A lecture called The Two Cultures had been referenced several times in discussions that I’ve found interesting, so I snagged a modern print of the essay to spend some time with. I’ve read the print from 1959 instead of the follow up print from 1963. This text is based on a talk, so its delivery is conversational. I was surprised at how many more interesting cultural topics were discussed in the text. It may be shameful to admit that I sort of expected a diatribe from a scientist about the luddites of literary/cultural academia… but it was even keel and more focused on generally how this rift impacts all of society.

Frequenting /r/printsf sometimes you’ll see someone talking about a text you enjoyed with references to sampling other authors. Peter Watts kept showing up so eventually I wanted to sample the work he is most lauded for (currently Blindsight). Blindsight and its sidequel Exchopraxia were released in omnibus form as Firefall. These were impressive texts, but when looking more into him I became enamored with the nuggets of lore spread around his website. The writing, the typesetting, the tendencies to include legitimate references to academic discussion supporting his fictional spins… this guy has a knack for upholding the hard side of science fiction.