Halfway through...

This just in - the exams are officially half done. Three more and freedom will be mine! In fact, I'm only really concerned about the next one (Operating Systems) - the remaining two aren't exceptionally large or difficult to remember.

I was considering ranting a bit about our OS syllabus, but on second thought - forget it. Suffice it to say that we, who should properly have been trained on BACI and Nachos, are reduced to memorizing useless facts about modern operating systems in the guise of so called "case studies."

Back to more(or less) mundane things. Interestingly, I've actually read two books during the exams - Eragon by Christopher Paolini and Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce. Brilliant pieces of work, both of them. I'm rather looking forward to reading the sequel, since both are parts of trilogies - the Inheritance trilogy for the first, and Daughter of the Lioness for the second. Looks like my taste in reading now incorporates fantasy as well. Not that that's odd for a hard core SF fan - the two go together quite well - that's why it's often called SF&F.

I remember someone once asking me why I read so much SF when they were so many other good books around. I don't recall having much of an answer back then, aside from "It's interesting!" A couple of days ago, I remembered this incident, and then a little thing I'd read in an interview of Marvin Minsky.

The interviewer asked Minsky what kind of books he read, and his response was "Aside from technical literature, only science fiction." When pressed a bit, Minsky remarked that all other types of literature were horribly cliched - they've all been done thousands of times over. It really isn't worth reading anything except SF, simply because it's the only truly original genre of literature around.

This idea wandered around in my exam addled mind for a while, and eventually connected with another one(yes - my mind really does work this way - and so does yours...maybe), which at first sight seems rather antithetical to it. It came from a small article I'd read about Frank Herbert - the guy who wrote Dune. His greatest insight - and the reason he revolutionized SF forever - was to realize that SF wasn't the newest of literary genres, but the oldest. It's just a modern repackaging of the oldest type of story around - the fantastic tale. Remember all those old myths about gods and heroes and dragons, with wizards and witches tossed into the mix? Guess what - it's SF! The Ramayana and Mahabharata - SF! Homer's Iliad and Odyssey - SF!

So that's why SF appeals to people - because it stirs ancient memories of tribes gathered around the campfire, listening to the storyteller. Dune fans - doesn't this sound oddly familiar?

Looks like it's time to get back to work now. Loads to do, and miles to go before I sleep...

PS: Current browser name - Mozilla Seajaguar.