Wool (Silo Series: Book 1) – Hugh Howey – Episode 65
The Buddies enter into book 1 of the Silo Series, Wool by Hugh Howey, and it did not disappoint. The dark, futuristic dystopian story was right up the Buddies’ alley, and certainly scratched the itch (the doctors are still working on those other itches). Plus, Apple TV just released the first season of the show to pair with it. Per usual the buddies had some deep conversations about sociology and governance, plus opposable/disposable thumbs, germs being all mental, and why it isn’t always good to be the main character. So stay inside, breakout the StairMaster, read up on the Anaconda Plan, and join us as we tear through Wool.
Intro: (0:00-1:51)
Stock Up/Down (1:52-33:08)
Favorite Character (33:09-36:55)
Love/Hate (36:56-46:11)
Conclusion (46:12-47:53)
Next Book: THE RAGE OF DRAGONS by EVAN WINTER
Transcript for SEO purposes 🙂
Alright. Welcome to book club. I’m Dylan, here with the head of IT at the BBC, Key. What’s up, buddy? Bernard checking in for duties.
The name Bernard is a bad guy’s name every time. Right? Bernard? The only other Bernard I can think about is, Westworld. He’s a nerd too.
Right? Yeah. He’s a nerd for sure, but he’s not a bad guy. You go by Bernie. I I mean, that’s the fact of the matter.
You change your name to Bernie, you know? Yeah. Weekend at Bernie’s. Perfect. Exactly.
Alright. Well, here at the BBC, we’re breaking down some bestsellers, and this week, we’ll be discussing Wool, A Silo Saga by Hugh Howie. If you like to recommend a book for us to read or reach out to us about any past episodes, you can visit our website, buddybookhub.com, Sign to our DMs on Twitter or Instagram, buddy book hub podcast. You can listen to us on iTunes, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts, so please download and subscribe. Keith, we’ll just hit the charts on Apple TV, Apple Plus.
I don’t even know what it’s called anymore. It’s silo technically. I’ve had it on the list for a while. I’ll talk about this in my head a little bit, but I thought it was, like, a book from 1940. Just the name and the cover of the book were so dated that I was just, like, I heard it’s good, but, you know, we can hold off on it.
Yeah. For sure. I got you. The funny thing is my brother-in-law, for some reason, and I have no idea where this came from. He’s visiting right now.
And at my father’s house, he was like, I picked up this book that was sitting in the bookshelf. It’s called wool. He goes, it’s so much like silo. I was like, no. No.
No. That is Silo. He’s like, well, that makes a lot more sense, actually. I thought I was going crazy. But, yeah.
So, now, it’s a hit show on Apple Plus, Apple TV. I don’t know what it’s called anymore. We’ll probably do some some epi’s on the on the show itself, but we just kinda want to talk about the book because I feel like it’s been a minute since we’ve done some dystopian world type stuff. Mhmm. Right?
Mhmm. Yeah. For sure. Well, let’s jump into some stock up, stock down. Keith, what do you got?
Stock up for wool. Stock up? The Anaconda plan? No d man. I’m not talking about your Friday night.
I’m talking about Abe Lincoln’s or the Union’s famous Civil War tactic. I think it was William Tecumseh Sherman’s plan. Winfield Scott is according to Wikipedia. But I always, attribute it to Abraham Lincoln. He’s the the president at the time, so we’ll give it to him.
For those unfamiliar, basically, the the North’s plan to be a more motivated and and better trained and better leadership army. The North had the better trained, better leader No. No. The South did. South was more motivated and had better generals and everything like that.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The leadership was much better for sure. The whole point is, like, they basically surrounded the the coast and then they cut them off down the middle to the Mississippi River.
And they just basically sucked all the resources out. Mhmm. So they, like, couldn’t communicate. They couldn’t do anything which but the revolt starts in this book. It’s exactly what they should have done.
We know where every single section of of resources is. There’s the food section. There’s the power section. There’s, like, mechanic. You know, they’ve everything just literally is, like, here, here, here.
It’s siloed, if you will? Yeah. Oh, nicely done. Yeah. All you need to do is basically control the food, control the power, and they come to you.
Like you don’t need to storm up there and like fight them at their place. It doesn’t make any sense. I mean, the problem is too is they just don’t have history books because I feel like, I don’t know about you, but at least in high school for me, the things that they taught you about wars is, 1, resources are vital. Look at at the civil war. Look at Russia anytime anyone’s attacked Russia in the winter.
Napoleon or Hitler, they get completely dominated because they’re they run our resources. They freeze. The second thing is hearts and minds. And that’s what they should have been doing as well. It’s like just being like, hey.
Here’s what’s actually happening. Get more people on their side. Get more people on their side. Join forces. Increase their army size, and then you don’t have to worry about anything, you know.
Then you just control everything, and you have to fight. Would you say that clear eyes, full hearts, they can’t lose? Is that what you’re saying? Don’t bring Timmy Riggins up right now. The the beat pad?
I’ll I’ll get the beat pad out if you bring Timmy Riggins up. Yeah. No. I mean, it’s a great call. And, also, you’re a 100% right in the civil war stuff.
I have a belly full of enchiladas. I just came back for a early supper. But, yes, the south was definitely more motivated for 1, better trained and better led, just poorly equipped, really. You know? Poorly equipped was was one of the biggest issues.
And if you wanna learn more about that, and if we ever wanted to do some historical fiction, I would a 1000000000 percent do some Killer Angels and Gods and Generals. Either way, I love it. Anaconda Plant. Big fan. I do think that in the silo itself though, the food is kind of throughout.
They’re not running food up from the down deep to the up top. Or, like, they’re not running it from the mids to the up top and also to the down deep. Like the food is like every 10 levels, there’s a a greenhouse habitat or whatever the case is. But I do agree that in the down deep, they’re controlling the generator. Like, everything is powering the entire silo.
So why can’t they kind of hang back in their area? Yes. They don’t have Sun Tzu. They don’t have the Art of War sitting on a shelf to, like, lead and get, you know, get familiar with before this whole thing, and they didn’t even anticipate for a rebellion. Does seem like they could have just been like, oh, we’re gonna start just, like, chopping off power.
