Connie Willis
This book was a slow starter. I almost tossed it a couple times in the first third. In the year 2060 time travel has been invented, is controlled by the historians at Oxford, and is used to send students back in time to observe first person, significant historical events. The time continuum somehow does not allow historians to alter the past. It does this by not allowing them to travel to places that they could cause problems that can't be fixed. Several historians are traveling back to World War II England to observe different aspects of life during the war (e.g. shop-girls before and after the beginning of the Blitz, ordinary people becoming heroes in the evacuation of Dunkirk, life in the country with the hundreds of children evacuated from London, etc.). Once these historians are on assignment, and we stick with their stories, the book becomes fascinating. It really is interesting what can be learned from observation of the mundane that was not likely ever recorded in any history book. Willis does a great job of painting the portraits of routine wartime life in England.
My biggest disappointment was to get to the end and find out that this was a two volume novel. Stay tuned for All Clear to find out what happened. You can't read just this book. Either don't read it, or plan to read both. Since I plan to read both, I will rate it...
Read
Monday, December 31, 2012
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Snow Crash
Neal Stephenson
Definitely one of the top 5 books I have read this year (see The Windup Girl, Divergent, and The Years of Rice and Salt for the others). How can you not appreciate a cyberpunk, political thriller with a strong metaphysical thread running throughout? The setting is presumably in the future, but perhaps not too far into the future. The world has been franchised out (MegaCops, General Jim's Defense Systems, The Mafia, CosaNostra Pizza, Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong, etc.). That is, there are no laws anywhere and the entire globe has been balkanized into for profit enterprises. There is also the MetaVerse (an online virtual world a la Second Life) where people can create avatars and conduct both business and pleasure. Hiro Protagonist is the main character here. He is a hacker, sword fighter and band promoter. As a hacker, he gets involved with a nefarious plot to distribute a virus that can not only crash computers, but can also crash brains. This is where it gets fun. Stephenson treats us to long discourses that describe how language and religion and ancient Sumerians have all contributed to the development of human civilization and how each individual religion is either a virus leading to monoculture and human destruction or an anti-virus and maintaining civilization. Encased in the clothes of a futuristic thriller, we get to think about the meaning and role of religion and belief systems. What exactly is this thing I believe, why do I believe it and how does it interact with the world around me.
Read
Definitely one of the top 5 books I have read this year (see The Windup Girl, Divergent, and The Years of Rice and Salt for the others). How can you not appreciate a cyberpunk, political thriller with a strong metaphysical thread running throughout? The setting is presumably in the future, but perhaps not too far into the future. The world has been franchised out (MegaCops, General Jim's Defense Systems, The Mafia, CosaNostra Pizza, Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong, etc.). That is, there are no laws anywhere and the entire globe has been balkanized into for profit enterprises. There is also the MetaVerse (an online virtual world a la Second Life) where people can create avatars and conduct both business and pleasure. Hiro Protagonist is the main character here. He is a hacker, sword fighter and band promoter. As a hacker, he gets involved with a nefarious plot to distribute a virus that can not only crash computers, but can also crash brains. This is where it gets fun. Stephenson treats us to long discourses that describe how language and religion and ancient Sumerians have all contributed to the development of human civilization and how each individual religion is either a virus leading to monoculture and human destruction or an anti-virus and maintaining civilization. Encased in the clothes of a futuristic thriller, we get to think about the meaning and role of religion and belief systems. What exactly is this thing I believe, why do I believe it and how does it interact with the world around me.
Read
Truancy
Isamu Fukui
In the prologue, we get the setup (and it feels like the map for the rest of the story). The Mayor of an undisclosed city is meeting with his cabinet and discussing the purpose of education (to instruct/subject children and future citizens into becoming mindless instruction-followers) and the perhaps inevitable result (a local rebellion group called The Truancy, made up of kids, fighting for freedom). It seems from this prologue that we will now read a story of how the Truancy started and how it will win its fight against the evil Mayor. And in many ways, this is true. But Fukui adds in some interesting drama along the way that makes this a worthwhile read. Most interestingly is the portrayal of three characters as proponents of Just War, Pacifism and Militarism. In many ways, these three characters are battling for control of the city with their own philosophy and we actually see them interacting along the way, explicitly espousing their point of view and tactical approach to conflict. Since the fun of this book is actually the unfolding of conflict doctrine in the plot, I won't reveal which doctrine/character wins. I will say that I have yet to see a book written that is both entertaining and provides a good role model of how to think about conflict, violence and resolution within a framework that is not so detached from reality that it becomes useless (this book included). But the fact that I just read a YA novel (written by a teen author no less) where conflict doctrine is a major plot element is quite fun. It definitely allows us to ask the questions that need to be asked.
