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

Thought provoking

Very interesting and thought provoking concepts are explored in this story. It's a future where people with mental disorders or brain defects are not only "fixed" but also enhanced beyond "baseline" humans, at some expense to their humanity. On top of that there is the existence and integration of a mythical bloodline, first contact, and an interesting solution for long-distance multi-year space travel.

The story is told as a first person narrative about a first contact with an entirely unfathomable entity. The character's purpose on the mission is to be the equivalent of an embedded reporter, but with the added responsibility of translating the actions of the enhanced humans on the mission into baseline understandable terms. Exactly what this means is hard to explain, because the reader is only human. :-) Although he is enhanced himself, his abilities permit him to straddle both sides of the situation... And this struggle of understanding his ability is one of the themes.

The narrator does a great job of evoking the character's tone. The narrating character's enhancement makes him emotionally stunted, so the narrator reads the story in a fairly monotone voice. In my opinion this really adds to the story and makes the character's behavior more understandable. It really makes him stand out as apart from normal humans.

Definitely one of my favorite stories.

Gets better with each listen

This is probably my favorite book of all time, but it may have taken 5 or so listens to reach that point. it also may have ruined much of SF for me. luckily I have the job type where I can put in 50 hours a week listening.

I don't want to talk about the story much but I would press the listener to finish it and analyze it for some time. I think it may even come off as oddly written to most and it certainly was difficult for me.

I think it's crucial to listen as if Siri is actually speaking, not Watts. I see a lot of stuff written about how the author must have problems but I truly think he was able to write from this bizarre perspective of a man with half a mind and no thoughts of his own (I found Siri far to relatable for my comfort).

t. Ryder Smith does an absolutely phenomenal job. though initially strange (all new books sound weird at first) his voice is soothing and I often listen to it to focus on work. He smoothly reads sentences that I can only mentally stumble through.

the best I can say is this book will not appeal to everyone, but if you have an open mind it's certainly worth a credit and 12 hours.

absolutely marvelous

captivating characters; lucid, complex, effortless prose; even explores the nature of conscious identity. if you haven't read this, read it.

Good!!

I loved this book. Cool characters, amazing concept on consciousness and self awareness. The ending was satisfying.

good book worth the read(listen)

This was a good book and we'll worth the read. the narrator did a pretty good job at keeping my attention.

Greatness!

Listening to this was a phenomenally tripped out experience. I wish there had been a little more of some characters and less of others. What a genius writer Watts is, he can articulate what super AI might behave like; it’s always cool to imagine the future.

A bit tricky to follow, but very interesting

This is a very solid piece of hardcore sci fi. The themes are very abstract and complex, so I could imagine this will be hard to follow for a lot of casual readers. That said, the actual storytelling is engrossing and compelling. He does a very good job of creating a truly alien experience, and I felt a mild level of anxiety/fear/disorientation in a way that felt just right with the storyline.
The narration is good, albeit a bit flat throughout. I think that is mostly intended as the character narrating is supposed to be fairly 'robotic', but it did make it difficult to stay awake at times. It was a solid effort.

Dead-on addition to my favorite niche subgenre

First-contact "hard" sci-fi featuring an extraterrestrial entity whose alien-ness is so extreme it feels like it's lapses into the psychedelic, sometimes with actual extreme hallucinatory episodes. I love stories like this having just finished Jeff Vandermeer's "Area X." and the Three Body Problem trilogy a while before that. This book stands confidently beside those stories and a few others.

Special appreciation goes to the narrator's AMAZING performance of the character Sarasti. Rarely is the delivery of one character's lines such a believable departure from the rest.

Great!

Very good!

I'm often frustrated by the misuse of scientific terms like "sentience" in science fiction, but not a real criticism to the story.

Ending was jaw dropping.

Not spoiling anything but I can't believe the ending happened the way it did. Absolutely jaw dropping.