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Post by Roquefort Raider on Nov 19, 2019 15:39:49 GMT -5
1984's Dune Encyclopedia is a much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much better and genuine-sounding companion to Frank Herbert's Dune novels than the later books by Herbert's son and by Kevin Anderson could ever hope to be. Along parallel lines, I've enjoyed J.E.A. Tyler's "A Tolkien Companion" encyclopedia for many years. It's been revised a couple of times, most recently 2012. Karen Wynn Fonstad's "Atlas of Middle Earth" has great maps showing where each person was on each day of the year during the journeys of both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. That Atlas is one of my all-time favourite companion books. I also don't think that the Tolkien estates ever disavowed it, the way the (excellent) Dune encyclopedia was by the writers of the (sub-par) Dune prequels and Dune sequels. Sure, since it was not written by Tolkien, the Middle-Earth atlas is not considered "real"... but it does not contradict the original work either, and as such is a useful guide. And nobody writing «the further adventures of Aragorn and his a$$-kicking Rangers against the robotic monsters of Mordor» said that it should be disregarded, because thank Ilúvatar no such drivel was written!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2019 17:15:37 GMT -5
1984's Dune Encyclopedia is a much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much better and genuine-sounding companion to Frank Herbert's Dune novels than the later books by Herbert's son and by Kevin Anderson could ever hope to be. There. I said it! I must admit that I found the ones I have read to be entertaining if not up the philosophical standards of the original series.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Nov 19, 2019 18:06:39 GMT -5
1984's Dune Encyclopedia is a much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much better and genuine-sounding companion to Frank Herbert's Dune novels than the later books by Herbert's son and by Kevin Anderson could ever hope to be. There. I said it! I must admit that I found the ones I have read to be entertaining if not up the philosophical standards of the original series. You’re lucky. I read the original prequel trilogy, which I found was readable but was like standard fan fiction, in which every character is suddenly connected to every other and/or given a backstory pretty incompatible with what was found in the actual Dune novels. Not directly contradicting anything, mind you, but in the vein of “was it ever stated that Pa Kent was not a Mossad agent before he became a farmer? No? Then we should make it so because it would be cool! Oh, and perhaps Pa Kent had been contacted by Jor-El before Superman was sent to Earth? That would explain why he didn’t freak out when the baby demonstrated his super-strength!”...that kind of thing. Later I tried the Butlerian Jihad trilogy, and stopped after the first one which was at the level of a ten-year old kid retelling the story of Magnus, robot fighter, in his own words. Absolute dreck. Dreck, I say! Thank Shai-Hulud I got it from the public library! The description and reviews of the other ones, with more killer robots, multiple clones of the original characters (including evil clones! Yay!) and the like was, to say the least, not inviting at all. Meanwhile the Dune encyclopedia, for all that it is an actual work of fan fiction, keeps drawing me in just as the original trilogy did! I find its depiction of the Butlerian jihad much closer to the concepts that Herbert developed in his novels than what his actual heir came up with (brave humans against eeeevil robots who like to give the cuisinart treatment to innocent babies). As you say, Herbert’s work was often deeply philosophical, and the encyclopedia reflects that... unlike the prequels and sequels.
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Post by Duragizer on Nov 19, 2019 20:33:50 GMT -5
I love the first Dune novel. It's had a strong impact on my tastes in sci-fi; every time I read/watch a different sci-fi work, I can't help but compare it to Dune. On the other hand, the sequels didn't impress me as much. Though well-written with plenty of good elements, they got far too cynical for my tastes; halfway through God Emperor, Leto II's anti-religious/anti-humanist musings wore thin and I put the book down, never to pick it up again. I haven't touched the Brian Herbert/KJA books and certainly never will. I've never read anything from Herbert Jr., but I'm quite familiar with Anderson from his Star Wars and Saga of the Seven Suns material, and the man is a godawful writer.
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Post by brutalis on Nov 20, 2019 8:15:42 GMT -5
Egads, I read Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune while in high school during the summer of 1977. Never picked up another book in the series. Watched the 1984 David Lynch movie and enjoyed it. Watched the 2000 Sci-Fi Channel mini-series and the 2003 Children of Dune mini-series and thought they were quite good attempts to decipher the novels into something watchable. Hoping that I will also enjoy the upcoming movie and really have no desire for reading anything else from other writers of Dune at this time.
