(Part 2) Best products from r/rational

Online fiction:

Pact: I'm enjoying Pact. Not as much overall as Worm, but there are some moments that are pretty awesome like [6.11](#s "not existing when the Behaim's do their thing with perception, and it goes straight from 6.10->6.12. Meta shenanigans are best shenanigans.")

Citadel: It's exactly what would happen if you cross Super Powereds' setting with characters from Worm. Not enough story yet to get a really good feel for how it's going to turn out, and the chapter length leaves something to be desired, although the update rate makes up for it. So far, I'm willing to keep reading it, which is more than I can say for most serials I start.

I second Hard Reset, and its sequels. Entertaining time loop shenanigans, and the characterization is pretty good ([Pinkie Pie](#s " narrator is best narrator.")). It's worth mentioning that I've never watched the show, or had any interest in watching the show, but I still found it fairly entertaining.

While we're on the subject of ponyfic, Fallout Equestria is one of my favorite pieces of fiction. Dark MLP!Fallout, not much else to say.

The Optimalverse, as mentioned elsewhere in this thread, is also pretty good. Satisfying values through ponies and friendship has never been more gratifying. Or terrifying, depending on your viewpoint and whether or not CelestAI's actions creep you the hell out.

Leftover Soup is a webcomic that I enjoy almost as much as the author's comments. There were quite a few times while reading it and thought "Huh, you know, that's a good point. I never thought of it that way."

The SilverClawShift Campaign Archives: What everybody wishes their DnD group was like. Fairly epic campaign.

Old Man Henderson: what every GM is terrified their group will be like.

Inviolate: A DC universe spanning conspiracy. Probably better if you have previous understanding of the universe, but I found it entertaining with just a layman's knowledge base.

Good ol' paperbacks:

Finished up Blood Song and its sequel Tower Lord not too long ago. Really enjoyed Blood Song, had a few issues with Tower Lord, but overall two very good books.

The Red Knight was pretty good as well, although it did have a tendency to get caught up in medieval armor jargon. I have no idea what most of those word were, but understanding is not necessary to enjoy the story.

The Dragon's Path is the first novel in the Dagger and the Coin series, and it looks pretty promising. Some entertaining political/economic maneuvering.

For fans of the Dresden Files, Benedict Jacka's Fated and it's sequels have much the same vibe. So far, it's only about as good as the early to mid Dresden Files, but the author has been improving steadily.

This season of the Magicians was superb ([spoilers](#s "though I thought the resolution in the final episode was kind of lame, and find the Big Bad revealed there less than impressive -- but the journey to get there was some of the best TV I've seen this year")). In general, I've really liked the show, particularly for the pop-culture references, and the way the show approaches the wish-fulfillment/coming of age fantasy it's clearly responding to (particularly Harry Potter and Narnia).

I also had fun with the new season of the Santa Clarita Diet. I think the comedy has improved from the first season -- in particular, I think Timothy Olyphant is carrying the show less than he was in the first season.

Have I recommended The Fifth Season trilogy here? Because those books are good, and are also quite refreshingly different from a lot of other fantasy.

I've read through the first three books of the Galactic Center Saga so far, and definitely recommend it. There are definitely some weird bits (Bigfoot showing up in the first book, the machine art in the third book), but overall I've liked them so far.

Speaking of weird, Light by M. John Harrison is really weird, but also fascinating and very good. I haven't started on the sequels yet, but I think this book is definitely worth it for any fans of science fiction.

Finally, I just got Grey Sister yesterday, and though I haven't finished it yet, so far it's been just as good as the rest of Lawrence's stuff.

I've had the pretty rough couple of weeks, so all my recommendations are mostly comfort food that's helped relax and distract me from my depression and anxiety. They didn't fix any of my problems, but they made the worst days more bearable. Neither of them make any attempt to be rational.

The Uncanny Valley is a very entertaining anthology of simple horror stories. Normally I only go for psychological and cosmic horror whereas this book leans more towards goofy ghost stories for children, but what sells it for me is the extremely tight pacing. Not one of these stories beats around the bush, the author knows how simple and straightforward these tales are so they all get right to the point without leading you on.

It's one of the easiest reads I've ever had and even when it wasn't scary it never felt disappointing because it was so pleasant to read. I would call it great, but as just good stories go, this does exactly what a just good story should do and delivers on what it promises. It's great if you want to read something simple and entertaining or give a child something that's just the right amount of creepy for them.

K-On! (first season) is definitely not for everyone, but for someone who needed something mindless to calm me down it was perfect. It exists purely to show cute anime girls hanging out and having a good time, with very little emotional or intellectual depth, but it's well executed for what it is. The animation is excellently directed with a surprising amount of visual storytelling, the characters are charming, the writing consistently made me smile or chuckle, and what little plot there is has good pacing.

I've bought a fair amount of ebooks on Amazon recently and I think most of them are books that a lot of people here would enjoy (heck I heard about most of them through here!).