I do wonder though if they put the rest of the silo in the dark, if the people in the mids would have then turned against them. IT would basically be like, oh, the down deep’s shutting you guys off, like, killing you because, legitimately, people would be dying. The narrative would turn and everyone would be against the people in the down deep. The whole thing is, like, alright. We’re just gonna openly talk about this now.
What are you gonna do about it? You’re gonna kill, like, a 100 of us? And then then it’s he gets comes to war, you know? Like, I mean, they’re then it’s like, alright. Come down here and fight us then.
You know? See what happens. That’s one thing I didn’t understand whether they have megaphones or not, but I would just be, like, nonstop on the megaphone being, like, whatever you guys think is real isn’t real. We’re talking to other silos out here. Mhmm.
We know there’s at least 18. There’s probably 50 based on this. Seemed like that communication when they figured it out, When Walker, like, figures that out with Shirley and they’re both on the same page, like, oh, shit. There’s, like, other silos out there. They can’t communicate it to anyone.
They’re, like, keep trying, but it’s like, no. We’re in the middle of a fight. We can’t do this. Like, no. This is the most important thing.
Like, we need to spread the word because people need to know. It’s like knowledge is the most important thing in that situation. It’d be like, we’re all being lied to. Here’s what we figured out. Join our side.
No. I I agree. But speaking about radio people, the down deep and whatnot, my first stock up is the trades. So we live in a white collar world, unfortunately, and everyone says, oh, go to college. You know, parents are like, go to college, learn about banking, go fuck people over.
You know, that’s that’s kind of the point of the world right now. Go fuck people over. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
No. You aren’t, Ron. There’s no love for the blue collar man anymore. There’s no love for a little cell phone blue collar business. You know, we’re not here to make 1,000,000,000.
We’re just here to do some services, do some trades, help people out. It’s good work. It’s a good, honest living. That’s all that matters. But people don’t want a good, honest living.
They’re like, I wanna be the next Steve Jobs, but no one wants to wear a black turtleneck. It looks stupid. I’d rather wear overalls. So the trades, though, look how multi faceted they are. Like, Juliet, she’s just a mechanic.
But because she understands, like, how things work, you know, an engineer, really. Yeah. She really is. You know? But the way that she understands how things work, she all of a sudden becomes sheriff.
She’s like, oh, I’m gonna be way over my head. Next thing you know, she’s figuring out, like, oh, I’m gonna be way over my head. Next thing you know, she’s figuring out police cases because she sees how it’s all just a process, and she knows all of the different pieces to that process. She just has to put them together. Simple as that.
And honestly, it’s the same with the IT people, unfortunately, those terrible, terrible folks. And additionally, on top of that, just the the trades in general, you always have something to fall back on. I have no discernible talents. I grew up in a white collar world. If I got fired for my job, I’d have to find another dumb company that was gonna hire me for some dumb job that doesn’t make any sense.
But if I was a plumber, I’d be able to go and fix people’s homes. Just to fix their pipes. If we get fired, we just need to find another job, another job, another job. Yeah. I just gotta find another pyramid to jump in on.
You know, jumping on the bottom rung, and then just be there. So Yeah. I hear you. It’s it’s all about the trades, and that’s why they win at the end. So go blue collar.
Appreciate you. Fuck everyone else. Yeah. You you ever, like, fix something in your car by yourself without having someone else, like, help you with it? Like, replace an air filter, like, something really simple?
Updated my, windshield wipers, and I was, like, holy shit. Updated my windshield wipers. This must be really what a real man feels like, you know. Just, like, this is the easiest thing ever. And I’m like, man, this this feels good.
Yeah. Exactly. It’s exactly like that. What else do you have for stock up? Stock up.
Elevators? Oh, come on now. We can’t talk about elevators yet. No. Not yet.
Well, I did feel like half this book is just people being like, goddamn stairs. These stairs suck. I I kinda relate to that. I get that. Stairs do suck.
I know IT was basically limiting just any sort of communication and elevators fell into that. I think the author says that at the end of the book as well. But I mean, you think they’d have a private elevator. Right? Just to, like, zip up and down or some something like that where they can, you know, you think they’d have that.
The reason I I relate to it, I also, like, pulled a muscle in my back recently and instead of going up and down stairs, it’s been, like, the fucking worst. And I have, like, 7 stairs, you know? It’s not, like, a lot of stairs. This is from speaking of knowing trades and being a white collar pussy, is it I looked it up, like, because it’s, like, all down my leg and it’s like, yeah, it’s from people that just yeah. Yeah.
That’s what I have. They’re like, it’s from people that just are lazy, overweight, terrible abs because of shit. Yeah. Or or pregnant. And I was like, I’m like, alright.
So how do I how do I get, like, get rid of this? They’re like, don’t do anything. Continue to be a lazy musician. Yeah. No.
That’s the funny thing about it. It’s the it’s the worst. You should foam roll. I relate to these 80 year old woman that’s going up and down the stairs for 4 days. It’s the same thing for me.
Foam roll those glutes. That’ll that’ll that’ll loosen up for you. But I had elevators or the lack of elevators in my hate. And like you said, the author did address it at the end in a q and a, and it makes a lot of sense for this dystopian society. I mean, it’s a great little vehicle, but ability for people not to share information is the key.
And if there is a semblance of a rebellion or something, like, a couple people are chatting, it’s so hard for them to spread the word. You know, you can’t spread the word because if you pass off to a porter, it’s gonna get, you know, IT’s eyes on it. And the only other way is to actually lumber yourself up the stairs. Go find someone else. Tell them.
You know? The it’s just too difficult. Mhmm. So I do love it as, like, a way that this society would make sense. My only problem with it, everyone in the down deep is mechanically minded.
They have the ability to come up within the idea of an elevator. Like, it’s just such a simple thing. So they could be like, we could just easily build this. No problem. And at the end of the book, which I really liked, is the author addresses that question.
And he basically says, they can’t do it because it wouldn’t fit in with the society, which is a throwaway. But one of the other things he says, which I found interesting, was, like, the porters union wouldn’t support it, and the porters union’s, like, huge. And that makes a lot of sense to me. I was like, oh, cool. The idea that there is this, like Yeah.
