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Chargement... Frank Herbertpar Tim O'Reilly
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Classification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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Of course, he hits on one of my criticisms of non-fiction writers: I detest that, and find it a weak intellect that finds small superscripts indicating a reference disrupting to readability. Not that O'Reilly's intellect is weak...clearly it is not, but that is laziness, and sometimes deliberate laziness. Rant off.
On science fiction as an informative, rather than predictive medium, Herbert says: "if I'd been born in my grandfather's time, I'd have made my grandfather's mistakes. There's no doubt of it. I just don't want to make my grandfather's mistakes today." and O'Reilly quotes Samuel Delaney: "Science fiction is the only area of literature outside poetry that is symbolistic in its basic conception. Its stated aim is to represent the world without reproducing it."
On Herbert's science fiction, O'Reilly said That quote I was trying to source? Per O'Reilly, "Herbert has said that the function of science fiction is not always to predict the future but sometimes to prevent it."
We learn in this a little of Herbert's life. On his one year at the University of Washington: "I wasn't interested in a degree. I was always interested in writing. I looked on schools, especially the higher levels, as a kind of cafeteria line."
We learn of Herbert's (and O'Reilly's) fascination with, even deification of, psychology. From Under Pressure: Mind you, the novel was published in 1952...mind control silliness abounded in the spy literature. And in the military, it seems.
Dune has psychological currents, as well as ecological and political and Herbet used that theme in many of his novels. And there are many parallels of history and culture that readers of Dune will no doubt notice, some obvious (Arabic), some less (twelfth century Hashishins): In Dune, there are allusions to something called the "Butlerian Jihad". O'Reilly thinks the original idea for that came from a fear of computers "in our own culture": O'Reilly no doubt knew of the 1970 film, "Colossus: The Forbin Project", when he wrote this, and there were the later Terminator and Matrix films, uncounted novels all capitalizing on that as a fear. Herbert "solved" it by codifying it in a distance past of his novel.
On the ecology of Dune and the lesson it teaches, O'Reilly says, "Ecology deals not with isolated effects, but with systems." His italics. Look how many in leadership positions today do not understand climate change and cite weather as reasons to dismiss.
On some of the politics of Dune sometimes lost to readers, O'Reilly says that the charisma and loyalty embodied by the Atreides code are tools of statecraft just as the the fear and propaganda of the Harkonnens. Herbert describes: I think that word choice misguided and a product of Herbert's time. The arrogant may be empowered by the meek, but I think they create themselves.
Now, O'Reilly spent some time with Herbert on his Bene Gesserit. He says "Much of the Bene Gesserit technology of consciousness is based on the insights of general semantics, a philosophy and training method developed in the 1930s by Alfred Korzybski," noting that Herbert studied general semantics about the time he was writing Dune. O'Reilly says Herbert and Korzybski was a disappointing revelation (Robert Anton Wilson was another adherent, though a giant in his own mind, couldn't hold a candle to Herbert's writing.) I'll refer the reader to Martin Gardner's Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science for more, but Gardner had this to say of Korzybski's "Bible of general semantics", Science and sanity: Garner said the Count (Korzybski) used the word "semantics" so broadly that it became meaningless. Herbert (and it seems O'Reilly) bought into a crank whose semi-pseudoscience had already began fading on his death in 1950.
On a (not labeled as such) transcendental theme in Dune, O'Reilly observes O'Reilly points to Dune Messiah and Children of Dune for the remainder of "the message".
One note from the analysis of the novel Destination: Void (prequel to the eventual Pandora Cycle trilogy), a character has solved a computer problem (essential to the theme of the book) that traditional logic had failed to solve up to that point. I'm an engineer that likes to "roll up his sleeves", though I much prefer to coach than show.
The first book I bought for myself was Dune Messiah, at a school book fair in 1972. My parents gave me a dollar and Dune was $1.45, I think, while Dune Messiah was $0.95. No surprise, though short, without the context of Dune it was quite confusing to his 11 year old.
I have more notes on Children of Dune but I'll stop here with this Internal consistency is important to me, as a reader, as well.
I lost interest in Herbert's later works. I've never finished his original Dune series - never got through Heretics of Dune. I grew and he diminished, beginning with Children of Dune, but Dune and Dune Messiah I've never outgrown. Maybe I've yet to grow into them.
Good biography of the author of my favorite science fiction novel. ( )