Read
In the prologue, we get the setup (and it feels like the map for the rest of the story). The Mayor of an undisclosed city is meeting with his cabinet and discussing the purpose of education (to instruct/subject children and future citizens into becoming mindless instruction-followers) and the perhaps inevitable result (a local rebellion group called The Truancy, made up of kids, fighting for freedom). It seems from this prologue that we will now read a story of how the Truancy started and how it will win its fight against the evil Mayor. And in many ways, this is true. But Fukui adds in some interesting drama along the way that makes this a worthwhile read. Most interestingly is the portrayal of three characters as proponents of Just War, Pacifism and Militarism. In many ways, these three characters are battling for control of the city with their own philosophy and we actually see them interacting along the way, explicitly espousing their point of view and tactical approach to conflict. Since the fun of this book is actually the unfolding of conflict doctrine in the plot, I won't reveal which doctrine/character wins. I will say that I have yet to see a book written that is both entertaining and provides a good role model of how to think about conflict, violence and resolution within a framework that is not so detached from reality that it becomes useless (this book included). But the fact that I just read a YA novel (written by a teen author no less) where conflict doctrine is a major plot element is quite fun. It definitely allows us to ask the questions that need to be asked.
Read
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
The Rise of Nine
Pittacus Lore
Book 3 of the Lorien Legacies series
The Garde are meeting up. Six, Seven, Ten (yes, Ten) and Ten's Cepan are now on their way to India to meet Eight. Four and Nine are still in the US, recovering from their battle with Mogadorian supreme leader Setrakus Ra. Five is still out there somewhere. At least Four, Eight and Nine are having frequent visions about Ra and each other, Four still feels guilty about his human friends, and who drew the mural in India predicting all the outcomes that we already know about. This is still a very cheesy series, but I like it. In fact, I am a bit sad that I now am in the "wait several years" category until Lore can write the next segments. It looks like a couple more backstory novellas are in store for next year.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Oryx and Crake
Margaret Atwood
This is the prequel to The Year of the Flood. Or more accurately, the The Year... is the sequel book to Oryx and Crake, but the book's timelines are concurrent, with The Year... just a bit earlier. It is just that I read The Year... first. To be honest, having read The Year..., you don't need to read the original. There is no new information. I was expecting some back story, some interesting development to give more understanding about how the whole GMO gone wild scenario developed. I was sorely disappointed. We follow Jimmy (Snowman) after the breakdown of society and as he is "monitoring" the Crakers. We get uninteresting background, with no real new depth to Oryx or Crake. I think had I read this book first, I would never have read The Year... so I am at least glad that my order was "correct".
Skip
This is the prequel to The Year of the Flood. Or more accurately, the The Year... is the sequel book to Oryx and Crake, but the book's timelines are concurrent, with The Year... just a bit earlier. It is just that I read The Year... first. To be honest, having read The Year..., you don't need to read the original. There is no new information. I was expecting some back story, some interesting development to give more understanding about how the whole GMO gone wild scenario developed. I was sorely disappointed. We follow Jimmy (Snowman) after the breakdown of society and as he is "monitoring" the Crakers. We get uninteresting background, with no real new depth to Oryx or Crake. I think had I read this book first, I would never have read The Year... so I am at least glad that my order was "correct".