You know, porters union, which is a huge industry in the silo. They’re not gonna someone’s like, we’re gonna build an elevator. The porters union would be totally against Don’t they just, like, control the elevators, though? They could be, like, the elevator people. Yeah.
For sure. I see what you’re saying. But there’s a reason that we got rid of that too as a society. It was just stupid. Because then eventually people they’ll, like, play it out and be, like, wait.
We don’t actually need to pay someone to push buttons. If the elevator was the only mode of transportation, it’d be much more important than an elevator in a one building. I’ve been watching the show, so we’ll talk about the show a different time. But they do have this throwaway line where they say that in the pact, which is like the book of all the rules and laws of the society in the silo, in the pact, it forbids basically mechanical, like, elevators. It it said, like, you know, things that move up and down throughout the silo.
Silos. Yep. Whatever. Anything that mechanical that moves up and down throughout the silo. Is one floor more than you know, a floor is typically 10 feet, I think, right, or something like that?
Do you think they’re, like, 50 feet? Is that why it’s so hard to get down that many set by the stairs? Well, I’m sure there’s, like, different levels. Like, I’m sure in the down deep, like, some of the levels are, like, much bigger considering the machinery they’re using. I think it’s probably somewhat uniform throughout, but I don’t think they’re, like, 10 feet each.
Like, it’s not a 150 foot. Yeah. You know? I mean, we used to work on the 19th floor. Right?
Yes. That’s what we were on. And we remember fire drills? Like, I’d be sweating by the end. It wouldn’t take me 4 days if it if you multiply that by 5.
You know? Yeah. It took us 15 minutes. Right? Yeah.
And I did think about that at the beginning. And we’ll talk about this more when we talk about the show itself, but it did help me visualize because I’ve talked before about how I’m terrible at visualizing these things for some reason. It did help me visualize, like, the scope of this. Because in my mind, when I was reading the book, I’m like, oh, okay. There’s, like, I don’t know, a few 100 people in here, you know, maybe a 1000 people in there.
And it’s like you know, when I was thinking about this spiral staircase, I was kinda thinking about, like, that James Bond level in Goldeneye when you’re climbing up and down the silo, like the missile silo. Yeah. And I was like, oh, just like a staircase that goes around the outside. Oh, right. Yeah.
Like yeah. Okay. Yeah. I guess so. But it’s more of a centralized staircase where every floor goes into, which makes a lot of sense naturally.
Mhmm. Yeah. I think it’s more than we’d expect. So my next stock up was germophobes. Okay.
Alright. How do you feel about germs? Are you are you anti or are you pro germ? I think it’s all mental. Gump, what does that mean?
I I think that if you think germs are a problem, then they’ll be a problem. That’s exactly the matter. Yeah. Well, you tell that to the Native Americans. But Why are we bringing that in there?
Jesus Christ. 96% of them died because of germs, and you’re gonna tell me that germs are fake. Those are viruses. It’s a little different than germs. Those are the same thing.
Are they? Viruses are different. Yeah. Alright. Well, my whole point is, 1, I’m pretty okay with germs.
Mostly okay. Remember when you see each other, you only allow me to fist bump you. That’s like Harry Mendel. I know that this year. Fist me.
It’s different. So That’s the clip. The key about germ germophobes is just don’t drink from anyone else’s canteen. Because if you were a germophobe and someone was, like, grabbing for your canteen, you’d be, like, no. I’m sorry.
Like, this is just for me. That was supposed to be, like, an intimate thing. That was, like, them kissing before they kissed. They hadn’t oh, okay. They had because they hadn’t they hadn’t swapped spit yet.
Right? This is, like, in Seinfeld when, Elaine shares the water bottle with a guy. You know what I’m talking about? I know. I haven’t seen that episode.
Oh, you’ve definitely seen it. It’s like the guy tries to kick out George out of the gym membership or another gym because he pisses in the the shower. Are you gonna belittle me by saying I’ve definitely seen it when I definitely haven’t seen it? Tell you told me you watch Seinfeld all the time. You’ve definitely seen the episodes.
I’ve seen some episodes. You haven’t seen all the episodes of Seinfeld? No. This is a this is an intervention right now. This is tough.
Really? I’m a curve guy. I’m a curve guy through and through. That that’s eye opening, honestly. The wife the wife loves love Seinfeld.
I mean, honestly, this validates hitch for me. This really does. Yeah. I mean, I watched all of Seinfeld. I mean, how do you do that?
I don’t understand. If you were like, I didn’t I didn’t really, like, watch the first two seasons. I’ve watched the other ones. I’d be like, alright. Yeah.
That’s fair. The first two seasons are whatever. But just say, like, I don’t know that one. Come on, bro. Grow up.
Would you? Alright. I’ll do better. I’ll do better. What can I say?
I’ll do better. That’s all I can say. But don’t drink yourselves as a canteen because you’re gonna die. It’s it’s really simple as that. Yeah.
Alright. Fair enough. Fair enough. Also, if someone that’s your enemy, like, someone you don’t get along with, let’s say, as well as, like, you know, the mayor and the deputy when they’re talking to IT, every time they see Bernard, they’ve seen him, like, 3 times going up and down. And every time, it’s like a little tiff.
Like, we want Juliet to be sheriff. He’s like, definitely not Juliet. Definitely not her. We don’t even know who she is. She stole heat tape from us.
That’s all we know. And it’s a fight every time, but then at the end, he’s like, let me fill up your canteens. Before you go any further, let me fill up your canteens. Something’s going on there. So if your enemy continues to offer you something every time you see them, it’s probably gonna kill you.
Really simple as that. Yeah. I mean, that’s a that’s a good point. Alright. Let’s go stock down.
What do you got? Stock down, looking to the future. I’ve had this before. I think I did this the same stock down with some of the Mitch Rapp books. But yeah, I’m I’m selling once again.
Anytime a a character seems to be thinking about like, you know what, everything’s gonna be alright. That that character is gonna die. That’s just fact of the matter. They’re gonna die within the next like 10 minutes of the book. Same thing happens in this.
You have Holston going outside being like, oh, things are fine. Everything’s great outside. And then we hit the real world, right? You know, he takes the mask off, he’s dead. We have Mayor John’s walking up the steps to your point.
