I used to quite like the collections of SciFi and Horror when I was young. Some of the stories I can still remember. So I bought one recently from my birth year. I was disappointed. 

From our era, I always liked Ray Bradbury - still have a collection of his stories somewhere around here.

And Philip K. Dick - people know him for Bladerunner/(Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), but there is so much more.  

His Exegesis is sitting across the room from me now. Maybe good holiday reading. 

Gardner Dozois edited a great Year's best SF collection from 1984-2018. Unfortunately he has passed away. Of all those stories, my all time favorite is "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang. If you only read one more sf story before you die, I recommend that one. It's in Chiang's collection "Stories of Your Life and Others". If you only read one more sf novel (well, actually 3), I recommend Cixin Liu's  "Three Body Problem" trilogy. 

Gardner Dozois edited a great Year's best SF collection from 1984-2018. Unfortunately he has passed away. Of all those stories, my all time favorite is "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang. If you only read one more sf story before you die, I recommend that one. It's in Chiang's collection "Stories of Your Life and Others". If you only read one more sf novel (well, actually 3), I recommend Cixin Liu's  "Three Body Problem" trilogy. 

Is that approx 1,500 pages in the full trilogy?

Or is this a SciFi + Horror? I.e. you read the story/book then you die?

1500 pages sounds about right. You'll live ... unless .. well, that would be a spoiler!

Very rarely do I like other people's recommendations for books/movies/music/sports/... My usual reaction is "OMG, I have so misread that person. There was me thinking I had a bond with this person, that they could be my new BFF, but they liked that!"

Yeah, I get it, but I think you are taking it too personally!

Gardner Dozois edited a great Year's best SF collection from 1984-2018. Unfortunately he has passed away. Of all those stories, my all time favorite is "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang. If you only read one more sf story before you die, I recommend that one. It's in Chiang's collection "Stories of Your Life and Others". If you only read one more sf novel (well, actually 3), I recommend Cixin Liu's  "Three Body Problem" trilogy. 

Then you're lucky that you don't know physics in that case. I would rather Chiang dropped his awkward interpretation of Lagrangian mechanics and just said that the aliens didn't perceive time contingency. But that's the problem with some of those soft sci-fi writers - they try to sound like Lem without doing all the reading, learning and asking experts as he did to construct his stories.

I generally find Chiang shallow and mawkish, but while the idea of that particular story was acceptable (even if not original at all - predeterminism is a popular motive, from ancient Greeks to PK Dick), they ruined it in the movie. I slept in the cinema as usual, but I believe the protagonist prevents her daughter's death? Saved the daughter, killed the effect.

Anyway, John Brunner is my recommendation. Not what Paul likes, but something he might like, methinks.

I just looked at some of his books. Methinketh that anyone who has "crucible" and/or "time" in a book title is best avoidedeth. However,...if you can recommend one of his that is < 300 pp then I'll give him a go.

Sci-fi that became real - a movie for the weekend:

Alpha Go - The Movie

Happy to take movie recs for the winter and I'm not like Paul; one mistake and you're done. Haha. : )

Have pretty much gone into full isolation mode here - kitchen is well-stocked, basement gym is set up and clean, and will just watch the statistics out there now.

Also, in case you missed it earlier this week, here's a video of the

SpaceX Crew-1 Falcon 9 Rocket Launch - November 15  
and I'm on a nominal trajectory to my dinner table! Good night, Forum 

PS: CalTech and UCal Berkeley can't be all bad, especially their Physics departments ; ). People just don't know what they don't know around here, as elsewhere! 

Paul:
I just looked at some of his books. Methinketh that anyone who has "crucible" and/or "time" in a book title is best avoidedeth. However,...if you can recommend one of his that is < 300 pp then I'll give him a go.

Why so preemptively negative? Yesterday I almost cut off the tip of my finger with a new knife (why do they make them sharp?!). It dripped with bright raspberry colour blood for hours... I need to check in my DNA if the blue admixture is due to part-molluskness - maybe I'm turning into one? I've been hanging out with those guy too much.