Skip
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Insurgent
Veronica Roth
Book 2 of Divergent trilogy
As a reminder, this is a dystopian future Chicago where society is divided into factions. Each faction highlights one character trait above all others, believing that the lack of this trait led to the downfall of culture in the past. To the Candor faction values truth above all else, Abnegation values selflessness, Amity - peace, Erudite - knowledge and Dauntless - courage. There is a sorting routine where young people coming of age are tested and get to chose their faction based on their test results. As we saw in the first installment, there are also a few who are Divergent, who test aptitude for multiple factions. This volume picks up where Divergent left off, which the attack of the Abnegation by the Erudite, under the auspices of the Dauntless. It turns out that the Erudite are setting out to control all of society and our heros Four and Tris (both Divergent Dauntless) are working to prevent total control by the Erudite. So in some ways, it is a typical insurgency novel.
What I particularly like about this series is the way we are able to pull out particular traits which are valuable and see what life and society would be like if those are elevated to be solely valuable. Roth is quite good at probing the dark side of truth, or peace, or courage and make us wonder if it really is valuable. I am sure that somewhere the message is that we must mix all the values in order to have a health person or society, but we are not there yet. We get to see the development of awareness in the characters and they all develop at different rates. Add into this a pretty good political mess as the factions and the factionless work behind the scenes and publicly to change opinion. We are never exactly sure who is telling the truth (as is true in politics). Finally, add in an Inception like sequence where Tris is in a simulation. I found myself never quite sure when the simulation was over. I love this stuff.
Read
Sunday, September 16, 2012
The Power of Six
Pittacus Lore
Book 2 of the Lorien Legacies series
A little bit of a play on words here as the powerful Six is a main part of the story and we are starting to see how powerful the remaining six Garde will be when they are together. This book picks up where I am Number Four left off, at the destruction of the high school in Paradise, Ohio. Six, Four and Sam are now alone and on the run. Designated as terrorists, they must not only avoid the Mogs, but also the FBI. Their primary goal is to go find Six's chest, which she believes is locked up in a Mogadorian underground stronghold in West Virginia where she was once held captive. Of course, they are constantly sidetracked by attacks and other pressing matters. Suffice it to say, Six does not get her chest back, but there are plenty of other surprises along the way. We are also introduced to Seven, the Garde who lives in Spain and has been tracked by Mogs for quite some time. As her legacies develop, things there get interesting as well.
I think what I like best about this series is the imagination of the legacies. Fireproof, invisible, weather controlling, anti-gravity, healing, breath under water. All the things I love about the X-men I suppose. Add in the fact that each Garde is discovering things about themselves and pulling strange things out of their chests that they don't know what they do and you have a right good time. Of course, I am starting to see some inconsistencies that are going to bug me if they don't get resolved. And I will always be bugged by how far away Lorien is (reinforced in this book as over 100 million miles away). But I am still enthralled.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Flip
Martyn Bedford
A very similar story to Switch, but the switch only happens once. More metaphysical than ghost story. Alex wakes up one day in Philip's body. He must figure out who he is, who are his friends and how to cope with daily life. He must also decide how he is going to proceed with his life. I am not sure why this is an interesting story, other than perhaps for those who spend a lot of time wishing they were someone else. If so, then this is a cautionary tale as Alex begins to realize that between his psyche (or soul) and the physicality of his neurons, something doesn't match, and will never match. Even if he consciously decided to accept his new life, he will always be unsettled. For me, the most interesting discussion is about whether a psyche swap is even possible. If your consciousness and soul is really just the unique arrangement of neurons in you (the physical you), then the swap is not possible. But what belief about the soul would make such a swap possible. Bedford touches on this, but it is a throw away in the plot, just filler to show how strange Alex (Phillip) is by asking questions like this in science class.
Skip
A very similar story to Switch, but the switch only happens once. More metaphysical than ghost story. Alex wakes up one day in Philip's body. He must figure out who he is, who are his friends and how to cope with daily life. He must also decide how he is going to proceed with his life. I am not sure why this is an interesting story, other than perhaps for those who spend a lot of time wishing they were someone else. If so, then this is a cautionary tale as Alex begins to realize that between his psyche (or soul) and the physicality of his neurons, something doesn't match, and will never match. Even if he consciously decided to accept his new life, he will always be unsettled. For me, the most interesting discussion is about whether a psyche swap is even possible. If your consciousness and soul is really just the unique arrangement of neurons in you (the physical you), then the swap is not possible. But what belief about the soul would make such a swap possible. Bedford touches on this, but it is a throw away in the plot, just filler to show how strange Alex (Phillip) is by asking questions like this in science class.
