A Fire Upon The Deep: Great Sci-Fi Books Explained

A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge is a mind-expanding exploration of intelligence, technology, and the terrifying forces lurking in the far reaches of the galaxy. In this episode, we’ll break down exactly what makes A Fire Upon the Deep one of the greatest sci-fi novels ever written—from its mind-bending Zones of Thought to its unforgettable alien civilisations.

0:00 - Intro
0:52 - Chapter 1: Through Thought and Space
6:42 - Chapter 2: The Zones of Thought
12:14 - Chapter 3: Minds, Myths, and Machines
17:54 - Chapter 4: Vinge and the Singularity

#scifi #afireuponthedeep #vernorvinge

🚀 Check out my sci-fi novels below 😊

After losing her family and freedom at the hands of the Imperial Network, Kathreen is sent to a brutal life of servitude, until a chance twist of fate grants her the identity of a powerful senator's heiress. Determined to destroy the the system that shattered her life, she vows to rise through their ranks-but to defeat them, she risks becoming a monster greater than any of them.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Delphine Descends completely shattered my expectations! ... I could hardly put the book down." - Goodreads

Prometheus can resurrect his wife, but at the cost of Earth's destruction-a choice that will unravel the fabric of time and doom humanity to a desperate fight for survival. Black Milk weaves a gripping tale of five lives, bound across aeons, as they battle a relentless post-human entity, with the fate of the universe hanging on Prometheus's ability to confront his own grief.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "I would highly recommend this book to any one who is a sci-fi fan…and even those who are not just to show how great this genre can be." - Goodreads
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[veo_]

I know this is about A Fire Upon The Deep, but it also comes across as a tribute to Vernor Vinge as the fabulous Science Fiction author he was. You've really evolved your style of analysis/review and it's great to watch. It would be wonderful to see your treatment of A Deepness In The Sky, which in my estimation is at least *Fire's* peer, and arguably it's superior.

[taseenmuhtadi]

I loved the idea of the Tines. The modularity of the Tines was fascinating.

[manwbttcks]

The slow zone stuff limiting technology reminds me of one of my favorite ideas in Larry Nivens universe. In the Known Space novels, FTL is only discovered by civilizations doing their research way out in interstellar space. This is because too close in to a star the spacetime curvature prevents the experiments on FTL from working. So humans only got FTL by purchasing it from the Outsiders which are a strange life form that always travels out in deep space. Discovery of faster than light is rare because few civilizations would think of or bother to do their experiments way out in interstellar space.

[Cirrus]

One of my all time favourite books. The prequel is also worth a read 👍

[satanbutterwolf]

Great video, thanks. This is such a good book. As a teen the concept of the slow deep and areas where physics works differently blew my mind. It's still blown.

[DonAnnette-sgwi]

These videos are a fantastic, unique niche online. It’s fantastic content. It’s comprehensive and thought-provoking. You’re doing a great job. Please keep making these videos.

[michelratcliffe]

One of my favorite books - I often read it and it never gets boring - so nice to see someone else recognise it - awsum

[thethirdchimpanzee]

YES!!! THIS BOOK, and it's sorta-prequel "A Deepness in the Sky" DESERVE FAR MORE RECOGNITION THAN THEY GET!!! THEY ARE FULL OF *MIND-BLOWING IDEAS*, especially about the nature of consciousness!!! (Vernor Vinge is the guy who coined the term "Technological Singularity" - but with the Zones of Thought concept, he makes the Singularity a function of SPACE, rather than TIME!! His wife, Joan D. Vinge also wrote some decent scifi/fantasy, btw.)

I keep trying to recommend the "Zones of Though" books, to Quinn's Ideas channels, as well as Ian MacDonald's Chaga books ("Chaga" UK/"Evolution's Shore" US, "Kirinya"UK, "Tendeleo's Story" - similar to "Annihilation" and the Southern Reach Trilogy, but from the 90's, early 2K's - CHECK THEM OUT!!!

[julianbarnes]

Wow! this is your best video yet, thank you so much! You capture so well why this novel is one of the best if not the best of all time. As you say it combines the philosophical and technology story elements (like the visionary Arthur C Clarke) with the human story on the tines and their wolf pack society. I hadn't realised Vernor Vinge was one of the first to talk about the AI singularity, now very current. Great photos of the great man!

[paulblase]

The entire concept of the Scrode-Riders is fascinating.

[Egilhelmson]

Skroderiders are anemones with a bit of intelligence/memory originally evolved because they can live in better biomes by using it. The skrode is the machine portion given to the anemones by a “god” (which turns out to be an early version of the Blight, using them for a few seconds or minutes to defend the Blight from Countermeasures).

[JRussellDay]

I'd always meant to read these so just as lockdown was happening i dropped into the bookstore and grabbed these two books before we all got sent home

[ThisLadyIsNotTheSame]

This definitely isnt an easy read but for me it was so enthralling and perfect. Perfectly weird. I loved it.

[KakashiHatake-oump]

Please make one for Ilium/Olympos. I have so many questions about that one!

[hydorgol]

"A Fire Upon The Deep" is my favorite SF-Book, even better than Dune

[brettcoster]

A Fire Upon the Deep really opened my eyes to how civilisations could arise and then fall apart. It is a great concept, which he later developed in A Deepness in the Sky. I think I prefer A Deepness in the Sky, though.

[TherdPresident]

Just finished re-reading this amazing book. Loved it as much the second time around, if not more. Went back to Deepness in the Sky as well. What a visionary author.

[clashj]

It took two attempts before I ‘got’ this book. It’s great as is the prequel. Have you ever read his Across Realtime books?

[paulblase]

I’m me of my favorite authors. “True Names” is a must-read.

[robertbooth]

Those little skroderiders are some of my all time favorite aliens.