Destination Void, By Frank Herbert

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First thing first- this' one hell of a tough book to read! :blink:

Man, FH uses so much technobabble here...is he tryin to tell us exactly how to build a concious computer or just tripping?

But so far it's great, and I'm about half through. I've already read its two sequels a few years back(The Jesus Incident and The Lazarus Effect) in Hebrew, but this time I'm reading it in English, thanks to Freak(and it hasn't even been translated to Hebrew yet! <_< ), and it's quite hard, more so because I usually read it late at night.

As some might've noticed, my sig has changed a bit, adding a quote from this great book(no, the one in red is the NOD motto from C&C :P ).

This post has been edited by Edric on Feb 10 2006, 02:02 PM

I've read the Jesus Incident but I haven't tried this one yet. I'm gonna have to though if it is as good as JI.

I don't know how TJI is in English, and my level is pretty good for a second tongue, but it's damn hard! Worse than Dune on that aspect.

I've had this book in my collection for years, but haven't tried it yet.

But it was the same for the Dune books; all it took was the right frame of mind.

Here's a review on the book so far:

Frank Herbert: I dare you to understand WTF these guys are talking about and building!

Flattery: I wanna pull the trigger cuz everyone here talks down on God! <_<

Bickel: Well, I'm such a cold hearted pain in the ass, so I don't really give a damn if you do so, I just wanna get you all mad.

Timberlake: All these lives! I must protect all these lives! Ahh!

Prudence: Damn I need a cold shower...with all these guys together. Oh heck, I'm so horney I'll take up anything that comes my way!

The Earthling: Must f**k up! must malfunction! must make errors in sensors!

OMC Little Joe: I'm awake! God help me, I'm awake!

Was that from the book or just your interpretation of it?

My interpentation. Damn, FH uses so many of his themes in Dune in here too.
All the high awarness(usually by drugs) stuff, that Prudence even had a moment when her mind was behaving like a computer(mentat), all sorts of stuff.

I'm dead tired now from reading it(and it's 10 minutes to 5 AM here).

I've just started reading this book and I'm only up to the 3rd chapter. I am aware of the story of the book, I've read a couple of reviews but please people don't post any spoilers.

I've noticed a few things about this book already. . . . .

"Organic Mental Core" = A strange similarity with the Cogitors/Cymeks of the Butlerian Jihad series.

"SHIP" = Omnious

Erasmus = I don't think there is a sentient robot in the book so he must be a BH&KJA creation.

I don't think P&B really copied from this book, it's really old and isn't too relevant to the Duniverse.
Are you too finding the language level a bit difficult?

Yeah but I can't help but read other books by Frank Herbert and look for themes and similarities with the Dune Series. [Plus there is a remote possibility there were sketchy notes left behind by Frank herbert based on ideas from his other books that BH & KJA built on].

I'm only up to chapter 3 and so far the writting style is ok to follow but I have noticed that there is a difference with his other works.

I mean when they get to all the discusions about techi and philosophical stuff later on.

Well, I've completed my routine check here so I'll go get some sleep.

I've finished it! :D That's a damn good book, a must read!

And that AI sounds just like me too, patronising and saying it's God and all! :lol: :rolleyes:

I finished it too. It was amazing, especially the last hundred pages. It really seemed like a prequel to Dune and the Ship was a lot more interesting than Omnius. I'm gonna have to reread TJI and The Lazarus Effect. Even a little mind expanding drugs added to the mix.
I'm thinking of adding a similar quote to yours from the book, orald.
"None of us are awake"

Yea, maybe that "OMG zombies!1!!1" part too... :laugh:
Raj's better on TJI IMO.

this was one of the densest books I've ever read. It's way above my head, the technobabble is the cause of this. It's everything but an easy book, the story seems obscured by the theme, and only near the end everything picks up steam and pieces fall into place.

I finished re-reading it just last week after many years, I'd forgoten what a shocker and a cliffhanger it ended on.

I'm glad I had the next book handy to continue with.

I thought it was very good, the technobable can mostly be ignlred as long as you understand what they are trying to accomplish in each step.

Just finished this the other day. Luckily I've just read a whole heap of Huxley (I think there was a reference in D:V?). Not that I understood all of it. Must re-read sometime. Was FH experimenting with hallucinogens as well in these days? :)

I really enjoyed this book. The technology-speak stands out as an annoyance at the start, but the construction of the computer becomes interesting and I believe that the concepts are still pretty relevant. I am surrounded by people who deal with control systems etc at work and I'm impressed with what FH wrote, considering the time it was written. All in all, its an interesting more science orientated speculation of the nature of the mind to complement and contrast with Huxley's philosophical and "experimental" writings (those that I have read anyway)

On another note, I must say that I really enjoy the devious/agenda pursuing sides of all of FH's characters. There is some tasty stuff in this book. Some of the plot didn't seem to get fully explored, i.e. Prudence's experimentation - or was the last scenes the limit to that plot inclusion? I'll see if any is included in TJI.

I think I will re-read the last chapter or two... there's more than I got the 1st time i'm sure