Skip
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
Max Brooks
Using a series of short interviews (between one paragraph and a few pages) with war veterans worldwide, the narrator presents an overall history of the zombie war. Sometime in the near future, a disease blooms that reanimates the dead. In fact, it only reanimates the dead who are infected when they die, and upon reanimation, the only thing that can kill them is destruction of the brain. They are zombies. And if they bite you, you become infected and will reanimate when you die. This history traces the development of the disease, subsequent global panic, national isolationism and international cooperation to overcome the zombies. While I was not a big fan of the literary technique of so many interviews with so many people (I thought Robopocalypse did it better by choosing a few people and returning to them for a series of interviews), Brooks was able to use the clearly ridiculous zombie backdrop as a mechanism for discussing serious topics such as the political causes and implications of war as well as the psychological effects on both civilians and soldiers. The investigations into PTSD are particularly interesting and relevant as we see modern warfare increasingly dehumanize the enemy. Strange that we might be able to learn a bit about humanity from a zombie, sci-fi novel. Or maybe not strange, but unfortunate that we may not be able to actually hear the truths that might be present in a zombie, sci-fi novel.
Read
Using a series of short interviews (between one paragraph and a few pages) with war veterans worldwide, the narrator presents an overall history of the zombie war. Sometime in the near future, a disease blooms that reanimates the dead. In fact, it only reanimates the dead who are infected when they die, and upon reanimation, the only thing that can kill them is destruction of the brain. They are zombies. And if they bite you, you become infected and will reanimate when you die. This history traces the development of the disease, subsequent global panic, national isolationism and international cooperation to overcome the zombies. While I was not a big fan of the literary technique of so many interviews with so many people (I thought Robopocalypse did it better by choosing a few people and returning to them for a series of interviews), Brooks was able to use the clearly ridiculous zombie backdrop as a mechanism for discussing serious topics such as the political causes and implications of war as well as the psychological effects on both civilians and soldiers. The investigations into PTSD are particularly interesting and relevant as we see modern warfare increasingly dehumanize the enemy. Strange that we might be able to learn a bit about humanity from a zombie, sci-fi novel. Or maybe not strange, but unfortunate that we may not be able to actually hear the truths that might be present in a zombie, sci-fi novel.
Read
Monday, September 3, 2012
The Housekeeper and the Professor
Yoko Ogawa
This is a great little novel that shows how passion for learning can be infectious and can change lives. The professor has a short term memory problem. So much so that his memory only lasts 80 minutes. But this started when he was in a car accident, so his memory of everything before the accident is intact. This means his professional expertise as a mathematician is retained, but it is difficult for him to sustain work on any problem. His housekeeper is assigned to be a daily caretaker, providing lunch and cleaning. What is beautiful about this book is that it is not just about the professor who is a mathematician and a housekeeper who cares for him, but it is just as much about the math. As we read and learn about the characters, we are also pulled into the passionate love for math that the professor has and communicates to the housekeeper (and to us). We learn math. And it is fascinating.
Read
This is a great little novel that shows how passion for learning can be infectious and can change lives. The professor has a short term memory problem. So much so that his memory only lasts 80 minutes. But this started when he was in a car accident, so his memory of everything before the accident is intact. This means his professional expertise as a mathematician is retained, but it is difficult for him to sustain work on any problem. His housekeeper is assigned to be a daily caretaker, providing lunch and cleaning. What is beautiful about this book is that it is not just about the professor who is a mathematician and a housekeeper who cares for him, but it is just as much about the math. As we read and learn about the characters, we are also pulled into the passionate love for math that the professor has and communicates to the housekeeper (and to us). We learn math. And it is fascinating.
Read
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
I am Number Four: The Lost Files: The Fallen Legacies
Pittacus Lore
Another novela with some back story on the Lorien Legacy series. This time we are in the point of view of a Mogadorian. And not just any Mogadorian, but the son of the General of the expansion force on earth. And the story gives us the history of the demise of the first three Guarde. Good cultural detail (trueborn vs vat-born) and diversity (hawks vs doves) makes for a fascinating story keeps me wanting more. Exactly what a mid-series novela is supposed to do.
