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Ok, I hope you don't mind a regurgitation Kathleen? I saw this in the archives and, well, we have a completely new set of writers here now, so I thought it might do well in a rerun.
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Well, I'm not sure about the term "regurgitation." I guess I prefer "resurrection" when it comes to bringing something back from the archives for more discussion.
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I'm apparently E.E. "Doc" Smith. Um, I must confess to not knowing who he was before I looked it up.
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Ursula K. LeGuin. Coincidentally, I'm at this very moment reading A Wizard of Earthsea. Go figure.
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I got E.E. "Doc" Smith - I haven't read him. However, I teetered on some of the choices - I'm curious what my alternates would have produced.
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Actually, Meredith, given the style of your Mage Cinders story, I can quite believe that. You would probably find David Brin's The Practice Effect quite fascinating.
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I don't mind such tests but when I see it was created for Americans only, I get annoyed for the loss of my time. There are other people on the web, you know.
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Since I thought a couple of questions could've come up different, I tried it again with a couple of changed answers, and now I'm E. E. "Doc" Smith. (I'm sure Asimov would have answered at least one question differently than I did---if you know anything about him, you can guess which one.)
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I got Ursula K. LeGuin on my first try. Although as is often the case with these tests, a lot of the questions dont have any answer I'm totally behind.
Lets try again...
All the variations I tried came up with either LeGuin or Hal Clement who I've only vaguely heard of.
[This message has been edited by Merlion-Emrys (edited January 22, 2010).]
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I'm somewhat shocked. I got Robert Heinlein. I never cared much for his heavier SF but loved most of his stuff that was aimed at the younger crowd... what I would term light.
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KayTi and I have the same issue: I read one of his books, but really couldn't get into it. I'll look through my bookshelf to see which one it was; wonder if it's the same one KayTi didn't like?
Let's all strive to create the day when the next wave of Hatrack newbies takes a test just like this, and some of us come up as the answers.
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The survey assumes we're all male Americans who were old enough to legally vote in 2000. Under that assumption, I am Hal Clement. I've read none of my work.
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He's very literary, MAP. I like some of his stuff and some of it I just could not get into.
quote:KayTi and I have the same issue: I read one of his books, but really couldn't get into it. I'll look through my bookshelf to see which one it was; wonder if it's the same one KayTi didn't like?
Actually, kdw, it was Beyond Infinity. I think. I had a really hard time following the story, kept feeling like there was more (I have a feeling it's in a series set in a similar world.) It helped solidify for me what I find problematic with alien-oriented fiction, though. Some writers go all out with their alien stuff, to the point where it's really hard to get one's head around. And Benford's scientific background was really apparent to me in reading the story, so it was denser, took longer to read. I do have to say, though, that there are certain indelible images and impressions I still have from that book, even though it's been several years since I read it. I suppose I have these kinds of impressions of most of the books I've read, but it's funny that I have distinct memories of the content of this book I say I hated. Can't be all that bad, eh?
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Looking through the source on the code, I came across this interesting embedded comment:
<!-- So far, to my knowledge, two authors who are among the possible answers have taken the quiz, and neither came up as themslves. It told Jerry Pournelle he was Heinlein, and it told Gregory Benford he was Clarke. So the thing's measured accuracy rate so far is 0%.
Some other authors whom I have heard of but who are not possible answers: - Joe Haldeman got Cordwainer Smith (and he also took Which Housepaint Are You?) - Pat Cadigan got Clarke, and Bester on a second try - Michael Moorcock got LeGuin - Mary Gentle has reported getting both Stapledon and Delany - Joel Rosenberg got Farmer - Neil Gaiman got Delany - Larry Niven got Farmer - Emma Bull got Delany - Samuel R. Delany got LeGuin Apparently there are many others who have tried it without me finding out the results. Some further writers whose work I personally am unfamiliar with: - L. Neil Smith got Herbert - Michael Burstein got Heinlein - Laurent Genefort got Asimov - David Dvorkin got Tiptree - Charles Stross got Heinlein -->
And the possible authors you could score asre as follows:
a: Isaac Asimov b: Alfred Bester c: Arthur C. Clarke d: David Brin e: Octavia E. Butler f: Philip José Farmer g: Gregory Benford h: Frank Herbert i: Samuel R. Delany j: Jerry Pournelle k: Mickey Spillane l: Ursula LeGuin m: Stanislav Lem n: William Gibson o: Olaf Stapledon p: Philip K. Dick q: Hal Clement r: Robert A. Heinlein s: E.E. "Doc" Smith t: James Tiptree, Jr. u: Jules Verne v: Kurt Vonnegut w: H.G. Wells x: Cordwainer Smith y: Ayn Rand z: John Brunner
[This message has been edited by Dropbear (edited January 23, 2010).]
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I got Robert A. Heinlein. The big problem with all of these quizzes, is that many times, you would answer some questions differently than the choices available, which would throw the quiz off.
It also helps to understand how the choices effect the results, and answer according to how you want it to come out.
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I notice that there are only four women on that list of possibles. If the survey takers are all supposed to be male Americans, why are there any women on the list at all?
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Tried clicking on the first answer in each question and got David Brin...then tried clicking on the last answer and got Mickey Spillane again.
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John Brunner was my answer, though I've heard of him I've never read him, maybe I will give him a try.
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