You just mentioned it. She’s drinking out of the water. She’s like, you know what? I’m gonna probably hook up with the sheriff a a little bit. Things are gonna be good.
I’m gonna start being more involved. I’m gonna start taking more walks. Good thing. I got some of that petroleum jelly from the down deep. I scooped it off one of them generators because I am about to get sloppy right now.
She’s going up, you know, but he’s going down. No. He’s going up. He’s going up. Oh, I do see what you’re saying.
So yeah. No. So that’s you think everything’s gonna be good? Dead. Yeah.
She’s dead right away. Yeah. Obviously. So yeah. So you just Daisy, don’t look to the future like I’ve said before.
I’ve said it again. And and another sock too, just in general with that, is that I think I’ve talked about this before, but if you’re ugly too, you’re you’re a piece of shit. The the only person they describe as ugly is Bernard. They’re like, and then Bernard walked in. Everyone else is gorgeous.
Bernard’s an ugly piece of shit. He’s gross. And that was all they said about it. I’m like, oh, so this guy’s bad, I guess. But, yeah, don’t be ugly.
Yeah. Well, I had a similar one to your to your first one in that my first sock down was being the main character in a book. Yeah. Because normally, you know, you think it’s a great Yeah. It’s a great situation.
So we got Olsen, and we’re like, oh, sweet. Like, this is the main character. It’s, you know, the book’s starting off. He’s the main character. Like, he’s the sheriff of the silo.
He’s gonna find some stuff out. This is cool. Great. He’s dead. Oh, okay.
Well, he’s been talking to mayor John’s the whole time, so she’s the main character. Like, it’s about the mayor. She’s running this whole thing. I also thought she’d be bad too, which was nice. Yeah.
Well, she’ll be good main character, bad main character? Doesn’t matter. She’s a main character. Nope. She’s dead.
And then it’s like, oh, okay. Okay. Okay. Whatever. Who’s Holson’s number 2?
Deputy Barnes. He was also in love with with the mayor. Like, he’s the main character. Got it. Got it.
Got it. Got it. Got it. Nope. He’s dead.
And this is like a court we’re a quarter of the way through the book, and, legitimately, every people we’ve been introduced to are dead. And, like, only then do we meet Juliet. And, unfortunately, I had seen the cover because it’s, like, on like, the cover of the book is the new TV show, so I knew who the main character was based on that. So I was like, okay. There’s gonna be a young woman who’s the main character, which is unfortunate because I would have been a little bit more mind blown in the fact that we’re a quarter of the way through the book and everyone that we’ve been introduced to and, like, learned about is dead.
So don’t be a main character in a book if you’re if you’re in a Hugh Howie book. If, like, you get cast for a Hugh Howie show, and they’re like you start reading the first 15 pages of the script Game of Thrones. And you’re like, oh, it’s all me. It’s totally like Game of Thrones. It kinda threw me off guard, and, honestly, it was refreshing and super enjoyable because I was basically under the mentality that no one is safe.
So when Juliet goes out, I was like, maybe she will just die. Who fucking knows? You know? Yeah. For sure.
What’s good too is like most, there’s a sequel or those are a big series, they’re not gonna kill off the main characters because then they just have to keep on adding new characters, but he was like, no, I’m gonna have 3 books and people are gonna die throughout. Yeah. So I was like, oh, that’s awesome. Yeah. Well, he also addressed that in his questionnaire.
And I guess we’ll talk about this now. He at the end of the audiobook, he has, like, you know, asked the author questions. Which he wrote himself, which I I really like. That’s the part that I really liked was that at the end, he’s, like, did you write these all yourself? And he’s, like, yes.
I did. And not only did I like it because they were all, like, very base level questions. So he could have definitely thrown it out to the world, but instead he went anti silo and basically said, I’m gonna be full transparent here. I just made these up. Like, I didn’t wanna throw it out there to the world.
I knew the questions that I wanted to answer and I answered them. Some would say it’s similar to, the Buddy Book Club’s reader email questions, but probably not at all. Probably completely different. It’s exactly like that. Yeah.
So I I respect it. What else do you have for Stockton? Stockton virtual reality. In this book, virtual reality is fucking awesome. They basically have the 8 by 2 strip they put over the mask, warps reality to make it look a 1000000 times better.
Where where is that for us? 20 years ago, probably at this point, I was when I was in Faneuil Hall and they had virtual reality. We haven’t improved on this yet? How have we not gotten and this is really what I want. I mean, this would really solve also my back problem.
Not move ever again. No. That would be opposite. I want a trackpad where you’re playing Warzone, and you’re literally running miles in order to fight. Oh.
You know, you’re jumping over things. You’re you’re sprinting, and it it becomes the best, most athletic, best people. And so, basically, you’d have to, like, start the game. It’s like, are you gonna run a mile to start? We’re gonna get your time for a mile.
We’re gonna get your endurance, and you’re gonna be put in a slot with all these other people that run the same mile times. And then you’re just gonna improve over time if you wanna become better. Right? And it becomes more like an athletic game. And then we’re you’re you’re killing 2 birds with 1 stone.
I’m no longer a piece of shit that’s getting a a back injury from not doing anything. And then also, it’s I’m having fun. I’m exercising, You know? Why can’t we get there, dude? Where is it?
Wow. Why are you so jacked? You’re like, I’ve been playing Madden. Like, what? Yeah.
I’ve needed to be strong over the middle. I gotta lay some people out. You know? So Well, it’s funny you said because I remember going to Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. One of the big things they had there was this VR shooter, which was you put the this giant headset on, like, straight out of blank check.
You clip in at your, like, harness clip in, but it had a trackpad. So you were, like, track padding around Oh, really? And then shooting. Yeah. It was like a whole thing.
Like you said, I was doing 20 years ago. Yeah. Exactly. What what the hell? No.
Fuck. It was probably more than 20 years ago. It was, like, 25 years ago. You know? I was, like, 10 years old because I loved Goldeneye at the time.
So I was like, oh my god. This is Goldeneye of the future. This is gonna be amazing. I know. And now all we have is, like, Mark Zuckerberg putting on some, like, cardboard glasses being like, I’m in virtual reality playing Fruit Ninja.