Read
Another novela with some back story on the Lorien Legacy series. This time we are in the point of view of a Mogadorian. And not just any Mogadorian, but the son of the General of the expansion force on earth. And the story gives us the history of the demise of the first three Guarde. Good cultural detail (trueborn vs vat-born) and diversity (hawks vs doves) makes for a fascinating story keeps me wanting more. Exactly what a mid-series novela is supposed to do.
Read
The Year of the Flood
Margaret Atwood
Another GMO's gone wild dystopia. I must say that not much will compare to The Windup Girl in this area. Atwood presents a world where the Corporations that run everything are isolated sanctuaries. Their primary goal is to make money, to the point of intentionally poisoning people so they have to pay for treatment. In this version, a group of radicals known as God's Gardeners are promoting an alternate lifestyle of care for the earth and plant based diets. This is rather cultish (and seen as a cult by most). It is also the most enjoyable part of the book. The hierarchy of the Gardeners is signified by the titles of the leaders (Adam One, Adam Two, Eve One, Eve Two, etc.) And Adam One regularly gives sermons based on the "Human Words of God" which are often clever translations that are relevant for the bio-engineered world. Otherwise, the effects of the GMO inundation are sparkling clear and the story is really a survival story in unique circumstances. Quality story, but I was ruined by Bacigalupi.
Wait
Another GMO's gone wild dystopia. I must say that not much will compare to The Windup Girl in this area. Atwood presents a world where the Corporations that run everything are isolated sanctuaries. Their primary goal is to make money, to the point of intentionally poisoning people so they have to pay for treatment. In this version, a group of radicals known as God's Gardeners are promoting an alternate lifestyle of care for the earth and plant based diets. This is rather cultish (and seen as a cult by most). It is also the most enjoyable part of the book. The hierarchy of the Gardeners is signified by the titles of the leaders (Adam One, Adam Two, Eve One, Eve Two, etc.) And Adam One regularly gives sermons based on the "Human Words of God" which are often clever translations that are relevant for the bio-engineered world. Otherwise, the effects of the GMO inundation are sparkling clear and the story is really a survival story in unique circumstances. Quality story, but I was ruined by Bacigalupi.
Wait
Friday, August 24, 2012
The Windup Girl
Paulo Bacigalupi
Here is how the future looks according to Bacigalupi. If our present represents a global expansion, of trade and interconnectivity, we will soon enter a contraction. The contraction will be based on scarcity of liquid fuels and will lead to nations looking inward and becoming self protective. Follow this with another expansion based on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) that a few corporations develop to help solve global food shortages. The shortages are so severe that the corporations (calorie companies) are given free reign to experiment in a wide swath of nature (both flora and fauna, both of necessity and for entertainment). Of course, the GMO experimentation includes the development of a few diseases that mutate very fast and are very deadly, causing famine and plague and leading to a second contraction. Throw in the fact that we are well in to the severe effects of global climate change (e.g. elevated sea level, restrictive carbon credits) and you have the setting for Bacigalupi's book.
Set it Thailand, the Thai Kingdom is a bastion of isolation, resisting as much as possible the efforts of calorie companies like AgriGen and PurCAL from controlling their society. They import the sterile, but disease resistent for at least a month, seeds to grow SoyPRO soy and U-Tex rice, but also work to develop their own food sources. The calorie companies just try to stay one step ahead of the dreaded Blister Rust mutation that has caused widespread disease and famine. The details here are wonderful. An entire industry set up around energy storage (in a post fossil fuel world) and developing a 2-gigajoule portable spring storage device (about 500,000 Calories worth of energy) plays a central role around which to spin the plot. The megodont union (GMO elephants) have a monopoly on using the creatures to wind springs for energy storage. The Environmental Ministry is responsible for maintaining GMO purity where possible, for protecting the Thai seed bank from the calorie companies and for protecting the Thai Kingdom from disease. The Trade Ministry promotes entering into expansion and increasing wealth. The Japanese have been leaders in gene-ripping mammals and have created the megodonts, cheshires (GMO cats that have all but eliminated natural cats on earth) and even "windups" (GMO people or New People) to help combat a shrinking Japanese population.
