Sean@lemmy.thesanewriter.com to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world · 1 year agoBookworms of Lemmy, what are you currently reading?message-squaremessage-square148fedilinkarrow-up1152arrow-down12file-text
arrow-up1150arrow-down1message-squareBookworms of Lemmy, what are you currently reading?Sean@lemmy.thesanewriter.com to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world · 1 year agomessage-square148fedilinkfile-text
minus-squarewhat_is_a_name@lemmy.worldlinkfedilinkarrow-up10·1 year agoJust finished a book from the 1930s by a Czech author Karel Čapek called War with the Newts. It’s sci-fi based on earth in 1930s but what I found the most interesting is seeing an author from 1930s write and think on paper (casual racism and sexism, for example), the echoes of the looming WWII the retro futurism - I love seeing what people from the past imagined would happen with technology. They are often right, often cutely wrong.
minus-squareDmian@lemmy.worldlinkfedilinkarrow-up4·1 year agoOh! Never read anything from Čapek. Thanks for bringing him to my attention!
minus-squareVuipes@kbin.sociallinkfedilinkarrow-up4·1 year agoTIL: His brother invented the word “robot”, which Karel Čapek used in the book R.U.R. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_%C4%8Capek#Etymology_of_robot
minus-squareDagwood222@lemm.eelinkfedilinkarrow-up4·1 year agoJohn Brunner’s ‘Stand On Zanzibar’ won the Hugo in 969 for its depiction of the early 21st Century. Amazing how much he got right.
Just finished a book from the 1930s by a Czech author Karel Čapek called War with the Newts.
It’s sci-fi based on earth in 1930s but what I found the most interesting is
seeing an author from 1930s write and think on paper (casual racism and sexism, for example),
the echoes of the looming WWII
the retro futurism - I love seeing what people from the past imagined would happen with technology. They are often right, often cutely wrong.
Oh! Never read anything from Čapek. Thanks for bringing him to my attention!
TIL: His brother invented the word “robot”, which Karel Čapek used in the book R.U.R.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_%C4%8Capek#Etymology_of_robot
John Brunner’s ‘Stand On Zanzibar’ won the Hugo in 969 for its depiction of the early 21st Century. Amazing how much he got right.