Book · 2006
Blindsight
by Peter Watts
A crew of post-human specialists meets first contact and reports back that consciousness might be what's holding humanity back.
What does Reddit think of Blindsight?
Blindsight is r/printSF's whole personality: 5232 of 5403 total mentions come from that one subreddit, dwarfing 137 on r/suggestmeabook and 34 on r/Fantasy. One thread just calls it "printSF's lord and savior" (↑145), less a joke than a description of thread behavior — someone posts any vaguely first-contact or hard-SF question and the top reply is reflexively this book. The consensus reading treats vampires, transhumanism, and the theology as inseparable from the thesis, not decoration (↑141: remove them and you're left with something lesser). But the dissent is real and comes from inside the fandom: one commenter (↑141) compares it to a very intricate revolver, admires the mechanism, doesn't want to hold it, finds the telling cold. Mentions climbed from 591 in 2022 to 934 in 2023 to 1047 in 2024, easing slightly to 994 in 2025, alongside the paired recommendation of Echopraxia. Nobody argues it's bad. Plenty argue it's not enjoyable.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · hard science fiction
- · consciousness and cognition
- · first contact
- · vampire biology as thesis
Common praise
- + Recommenders treat it as the reflexive answer to any 'best hard SF' request, calling it 'printSF's lord and savior' (↑145).
- + Fans argue the vampires and theology aren't decoration; pull them out (↑141) and the book loses its point.
Common criticism
- − One commenter (↑141) compares the book to an intricate revolver: admires the craft, doesn't want to actually hold it.
- − The praise runs almost entirely on ideas; even fans in the sample describe the read as demanding rather than fun.
Who it's for
You already read r/printSF and haven't hit this yet, somehow; 5232 of the subreddit's mentions here say fix that. Come for ideas about consciousness and vampire biology working as a real thesis, not set dressing. Pair it with Echopraxia the way the threads do. If cold, mechanism-over-feeling prose is a dealbreaker, take the intricate-revolver complaint (↑141) seriously before you start.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for Blindsight?
Top-upvoted quotes across the subreddits where this book is mentioned. Click through to read the full thread.
“don't you mean Blindsight?
““Blindsight” and “Echopraxia” by Peter Watts, along with supplemental materials. They’re a heavy duty read, with more ideas than straightforward plot. One of those ideas is the genetically engineered recreation of a long-extinct species of vampire, and how that turned out to be a serious mistake.
“Dude, calm down. I think you should read Blindsight by Peter Watts. It will revolutionize your perspection of good sci-fi novel.
“Hey sorry to hear you didn't like it. You should try Blindsight instead.
“Someone is going to recommend Peter Watts *Blindsight* so it might as well be me.
“Do you have a moment to talk about printSF's lord and savior Blindsight by Peter Watts?
“I'm really not sure how the book could have existed without those elements. Transhumanism, Heaven, and the vampires are all fundamental to the story's core theme. The thing that makes Blindsight such a remarkable novel is each of these elements fits together in this way. Remove them and you're j…
“*Blindsight* is a big one. I have nothing but respect for the ideas at play, and I understand the appreciation it garners, but the telling of that story leaves me cold. I often compare it to a very intricate revolver. I can appreciate the mechanism, but I don’t want to hold it, thanks.
Convinced? Pick up Blindsight
Readers also mention
All books like Blindsight →Books that share discussion threads with Blindsight — counted from the comments, not curated.
Children of Time
Adrian Tchaikovsky
A terraforming experiment goes wrong, a nanovirus lands on spiders instead of monkeys, and evolution builds a civilization nobody planned for.
Hyperion
Dan Simmons
Seven pilgrims journey toward a monster that grants one wish and kills everyone else, and each tells the story of why they came.
The Three-Body Problem
Liu Cixin
A Chinese radio astronomer's decades-old reply to an alien signal puts Earth on a collision course with an invasion fleet centuries out.
Dune
Frank Herbert
A duke's son survives his family's betrayal on a desert planet and becomes the prophet who leads its people to war.
Project Hail Mary
Andy Weir
A high-school teacher wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there and one job left: save Earth.
Neuromancer
William Gibson
A burned-out hacker banned from cyberspace takes one last job to breach the AI that might already own a piece of him.
Blindsight — frequently asked
Is Blindsight by Peter Watts as good as printSF says it is?+
By raw enthusiasm, yes: it accounts for 5232 of 5403 total mentions on r/printSF alone, with one thread calling it 'printSF's lord and savior' (↑145). But even fans in the sample (↑141) describe it as admirable rather than enjoyable.
Should I read Echopraxia before or after Blindsight?+
After. Threads consistently pair the two as a set, with one recommendation (↑231) listing 'Blindsight and Echopraxia... along with supplemental materials' as a unit, implying Blindsight is the entry point.
Is Blindsight a hard science fiction book?+
Yes, and specifically the kind built on ideas about consciousness and cognition rather than adventure plotting. It dominates r/printSF (5232 mentions) far more than the more general-audience r/suggestmeabook (137) or r/Fantasy (34).
Why do some readers find Blindsight cold despite loving it?+
One commenter (↑141) puts it precisely: they compare the book to 'a very intricate revolver,' respecting the mechanism while not wanting to hold it, which captures a real strand of ambivalence inside an otherwise enthusiastic fandom.