Now this is where the ethics becomes interesting. The GMO animals are just as much animal as the natural animals, but GMO. The GMO plants are real plants, just GMO. But the GMO people are seen as less than human, people without a soul. It raises questions of what you think about humanity and what is a prerequisite for a soul. I always enjoy a good metaphysical thought experiment and this book, by throwing a GMO/Climate Change induced future at me, gave me exactly what I love. Read it and find some friends who will be willing to discuss.
Read
Here is how the future looks according to Bacigalupi. If our present represents a global expansion, of trade and interconnectivity, we will soon enter a contraction. The contraction will be based on scarcity of liquid fuels and will lead to nations looking inward and becoming self protective. Follow this with another expansion based on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) that a few corporations develop to help solve global food shortages. The shortages are so severe that the corporations (calorie companies) are given free reign to experiment in a wide swath of nature (both flora and fauna, both of necessity and for entertainment). Of course, the GMO experimentation includes the development of a few diseases that mutate very fast and are very deadly, causing famine and plague and leading to a second contraction. Throw in the fact that we are well in to the severe effects of global climate change (e.g. elevated sea level, restrictive carbon credits) and you have the setting for Bacigalupi's book.
Set it Thailand, the Thai Kingdom is a bastion of isolation, resisting as much as possible the efforts of calorie companies like AgriGen and PurCAL from controlling their society. They import the sterile, but disease resistent for at least a month, seeds to grow SoyPRO soy and U-Tex rice, but also work to develop their own food sources. The calorie companies just try to stay one step ahead of the dreaded Blister Rust mutation that has caused widespread disease and famine. The details here are wonderful. An entire industry set up around energy storage (in a post fossil fuel world) and developing a 2-gigajoule portable spring storage device (about 500,000 Calories worth of energy) plays a central role around which to spin the plot. The megodont union (GMO elephants) have a monopoly on using the creatures to wind springs for energy storage. The Environmental Ministry is responsible for maintaining GMO purity where possible, for protecting the Thai seed bank from the calorie companies and for protecting the Thai Kingdom from disease. The Trade Ministry promotes entering into expansion and increasing wealth. The Japanese have been leaders in gene-ripping mammals and have created the megodonts, cheshires (GMO cats that have all but eliminated natural cats on earth) and even "windups" (GMO people or New People) to help combat a shrinking Japanese population.
Now this is where the ethics becomes interesting. The GMO animals are just as much animal as the natural animals, but GMO. The GMO plants are real plants, just GMO. But the GMO people are seen as less than human, people without a soul. It raises questions of what you think about humanity and what is a prerequisite for a soul. I always enjoy a good metaphysical thought experiment and this book, by throwing a GMO/Climate Change induced future at me, gave me exactly what I love. Read it and find some friends who will be willing to discuss.
Read
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Homeward Bound
Harry Turtledove
In the final installment, humans travel to Home (the alien home planet) and the political negotiations begin. In order to accomplish this, Turtledove narrows the scope of the characters and brings along only the Americans and essential Aliens. He also does a bunch of big time jumps to allow us to go from the 1970's into the mid-21st century so the technology can exist that allows this travel for humans. The story is pretty pedestrian as the humans visit the new world. They find it both more than they expected and less than they hoped for all at the same time. The continual repetition of character background is a bit more minimized here than in the previous installment, although not altogether gone (and yet still unnecessary). If you have read the first three in the series, you will want to read this if for no other reason than to finish the series off.