The Preorders:

Underlord - The sixth book in the Cradle series which is described as a Western Xianxia series. A lot of people here don't really like the Xianxia genre and I agree with their criticisms of how many main characters are very villainous, under-developed enemies and female characters, the economies of cultivation aren't logical, poor scaling in conflict as you go from one city to interstellar in scope, and awkward prose. But I bring up all of these flaws to say that the Cradle series completely avoids all of the typical flaws in Xianxia and has a very smart character who sets out to cultivate smartly instead of bullheadedly.

And the sixth book is coming out in March! (Get the box set. It has the first three books and is cheaper!)

Exhalation - Who here hasn't heard of Ted Chiang, the master of short stories that perfectly appeal to the r/rational crowd? The same guy that we literally use as an introduction to rational fiction. Well, if you enjoyed his first collection, Stories of Your Life and Others, you'll love hearing that the second collection is coming out in....May! (Ugh....really May? I don't think I can wait that long!)

The books you can read right now!:

The Beginner's Guide to Magical Licensing - Has a similar start to Unsong where a magical college-graduate, minimum-wage, sweat-shop worker stumbles on a powerful spell and sets out to start his own business competing with the powerful. The parts of the story that follows afterward makes a whole lot more logical sense than Unsong however. (Used to be online for free, but now you'll have to pay the price for your ignorance if you want to read it! (Nah, I lied.))

Six Sacred Swords - If you liked the Arcane Ascension series, but wished there was more dungeonnering and less of school shenanigans, then look no further! In some ways it's a lot like reading a very good DnD session played by really savvy players who never follow the 'standard' way to solve problems.

The author of Six Sacred Swords made a recommendation for The Ruin of Kings. He said that it reads like a Locke Lamora-esque rogue protagonist, telling the story in a style similar to Kvothe, in a setting similar to Game of Thrones. I haven't bought the book yet, but the review was interesting enough that I wanted to include it in my list of recommendations.

Senlin Ascends - I haven't read this yet either, but skimming through it, I see some fair bit of social manipulation/combat that I think people here would like. Plus the Tower of Babel setting is something that appeals very strongly to me.

Polyglot: NPC REVOLUTION - A lot of people here seem to really like LitRPG and Artificial Intelligence, but almost no one seem to ever question the implications of the NPCs in LitRPG stories having human-level intelligence.

Small Medium: Big Trouble - It's by the same author who wrote Threadbare that people here really liked. Similar to Polygot where the NPC is the main character who needs to deal with players, but smaller scale in scope. There's a lot of fast-talking to convince selfish sociopaths to do what you say.

Q is for Quantum - I was going through my older ebook orders when I found this one. It's the single best introduction for quantum mechanics that I have ever read (not that I've read too many of those). It focuses on building an intuition for the subject and once you've read through the book, you will understand on a gut level what superposition means. Note that it's meant as an introduction for the subject, so don't expect it to cover everything, just what's need to get started learning about quantum mechanics. But I'd still recommend it to experts if only for a better way to explain their subject to their peers and laypeople.

It's not something I personally have time to try out, but it still sounds awesome for those who do- if nothing else, it's a solution to the problem of staying home and playing video games without moving or making friends. I'm really excited about it from the perspective of beginning to incorporate AR into real life, and I hope projects like it will continue so that someday advancements like GoogleGlass will be much more useful.

Just a side recommendation, here's the first book of a series about a futuristic society in which AR/VR are common (but strong AI has been developed, led to a minor apocalypse, and subsequently banned). Very enjoyable and unique, protagonist is not rational per se but certainly intelligent and never unopposed.

Legion of Nothing serial by Jim Zoetewey http://inmydaydreams.com/
Collection of first story arc on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Legion-Nothing-1-Rebirth-ebook/dp/B00IR2CLUU

NOT RationalFic like the top of your list, but in line with a number of other recommendations in the thread and I think probably appealing to a lot of the same readers.

Not especially action packed for something in the superhero genre, but really good - Protagonist starts story in late high school (?). Grandson of Golden Age IronMan / Rocketeer analog - He is a bit of a cross between modern Geek/Engineer and a Modesetti Hero. There is a romance thread but so far the series has kept everything (including drinking/smoking/drugs/language) mostly PG - PG13. Violence is also usually not vicerally graphic.

I found it one of the most Unique and interesting takes on the Super Hero genre going on right now. It has a wonderful mix of post Marvel/DC deconstruction of the standard tropes plus a delightfully earnest retro Golden Age vibe with a hint of inventor punk for spice.

Hey everyone, today's book recommendation is going to be for The Long Walk, by Stephen King. We talked a lot about top-down stories being about political or social issues that the author wants to explore through their fiction, but that's not the only form they take. Top-down storytelling can also result from a central premise that has less to do with any particular message or idea, and more to do with the theme you want to evoke, or the plot you want to explore.

Stephen King is a master of this, often so laser focused on the theme or tone or "what-if" that his worldbuilding is left to a bare minimum. Sometimes that what-if is "what if a whole town got slowly turned into monsters, but retained their sense of self throughout?" Other times that "what if" is "What if a husband and wife go to a cabin for some kinky sex, but he has a stroke while she's handcuffed to the bed?"

