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(Archive.is will only pull the first 25 books, so I'm linking to the article itself.)
This is a surprisingly good list, even though I'm not a fan of ranked lists of anything. But of the 75 books here, I've read about half, and only one (the Mary Robinette Kowal) is one I wouldn't consider worthwhile.
As with any list like this, there's easily another 75 books left off that could have been used here. And there's definitely some recency bias at play.
20 sats \ 2 replies \ @k00b 13 Jul
Awesome list. I haven't read most of these and it make me wish I had more room in my head.
But of the 75 books here, I've read about half, and only one (the Mary Robinette Kowal) is one I wouldn't consider worthwhile.
I never learned to love alt-history. Maybe I haven't found the right story. Or I just find reversing facts unsettling.
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I'm not a huge alt-history fan myself. It's too easy to find holes in the present day setting when they've made a major change. I've enjoyed a handful, though -- Jo Walton's Small Change trilogy worked for me partially because it wasn't set today. In Kowal's case, I just find her writing flat and can't engage with it.
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I find much of science fiction to be insufferable fantasy even when people think it is hard sci-fi.
Why? Because when you understand bitcoin and the basics of economics, the worlds that are described are more absurd than portal guns. Tell me to believe in a portal gun, and I can do it, but tell me to imagine a futuristic world without sound money, or unnatural expansion beyond Earth that does not follow from economic interest, and I cannot suspend disbelief.
Bitcoin of course fixes this as new books will be written anchored in a plausible reality. Until then, a bitcoiner subset of such a list is worth providing.
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