This is a fantastic listen.

Peter Kenny gives a bravura performance once again and Iain M. Banks' writing is superb.

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A close look

Really makes you think what it is to be living and what our personal and social responsibilities are.

Peter Kenny is absolutely brilliant.

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Audio issue

The audio pulled me out of the story quite frequently because you can really hear that the guy is sitting inside a voice recording booth. He did a great job with his energetic readings, but the reverberation and echoes on the walls of the recording booth were distracting to me. The production company would do well to isolate his voice further by using a different microphone or checking his distance and gain.
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With only the one story being of any merit, you can go ahead and skip to the title piece in this collection of stories, or at least writing exercises.

State of the Art was interesting only as an Earth-focussed side note to the culture series, but incredibly basic and boring mild preaching about human nature. There's no real deeper challenge to your thinking, or captivating story elements that are sometimes presented through the stories of aliens within or beside the Culture.

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An interesting collection of stories

Any additional comments?

This works well as an introduction to Iain M Banks as its a little less daunting than some of his epics. It contains interesting and varied stories that explore his relationship with the wider world and the sf genre alongside the novella State of the Art. This is a good read (listen) as a standalone story but is better if read after Use of Weapons as it explores two of the key characters.

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Beautifully read.

Loved listening to a favourite book. Listening to all the Culture books, it is like I have absorbed them for the first time. Fab.

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Great story poor reading

I find some of Banks' prose spoiled by over use of certain phrases or idioms and by over lengthy descriptive narrative as well as rather basic characterisations. For all that I love the Culture series, like the characters, like the way that issues challenge them (liberal world order anyone?) and I will not fault the story line.
what I take issue with is how the reader persistently amplifies the ironical and offhanded tone found in much of the dialogue. To some extent I believe the tone expresses attitudes as intended by the author, and I think such attitudes appropriate to the Culture's milieu. But the reader's intonation makes it constantly jarring. I think a slightly more sober reading would add to the overall effect.
Anyway I'm glad I listened as I work through the series. Excession is next.

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Bizarre

Aways well written and well read but the stories within are disjointed. Despite one's hope that it will all make sense in the end, it never does. Perhaps that's the point.

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Mixed Bag

Really worth reading/ listening for the Culture stories and altered perspectives of some of the shorts. The last 12 minutes is hard going and may sound better as a “12 inch dance remix” to quote a line.

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Always good

Masterful performance as always with the series so far. Thought provoking at times as surprisingly relevant still.

Final few chapters gibberish lose something in being read out loud. Perhaps another listen may clarify.

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For the true Banks SF lover

If you could sum up The State of the Art in three words, what would they be?

brilliant, entertaining, moralistic

What did you like best about this story?

This collection of short stories has much to offer from more action based ones to those exploring the human condition. The novella The State of the Art is extremely enjoyable and gives a very interesting background to Diziet Sma (Use of Weapons / Surface Detail).

Which scene did you most enjoy?

In The State of the Art the ship makes a request to the BBC World Service to play David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' "(...) for the good ship Arbitrary and all who sail in her."

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

There were a number of passages that made me laugh not at least where an alien being not understanding a herder looking like bush has its fingers and toes ripped off in a 'she loves me ... she loves me not' exercise.

Any additional comments?

This is a collection of SF short stories that is probably best enjoyed after having read a few of Banks' SF novels.

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