Say, despite your most eloquent and thoughtful points to the contrary, arguments both logical and witty that highlight the suffusement of modern pop-culturama and mass market entertainment with science fiction, said person still refuses to believe the merits of reading science-fiction.
Say this person is a bit of a twat.
Say you only have one shot at this.
What ONE BOOK would you give them that would change their mind and make them see how very silly and wrong and well, downright fricking nobular they are?
9 comments:
I'd find the biggest hardcover (The Way of Kings or The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy come to mind) and knock some sense into them. :)
Depends.
What kind of books do they normally like to read?
Are we talking a Twilight fan or strictly non-fiction kinda person? Romance or Roger Penrose?
Persuasion should be aimed at one's audience... beside which some people are lost causes.
Update: I've had a couple of suggestions on Twitter, including 'A Canticle for Leibowitz', which I've genuinely never heard of and clearly must now check out...
Jake - violence is not the answer. Except, of course, in this case, and any other cases involving wilful stupidity :)
Byghan - it feels like a cop-out to me to offer someone something SF that is also what they like to read, i.e. what i'm essentially saying is, 'oo you'll like this because it's just like those romance books you read... except, you know, with a bit of SF.' I know what you're saying and you're right, but it would be good if they could appreciate the genre without being sort of tricked into it by telling them they're reading something that they usually read. I want them to read SF because it's different to what they usually read.
Besides which, most people's tastes are more wide-ranging than just one area of fiction, depending on their mood. I just want to give them a damn good piece of fiction that is undoubtedly SF by nature (there's another side argument - what makes something 'undoubtedly' SF? Don't even get me started on Margaret Atwood) and thus persuade them that it has, at the very least, large amounts of worth and merit.
My own choice would be Replay - Ken Grimwood. But then.. ask me again tomorrow and it could be different :)
Hmmm so your aim is to find something that they can like purely for its own sake (presuming you can get them past the first few pages)
How about Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash?: Its a little dated now but in some ways thats charming and the prose can be 'thick' which I know some find off-putting but its good all the themes you need...
Haven't read either of those suggestions but then I'm more of a fantasy genre kinda gal.
Philip K. Dick. But his short stories only to a first-timer. "Imposter" or "The Electric Ant", maybe.
If I was being bold, maybe The Final Programme by Michael Moorcock, just because it's bonkers. Though I'd probably hang back from recommending the others in the Cornelius Quartet until a bit later on...
Obviously Philip K Dick is da man, but he might be a bit too head-fucky for entry-level sci-fi. How about William Gibson? 'Neuromancer' or 'Virtual Light'. Sci-fi, but also gripping kick-ass thrillers in their own right.
I'd pick something much more contemporary, The 'Old Man's War' series by John Scalzi springs to mind. It's a very SFnal space opera with loads of advanced technology, but it's a really easy-breezy read, chock full of action, thrills, mystery and emotion, covers all of the tropes but with a fresh twist and everyone I've ever recommended it to has really enjoyed it.
Oo yes, i do like the Old Man's War stuff. Neuromancer also a good choice, i think. High tech but understandably.
Je like.
I'd love to push some Phil Dick drug but i think, as pointed out, he should be fed once head has become accustomed to fuckery. Someone else suggested M. John Harrison. I laughed.
Douglas Adams would be a good starting point - it's too silly not to love, and it'll ease them into the SF world. Then if they still don't respond you can club them with the hardback ;)