Broad themes and hopes having the entire series under my belt? Turtledove does something pretty courageous in the development of the Sam Yeager character. Here is a member of the American military who is inherently curious. At some point, this curiosity leads him to uncover some information that is damaging to the U.S. and puts the U.S. on the same moral ground as the Japanese and Nazi's of WWII. The courageous act is for the Yeager character to "out" the American actions to the aliens and cause damage to the U.S. based on a sense of justice. This is done while still keeping Yeager as the story protagonist and not converting him to an antagonist. He is also able to highlight the hypocrisy and blindness that a powerful nation (maybe) inevitabley shows. Imperialism, in this case by the aliens, is wrong if you are the conquered, but natural if you are the conqueror. Even when that transition happens within the lifetime of individuals, it is difficult to see how "two-forked" your tongue. It is not often that you see a commitment to decisions of justice and exposure of national hypocrisy, even in sci-fi alternate history books that involve the U.S. As such, leading into the 4th book, I had hopes Turtledove would follow through and expand on this theme. Take what you started in Yeager and a commitment to justice and expand that to include active resistance to violence in relationship and to developing a true galactic political peace (which includes the Americans as equals). I must say, here he dropped a huge opportunity to show a true alternative history. In the end, the Americans push forward to dominance and hold the position of power and arrogance in the galaxy. Turtledove does offer commentary on this new arrogance, but does not take a stab at offering an alternative. This is just the way it is (and by implication, should be). Because of this, the book (and the series) just wilts away. There is no strong end, no moral imperative. Drift off into the sunset with no ability to see a better tomorrow. American imperialism is inevitable whether history happened as we know it or unfolded in a dramatically different way. We (and the characters) resign ourselves to this world which is not alternate at all.
What I would like to see is someone take advantage of the opportunity Turtledove started. He set up a great history, with an engaging story. Why not envision a universe where Yeager finds a way to balance the scales of power. Use subterfuge, cunning and negotiation. Bring in the Germans, Russians and Japanese and form a truly strange new world where these great powers explore the universe peacefully. Don't gloss over, saying that everyone is now best friends. But find a way to find what is common amongst the humans that leads to a tension filled agreement of non-violent interaction. Add to that the lessons learned from the human-alien interaction to fold more tension in with the alien agreement. All of this will likely include some sacrifice by the strong, some "giving-away" without holding on to that gift as its own form of power. If you are going to envision a strange new future, be bold and envision one that challenges a new way of thinking about political/personal interactions.
Broad themes and hopes having the entire series under my belt? Turtledove does something pretty courageous in the development of the Sam Yeager character. Here is a member of the American military who is inherently curious. At some point, this curiosity leads him to uncover some information that is damaging to the U.S. and puts the U.S. on the same moral ground as the Japanese and Nazi's of WWII. The courageous act is for the Yeager character to "out" the American actions to the aliens and cause damage to the U.S. based on a sense of justice. This is done while still keeping Yeager as the story protagonist and not converting him to an antagonist. He is also able to highlight the hypocrisy and blindness that a powerful nation (maybe) inevitabley shows. Imperialism, in this case by the aliens, is wrong if you are the conquered, but natural if you are the conqueror. Even when that transition happens within the lifetime of individuals, it is difficult to see how "two-forked" your tongue. It is not often that you see a commitment to decisions of justice and exposure of national hypocrisy, even in sci-fi alternate history books that involve the U.S. As such, leading into the 4th book, I had hopes Turtledove would follow through and expand on this theme. Take what you started in Yeager and a commitment to justice and expand that to include active resistance to violence in relationship and to developing a true galactic political peace (which includes the Americans as equals). I must say, here he dropped a huge opportunity to show a true alternative history. In the end, the Americans push forward to dominance and hold the position of power and arrogance in the galaxy. Turtledove does offer commentary on this new arrogance, but does not take a stab at offering an alternative. This is just the way it is (and by implication, should be). Because of this, the book (and the series) just wilts away. There is no strong end, no moral imperative. Drift off into the sunset with no ability to see a better tomorrow. American imperialism is inevitable whether history happened as we know it or unfolded in a dramatically different way. We (and the characters) resign ourselves to this world which is not alternate at all.
