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Subject: A Literary Quiz - last answers posted

Written By: philbo_baggins on 01/15/03 at 05:10 a.m.

I've not done a quiz for a while, so I thought I'd do something a little bit different... All these are quotes from books, so the book title and author please.  All except one are books I've read cover to cover - see if you can guess which is the one I haven't :-)

Clues in italics

1. The large yellow ships hung in the sky in exactly the same way that bricks don't
  cs Douglas Adams - The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy

2. Cry havoc and let loose slip the dogs of war
  cs Shakespeare - Julius Caesar
3. I DON'T CARE WHAT IT SAYS, said the tall biker in the helmet, I NEVER LAID A FINGER ON HIM.
  Karen Pratchett&Gaiman - Good Omens (words spoken by Death)

4. We are the rats in the wainscoting of society
  Tangle Harry Harrison - The Stainless Steel Rat

5. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
  cs Jane Austen - Pride & Prejudice

6. The development of civilization and industry in general has always shown itself so active in the destruction of forests that everything that has been done for their conservation and production is completely insignificant in comparison.
  No, it's NOT Groucho ;-)
  Taoist Karl Marx - Das Kapital

7. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
  maddog167 Isaac Asimov - I, Robot

8. It is a fascinating and provocative thought that a body of water deserves to be considered as an organism in its own right.
  Book from the '80s about natural things that seem 'supernatural'
 
9. ...we, and all other animals, are machines created by our genes.
  Popular science book about evolution, amongst other things
 
10.Never try to out-stubborn a cat
  cs Robert A Heinlein - Time Enough for Love

11.There are grounds for cautious optimism that we may now be near the end of the search for the ultimate laws of nature.
  Taoist Stephen Hawking - A Brief History of Time

12.I may be wrong, but I'm not uncertain.
  This is a tricky one - but I loved the quote.  By the same author as #10, but in his only real Swords-and-Sorcery novel
 

(a bonus point for #3 if you can name the character speaking, too)

Enjoy!

Phil

Subject: Re: A Literary Quiz

Written By: cs on 01/15/03 at 06:58 a.m.

2. Shakespeare - Julius Caeser

Subject: Re: A Literary Quiz

Written By: cs on 01/15/03 at 07:01 a.m.

5. I think it's Pride & Predjudice (Jane Austin), I know I read it somewhere...I don't think it's Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) but that would be my second guess.

Subject: Re: A Literary Quiz

Written By: cs on 01/15/03 at 07:03 a.m.

1. Doug Adams - Hitchhiker's Guide

Subject: Re: A Literary Quiz

Written By: maddog167 on 01/15/03 at 07:07 a.m.

7. "I, Robot" - Isaac Asimov

I guess that you haven't read Shakespeare cover to cover - isn't it "cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war"?

Subject: Re: A Literary Quiz

Written By: karen (Guest) on 01/15/03 at 07:11 a.m.

Is #3 from Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman?  And is the speaker called "Things that don't work even when you hit them really hard"?

Betcha never read all of number 5!

#7 is an Isaac Asimov book but can never remember what its called.

Subject: Re: A Literary Quiz

Written By: Tangle on 01/15/03 at 07:19 a.m.

4: Harry Harrison, one of the Stainless Steel Rat books. I'll go out on a limb and guess 'A Stainless Steel Rat is Born.'

Subject: Re: A Literary Quiz

Written By: philbo_baggins on 01/15/03 at 07:43 a.m.

Quoting:
2. Shakespeare - Julius Caesar
End Quote


Yep.

Quoting:
5. I think it's Pride & Predjudice (Jane Austin)
End Quote


Right first time - it is P&P (I've not read Little Women)

Quoting:
1. Doug Adams - Hitchhiker's Guide
End Quote


Also correct

Quoting:
7. "I, Robot" - Isaac Asimov

I guess that you haven't read Shakespeare cover to cover - isn't it "cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war"?
End Quote


Correct (though it's in loads of Asimov's books as it's his Second Law of robotics)

I've read JC, but it was a long time ago (er.. like twenty years or so).  I originally wrote it as "cry havoc and let rip the dogs of war", then thought "hold on a sec, that's not right" :-)

Quoting:
Is #3 from Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman?  And is the speaker called "Things that don't work even when you hit them really hard"?

Betcha never read all of number 5!
End Quote


It is from Good Omens, but I think you'll find the speaker is not one of those four bikers of the Apocalypse :-)

Yes, I have read all of P&P (it's the only one I've read cover to cover, and the only one I'm going to, too)

Quoting:
4: Harry Harrison, one of the Stainless Steel Rat books. I'll go out on a limb and guess 'A Stainless Steel Rat is Born.'
End Quote


Hey!  I'm glad someone got that one: it's from the first one he wrote (rather than subsequent prequels, IYSWIM), "the Stainless Steel Rat"

And here ends the voting from the Norwegian jury...