It’s like, no. This is not what I want. Speaking of video games, my next talk down is going side. And definitely not something you want to do in in this book. And if you have some sciatica, this is good for you because you could just stay inside.
People are like, oh, do you wanna go out? You’re like in the silo. You’re like, I can’t. You know, my back. They’re like you know, it would require me to walk up like 4 flights of stairs.
I just can’t go outside. It’s just not gonna happen for me. Like, all you have to say is, I wanna go outside. And you’re like, no. No.
No. I definitely do not wanna go outside. I can’t even move. But do you remember we talked about video game aspect. Do you remember the Wii when Mhmm.
Like, in between games or whatever, it would say, like, do you wanna go outside? Do you remember? No. I don’t. I don’t.
Yeah. It’s a fascinating move for, like, a a video game company that’s, like, trying to suck you in to just play more video games. But in between different games, like if you’re playing Wii Sports or whatnot, it would say, do you want to put the controllers down and go outside? Pretty wild. So if you imagine if there’s we in the silo and they’re like, do you want to put the controllers down and go outside?
You have to bash that thing. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely not. This is test, though.
That’s how they they they get you out of there. You know? It’s smart. This is a rebel thing. Also, related to this is cleaning.
Just don’t clean. Just you know, people that say cleaning’s positive, negative. Just don’t clean. And I’m a big cleaner myself, so if, I’d have to really change my mentality. What was the reason for clean?
I thought I feel like it should have been more vital to society. Because I remember when you described the book, they’re like, they will they have to go out and clean otherwise. But it’s otherwise, like, they just don’t see that well. Like, who cares? I also think there’s a there’s another maybe hate around that in the sense of okay.
Like, Holston has to think because every time someone goes out, they clean. Like, they just even though they say they’re not gonna clean it. Are they, like, solar panels? That would’ve made more sense. Right?
If there’s solar panels coming off in order to make sure they have energy, it’s like we’re gonna die if you don’t Yeah. You’re gonna kill everyone else because the idea is what Holsen says, which is he’s like, oh, I have to clean these cameras so that everyone else can see what I’m seeing. But he would know that 100 of people have been out before him and they’ve all cleaned and he didn’t see what they saw. It just doesn’t make any sense that because they said like even when Juliet decides not to clean, Bernard’s like, oh my God, this is the biggest deal. Like, this never happens.
When it does, it’s always a rebellion. And you don’t think like one of those 100 criminals or whatever would just see this beautiful landscape and be like, fuck everyone back there. I’m just walking away. I mean, that’s what I would I when Holston was like, I’m gonna go clean, and I was like, no, bro. Like, what?
Have some spite in your heart one time. Yeah. So I agreed with you that it should be more of, like, the solar panels charge the whole silo. You have to go out there and clear them off. And maybe they do.
Maybe the future books, they they’re, like, talk talk about importance. It made it they made it more sound like it was, like, you’re just doing it just as, like, a tradition rather than Yeah. It is. It’s just so so people can see through the at the cafeteria while they’re having their frosted flakes. They can see this terrible landscape with all these dead bodies everywhere.
Like that’s exactly what they want to look at. What do you think about the, like, class structure and stuff? Do you think that was a fun way of bringing this whole story together? Because, you know, we had it with, Brave New World, had its own kind of class structure, and, obviously, Red Rising had its class structure. This was, like, a little bit quieter, I feel like.
Yeah. You know? I didn’t realize they were wearing different color shirts for Different color like, I figured them like overalls kind of thing. Yeah. Like coveralls.
It didn’t really that didn’t seem to be a huge theme whereas I feel like most class books or dystopians are like dig on like, oh, they’re not part of my group, you know. This one is just, like, I didn’t even realize I had colors on to one point. They’re, like, oh, yeah. They were in, like, the red shirt crew. It was like a It was in the blues or whatever.
Yeah. I didn’t even realize. It wasn’t really drew up during home, which I I I like because I don’t think this book is just like a class book. It’s more of like a disinformation and how to keep society down. Yeah.
Which I think was a cooler take because they’re not all the books focus on that really. Yeah. And they and in the show, there’s not really colors, but there is, like, a class struggle. But I did I did think that was interesting as well. Just, like, the down deep was, like, kept low even though they were, like, the good, you know, blue collar workers.
And then at the top was all the people that, like, held the information, but were also in the dark. They didn’t even know what was going on. I thought the class stuff was well done in that it wasn’t over, like, this is a clear class struggle. But as it progressed, you could see the divisions between those classes. Well, my next stock down is IT.
Just in general, this can be a quick one. Like, fuck those guys, you know, whether it be at work or anywhere else. Like, they think they know everything because they, like, didn’t handle your computers. Yes. Trust me.
If I had an issue with my computer at work, who do I go to? I go to IT. So it makes a lot of sense that they would be kinda like the leaders in the silo, But at the same time, like, they’re looking at my history on my phone that’s a work phone. Like, I don’t want them seeing that shit. You know what I’m saying?
Yeah. They’re managing servers, but the servers are doing all the work. They were a little uppity, honestly. It’d be like I’m doing all the work digging these holes, but you have an excavator. Oh, you know what I mean?
It’s like they’re talking about how, like, important it is and all this stuff. It’s like, but you’re not doing shit. That’s like the fucking computer doing it. You’re not doing it. You know?
They’re watching these and and they don’t know a lot because you can’t. Like, you can’t know too much. So they’re just, like, making sure the servers run. And if the servers don’t run, like, they fix them. And they only know, like, the process to fix them.
You know? It’s not like they can create. They can just manage. Yeah. They’re they’re overrated.
Yeah. IT, overrated in general. Help desks, no. We’re we’re out on the help desk. No.
Thank you. My last one, big y. Are you familiar with that grocery chain? It sounds familiar. Yeah.
It’s Connecticut and Massachusetts. Never never been in one, but I know it’s a thing. Okay. But it’s a stop down for me. So, actually, I’m not talking about the grocery chain here.
I’m talking about the the big y in general, the book big why, because when you read a book, you wanna know who, what, where, when, how, why. Right? Those are the things you want to learn. And this book, we never and we know it’s part of a series, so I guess that makes us feel a little bit better. But we never learn the big why of, like, why this is happening.
