some mythology was woven into the story. And the performance was excellent - Smith really made the creepiness of one of the characters extra creepy. Will definitely check out more of Peter Watt’s books!

Ending was a little rushed

The ending was a little rushed, and the plot could have been developed more, but overall an entertaining read. I feel like authors today spend too much time trying to set up the next story rather than telling you this one. About 1/4 of the book could have been cut out - it was repetitive or setting you up for a story that isn't being told yet. The writing was excellent, just wish the story telling was better.

Makes you think

An excellent book about the nature and purpose of consciousness, empathy and human connection. On one side there's the religious explanation for sure, but even that leaves room to wonder about the mechanics of it all, and Peter Watts has an interesting take. Sure, there are aliens in this book - great ones, at that - but that's not where this book shines. It's Watts' philosophy and take on what it means to be human, his imaginative characters and world-setting, and his writing style. T. Ryder Smith's narration in the audiobook version was excellent. I absolutely enjoyed this book and it blew my mind. If you're intrigued by ideas from books like Thinking, Fast and Slow, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales, you'll enjoy this one.

Great hard science fiction

Manages to weave current science into a powerful story with an interesting perspective. The characters are well defined, not cookie cutter supporting cast. Leaves enough doubt to keep you reading. Worth a reread, and not much is.

Terrible audio

Any additional comments?

I'm not sure if it was the tonation of the narration, the production quality, the content, or all three combined, but the audio had a quality that begged the listener to tune out. Try as I might, I couldn't keep my focus on the book. I gave up after listening for a couple of hours and realizing I still had no idea what was going on.