Podcast - Adam Savage Project
Potpourri and Part 3 – 9/1/2015
Adam, Norm, and Will go deep on a variety of increasingly tangential tangents, then conclude the Seveneves Spoilercast.
Comments (45)
Adam, Norm, and Will go deep on a variety of increasingly tangential tangents, then conclude the Seveneves Spoilercast.
One Day Builds
Adam embarks on one of his most ambitious builds yet: fulfil…
Show And Tell
Adam recently completed a build of the royal St. Edwards cro…
Making
Viewers often ask to see Adam working in real-time, so this …
One Day Builds
Adam and Norm assemble a beautifully machined replica prop k…
One Day Builds
One of the ways Adam has been getting through lockdown has b…
Making
Adam unboxes and performs a quick test of this novel new hel…
Making
When Adam visited Weta Workshop early last year, he stopped …
One Day Builds
Adam tackles a shop shelf build that he's been putting off f…
Show And Tell
Time for a model kit build! This steampunk-inspired mechanic…
One Day Builds
Adam reveals his surprise Christmas present for his wife--a …
Private video?
Private video?
same here. Private video
Must be one hell of a spoilercast 😉
I’m getting Private Video as well
Helvete
Public video.
You fellows should cruise on over to Casey Neistat’s Youtube channel for a thorough rundown on the (not quite) myriad number of “personal transportation devices” (for want of a better term). It seems that, if it rolls and has a motor, then Casey has demoed/used it.
Awesome, thank you
I completely with Norm’s comment that the book should have ended at the second part. The third part felt out of place and because it had to illustrate a whole new world i didn’t enjoy it as part of the story I had just read. Of course we want to know that humanity makes it but it felt like the authors plans for the future were quickly cobbled it together for the sake of an ending it did not need! The third part could be something like the hobbit, introducing you to a new earth with characters and clans which could be followed by more books, I would definitely read more books from this universe.
P.S I love this whole tested book club thing
Could not agree more. Really formative book from my childhood, my only concern is that it’s very YA.
The first two parts of the book would make such an amazing TV show. Personally I would envisage it as a maybe 12-part mini series rather than several seasons of television (mainly because I couldn’t handle the stress for that long). How part three would then fit in would be difficult as it’s such a huge tonal shift. Spin off series maybe?
Norm, totally with you on the Gwendoline Christie idea!
Should read/listen to “Lord of All Things” by Andreas Eschbach. Science fiction, nanotech, great book. Narrator does a great job.
Excellent, as always!
Seveneves. I think it owes a lot to The Millennial Project by Marshall T Savage, but not in a bad way at all.
Redshirts! Done. The audio book with +Wil Wheaton is even better! (When’s he gonna be on Tested somewhere??? Like Talking Room for example….)
Would you consider fan reads of your ads???
Hey Guys, the Space Boffins Podcast (great podcast btw) recently turned me onto the fantastic record Race For Space by Public Service Broadcasting. PSB’s thing is to take archival media and build music around it. For Race For Space, they took NASA comms chatter, CCCP propaganda, and other archival audio and made a fabulous record around it. I found it perfect listening fo the first 2 parts of Seveneves.
Sample here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHIo6qwJarI
I think that Aubrey Plaza from Parks and Rec would make the perfect Aida.
I always mix up Scalzi and Doctorow, don’t know why, but they’re both good. Any love for Little Brother or Down & Out in the Magic Kingdom?
http://craphound.com/category/littlebrother/
http://craphound.com/category/down/
This was my first Neil S book and I loved it. Any recommendations on which NS book I should read next understanding that this has set the bar?
Muffley wow. yes.
I have to agree with Norm as well. The book could have ended without the third part. We knew enough that humanity would survive. And then it could set up a series of books afterword. The first one being part three, and then each of the various races could have their own book or books.
On the rocketeer buckle one of the quickest ways to tell the difference between and original and a replica is to look for these tabs holes on the vertical surface covering for the pushers.
The replicas missed these little manufacturing details.
Just downloaded Redshirts from Audible. Will start listening tomorrow on my way to work. Making sure my homework is done before the next podcast is out.
Have any of you read or listened to any of the books by Robert F. Hamilton? I recommend starting with the commonwealth saga books, Pandora`s Star and Judas Unchained. A fantastic listen if you are into “space opera”.
Thanks for all the great podcasts!