We learn everything else, which is great and fulfilling. And I’m okay with it. Normally, if if I didn’t get the why, I would be, like, super frustrated. But in this case, I was down. I thought it was such a great way that all the other things were answered, but we still don’t quite understand the big picture of why these silos are being created.
And I’ve never wanted to just jump into another book, I think, more than this because I just I need to know that. Like, I need to know the why aspect. But at the same time I feel totally good after reading this book. I don’t feel like I was left without answers being answered. I don’t know how that made any sense to me.
How did you feel about that? I guess, what’s the why that you’re missing? The why being why are there 50 silos? Why did this in general get created? They said that, like, there was a country or whatever that saw that they were in the league.
Aren’t they in, like, Seattle? The only reference they had was they saw Atlanta. So maybe they are. But they said, basically, it was a country who saw that they were at currently at the top, but on the decline, but wanted to hold their position. So they build all these silos and whatnot and potentially, like, nuclearly attacked the entire world.
So they’re the only ones left. There’s also gonna be a dumb question or thought, but is it possible the silos were nuclear missile silos? Now we’re, like, you know, they basically were were housing that nuclear missile. They opened up. They shot them, and they just, like, shot them everywhere.
And then they’re, like, and now we’re gonna live here. They’d be way smaller than that. I mean, the these silos are massive. They’re, like, 10,000 people live in them. And you couldn’t fire a nuclear missile out of this particular silo.
It just wouldn’t make any sense. You can fire nuclear missiles out of submarine. Yeah. I’m saying you could probably fire it out of a piece of it, but it wouldn’t be like the entire No. They’re shooting 50 of them off.
You would just immediately be able to repurpose that, like, build the stairwell in the center. Oh, that it was already built for that. They’re like, here, we’re gonna build these 50 silos. They’re gonna once we hit the armor gun button, they hit it. And the 50 bombs all fucking shoot off from the silos, and then everyone lives there the rest of the time.
There are a 150 stories deep. Like, there’s there’s no need for that for a nuclear missile silo. I like the idea. The questions, that I would, like, answer is, like, how is this, like, poison everywhere? Is that radiation?
Is that some sort of new thing? And then, yeah, I guess the why, do you think it’s gonna be answered in the future books? I think so. I mean, we got pieces of it, but it’s been so long, and who knows what these testings are that they’re doing. Like, we talked about before, like, superhero origin story.
I need to know the origin story of how this whole thing happened. Mhmm. But we didn’t get that answer, and I still felt good about it. Did you feel good about reading the book? Like, you’re like, oh.
Oh, yeah. For sure. Even if it were just one book on its own, I think I’d be okay with it. If it were one book on its own, I think it would end a lot darker. I thought it was just gonna be like and then everyone dies and everything goes back to normal.
And I was, like, because I kinda like those other things. Yeah. I think you said dystopians. It’s like, oh, this is the next rebellion and then we just reset with the same bullshit over and over again. Like 1984 type ending.
You hate them when you’re reading it and but then you look back you’re like, alright that was a cool message. Shit’s just gonna stay the same. It doesn’t matter, you know. I don’t think it needed to be answered but I’m excited to read the future ones. You say you had a character.
Walker? Yeah. Well, anyone named Walker? Walker’s a badass name. So Walker Texas Ranger, obviously.
But he’s basically Q from James Bond or Alfred or one of these, like, technologically savvy types that can do everything and build everything. Love that. Fix the radio, saves Juliet. Just cool. I liked him a lot.
He’s like, I’m not leaving this fucking place. Kinda like me with my room and with this fucking sciatica. But, anyway, same difference. What about you? I liked Walker too.
I mean, Walker and Juliet, they’re both great, but I think Walker was was probably the best. I also found it funny that he never left his room. And in my mind, it was just like a garage kind of thing with, like, tools everywhere. Like, where does he shit? Does everyone just bring him his food?
What does this man, like, actually look like? Is is he massive or is he just the scrawniest person ever? Just, like, malnourished because he just spends all of his time tinkering. What what is kinda funny too is, there are the book we’re not really privy to The privy? The atmosphere or just in terms of like the the senses that are going on.
But when you meet Solo, she’s like, oh, this dude is completely gross. Just smells like absolute shit everywhere. And Solo’s immediate, his first thing, he’s like, yeah, all I do is, like, walk around and destroy bathrooms. Yeah. I was thought I was like, I rewinded that.
I was like, but did he just say what I think you just said? He’s like, yeah. I just completely eviscerate this bathroom until I can’t stand the smell, and then I leave. I was like, wait. What?
Loved it. I mean, we really never talked about style of 17, but you have no plumbing. You can just go level after level after level just filling toilets. Like, what else would you do? Honestly, like, what else would you do?
I guess you could kind of, like, hang over the railing and just, like, poop all the way down. If you’re doing, like, a garden, right, you’re wouldn’t you need the manure there? Yeah. But I don’t know if you’d need, like, a daily human waste. Yeah.
I’d convince myself that it needs it. I actually kinda like the idea because you have the silo in the middle. Why aren’t you just pooping over the railing or, like, figuring out You have a huge toilet below you. Yeah. Good point.
Like, figuring out a toilet contraption. That that would suck, though, when they drain it out. Well, Juliet goes down there, and she’s like, alright. We’re gonna run the generator. And he’s like, yeah.
It all sounds good. And she goes down, and by the time she gets to the lower levels, she’s like, oh my god. There’s 4 feet of shit here. What is happening? Yeah.
Solo was interesting. Also interesting was the potential incest. Is is that what was happening there? No. Were they siblings?
I thought they were all one family. Maybe, like, a pack of kids that were left after the the rebellion or whatever the case was. Yeah. They did say the baby had, like, 4 hands. So No.
No. They didn’t say that. I’m kidding. No. That’s not a thing, is it?
Yeah. If you have incest, it’s more likely to have Four hands? Get the fuck out of here. Fact check that. You’re fact checking me about something.
Fact check its hands. That’s much more likely to have deformities. Also, if it had 4 hands, like, wouldn’t that be better? Talk about, like, positive mutations. It’s basically an x men.