Phil

Subject: Re: A Literary Quiz

Written By: maddog167 on 01/15/03 at 08:01 a.m.


Quoting:
"cry havoc and let rip the dogs of war"End Quote



LOL - that's one set of dog kennels I wouldn't fancy visiting... :)

Subject: Re: A Literary Quiz

Written By: Taoist on 01/15/03 at 09:23 a.m.

D'oh!
Fancy missing this one, that'll teach me to stay in bed sick :(

3. was in response to the multiple choice question "What year did Elvis die"!

Subject: Re: A Literary Quiz

Written By: philbo_baggins on 01/15/03 at 09:27 a.m.


Quoting:
3. was in response to the multiple choice question "What year did Elvis die"!
End Quote


:-)  Sheer brilliance, isn't it?

Phil

PS Hmm... looks like nearly all the fiction's been dealt with.  I'll put up some clues tomorrow morning, methinks.

Subject: Re: A Literary Quiz

Written By: Taoist on 01/15/03 at 09:33 a.m.

Quoting:
:-)  Sheer brilliance, isn't it?
End Quote


It certainly is!

I'll take a guess at one of the others

10. The Unadulterated cat, Terry Pratchett?

Tao

Subject: Re: A Literary Quiz

Written By: philbo_baggins on 01/15/03 at 09:50 a.m.


Quoting:
10. The Unadulterated cat, Terry Pratchett?
End Quote


No- it predates Pratchett by a good few years (and is one of many rules by the oldest living person)

Phil

Subject: Re: A Literary Quiz

Written By: Taoist on 01/15/03 at 10:03 a.m.

haha

With a little hint from Star trek...

11. Stephen Hawking, I guess it might be 'Brief history of time, (cos that's the only book I've heard of!)

Tao

Subject: Re: A Literary Quiz

Written By: philbo_baggins on 01/15/03 at 10:10 a.m.


Quoting:
11. Stephen Hawking, I guess it might be 'Brief history of time, (cos that's the only book I've heard of!
End Quote


It's the only book of his I've got ;-)  Correct.

Phil

Subject: Re: A Literary Quiz - now with clues

Written By: Taoist on 01/15/03 at 10:15 a.m.

6. If this isn't Groucho, it must be Karl
I'll try 'Das Kapital'
something I haven't read but really should

<modified>
I really should have been able to spell it too ;)

Subject: Re: A Literary Quiz - now with clues

Written By: philbo_baggins on 01/15/03 at 10:24 a.m.


Quoting:
6. If this isn't Groucho, it must be Karl
I'll try 'das Capital'
something I haven't read but really should
End Quote


It's got interesting bits in it... well, maybe one or two per thousand pages ;-)

Phil

Subject: Re: A Literary Quiz - now with clues

Written By: Tangle on 01/15/03 at 11:55 a.m.

Wild guess time again, inspired by the clue for 12:

10 - Terry Pratchett, The Unadulterated Cat.

Subject: Re: A Literary Quiz - now with clues

Written By: cs on 01/15/03 at 01:21 p.m.

10. Robert A. Heinlein - Lazarus Man or something like that, I could cheat and look up the book if you'd like...

Subject: Re: A Literary Quiz - now with clues

Written By: philbo_baggins on 01/16/03 at 02:50 a.m.


Quoting:
10. Robert A. Heinlein - Lazarus Man or something like that, I could cheat and look up the book if you'd like...
End Quote


"The Notebook of Lazarus Long" or "The Life of Lazarus Long" is the title you're probably thinking of.  The book the extracts are taken from is "Time Enough For Love"

It's worth looking at: http://www.musespace.com/musings/quotes/lazaruslong.html for more of them.

Phil

Subject: Re: A Literary Quiz - now with clues

Written By: philbo_baggins on 01/17/03 at 08:39 a.m.

The last three, for anyone who's interested:

#8 - "It is a fascinating and provocative thought that a body of water deserves to be considered as an organism in its own right."
 is a quote from Lyall Watson's "Supernature"

#9 -  "...we, and all other animals, are machines created by our genes."
 is a quote from Richard Dawkins' "The Selfish Gene"

#12 - "I may be wrong, but I'm not uncertain"
 is a quote from Robert Heinlein's "Glory Road"


...and the only one I've not read in full is "Das Kapital" ;-)

Phil

Subject: Re: A Literary Quiz - last answers posted

Written By: cs on 01/17/03 at 08:53 a.m.

Thanks for the last answers - should have known #12.
Good quiz!

Subject: Re: A Literary Quiz - last answers posted

Written By: philbo_baggins on 01/17/03 at 10:23 a.m.


Quoting:
Thanks for the last answers - should have known #12.
End Quote


I thought it maybe a bit too obscure, but it always makes me smile

Quoting:
Good quiz!
End Quote


Thanks - I'll have to start collecting quotes as I read.  Only another twenty years or so, and I'll have enough for another :-)

Phil