I’m reading the book “2312”. It is a fantastic book with a lot of believable near-future technology.
I love your book recommendations. Here’s one for you:
“The Warrior’s Apprentice” by Hugo winner Lois McMaster Bujold. The main character has more charm than Han Solo.
Bujold is a TERRIFIC writer, and, I won’t lie, I’d love to see you feature something written by a woman.
It’s a bummer having not read Seveneves yet I didn’t get to listen to half the podcast.
That being said, every book that you’ve recommended so far has been thoroughly enjoyable, so I just went and ordered a copy.
You have some good point there. It’s on my list to re-read, but I couldn’t rember too clearly if it would be too ‘light’. Fantastic books however.
The ending you referenced was actually the end of 2010: Odyssey Two. It was Jupiter (since each novel takes place in an alternate universe because, let’s face it: it’s the easiest way to explain the changes in science and technogy between all four of Arthur C. Clarke’s books) that exploded and became a star, and the time in the coda at the end was 20,001ad. 🙂
In the end of 2001, Bowman transforms into the star child and returns to earth before realizing he could do anything, and had all the time in the world…
Two Things in regards to Seveneves,
Firstly If the President never got into space, how many people would of survived since 90% of the deaths are in effect consequences to her actions.
Secondly after reading the book i had no hate for Aida since all she did was fight for her survival doing what she had to, so when she said that her offspring would be hated above all others made no sense. On the other hand its Julia i would of sent out an airlock with a smile on my face.
Bryce Dallas Howard for Dinah Macquarie.
New here so not really sure what the policy is on spoilers in comments (even though the podcast was well advertised as a spoilercast!) – so please delete/amend/hide if necessary.
Anyway: SEVENEVES SPOILERS AHEAD – don’t read this until you’ve read the book!
I wasn’t convinced by the survival of the pingers. I can buy the success of the space based races – they had access to advanced genetic technology, room to grow and abundent resources. I can buy the success of the diggers although that is more of a stretch – they clearly would have had a much harsher time of it but they had some space to grow and at least some resources. But to survive starting from a submarine? What’s that first step when the sub’s systems start breaking down and resources start running out? That just seemed like too big of a jump to me…
Here’s hoping that this is because I don’t have a big enough imagination and one day NS will explain how that worked!
You guys cry a lot when you read. I just get mad.
I had to stop reading for a day whenever Julia showed up. It was immediately apparent that she was going to fuck things up and ruin the straight-laced engineering based decisions for the rest of part two. That drove me nuts but it did drive the story quite well.
Part three was my least favorite because, well, that kind of SciFi just isn’t really my thing. The 100-150 pages between the start of part three and the discovery of the Diggers literally put me to sleep a few times. Again, beautifully descriptive and sophisticated, but I was ready to get on with it already. The best part about part 3 is when I figured out ahead of time that the diggers survived, but unfortunately I did that at least 75 pages before they made contact, so I just had to endure the lengthy descriptions of future habitats until someone got stabbed. From there on out, totally a great final ~100 or so pages and a beautiful ending.
Great book.
I joined the Tested book club after reading the Martian. Seveneves was a great read. The author’s lush descriptions left little to the imagination which could get somewhat annoying. Unlike some of you, I felt at home with the third piece since it had that sudden but inevitable betrayal (trying not to spoil too much). With regards to the Doob and his family I thought the author left out the human aspect of departure and separation. Maybe Doob was ok with it, but I would be a freggin wreck.
First of Thanks for getting me to read Seveneves. Secondly, I’m surprised nobody have talked about Alistar Reynolds books. The Revalation Space “series” and his latest trilogy “Poseidons Children” are books that I am more or less sure all of you would like. Categorized as “Hard Fiction” and Alistar having a past with ESA, time dilatation has never been more interesting!
Finished Redshirts… Hilarious!! Ending was awesome. Seveneves didnt bring a tear to the eye but the ending to Redshirts did. A friend recommended “Old Man’s War” by the same author.
I am halfway through Red Shirts! Just started yesterday, so far I am really digging it. I can not wait for the “Spoilercast”!
I Just finished Seveneves today and am catching up on your spoilercasts… While I’m thinking of it (because you’re talking about it) I thought I’d say I pictured Tav as being something like Anderson Cooper… A ‘legit’ news personality that is fairly well known for reporting from hazard areas and embraces modern/social media – politics aside, he’s the real-world analog that just sprang into my mind and stuck.