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Post by Icctrombone on Nov 20, 2019 21:22:29 GMT -5
I think that a " life coach" is a glorified friend that charges you for advice.
There I said it.
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Post by rberman on Nov 20, 2019 22:06:17 GMT -5
I think that a "life coach" is a glorified friend that charges you for advice. There I said it. That is exactly right. I am dubious of the whole field, as of stock analysts. "Put not your confidence in princes."
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,560
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Post by Confessor on Nov 20, 2019 23:22:25 GMT -5
I think that a " life coach" is a glorified friend that charges you for advice. There I said it. The whole "life coach" thing is for people with more money than sense. Actually, I had a bit of a falling out with a guy in the pub a couple of weeks ago who is a "Happiness Coach". A mutual friend told me a few days later that he was really pissed off about what I'd said. I felt a real sense of achievment that I'd made a happiness coach unhappy.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Nov 21, 2019 0:51:09 GMT -5
I think that a " life coach" is a glorified friend that charges you for advice. There I said it. back in my book store days I sold books to aspiring life coaches... you are absolutely correct. In the classes to get 'certified'.. they actually say as much. Also, Kevin Anderson is probably the worst professional writer in history. I don't get why people keep hiring him.
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Post by berkley on Nov 21, 2019 4:59:40 GMT -5
I think that a " life coach" is a glorified friend that charges you for advice. There I said it. The whole "life coach" thing is for people with more money than sense. Actually, I had a bit of a falling out with a guy in the pub a couple of weeks ago who is a "Happiness Coach". A mutual friend told me a few days later that he was really pissed off about what I'd said. I felt a real sense of achievment that I'd made a happiness coach unhappy.
And besides, I'm sure his Happiness Coach will take care of any bad feelings that might linger - might even give him a discount, as a fellow scam-artist!
To be honest, this is the first time I ever heard of "Happiness Coaches". I have heard of "Life Coaches" and "mentors", but always just assumed they were just older, more experienced friends or acquaintances who gave advice, not self-proclaimed service providers who charged a fee. Crazy.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Nov 21, 2019 6:54:50 GMT -5
Such people know how it works, though: create a line of work that requires some skill but not too much, convince a few people that the service you render is really useful, and all of a sudden not only is there a new industry around but you also happen to be an expert in it, on account of having been there first.
Hash tag ritual counselors, life coaches, equity consultants and comic-book appraisers.
It’s a pretty smart move, as most emptors don’t caveat all that much.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Nov 21, 2019 8:51:37 GMT -5
There's a bit by comedian Chris Porter on "life coaches" (you can find it on youtube...it's got adult language to post here) where he says life coaches are just people that found out getting their doctorate to be a psychiatrist "is really f'ing hard". So they decided to be a life coach, a job they made up in their heads.
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Post by rberman on Nov 21, 2019 8:57:15 GMT -5
There's a bit by comedian Chris Porter on "life coaches" (you can find it on youtube...it's got adult language to post here) where he says life coaches are just people that found out getting their doctorate to be a psychiatrist "is really f'ing hard". So they decided to be a life coach, a job they made up in their heads. Not unlike how essential oil MLMers wish they were physicians.
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Post by brutalis on Nov 21, 2019 9:38:54 GMT -5
There's a bit by comedian Chris Porter on "life coaches" (you can find it on youtube...it's got adult language to post here) where he says life coaches are just people that found out getting their doctorate to be a psychiatrist "is really f'ing hard". So they decided to be a life coach, a job they made up in their heads. Not unlike how essential oil MLMers wish they were physicians. Ugghh on the oil folks. We had a Nurse here at the hospital we had to terminate because she was trying to sell her oil to employees and patients. TO PATIENTS! How dumb and illegal is that for a licensed Professional Practicing Nurse to do? It might smell nice and it could possibly help calm someone's mood but there has been NO FACTUAL STUDIES proving it can do much of anything else medically.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Nov 21, 2019 9:53:05 GMT -5
There's a bit by comedian Chris Porter on "life coaches" (you can find it on youtube...it's got adult language to post here) where he says life coaches are just people that found out getting their doctorate to be a psychiatrist "is really f'ing hard". So they decided to be a life coach, a job they made up in their heads. Not unlike how essential oil MLMers wish they were physicians. I had to read up on it a bit, but yes that seems like an accurate comparison.
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