About re-read a book by a favorite author I don't remember the later portions of....

[electric_blue68]

Author David Brin of the amazing both personable, and galactic spanning Uplift series; also wrote The Postman.

I liked Costner's Postman movie. Brin said he got the spirit of it right.
Serms he only covered the first part?

One can like, love, or feel meh, etc even with a favorite author's particular book.
So I'm so curious as to why I don't remember the rest. I can say writing this I do have some bits of memory of the text of the first part as he wrote it vs the movie.

Anyway, I just renewed my library card after a lapse a few weeks ago. It dawned on me after just returning an (my first) audio book, bc they didn't seem to have the ebook; oh, I should see if they have The Postman. And they did!
Reading to commence tonight. 👍

[Pluvious]

1. The Postman is a modern classic imho

I read and enjoyed many of his works, and like yourself, the details of Postman have faded over time.
I vaguely recall the movie being a bit of a let down, as it's hard to really capture the magic and depth of original works.

The Kiln People and The Practice Effect were very entertaining and imho quite creative.

The last book I read of his was Existence (2012)
It was very ambitious, rich in many creative and interesting subplots.

Apple's AI describes it..

David Brin's novel Existence (2012) is a futuristic novel about an alien artifact, a crystalline "message in a bottle," discovered by orbital garbage collector Gerald Livingston, which reveals a hidden message to join a larger cosmic community. The book explores humanity's varied reactions of fear, hope, and curiosity to this first contact scenario and introduces the concept of a universal "crystal plague" that could spell disaster for civilizations. It follows multiple characters, including Livingston and a Chinese shoresteader named Peng Xiang Bin who finds a rival artifact, as they navigate the complexities of this monumental discovery.

Plot Summary

The Discovery: In a near future set around 2050, Gerald Livingston, an orbital garbage collector, finds an unknown crystalline object amidst space debris.

The Artifact: This artifact turns out to be an alien emissary probe containing digitized representatives of various alien species, offering humanity an invitation to join a galactic community.
Humanity's Reaction: News of the discovery creates global chaos, with reactions ranging from fear and selfishness to hope and insatiable curiosity.

The Rival Artifact: Simultaneously, in China, Peng Xiang Bin, a scavenger, discovers an intact alien capsule that seems to hold a different, possibly rival, message.

The Crystal Plague: It is revealed that these crystals are a form of technological virus, and humanity must learn to navigate a potentially hostile universe to avoid the "crystal plague".

Exploring the Past: The story also involves exploring the fate of other civilizations by finding destroyed robot emissaries in the asteroid belt, which were victims of ancient wars and the crystal plague.

Themes

First Contact: Existence offers a realistic depiction of how human society would respond to the discovery of alien life.
Humanity's Future: The novel grapples with the question of whether civilizations can survive the challenges of the universe and avoid making fatal mistakes.

Technology vs. Humanity: It explores the societal and individual impacts of advanced technologies like AI and virtual reality on human existence.

[electric_blue68]

2. I finished re-reading The Postman. Enjoyed it. A lot more complex stuff going on ...

I liked the movie. Keeping to the postman/mail delivery part of the story, along with the Holnists ( 🤔 think Proud Boys like, possibly) which continues on, but mixed in with 3 major other plot lines would have been way too for a single movie. A ?mini-series might have worked.

The extra interesting discovery for me was remembering a sort of transcendental scene all this years. I only got one detail right, but that memory was a reason I wanted to re-read it. It was a very satisfying scene, and also surprisingly it happened way later in the story.

I loved the fictional part of the book - Existence. the crystals; what a wild invention. The asteroid belt discoveries were quite amazing!

Never read The Kiln People and The Practice Effect.

I re-read books, as well as new ones. My copy of Existence got messed up. Going to see if it's an ebook. Might rebuy it at some point.

[Pluvious]

3. Thanks for sharing...

I'm considering re-reading TPM again, it's been a long time heh

The Practice Effect was a light story, just kinda fun playing with a unique idea

The Kiln People was a mind trip, taking a very trippy idea, and building a story around it, I highly recommend reading it

[electric_blue68]

4. YW. I'll see if I can find The Kiln People from a library.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. Interlibrary loan is wonderful.

I cannot possibly afford to buy all the books I read. And of course my library does not have every possible book. So interlibrary loan get them to me.

[electric_blue68]

7. I've seen that. Might use them in the future.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

8. Do so.

I think you'll be pleased.

I also like it that my library, perhaps most, automatically renew my books twice, so long as no one else has one on hold. Nice. My local branch isn't far away, but it's nice not to have to go there to renew.

Libraries are wonderful.

[electric_blue68]

11. I have to renew it each time, but I can if no one is asking for it.

I haven't been to my newer current local library. I'll take a stroll up there in the Spring. In my previous Bronx neighborhood I'd part walk up, then bus there,or walk up,or back totally. But then at some point I went to the Bronx's Central library. It's got a bigger selection, a.nice big area to sit in, so since I usually use a bus part way - I might as well go to the better place. Plus they stay open later - nice in the summer months.

I love libraries, too.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. I understand. I recently re-read a novel I thought I knew well,

but most of it was unfamiliar. Not sure what to think about that. Is my memory that bad? Perhaps. I'm 77 and I'm feeling my age sometimes.

Personally, "The Postman" didn't work for me. But I tend to be incredibly fussy, picky, and judgemental about these things.

Somewhat related, I just started watching the Reacher series. I've read the books and love them. The first two episodes that I watched tonight were quite good. Looking forward to the rest.

[electric_blue68]

9. The previous time I read The Postman was in the ?90's....

So not remembering a lot from that far back doesn't really bother me. Plus the movie reinforces a certain part of it that I remember.
Possible the other parts didn't appeal to me as much back then, too.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. Of course, movies are different from books, we all know.

What those differences are, or how different a show/movie is from the book matters a lot. As does how recently I might have read the book/s.

I just read a book about teen movies, "Hollywood High" by Bruce Handy, and it goes into a ton of detail about such things.

There is so much good s-f out there that deserves to be filmed. Sigh.

[electric_blue68]

12. Some of The Postman in the film was pretty close to the book.

The author felt Costner got part of the spirit of his book.

I would love a movie of same author's book The Uplift War - but it's so complex in storyline, world building and so much CGI for some aliens - I guess it's still too big to do. Sigh