This entry is the first in what I hope will be a number of casual overviews and musings on various books I read. My intent for this blog is to primarily serve as a creative outlet for myself and a sort of bridge between my various interests. Regardless, I hope the occasional reader will draw some amount of entertainment or use from the entries. Time will tell!
Blindsight is a science fiction novel written by Peter Watts in 2006. I think it would be fair to characterize this book as a first-contact story shrouded in anxiety and mystery, but I don’t want to undersell it.
For some background, I am not the biggest sci-fi fan. Across media, whether it be books, video games, board games, or shows, I am never drawn to sci-fi on the virtues of the genre alone. The hook that pulled me in for Blindsight was playing a game of Nemesis, the board game. I left the game wanting to find a book that played with the inhospitality and unknown of space, and some Google searches brought me to Blindsight.
Without venturing too near spoilers, what I thought would be horror centered on some violent, aggressive first contact story instead revealed itself to be a rather heady exploration of what it is to be human and the inherent quirks and flaws our humanity brings with it. It was a fantastic, thought-provoking book that I could not help but gush to my partner about on multiple evenings in bed while I was reading through it.
I strongly recommend this book, and I encourage anyone considering it to look past any qualms with the theme generally. I myself struggled with the inclusion of certain non-human races, particularly with the heavy focus on modified/augmented humans, but the payoff was worthwhile.