Children of Time

I consolidated the comments for my reference later. Someone else might also find it useful: # Fiction Books Recommended for Programmers (HN Thread 46128404) ## Adrian Tchaikovsky - *Children of Time* — Science Fiction (Evolution, Space Opera) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-tim... (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-time) ## Rick Cook — Wizardry Series - *Wizard’s Bane* — Fantasy, Programming/Magic Mashup https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/112616.Wizard_s_Bane - *Wizardry Series (overview)* https://www.goodreads.com/series/43084-wiz ## James P. Hogan - *Inherit the Stars* — Hard Science Fiction https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/743568.Inherit_the_Stars - *Code of the Lifemaker* — Sci-Fi, Artificial Life https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/296722.Code_of_the_Lifem... (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/296722.Code_of_the_Lifemaker) - *The Two Faces of Tomorrow* — AI, Hard Science Fiction https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218017.The_Two_Faces_of_... (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218017.The_Two_Faces_of_Tomorrow) ## D. F. Jones — Colossus Trilogy - *Colossus* — AI, Classic Sci-Fi Thriller…

In "Children of Time" by Adrian Tchaikovsky you will encounter a very fascinating form of computation. :)

I put the Children of Time into my Libby list. Thanks! Project Hail Mary is very good. All of Weir’s stuff is good.

It's between Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time and Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary.

children of time, adrian tchaikovsky. impossible to communicate the experience. run, don’t walk. prefer the audiobook.

Children of Time is a really good novel. Was scrolling through the comments to see if anyone was going to mention it.

Easily these (so far): This is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (actually now one of my all-time favorites, without regard to genre. Just amazing) Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky The Book of Strange New Things - Michael Faber Ted Chiang's short story collections (Exhalations and Stories of your life and others) Daemon - Daniel Suarez The City and the City - China Miéville Roadside Picnic - Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (this one still haunts my dreams at times) We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse Book 1) - Dennis Taylor (just finished this series for book club) Galatea 2.2, The Overstory, Bewilderment, The Gold Bug Variations - 4 different books, all by Richard Powers - what can I say, the man is a genius and a treasure Eifelheim - Michael Flynn - ok, this book can be a slog at times, but it is very rewarding for those who persevere, and has stuck in my brain for many years Chocky - John Wyndham - A quiet, delightful surprise Providence - Max Barry - This book flows like a movie. It will make a great movie. I found myself LITERALLY out of breath a couple of times Hench: A Novel - Natalie Zina Walschots - Quirky, memorable…

- Project Hail Mary - Children of Time - Accelerando - The Forever War - Axiomatic

If you’re into Science Fiction: (Note: I listed to these all via the Audible audiobooks, they were all very well narrated and I’d highly recommend listening this way.) #1: The Children of Time series by Adrian Tchaikovsky. This is amazingly fascinating from beginning to end, if you like speculative evolution zenofiction space operas, you’re in for a real treat. I feel like these books were written for me. I went the audiobook route and chugged through each (roughly 600 page) book, neglecting focus to almost anything else in my life. I would be playing Tetris on my phone (via the Tappy app) while listening at 1.1x speed, which is the perfect amount of mental stimulation to have massive amounts of time go by without noticing. #2: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I don’t want to spoil too much, but this is a must-read for engineer-brain nerds like me that yearn to understand complex systems recreationally. Enough said. Mandatory. I read Artemis by Andy Weir afterwards and enjoyed it too, but Hail Mary is my fave. #3: The Final Architecture series by Adrian Tchaikovsky.…

Children of Time is a great scifi novel. I like scifi but sometimes Im annoyed by great world buildings that are poorly explored or with a lousy story, CoT was a pager turner since day one and I couldn’t recommend it more. No details for no spoilers

Mostly science fiction, and most Adrian Tchaikovsky science fiction at that: * Elder Race - Tchaikovsky's Hugo-nominated novella does this really neat thing where it tells the same story from two different perspectives, which happen to perfectly meld fantasy with hard scifi in a super clever conceit. * Children of Time - A hard scifi-meets-entomology-study take on how shifting perspectives work and the no-stone-left-unturned world building he does just really works. Its sequel Children of Ruin was great too, and the final in the trilogy comes out next month.

The one that sticks in my head the most (and which I did not think I would enjoy based on the book jacket blurb) is "Children of Time" by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I highly recommend to anyone who listens. I also recently encountered "The Fifth Science" by someone named 'Exurb1a' and enjoyed it so much that I am now reading another of his books named "Geometry for Ocelots" Andy Weir's "Hail Mary" is an imaginative and fun read, as is "The Startup Wife" by Tahmima Anam. Oh! And "The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet' (or almost anything else) by Becky Chambers.

Not much fiction in here: * Ender's game * Children of time * Kingkiller Chronicle (series) * Skyward

Currently: Through a Camel's Eye by Dorothy Johnston although admit I'm having trouble getting into it. Will give it another 50 pages before I decide. And today started listening to Dune Messiah on audiobook. I loved the first book which I've reread many times, but didn't enjoy the following books at all when I read them years and years ago. Decided to give them another try. Recommend: The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North for beautiful prose, charming writing and an inventive story. Her first and best book under that pseudonym. Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard and The Moons of Barsk by Lawrence M. Schoen for making me care about anthropomorphic elephants. Children of Time and Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky for almost making me care about non-anthropomorphic spiders. I Am Not a Serial Killer and sequels by Dan Wells for tricking me into reading a horror novel when I at first thought it was a thriller, but really enjoying it anyway. The Lost Man by Jane Harper for being similar but so far a lot better than Through a Camel's Eye.

> I'd recommend Children of Time I agree! Like the Vinge books mentioned by the GP, the interactions between aliens and humans are well written, and nicely bring out the quirks of the different species.

I absolutely loved "Children of time" [1] - you can tell the writer is a scientist, or at least very seasoned in natural sciences, mainly biology. The story is not the best but how Tchaikovsky reasons shows how much he is able to think outside the box. [1]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-tim... (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-time)

Books finished in June: "How to Change Your Mind" by Michael Pollan. A fascinating look into the world and science of psychedelic drugs. "Rendezvous with Rama" by Arthur C. Clarke. One of, if not Clarke's best. It's short for a sci-fi book and almost impossible not to like. "The Hydrogen Sonata" By Iain M. Banks. It certainly wasn't my favorite culture entry, but it's worth a read none the less. If you haven't read the others in the series I wouldn't suggest starting with it. "Children of Time" by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It took me a bit to get into this book, but once I did, I really enjoyed it. If you're into long timelines and human existential crisis this is your book. As far as July goes, I'm digging into "Matterhorn" by Karl Marlantes and "The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind" by Julian Jaynes.

Children of Time was one of my favorites this year as well.

1. How to Win Friends and Influence People - I recommend because I apply every day at work and reap the results as well, somebody should have recommended this book to me ten years ago; 2. Children of Time - a science fiction book that I enjoyed, I notice that fiction, in general, helps me deal with stressful work, as I disconnect easier and put myself in an imaginary world while reading; 3. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - this isn't a book you read cover to cover, I catch myself thinking long even after reading a single sentence; 1) and 3) I've come across on HN, but 2) was the unexpected random hit.