Roderick: Roderick Book 1

Paperback Editions

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But rather than identify with them Roderick is scared by them, and at one point performs an act which likens him to a human more than a machine. Religion is explored, and given a heavier treatment than the first book. Not content at just ridiculing the Catholic church, Sladek turns Zen Buddhism in to a stock-trading and gambling sham, and takes aim at a celebrity religion which smells not unlike Scientology. The darker tone of the book reflects in the conclusion, which is enough to make you go away and think for a few hours.

Jan 19, Christopher Rush rated it liked it. So I read the first book about two years ago, and it was fine. Sladek loved his puns and his satire and his Eliot-like wellspring of allusions and knowledge and Joycean showoffiness. The first book was a bit slow, intentionally so, giving us Roderick's buildingsroman, if you will.

I can be clever, too, when I wanna. It's all a a delightful, whimsical romp of how dangerous it is to put your faith and trust in machines and also be afraid of machines. Or something like that. Sometimes, as with So I read the first book about two years ago, and it was fine. Sometimes, as with the second, it gets a bit tendentious. It may be good to take this in smallish increments. Sladek wants you to remember just about every character, as they all come back again and again, and then again a few more times, especially in the second book.

The second book, which I somehow read rather rapidly, enjoys that sequel-privilege of assuming you know all the characters, and since Roderick is all grown up you don't have the rather irritating "growing up" section from the first book. The further into it you get, the more layered you remember it all is: It's terribly clever and extremely well-written, but the saltiness and satire tend to bunch up and annoy.

We should have listened to John Sladek back in the day. This may seem nonsensically outdated, what with all the Machines Lib and this and that, but we are all using a great deal more technology in than we were in How did he know? Probably because he was using a lot more technology in than he did in Well, we didn't listen.

And now you people are addicted to cellular phones and tablets and pagers and blueberries and snozberries and all sorts of things. Students look at me like I'm insane when I suggest they write things by hand instead of type things on their computers at home with their earspuds in their ears with their instantaneously streamed music and shows and hula hoops and whatnot. The Scientists are out there dabbling with AI computers and soon we'll all be their slaves just like in Terminator.

Except they killed us all just like the Cylons, didn't they? We should have listened. You may like this book, or these books, especially if you like layered stories with believable characters and a "living world" in which time passes for everyone without explicit descriptions of it I guess Mr. GRR Martin didn't invent that after all , and one that satirizes computers and machines and drug abuse and thoughtlessness and asks genuine questions about life and sentience and worth and all that, you may like it.

It doesn't tie off every single thread nicely, but it ties them all up well enough if you pay attention enough. It was all right. Jul 10, Nenad Jaksic rated it really liked it. Roderick is an aquired taste, not everyone will appreciate Sladek's kind of humor.

To me it was hilarious and I kept chuckling all the way throughout the book. It reads kind of like watching an episode of Arrested development, the jokes are delivered in almost a rapid fire tempo, and if you don't pay much attention you'll probably even miss few of them. See if you like this, and decide whether Roderick is for you: Forget about did he do it, get down to work on why?

1. Keys To Becoming A Divine Warrior?
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3. „Andere Räume“ von Michel Foucault (German Edition).

Why, why, as our police colleague likes to say. I'm doing a think piece to go with this story, on how all these cybernetics guys are repressed faggots, sadists and what have you. I picked up coupla their magazines, got a list here somewhere of some of the kinky words they use, strong sex angle running right through it, listen to this, bit, byte, RAM, how about those? Stand-alone software, how about that? Debugger, you can't make it plainer, and even the company names, how about Polymorphic Systems, how about The Digital Group?

Or Texas Instruments, ever wonder what a Texas Instrument is? IBM, says a lot there Not what I was expecting at all, this is a satirical novel about a robot who nobody believes is a robot, despite him telling them so at any opportunity. I'm not exactly sure what the author is trying to tell me about the human condition but it is an enjoyable ride. Not too much plot, more a series of increasingly strange episodes. Mar 30, Sam rated it really liked it Recommends it for: People who like Vonnegut or Robots.

This book reminded me of two other novels: Sladek has a lot of the same sensibilities as Vonnegut as a writer. It reminded me of Heinlein's novel because of the use of religious matter and an alien entity in this case a robot pretending to be human who is introduced into our society and has t This book reminded me of two other novels: It reminded me of Heinlein's novel because of the use of religious matter and an alien entity in this case a robot pretending to be human who is introduced into our society and has to make sense of it.

Roderick the robot provides Sladek the perfect vantage point to evaluate the mankind in a nearly objective fashion. This novel is funny, but it is pretty dark in its overall themes, such as the absurdity of life and the inability to find a purpose in said absurd life. Sladek does a good job providing many view points on the idea of what makes an entity human or at least a worthwhile, thinking creature, through his use of various religions and philosophical view points.

This novel really does a good job of progressing an absurdist view and Sladek does some interesting things with his prose, such as providing Roderick's stream of consciousness, which is fairly entertaining in his naive state. Nov 03, Kirk Macleod rated it liked it. With five titles left of my journey through David Pringle's Science Fiction: The story is highly satirical and follows Roderick, the world's first self-aware robot, as he navigates his way through human culture. Much of the novel is designed to make fun of the modern world from the point of view of an innocent.

Roderick is created in a second With five titles left of my journey through David Pringle's Science Fiction: Roderick is created in a second-rate university hired by a representative from NASA who is only using the project to cover his own embezzling. As Roderick makes his way through the world and to be fair, Roderick has no gender, so I should be saying "makes its way" it comes across all sorts of groups and institutions that simply refuse to see it as a robot, and instead assume Roderick is a disabled child.

Mass Market Paperback Verified Purchase. The beginning of this book has a slow start but it eventually picks of steam and becomes quite an interesting and intriguing mystery. It's really a dark, almost scary book to read and not really appropriate for children under It should have a PG rating for fantasy fright. It is not intended to be a funny book as a some reviews suggested. It does over illustrate, over describe and use too many adverbs and adjective to animate or bring to life, so to speak, the characters, surroundings and environment. In other words a lot of fluff, fillers and verbiage.

For instance, a fight scene is covered in a page and a half due to the immense amount of detail given. So alot of the material can be skimmed over quickly. Having said all that, it's really a very good and enjoyable book to read. I already have Deeper the 2nd book and Freefall the 3rd book in the series but haven't read them yet.

So I'm looking forward to more nailbiting adventures ahead. I understand Tunnels may become a movie soon. Wish they would do a movie like I heard they might It is great and keeps adults and kids noses in the book. There are a lot of English terms think Harry Potter but you can figure it out. Great mystery and something a family or individual can really get into.

I sat on my couch and read This book series has consumed a large portion of my life. I bought a copy of the first book a couple weeks after it was released, and I read it and loved it. I sat on my couch and read through the whole thing without stopping. I know it sounds unhealthy, but I legitimately did not even eat for the 28 hours that I slowly read through it. See all reviews. Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers.

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