Science Fiction Fantasy Chronicles: forums - View Single Post

Brown Rat · 17th June 2006, 07:39 PM

It's strange what sticks in my mind about Stranger, which I read a million years ago. Sure, I remember the sex and the grokking and the eating of the dead, and I remember liking Mike a lot better at the beginning of the book than at the end.

But there's one thing--one part of a scene, actually--that I remember so distinctly that it's popped into my mind repeatedly and at random moments over the decades: when Jubal and Anne are out by the pool, and Jubal asks her if she can tell what color a house in the distance is painted, and she replies that it's white on the side she can see, and Jubal makes a point about how Anne wouldn't assume that the house is white on the other sides or that the side she's looking at would still be white if she left and couldn't see it anymore. I always thought that was a cool concept, expressed in one tight little exchange: be cautious about making inferences, be wary of assuming that facts remain the same, and don't commit yourself to statements you aren't sure of.

(OK, before I post this, I'd better check the book to see if I remembered right. Wouldn't want to make assumptions . . . Yep! There it is, on page 98 of my Berkley Medallion August 1972 edition.)

17th June 2006, 07:39 PM	#38 (permalink)
Brown Rat wandering & wondering Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 944	Re: STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND: It's strange what sticks in my mind about Stranger, which I read a million years ago. Sure, I remember the sex and the grokking and the eating of the dead, and I remember liking Mike a lot better at the beginning of the book than at the end. But there's one thing--one part of a scene, actually--that I remember so distinctly that it's popped into my mind repeatedly and at random moments over the decades: when Jubal and Anne are out by the pool, and Jubal asks her if she can tell what color a house in the distance is painted, and she replies that it's white on the side she can see, and Jubal makes a point about how Anne wouldn't assume that the house is white on the other sides or that the side she's looking at would still be white if she left and couldn't see it anymore. I always thought that was a cool concept, expressed in one tight little exchange: be cautious about making inferences, be wary of assuming that facts remain the same, and don't commit yourself to statements you aren't sure of. (OK, before I post this, I'd better check the book to see if I remembered right. Wouldn't want to make assumptions . . . Yep! There it is, on page 98 of my Berkley Medallion August 1972 edition.)