The Long Walk is probably my favorite of these, in part because of how simple it is. "What if 100 boys had to walk for as long as they could, with the last one standing winning a prize and everyone else getting killed?" King could have spent pages and pages talking about the dystopian state that America has turned into, where such a grisly game is a celebrated national event, but he doesn't care about any of that, and through the power of his writing and characters, soon neither will you. All that matters are these 100 young men who, over the course of a few exhausting, endless days, will walk themselves to death, side by side, knowing that only one of them will survive, knowing that it's better not to form any bonds with their competitors... but helpless not to.

The Long Walk was written all the way back in 1979, predating both Hunger Games and its inspiration, Battle Royale, for deathgame stories. It's not for everyone, but I personally loved the book, and recommend it to anyone interested in seeing how an author can get away with as little worldbuilding as possible, focusing the story with a razor focus on just the idea they built their plot around. If you want to give it a listen, head on over to Audible to get a free 30 day trial and book credit, or check out the link in the shownotes to buy the novel. Thanks for listening!

OK based entirely on your recommendation I went shopping yesterday and picked up earplugs (easy), and went looking at neck pillows. I found some pretty firm looking memory foam ones for $15 and was like "this isn't too bad" when I tried them.

Then I went to a department store. I saw they had the $15 ones but they also had this monstrosity for $55. I laughed and was like "There's no way this is three times better than the other ones" and I attached it to my head and..... it was like a flight of angels came in and started supporting my head from all directions, gently carressing me with their feathery wings.

OK, maybe not quite that good, but it was like night and day. And I figure it's either a worthy investment if it's excellent, and if it's shit it's proof for the rest of my life that neck pillows aren't something I benefit from investing in. I also grabbed a new sleep mask as there was a 20% off when buying two or more products from the line and I don't have a sleep mask with cavities for the eyes (I use sleep masks all the time at home but when I wake up there's been pressure on my eyes all night so my vision is blurry for 5-10 minutes which I can't imagine is healthy?).

I just wanted to let you know that your advice was listened to and will either be responsible for me having a much more pleasant flight or will be the annoying thing I have to cart all around my travels and regret buying :P

> avoid jetlag

My experience with jetlag is if I'm in the sun I don't feel tired, but if I'm indoors I do, so I'm not too worried.

I arrive about 7am local time so my plan is to get an uber, put all my crap in an airbnb, and then just walk around / sit in parks / dining al fresco / etc enjoying the sunshine until about 5pm or 6pm, scarf something quick for dinner and then go back to my airbnb and sleep for ~10-12 hours, wake up at 4am, and then (hopefully!) be all reset - I tend to go to naturally be a morning lark so it should work out (fingers crossed).

Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, which might be considered the genre defining work, would actually be a decent reference. It's not information packed, but it outlines a process that would be achievable by a 19th-century engineer, in a way that your modern McMaster-Carr dependent engineer couldn't.

But I am a little confused as to what exactly you're asking. Essentially, there are a couple steps of social, technical, and practical problems:

1. Reform society so that scientific thought is culturally normative, entrepreneurial endeavor is encouraged, and education is common.
   
2. Promulgate the principal ideas behind the Agricultural, Industrial, and Technological revolutions:.
   A. Use tools like crop rotation, the iron moldboard plow, and selective breeding etc. so a smaller fraction of the population needs to be farmers.
   B. Use natural energy resources, interchangeable parts, and the assembly line to reform metalurgy, textile, and other industries so that each individual is more productive.
   C. Distribute and collate information using, variously, the printing press, telegraph, and computer (I may have skipped a step in there) to speed the process by which the system improves itself.
   
3. Implement each step in the process, ideally avoiding the various mis-steps and dead ends we actually encountered on the way. An encyclopedia would be really helpful here, but the entire Library of Congress would be insufficient to uplift the society because of all the other requirements. This will take a long time - you might know the required components to build a CPU, but they might depend on a complicated and energy intensive extraction a mineral found primarily in Mongolia. When you start, you'll have a few surface pit mines and low quality tools. A lot of the industrial revolution was just tediously repeating the process of using the tools you have to build slightly better tools, which takes a long time. To go from a feudal, Greco-roman, or agrarian society to a modern one is probably beyond a single lifetime. 1800s might be achievable if you start very young.
   
4. Scale out! It's one thing to have the knowledge, resources, and skill to make (for example) a single printing press, but another to distribute millions of newspapers in every city every morning.
   
   Another resource you might be interested in, with slightly more realistic goals, would be Build Your Own Metal Working Shop From Scrap which takes you from raw scrap metal (or, if you felt compelled to do so, from a charcoal furnace, though after proving to yourself that you can make iron from ore, steel from iron, and bars or wire from ingots, it's more effective to just go down to the local scrapyard and buy it by the ton) to a modern machine shop, complete with lathe and mill. I don't have it, but as another reader of this genre, that book is definitely on my wish list!