BOTM January 2008 - 球状闪电

Home New Posts

Page 3 of 4 < 12 3 4 >

Altair -

Hi everyone,

I have just rediscovered this forum and may participate. I have only intermittent access to my

computer but was able to read three chapters of this months story. I am a sci-fi fan and so have

enjoyed it this far.

Pleco Software Learn Chinese with our Dictionaries for Palm and Pocket PC.

Learn Chinese in China Learn to speak Chinese 1MonthChinese.com -Mandarin School in China.

Chinese Textbooks Wide range, cheap, varied languages. Also Chinese cartoons, toys, gifts.

Study Chinese in Beijing Affordable Mandarin language courses at BLCU with ChinaUnipath.com.

HNHSoft Dictionary Learn Chinese on Smartphone and PDA with real person's voice.

XueXueXue IQChinese Get beyond the plateau.Take your Mandarin to a new level.

Chinese in Lijiang Short term Chinese study in a beautiful town with a focus on daily life.

MandarinTube Chinese Access to current everyday Chinese language and culture, 24/7.

Learn Chinese Homestay Chinese course, cultural activities & volunteer events in China.

Learn Chinese Online 1-on-1 instant tutoring, diverse courses, native teachers. FREE trial now!

Nihao Chinese Progam Free one-on-one Chinese lesson. Win 5-years of free lessons now!

About Ads (and how to hide them) -- Your message here

imron -

Quote:

I have just rediscovered this forum and may participate.

Well, I guess that makes for a whopping total of two then

imron -

Well, in order to make the deadline I decided to just read and not type up any notes. I'm now only

a couple of chapters from the end. A quick summary of events: they figure out what ball-lightning

is and how to create it. This of course gets turned into a weapon, with the characteristic that it

can pass through walls/objects and also target and destroy specific objects (living things,

electronics etc) without affecting anything else in the surrounding area (read the book if you

want to know the explanations for why this is so , the author definitely has some interesting

ideas).

The weapon is first used when terrorists take control (and threaten to blow up) a nuclear reactor.

The above-mentioned characteristics allow them to kill the terrorists without needing to even

enter the building and without harming the reactor. An unfortunate consequence is that they also

kill the bus-load of school children that were being held hostage by the terrorists. This is too

much for 陈, who decides to quit the ball-lightning team and only work on researching technology

with non-military application. Based on technology developed during the ball-lightning research,

陈 invents a machine for predicting when tornados will form. This then leads to foreign

researchers developing a means to prevent tornados before they form, based on the same technology.

War breaks out, and it turns out that the research into the anti-tornado machine also led to the

development of a machine for creating super tornados, which is used with devastating effect

against the Chinese navy, and is something that would not have been possible without 陈's

research. 陈 tries to get back in touch with people from the ball-lightning team, but due to the

top-secret nature of the project, the previous base they were using is now abandoned, and the

phone numbers he had for everyone no longer work.

He then sets about figuring out how to develop something to counter the tornado machine.

That's about where I'm at now, and hopefully I should be able to finish the rest of the book by

tonight

roddy -

Excellent, I thought this one had maybe died a death. The macro-electron stuff was fairly well

done I thought. Are you actually enjoying it? Or just reading out of a sense of duty?

imron -

Yeah the macro-electron stuff was good. I am enjoying it, however there was a period in the middle

of the month where things were quite busy and so I didn't do much reading. This, coupled with my

sense of duty, has led to a spurt of reading over the last couple of days to make sure I finish it

in time.

roddy -

If I remember correctly, they take the macro-physics stuff to its inevitable conclusion quite soon

- but I won't spoil it for you . . .

imron -

Yeah, I have a few ideas about where it's heading with that, I'll see later tonight how everything

pans out.

zhwj -

Glad that this one was well-received. I'd like to get in on a BOTM in the future (are we skipping

February because of the holiday?) - hopefully there'll be a month when I'm not busy and haven't

read the book already.

Just an FYI: the author's subsequent novel, 三体, is now available at major bookstores in

Beijing and is a 2-5 day order at Joyo. According to people who've picked it up, it differs from

the serialized version (the one that's found online) in the chapter order - the Cultural

Revolution stuff is introduced later instead of appearing in the prologue.

I'm not sure what that will do to the pacing - in general, I found Ball Lightning (except for the

sentimental back-story info-dump at the very end) a smoother read than Three Body, but the

restructuring might help - we'll jump right into the story when the main character starts having

constant visions of a countdown clock. Or it may just have been done to distinguish it from Wang

Jinkang's 蚁生, a recent SF novel that also opened with an anti-intellectual struggle session.

If you liked Ball Lightning, you'll probably like Three Body, too. Weird mysteries of particle

physics, a strong female character, the military-industrial complex, plus apocalyptic cults and

possibly even aliens. The eccentric physicist Ding Yi shows up in a more minor role.

imron -

Quote:

are we skipping February because of the holiday?

Nope, February is 停車暫借問. Will start a new thread about it shortly.

Quote:

The eccentric physicist Ding Yi shows up in a more minor role.

This is the one character I didn't really like in 球状闪电. It seemed like to every difficult

problem he'd just say oh it's easy, this is how we solve it.

Also, does this mean there is continuity between the books, and that the events occur in a post

ball-lightning world?

imron -

Well, I finished this last night, and I have to say it was a pretty disappointing ending. The part

about 林云 seemed pretty useless and could have been dropped entirely without having much of an

impact on the story, also I think the way the war was "won" was a bit of a cop-out . I also didn't

really like the way that 陈 seemed to go from being an intelligent and focused person, to almost

appearing like a bit of an idiot, overshadowed by 丁仪's genius.

So, overall an interesting read, that is let down by a weak ending.

All times are GMT +8. The time now is 04:40 PM.

Chinese language, learning chinese china, HSK, learn chinese writing, learn chinese characters, HSK Exam, Chinese School, teach chinese, Chinese Schools, learn mandarin, learning mandarin, learning chinese, study in chinese, learn chinese abroad, learn chinese words, speak chinese, chinese studies, how to learn chinese, learn chinese china, learn chinese online, Chinese language online, learn chinese in china, study chinese online, Chinese language program, Chinese language school, Chinese language schools, chinese speaking, learn chinese, learn mandarin online, learn to write chinese, beijing Chinese language school, Chinese language china, Chinese language classes, Chinese language courses, Chinese language learning, Chinese language lessons, learn Chinese language, learn to speak chinese, mandarin learn, study chinese, study chinese in china, studying chinese, china chinese in learning, Chinese language class, Chinese language exchange, Chinese language in china, Chinese language lesson, Chinese language study, Chinese language tutor, learn chinese beijing, learn chinese in beijing, learn chinese pinyin, learn to speak mandarin chinese, learning chinese online, learning the Chinese language, mandarin learn online, study chinese china, studying chinese online