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Sci-fi books are rare in school even though they help kids better understand science
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this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2023
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While it is not hard SciFi, consider "Flowers for Algernon" for the list.
I am pretty sure I read that in school, maybe in middle school. I've read it since, and the movie they adapted it into, Charly, is pretty good, but I have a vague but solid memory of reading it for a class.
I envy you for having such a smart teacher.
If I'm right.
We read it for English in grade 10. Not sure if that was just because it was an advance placement class where our teacher had more discretion on the materials, or if everyone read it at that grade.
I’m a little curious. Why don’t you say flowers for Algernon isn’t hard sci-fi?
I would consider it reasonably hard- the science behind it is not unrealistic. Sure, there’s some aspects that are a bit, well off.
And sure, there’s no space ships or aliens.
But at the core of it, it’s a question of how science changes things- and it’s a beautiful peace.
The book is focused of the social and psychological aspects. The science itself is barely visible and only in the background. But that's my opinion, yours may vary.
Where would you put something like A Scanner Darkly?
I had to look it up - I've read a translated version of it (Der Dunkle Schirm), so the title didn't ring a bell. Apart from being placed in a future and those kind-of-camo-suits there was not much SciFi in that IIRC. But it had no appeal to me, anyway, as it was mostly about drug abuse.
Fair enough. Philip K Dick falls into sci-fi, but a lot of his work isn't really about the sci-fi aspects.