# The First Rule of Fucking with the Culture is... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 17, 2011, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-rule-of-fucking-with-the-culture-is/592981 "2011-08-17T01:45:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-rule-of-fucking-with-the-culture-is/592981/41 "2011-10-04T00:37:23Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > It _is_ a good word isn’t it? Very versatile. > > I’ve just finished Surface Detail. The reveal at the end was 🆒 Your table is ready, Mr. Zalwake? :eek: Yeah, made the whole book much more interesting in retrospect, didn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-rule-of-fucking-with-the-culture-is/592981/42 "2011-12-06T18:34:40Z")
I just finished _Player of Games_ and I want to thank everyone who recommended it - that was a very enjoyable read, and much better than _Consider Phelbas_. It’s good to get tips from other readers first because the quality of the books is uneven, but when they’re good, they’re very good. I’m thinking of _Excission_ next. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-rule-of-fucking-with-the-culture-is/592981/43 "2011-12-06T21:17:08Z")
If you haven’t read it already, I’d recommend Use of Weapons before Excession, though both are good. The narrative structure of Use Of Weapons is unconventional; not difficult to figure out, but unconventional. I’m not a big fan of Matter. Interesting environment, but I don’t feel that he did enough with it. (and he certainly had enough pages to do so.) If you can find it, his novella “The State of The Art,” is an interesting look at how the Culture interacted with 1970s Earth. Edit: never mind, scrolled through and saw you’d already gotten to Use and Matter. Sure, try Excession next. It’s good. ---
**Author:** ![Deegeea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Deegeea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deegeea)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-rule-of-fucking-with-the-culture-is/592981/44 "2011-12-06T21:35:43Z")
I read Consider Phlebas when it came out and was bored with it. I found it interesting enough to finish, but nothing remarkable. Then I later read The Bridge and it had some kind of printing error I think… and I wrote to the publisher, who sent me a new copy plus a copy of Player of Games. I liked Player of Games much, much more, enough that I was set to read all the Culture novels as soon as they were released. I haven’t liked any of the other Culture novels quite as much, but I really loved Feersum Endjinn and The Algebraist. I also recently enjoyed Whit. And of the culture novels, I liked Inversions, Look to Windward, Surface Detail, and Excession pretty well. I didn’t manage to finish Against a Dark Background for some reason; Use of Weapons was not my thing, and Matter was ok but boring, like Consider Phlebas. The phonetic spelling sections of Feersum Endjinn didn’t bother me at all. The amazing setting of a scale model castle where each room was kingdom sized, and the story with its twists and turns, was enjoyable. Overall, I found it reminiscent of Wolfe’s New Sun. The great thing about the Culture novels is stories that are emotionally evocative in a setting that seems like it’s built to preclude such things. As though they all have the ultimate point that we shouldn’t fear Utopia because it won’t, and can’t, destroy meaningfulness by making everything too perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-rule-of-fucking-with-the-culture-is/592981/45 "2011-12-06T21:52:13Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > How do you like the ones you’ve read? I’ve only read _Consider Phlebas_, and while the concept of _Culture_ was interesting, the book seemed, well, pointless. I’ve read several culture novels, and while the writing is good, as is the imagination, the stories end up feeling slightly,as you say, pointless. But I’ll still carry on reading them. ---
**Author:** ![JCorre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@JCorre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCorre)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-rule-of-fucking-with-the-culture-is/592981/46 "2011-12-07T00:08:27Z")
I love Culture books but am frustrated that there are a few that aren’t available in digital format. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-rule-of-fucking-with-the-culture-is/592981.md?page=2)