Yeah. I guess that will that’s like monkeys have disposable thumbs right on their feet, so that’s forehands. What do they have? Disposable thumbs? What is it?
What’s the word for it? Disposable. They got disposable thumbs. Oh, what’s what is the word when you’re what do we have for thumbs? I have 2.
Imposable? What’s the word? Imposable. Is that another thing? What’s it called?
You’re googling it. So you got it. Opposable. Opposable. They’re disposable.
A thumb that can be placed opposite the finger of the same hand. Opposable thumbs. That’s not been designed that forever. Okay. That’s fine.
No. You know. But Like, hey, guys. Look at my disposable thumbs. People are like, you just take them off and throw them away?
What happens? Alright. That’s what makes us humans is we have opposable thumbs. Right? Indeed.
Alright. What do you love about silent? Love great dystopian. There’s, like, an adult version of Giver. A Giver is actually a good analogy because I was thinking because I had this on my love to dystopian novels, and I was analogy because I was thinking because I had this on my love to dystopian novels, and I was thinking about, like, what else we had read and, like, where do we draw the line between sci fi and dystopia?
But I think The Giver is a good this is similar to that, but for adults. You already mentioned it, but I really like those a lot of depth. Because a lot of the You books, the problem with those is there’s a hero and you know that person’s going to be the center of the attention throughout the book. And it’s gonna be a typical story arc where it’s like them discovering that they’re in some sort of not perfect society and then having to revolt against it and all this stuff that comes with it. Whereas this is just like, nope, this person’s gonna die.
This main character’s gonna die. This you know, it’s just this whole thing where you’re like, oh, jeez. Like, I can’t really trust that this one person’s gonna be the hero. It it could be anyone or could they all could die. Yeah.
Agreed. And I just like the the character switching in general. I’ve got different perspective, different characters, really like that. Yeah. Especially when they’re in different places and, like, getting Lucas’ perspective was was really fun because he’s got it coming at this from a whole another place than Juliet and her crew is.
He had a really weird situation during that whole thing where he was, like, locked in the server room, and I thought that was fascinating too. Like, him getting all this stuff to, like, basically be Bernard’s shadow. Bernard also stalked down Bernard, like, being able to pick his shadow. Anytime he gives someone authority, they immediately turn on him. He was terrible at that.
Like, Billings. He was like, oh, yeah. Billings. This is my guy. This is the guy coming up.
No. He’s gonna be the guy that’s gonna kill you at the end. So, yeah. No. And then Lucas totally turns on him.
But I also loved the visor screen thing because they were kind of explaining it, and I feel like I was pretty good at, like, figuring some of the stuff out in this book. And when they were like, oh, like, it’s 2 by 8 or whatever the case is, like, what would be 2 by 8 that they would need this for? And I was like, oh, shit. That’s the helmet screen. Like, that’s what’s going on here.
Is there just fake We knew about that with Holston. I wish we almost didn’t know that because that’d been a great reveal. If we just didn’t hear from Holston again Mhmm. We could have been like, oh, maybe he survived or maybe something happened with him, but, like, we knew from his experience that that he had some visor going on there. Yeah.
Did you know that it was gonna be Bernard and the suit at the end and not Lucas? No. No. Yeah. I just I immediately thought I was like, oh, I bet you they just, like because you can’t see into the visor.
She was saying, like, I can’t see can’t see his face. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, oh, it’s probably Bernard in there. But then I had to do a double take because I was like, fucking Hugh.
I don’t know. This guy always kills everyone. Yeah. You never know. Yeah.
Maybe he’s just like, fuck Lucas. My issue was like, okay, well, Bernard has admitted that he will just kill people off and there’s only certain people that make sense for cleanings. Right? Why would Lucas ever make sense for that? He he he’s told you all the secrets.
He’s like too much information to do a cleaning. He’s gonna be the one he’s clearly gonna revolt. Yeah. He’s clearly not gonna clean. They’re just gonna burn him up and just say, like, oh, it was an accident.
They burnt him up or something like that, I guess. Yeah. It seems like he just, like, shoot him in the head in the that little chamber there. They already said, like, there’s lots of killings outside of cleanings. He said there was, like, 14 that year and there’s been one cleaning.
So he murdered 13 other people. Yeah. Do you have any other loves? Yuri just mentioned it quick, but the the shadow. I really like the the idea of an apprentice that’s like, alright, this guy’s gonna follow you around.
They’re young but they’re gonna learn. It’s a cool idea. I wish we did more of that in, high school and college and not just get thrown to the wild when we actually have to go to the workforce. What would you have apprenticed for in high school? I I think one of the trades, I think, would have even if you didn’t want to go into the trades, I think that’d been a cool thing just to to have under your belt.
Yeah. These people are actually doing real work, and you can do it too. But also when you go into the the real world, maybe you have an appreciation for this. You know, it’s like when you if you’ve become a server or done any sort of service job, you start tipping more after that. You start, like, really appreciating those people because it’s like because you could deal with so many shitty people.
It’s like, you gotta be extra nice because they have to deal with that all the time. Yeah. It would have been great. And I know there are schools that are like this, but it would have been so great if there was just like a car at school that they would just like someone would walk you around to be like, here’s how to change tires. Here’s how to change air filters, change wiper blades, change your oil.
Taxes. Yeah. Exactly. Stuff like that. So, yeah, I’m with you on that.
I would have shadowed all of those people if I had the opportunity. But, what’d you I briefly touched on it, but the name and the cover, I just think Silo would have been a better name, a, which is probably why the show named that. Wool is there’s there I think wool was mentioned one time in the book. It was actually twice, and it was wild. It’s not a catchy name.
And then the cover, obviously, the the the cover is now replaced by the Amazon show. But, like, the original cover, when I remember looking it up, it says wool in, like, black lettering, and it’s a red cover with just, like, staircases around it. But it looks so old. Like, once I get the whole graphic design, like Dust and Shift look way better. Oh, this is, like, an old book.
Well, I think it’s because I think it’s because Hugh Howey self published it. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. He, like, self published it in stages. So he, like, did this the first part as, like, I don’t know.
Kinda Andy Weirder. Novella. Essentially. Yeah. A little bit.
