Episode · The Ezra Klein Show · 2023-02-24
Books mentioned on Inside the Minds of Spiders, Octopuses and Artificial Intelligence
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Children of Time
Children of Time is an acclaimed science fiction novel by Adrian Tchaikovsky that explores the rise of an advanced civilization engineered by intelligent spiders and a nanovirus.
Discussed“and then I realized he had to first read the other book in the series children of time which is an advanced civilization built by spiders and that's of course the second best description of any book I've ever read after the octopus won”
Where to get it
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Children of Ruin
Adrian Tchaikovsky’s ambitious science fiction novel, Children of Ruin, explores complex themes of first contact, evolutionary biology, and intelligence through the lens of an advanced civilization built by octopuses.
Discussed“so a while back I did an episode on octopuses and I immediately got all these emails from you saying have you read Adrian Tchaikovsky's children of ruin children of her and when I looked it up turns out to be a Sci-Fi book about an advanced civilization built by octopuses which sold completely sold immediately on that”
Where to get it
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Children of Memory
Discussed“and then Tchaikovsky brought out his new book children of memory and this one is about corbetts about a kind of bird or at least that's what it is supposed to be about”
Where to get it
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After atlas
After Atlas is a science fiction novel by Emma Newman set within her expansive Planetfall series, exploring complex societal structures and human politics.
Recommended“after Atlas by Emma Newman is when I'd throw out there that's a relatively recent science fiction book in her planetful series and I throw it in there mostly because it has some of the most sort of bleakly plausible bad human politics going on there”
Where to get it
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Babel
Babel by R.F.
Recommended“now another recent book is um RF quang's Babel which has the most astonishing examination of imperialism and language and appropriation as part of its uh fantasy plot”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (2) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Passing Mountain in the Sea
“and then also in fiction I mean the zero book is also the mountain in the sea and I think a couple of others and part of it seems to me to be motivated by since not just that octopuses are smart although they they are they're remarkable”
Passing Melancholy elephants
“last thing I talked a bit about a Sci-Fi story in here that I could not remember the name of are amazing fact Checker Michelle Harris found it it is melancholy elephants by spider Robinson and we will put a link to that in show notes as always if you got any suggestions guest ideas feedback to send us as”