Anyway, I put the finger back together and wrapped it tightly with plasters. It was painful and will heal long, but I quickly saw the good side - I can't shower, because the wound would reopen!

I read Stand on Zanzibar, The Sheep Look Up, and Shockwave Rider.
I thought about the first one for you (it's almost 600 pages so you can read a half). Bearish might like the last one - it's early cyberpunk and has some William Gibson vibes (I wouldn't be surprised if Gibson was inspired by it).
I didn't read Crucible of Time, but it's his later novel, and sci-fi authors tend to lose it once they get famous. Mass of short stories scribbled for money when they are young nobodies and decadent toms laboured for self-indulgence when they are old celebrities. That's why I read only the mid-period.

Sci-fi that became real - a movie for the weekend:

Alpha Go - The Movie

Happy to take movie recs for the winter and I'm not like Paul; one mistake and you're done. Haha. : )

Amazon Prime Originals I have enjoyed (so all are series): 

1. The Man in The High Castle
2. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
3. Fleabag
4. Carnival Row
5. Hanna

Amazon Prime Originals I have enjoyed (so all are series): 

1. The Man in The High Castle
2. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
3. Fleabag
4. Carnival Row
5. Hanna

Great, Alan - thanks very much.  I figure I will have some Saturday night movies with a different kind of popcorn every week - cajun, wasabi, parmesan and peppercorn etc.  So this is a nice start to the entertainment season.

On a different note, I think some people around here could benefit from a Zen lesson:

When you are cutting, just cut.

No TV, no phone calls, no running into another room with a sharp knife in your hand...

I learned my lesson when I was a lifeguard - having a party for the children who had finished the swimming lesson program and I was trying to cut a watermelon with a big knife.  Too many distractions and a hard melon - it slipped and cut was deep, but could have been worse.  

Now I respect knives and take care with tricky objects like watermelons, squash, and even onions and fresh herbs. Mindfulness is not just a buzzword; it is a good thing to have in the kitchen, anyway.

And take Vitamin E - very good for healing wounds of all types.

Nice sea slug; I like butterflies:




 

I swear I was 100% focused on that onion, performing the task in complete silence with no distractions (Leela slept), and the Allium cepa was already chopped in slices. Being a largely rawtarian vegan, I'm also an experienced chopper! It was as if some evil mind control made me turn my hand holding the knife in a strange direction to purposely run it across my finger! I howled from pain like a wolf over the Humani (Mollusca?) sanguis and my first thought was: why am I cutting my finger?

OMG! I'm POSSESSED! I don't need vitamins, I need a shaman!

I swear I was 100% focused on that onion, performing the task in complete silence with no distractions (Leela slept), and the Allium cepa was already chopped in slices. Being a largely rawtarian vegan, I'm also an experienced chopper! It was as if some evil mind control made me turn my hand holding the knife in a strange direction to purposely run it across my finger! I howled from pain like a wolf over the Humani (Mollusca?) sanguis and my first thought was: why am I cutting my finger?

OMG! I'm POSSESSED! I don't need vitamins, I need a shaman!

Interesting.  It's sometimes helpful to keep at least one foot in reality. : )

I swear I was 100% focused on that onion, performing the task in complete silence with no distractions (Leela slept), and the Allium cepa was already chopped in slices. Being a largely rawtarian vegan, I'm also an experienced chopper! It was as if some evil mind control made me turn my hand holding the knife in a strange direction to purposely run it across my finger! I howled from pain like a wolf over the Humani (Mollusca?) sanguis and my first thought was: why am I cutting my finger?

OMG! I'm POSSESSED! I don't need vitamins, I need a shaman!

I’m concerned that you may have fallen under the spell of Collector. You’re just a few miles away from him and he recently posted a picture of a pink onion that he subsequently confessed to have bled into. Coincidence?