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A review by nickfourtimes
The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
5.0
1) "Winston Niles Rumfoord had run his private space ship right into the heart of a chrono-synclastic infundibulum two days out of Mars. Only his dog had been along. Now Winston Niles Rumfoord and his dog existed as wave phenomena---apparently pulsing in a distorted spiral with its origin in the Sun and its terminal in Betelguese.
The earth was about to intercept that spiral."
2) "'History: (26.) Everybody on Mars came from Earth. They thought they would be better off on Mars. Nobody can remember what was so bad about Earth.
Theology: (15.) Somebody made everything for some reason.'"
3) "Constant sat at the threshold of his space ship at the top of the ladder, and listened to Rumfoord's brief sermon about Constant's dark mate, about the one-eyed, gold-toothed woman called Bee. Constant did not listen closely to the sermon. His eyes saw a larger, more comforting sermon in the panorama of town, bay, and islands so far below.
The sermon of the panorama was that even a man without even a friend in the Universe could still find his home planet mysteriously, heartbreakingly beautiful."
4) "Winston Niles Rumfoord was lying, fully materialized, on his back on his lavender contour chair by the pool. His eyes were directed at the sky, unblinkingly and seemingly sightless. One fine hand dangled over the side of the chair, its fingers laced in the choke chain of Kazak, the hound of space.
The chain was empty.
An explosion on the Sun had separated man and dog. A Universe schemed in mercy would have kept man and dog together."
5) "Salo's dash panel offered Constant two hundred and seventy-three knobs, switches, and buttons, each with a Tralfamadorian inscription or calibration. The controls were anything but a hunch-player's delight in a Universe composed of one-trillionth part matter to one decillion parts black velvet futility."
6) "Constant rubbed his hands together. The only company he had left on Titan was whatever company his right hand could be for his left. 'I miss her,' he said.
'You finally fell in love, I see,' said Salo.
'Only an Earthling year ago,' said Constant. 'It took us that long to realize that the purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.'"
The earth was about to intercept that spiral."
2) "'History: (26.) Everybody on Mars came from Earth. They thought they would be better off on Mars. Nobody can remember what was so bad about Earth.
Theology: (15.) Somebody made everything for some reason.'"
3) "Constant sat at the threshold of his space ship at the top of the ladder, and listened to Rumfoord's brief sermon about Constant's dark mate, about the one-eyed, gold-toothed woman called Bee. Constant did not listen closely to the sermon. His eyes saw a larger, more comforting sermon in the panorama of town, bay, and islands so far below.
The sermon of the panorama was that even a man without even a friend in the Universe could still find his home planet mysteriously, heartbreakingly beautiful."
4) "Winston Niles Rumfoord was lying, fully materialized, on his back on his lavender contour chair by the pool. His eyes were directed at the sky, unblinkingly and seemingly sightless. One fine hand dangled over the side of the chair, its fingers laced in the choke chain of Kazak, the hound of space.
The chain was empty.
An explosion on the Sun had separated man and dog. A Universe schemed in mercy would have kept man and dog together."
5) "Salo's dash panel offered Constant two hundred and seventy-three knobs, switches, and buttons, each with a Tralfamadorian inscription or calibration. The controls were anything but a hunch-player's delight in a Universe composed of one-trillionth part matter to one decillion parts black velvet futility."
6) "Constant rubbed his hands together. The only company he had left on Titan was whatever company his right hand could be for his left. 'I miss her,' he said.
'You finally fell in love, I see,' said Salo.
'Only an Earthling year ago,' said Constant. 'It took us that long to realize that the purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.'"