I read Hyperion Cantos back when it was released (1994ish?) and was blown away. This was in an age when the internet really didn’t exist. You got book recommendations from maybe another nerdy friend. I picked it up off the shelf simply because it looked interesting.

Probably The Wasp Factory.

After I finished I thought “What the hell did I just read?”

I read A Tale of Two Cities in jr. high school (way back). I also read the Iliad.

I think I was in some honors classes and didn’t even know it at the time. I was just a dumb kid and went to the classes I was told to go to. 😂

MS is a major investor in OpenAI (to the tune of billions), is a strategic partner, and might own a majority stake in it at this point.

Ah yes, the story of the unlikable, supra-genius Grace who can solve any science/engineering problem in mere minutes while alone and isolated in space (it took teams of NASA engineers days to solve the Apollo 13 problem). He can also become fluent in a completely alien language in 3 days, fluent enough to be able to discuss complicated physics, science, and astrophysics with a living rock (I might be able to learn how to ask where the bathroom is in another language in 3 days).

I wasn’t overly impressed myself, and much of it was pretty hard to swallow (completely implausible). There was zero tension in the book because you knew Grace would just snap his fingers, and say “Aha, I got it! I’m really good at this science stuff…who knew!!!” /shrug