With the novella, it got popular so that he, like, kept self publishing these other little novellas, like, through the Amazon self publishing system. So I didn’t think he had, like, a big marketing Oh, that’s fair. Group to, like, do that stuff. So I I do agree with you there. And it’s even funny because in the show, when Holston goes out, they, like, put a little wool in his pocket, and I’m, like, to Caroline.
I’m, like, that’s why the book’s name is wool. And she’s, like, why? And I was, like, because they put wool in his pocket. Like, that’s so stupid. That’s all you’ll hear about it ever again, by the way.
I was like, yeah. Don’t it’s like, in the book, they always say it, like, once. So it did it really didn’t make a lot of sense. Been called destroying toilets. I mean, I understand where he’s coming from.
It’s a little thematic or something, you know, symbolic. Is it? What what is it symbolic of? If you got the wool, you’re going out. You’re it’s a sacrifice to some degree.
Like, the cleaning would have been a good name too. Yeah. Okay. We like silo better, though. Yeah.
Yeah. Silo is a great name. Yeah. Silo is a the only hate, I guess, was the whole idea around, like, no asking questions and stuff like that. It’s like, oh, you’ll get sent out cleaning.
This world is full of questions. Like, it’s just asking for questions. Really and I know they’ve been in this society for a while, but I find it hard that there wouldn’t be super curious people. We can’t ask any of these basic questions. Because, you know, there are lots of totalitarian regimes where you’re not allowed to do stuff, because, you know, there are lots of totalitarian regimes where you’re not allowed to do stuff and people live their daily lives and just put their blinders on and go about it.
But it’s just, like, why are we here? No one’s asking those questions. What’s happening? I feel like there would have been more uprisings. Well, you could think of the same way as, like, we’re on Earth right now and we look into space.
Like, we’re we’re in a big area. You’re not looking at a space and being, like, oh my god. Why are we trapped in this little tiny planet? Right? Like, that’s the same way the mentality thing.
If you if you were just born in a silo, you wouldn’t know there’s a huge world. But people in space could be looking at it as being, like, wow, imagine being in that tiny planet. Never known it’s Yeah. But there’s all rules about just asking normal questions, like, very simple questions of why we can’t have certain things. Why we can’t go here?
Why we can’t go there? Why can’t I fall in love with somebody that I wanna fall in love with? You know? Why can’t I travel up multiple floors this at once? Like, you know, none it’s like you asked that.
You’re gonna go outside. It’s like, why? Like, that none of that makes any sense to me. Yeah. You sound like someone needs to go cleaning, I’ll be honest with you.
But yeah. I feel like there would just be more rebellious groups because they’re, like, oh, every 100 years or so, whatever, there’s a rebellion. Well, they’re definitely right about, like, the whole sickness thing is once you get, like, a little bit of taste of, like, oh, maybe things aren’t as they are, then you start asking way more questions all of a sudden. But if you’re just, like, oh, everything seems checks out and then you believe everything, then you’re still just in your fairy tale. I mean, it makes sense.
Yeah. No. And I know that it exists in real life. So Yeah. It it it’s not really a super hate, but it was just kind of I wanted I wanted, like, a rebel group that was within there that they found or something like that.
You know? Some opposite of Spectre or something in the Goldeneye stuff. Like, there’s this secret. The rebel alliance is hiding out throughout all of the silo just waiting or something. They they’re, like, mechanical tapped into.
Once they started rebelling, some leader came down and was like, we’ve been working on this for years. Yeah. Oh, yeah. My last take was just the extended drowning and suffocating outside scenes. I mean, obviously, they were all written.
They’re just very uncomfortable to to read or listen to. Just the brutal, like, I feel like I might be suffocating, right, like, outside or I’m about to drown. Like, those 2 it was basically a horror film for those 2 scenes, the silo 18. Was it 17? Or 17.
Whatever. Yeah. Whatever the the one that it weren’t in. That whole place was a was a horror film. Oh, my god.
It’s always dark. Yes. Lights are, like, flashing. They hear sounds all over the place. I I felt very uncomfortable.
Obviously, it was great, but I just uncomfortable the whole time. Yeah. And the fact that it’s it’s massive and they’re wondering, like, oh, like, why did these doors open that I feel like I already closed? There could definitely be other people that have been living there without you knowing it for that long. So Yeah.
For sure. I don’t think it’s addressed in the series, unfortunately, but I don’t think they make it that far. But, I’m really excited to see that on the screen. Keith, Will, would you recommend it to our listeners? I was a big fan.
I think it’s gonna be slotted in at number 8 for me, book wise. I’m in the top 10. Oh, wow. It’s a top 10 breaker. Yeah.
I I think so. It’s gonna knock, Dark Matter off the list. But I think, you know, there’s a type of book that’s right in my alley. I mean, it really is. It’s just my bread and butter right here.
So not surprising that it’s, gonna end up in the top 10. Yeah. I will. I I honestly don’t know what my top ten is. Like, I don’t know what the back half of it is.
But it could slide in there. It was it was good. It was very good. I enjoyed it. I’m excited about more of it.
I’m excited about the series. It in itself was just, like, super fun. But, yes, I would definitely recommend it. I thought it was great. What was it?
Like, 15 hours, the audiobook? Yeah. It’s perfect. That’s right in my wheelhouse. I would definitely recommend it.
Bottom line. Alright. What do we have coming up next? The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter. This one, we got recommended by a BBC listener.
It was, I think it’s supposed to like, the comparison was, like, Red Rising meet Game of Thrones or something crazy like that. So we’re, like, alright. That sounds too good to be true. So we’ll see if that’s the the case. Have you started it yet?
I have. Have you? No. Good? Top 10 for sure.
Really? Locked in. I’m, like and I’m only, like I don’t know. I’m Oh, man. I’m hoping so I’m super jazzed.
I think this would make a phenomenal TV series, and I’m only 2 hours in. You’re like, yep. Yeah. Write it up. I unlocked it.
So, yeah, we’ll come at you with Rage of Dragons. We might have another one in between. We’ll see. If you haven’t got it yet, go get it. Enjoy it, and, we’ll catch you next time.
Alrighty. I like it. Yep. Alright, Keith. Enjoy yourself.
Love you, brother. Yeah. You too. Bye now.
