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Mindbridge

Joe Haldeman

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Similar in premise + themes

These books are ranked using the premise + themes labels extracted for Mindbridge. Books rank higher when they are close on every selected axis.

Premise labels used: interstellar travel, terraforming, first contact, telepathy, alien communication, exploration teams, human-alien encounters, colonization

Themes labels used: communication, consciousness, intelligence, colonization, exploration, adaptation, human limits, identity, ethics, evolution, alterity

This does not mean the books share the same plot, setting, quality, or difficulty. It means their premise + themes embeddings are close.

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A Martian Odyssey

Stanley G. Weinbaum · 2011 · A Martian Odyssey

A stranded Mars explorer recounts a strange trek home, meeting an eerie alien ecology and one unforgettable nonhuman companion.

Why this is here

Premise labels: first contact · Mars expedition · stranded explorer · alien companion · alien communication · alien ecology · journey home

Themes labels: otherness · communication · intelligence · sentience · colonialism · exploration · misunderstanding · adaptation · human exceptionalism · science and imagination

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1181

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Bowl of Heaven

Gregory Benford, Larry Niven · 2012 · Bowl of Heaven

A human starship on a colonizing mission encounters a colossal artificial bowl-world and becomes split between escape and exploration.

Why this is here

Premise labels: first contact · megaconstruct · artificial world · colony ship · interstellar expedition · supply shortage · survival · alien encounter

Themes labels: exploration · survival · humanity in cosmos · scale and wonder · evolution · genetic engineering · human vs alien nature · civilization and change · leadership · limits of understanding · environmental change · colonization

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1288

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The Truth and Other Stories

Stanisław Lem · 2021

Twelve chronologically arranged Lem stories probe alien contact, AI, and human limits with irony, dread, and invention.

Why this is here

Premise labels: first contact · alien intelligence · artificial intelligence · sentient machines · scientific speculation · uncanny encounter · human otherness

Themes labels: otherness · communication limits · humanity · intelligence · identity · reality · evolution · ethics · technology · cosmic unknown · cognition · perception · philosophy · humor and satire

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1321

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Noumenon Infinity

Marina J. Lostetter · 2018 · Noumenon

Split across eras and convoys, a far-future fleet races to unravel an alien megastructure before the mystery turns dangerous.

Why this is here

Premise labels: deep space exploration · alien megastructure · generation ship · lost convoy · species-level mystery · scientific quest · first contact · subdimensional travel

Themes labels: exploration · knowledge seeking · human evolution · identity · purpose · societal change · cooperation · ethics of science · legacy · faith and religion · alienness · time and change

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1353

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Semiosis

Sue Burke · 2018 · Semiosis

Human colonists on an alien world confront sentient plants, survival pressures, and shifting generations.

Why this is here

Premise labels: first contact · generation ship · planetary settlement · sentient plants · human colony · alien ecology · mutualism · utopian colony · communication barrier · survival on alien world

Themes labels: communication · coexistence · pacifism · survival · adaptation · ecology · evolution · citizenship · community · identity · human nature · social change · prejudice · group dynamics · utopian ideals · what is intelligence · mutualism · colonization ethics · civilization building · nature versus humanity

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1355

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Proxima

Stephen Baxter · 2013 · Proxima

A forced colony ship reaches a strange world, while rival powers and alien technology reshape humanity’s future.

Why this is here

Premise labels: interstellar colonization · exoplanet settlement · first contact · solar system politics · mysterious artifacts · AI mission · survival colony · post-climate future · interplanetary war

Themes labels: colonialism · survival · human nature · political conflict · resource scarcity · climate change aftermath · science and engineering · evolution · exploration · first contact · identity · fate · power and control · cosmic mystery · ethics of colonization · humanity's future

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1376

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Blindsight

Peter Watts · 2006 · Firefall

A posthuman first-contact mission heads into the outer solar system to confront an alien intelligence—and rethink consciousness.

Why this is here

Premise labels: first contact · alien intelligence · posthuman crew · solar system expedition · consciousness question · unfamiliar aliens · bleeding-edge science

Themes labels: consciousness · sentience · intelligence · self-awareness · human nature · identity · evolution · free will · empathy · communication · alienness · transhumanism · posthumanism · reality perception · survival · game theory · disability

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1397

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Shroud

Adrian Tchaikovsky · 2025

A stranded human crew on a pitch-black moon must survive, and communicate, as an alien intelligence studies them back.

Why this is here

Premise labels: alien encounter · survival story · first contact · corporate exploitation · resource extraction · marooned crew · hostile moon · communication barrier · human-alien misunderstanding

Themes labels: alienness · miscommunication · understanding · otherness · survival · corporate greed · capitalism · extractivism · colonialism · humanity · dehumanization · connection · emotional intelligence · ecology · evolution · sapience · resource scarcity · exploration ethics · profit over people · limits of perception

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1410

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The Long Cosmos

Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter · 2016 · The Long Earth

An aging traveler and a cast of parallel-world survivors confront a cosmic invitation that could remake the Long Earth.

Why this is here

Premise labels: parallel Earths · interdimensional travel · message from space · first contact · continent-sized computer · aging protagonist · last journey · post-human society · cosmic expansion · multi-species encounter

Themes labels: exploration · wonder · humanity · sapience · consciousness · evolution · mortality · belonging · cooperation · technology · first contact · meaning of life · cosmic insignificance · identity · possibility

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1416

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Children of Ruin

Adrian Tchaikovsky · 2019 · Children of Time

A human-spider expedition meets utterly alien intelligence in a tense, multi-timeline sci-fi sequel of contact and crisis.

Why this is here

Premise labels: sequel · terraforming mission · uplifted species · alien ecosystem · first contact · space exploration · civilization in crisis · fragmentary signals · survival

Themes labels: communication barriers · evolution · cooperation · identity · sentience · otherness · curiosity · empathy · colonization · terraforming · ecology · human hubris · survival · community · memory · language

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1458

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Nemesis

Isaac Asimov · 1990

A teen on a rogue space colony uncovers a nearby star system’s danger, forcing rival worlds toward a fraught reckoning.

Why this is here

Premise labels: overcrowded Earth · space colonization · near-light travel · renegade colony · star threat · first contact · secret knowledge · planetary discovery

Themes labels: overpopulation · colonization · scientific progress · human nature · secret knowledge · social conformity · difference and otherness · exploration · adaptation · loyalty · control · long-term thinking · humanity's future · racism

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1496

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The World of Ptavvs

Larry Niven · 2000 · Known Space

A telepathic human accidentally merges minds with an ancient alien, triggering a solar-system race to stop a takeover.

Why this is here

Premise labels: telepathy · mind control · ancient alien · stasis field · solar system chase · alien takeover · human-alien overlap

Themes labels: identity · sanity · telepathy · slavery · colonial power · civilization collapse · alien intelligence · scientific rationalism · human vs alien · control and autonomy · colonization · interplanetary politics · time depth · life extension

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1512

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