Speaking to Adam’s point about theater being one of the first things to return after an apocalypse, a relatively new book “Station Eleven” mostly takes place in post-apocalyptic Michigan and follows a Shakespearean theater troupe that has been traveling a circuit of small settlements for 10 years. It’s very good, I recommend the audio version. You can find the author’s page on the book here — http://emilymandel.com/stationeleven.html
I finished the book on Saturday, and thought it was pretty good. Perhaps it’s not fair to compare, but I liked The Martian better.
Sometimes I feel like the descriptions were a little cumbersome though. Too much detail went into what I felt were trivial things.
I guess I fall into the not a huge fan of the third part group of people. I would have been happy with the book ending after part 2. Part of my mixed feelings were due to the focus in the third book. While the first ones focused mainly on Dinah, the last one seemed to jump between Kath and Ty.
At any rate, boo for Lucy Liu Norm. Sign me up for Maggie Q though and Gwendoline Christie was exactly how I pictured Tekla.
Now I’ve moved on to Ready Player One. Wil Wheaton seems to be doing a great job. Think I’ll do Redshirts next.
I’m enjoying the “Tested Book Club”.
I just finished reading Seveneves and then listened to Will and Adam’s take on parts 1 and 2, and then everyone’s take on part 3.
I really enjoyed this book. Even the third part. Had the third part of the book not been in there and the book ended at part 2, I would have gasped at the reveal with an, “Oh my god” moment, but then that would be followed by a, “–but then what? So we have seven females that MIGHT be able to resurrect the human race?”
I want to know if the Mars expedition made it. In my mind, though, they all died from exposure to cosmic rays.
I can’t edit my post, but I just remembered one other thing:
WHAT’S THE PURPOSE? I want to know what The Purpose is!
Finally finished the book and podcast.
It was OK. I agree with the comments of “overly optimistic”. I can’t belive that seven people could raise a civilization in space from a small habitat. Just not enough readily available resources and energy. Certainly not in a sub. 5k is not enough time to “evolve.” And I don’t even want to believe that personal grudges would carry on for 200 generations.
Oh and, guys, the comment about “willful ignorance and the rise of modern conservatism”. Not cool! There’s more than enough ignorance to go around left and right unfortunately. Don’t be smug.
Late to the show since I finally finished listening to the Seveneves audiobook.
My brain painted Julia as Mary McDonnell (Roslin on Battlestar Galactica). For some reason the narrator’s voice along with the female-president-in-space connection hit and I couldn’t see her any other way.
The lesson here is, don’t do a book or film review without Norm! Will and Adam’s rambling discussion last time had its charm, but Norm really gives the thing structure.
While the idea of continuing the stories of the descendants in whatever medium is compelling, I think that a couple more books need to be written to catch everybody up. Let’s call it “Pingers” and “Diggers”. 🙂
I am late to the game but I dutifully took on board not to watch the two spoiler casts until I’d finished the book, which took a lot longer than I expected.
First I pretty much got the title immediately and was pretty certain who those seven would be as they were individually introduced, killing off some of the likes of Markus seemed just an effort to ensure that it wasn’t too coincidental those who survived until the end were the main characters we’d met at the beginning, Dinah, Ivy, Doc, Julia, Moira and Tekla. I also wasn’t keen on the changing of terminology “Agent plus” to “A0.010” to “Day 30.” For the most part I was happy to accept the first part science at face value and enjoyed the character development although like Will says there are some loose ends.
Part three, the return to earth seemed to be 300pages of world building, describing the habitat ring, the eye, cradle followed by 100pages of actual story, they meet the diggers who they fight, the pingers who in just 250 generations have evolved into Seals and they have nanosuits made of nats but no high capacity memory chips, all seems a little hypocritical. Also why did they fly the glider halfway, then take an ark then ride in a military transport instead of just flying direct with the glider?
Until mentioned it I hadn’t noticed Seveneves was a palindrome, perhaps a metaphor for returning to where you started?
So a few frustrations, not so easy a read for me personally, but I did mostly enjoy it.
i paused this video about three weeks ago, finally got through the last third of the book (that took me about two and a half weeks) and just finished now. i liked the ending but goddamn, after the horrifically depressing middle portion it really was a chore to get through the rest!