What I would like to see is someone take advantage of the opportunity Turtledove started. He set up a great history, with an engaging story. Why not envision a universe where Yeager finds a way to balance the scales of power. Use subterfuge, cunning and negotiation. Bring in the Germans, Russians and Japanese and form a truly strange new world where these great powers explore the universe peacefully. Don't gloss over, saying that everyone is now best friends. But find a way to find what is common amongst the humans that leads to a tension filled agreement of non-violent interaction. Add to that the lessons learned from the human-alien interaction to fold more tension in with the alien agreement. All of this will likely include some sacrifice by the strong, some "giving-away" without holding on to that gift as its own form of power. If you are going to envision a strange new future, be bold and envision one that challenges a new way of thinking about political/personal interactions.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
I am Number Four: The Lost Files: Nine's Legacy
Pittacus Lore
Great big spoiler alert!! This little novela gives some back story on Nine. Nine lives in Chicago with his Cepan and his legacies are just starting to develop. He gets anti-gravity. The Mogadorians catch up with him, he gets captured, his Cepan gets killed (along with his girlfriend) and then he is rescued by Four. This is a fun series (The Lorien Legacies) and I like this idea of novellas to keep us hooked. I did browse around the fansite on the web and in a little background page, Lore states that Lorien is over 300 million miles away. I hope that the emphasis is on "over" since 300 million miles puts the Lorien star system right between Mars and Jupiter in our solar system. Come on Pittacus Lore, pay attention to details.
Read
Great big spoiler alert!! This little novela gives some back story on Nine. Nine lives in Chicago with his Cepan and his legacies are just starting to develop. He gets anti-gravity. The Mogadorians catch up with him, he gets captured, his Cepan gets killed (along with his girlfriend) and then he is rescued by Four. This is a fun series (The Lorien Legacies) and I like this idea of novellas to keep us hooked. I did browse around the fansite on the web and in a little background page, Lore states that Lorien is over 300 million miles away. I hope that the emphasis is on "over" since 300 million miles puts the Lorien star system right between Mars and Jupiter in our solar system. Come on Pittacus Lore, pay attention to details.
Read
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Camoflauge
Joe Haldeman
Nice little sci-fi novel about a couple of aliens (a Changeling and a Chameleon) who have been on earth for many years (e.g. millions). When a deep sea recovery team discovers a strange artifact and brings it up for study, these two are drawn to it and to an eventual showdown. What makes this fun is the tromp through history and how each character learns from its experiences among the humans. Great summer diversion.
Read
Nice little sci-fi novel about a couple of aliens (a Changeling and a Chameleon) who have been on earth for many years (e.g. millions). When a deep sea recovery team discovers a strange artifact and brings it up for study, these two are drawn to it and to an eventual showdown. What makes this fun is the tromp through history and how each character learns from its experiences among the humans. Great summer diversion.
Read
Aftershocks
Harry Turtledove
Homeward Bound - Book 4
Now that there are three world powers, and the U.S. has a significant space presence (what is really going on there), the political intrigue continues. Unfortunately, the story is wearing thin and the plot does not develop fast enough. The characters are all familiar and I like how they are starting to cross over more. Goldfarb suddenly connects with Dutuord, etc. So while the story is good enough to make me wonder how it wraps up, it is getting a bit stale. I do hope that Kassquit, Mickey and Donald become significant parts of a novel way of thinking about how to live in peace. I will also say that this book has the worst copy-editing I have ever seen. This goes beyond spelling errors. In conversations, entire sentences are attributed to the wrong character. "What do you think Joe?" said Sam. "Well Sam, I think we should have lunch" Sam responded. "Good idea" said Sam. Huh? And this happened throughout the book on many occasions. Made me feel like I was reading a pre-press version that the author rushed to print to make a deadline. Take care of the details.
Down to Earth
Harry Turtledove
Homeward Bound - Book 4
Continuing where we left off, The Race, Soviets, Nazi's and Americans are the 4 world powers in a political standoff. Now that the stage is set in the first book, this becomes primarily a political thriller, showing the behind the scenes intrigue of a strange geopolitical scene. It is still a good story, although overly long. Turtledove does not trust the reader to remember anything from the first book, or even from earlier in the novel. Anytime he mentions a characters name, he adds a sentence or two of explanatory background. This is unnecessary and assumes we all have a sieve like memory. It may be true, but it is also insulting. Get an editor and write a concise book. You have a good story, so use it.
Robopocalypse: A Novel
Daniel H. Wilson
Having seen that Spielberg is contemplating a movie based on this book, thought I would read it. It is a story very much like The Terminator series, where an artificial intelligence gains sentience and takes control of the many robots mixed in among humans. The difference is that this story is about the beginning of the struggle, between the few months before "zero-hour" to a couple years after. The robots have not yet gained complete control, so it is a civil war, not a rebellion. It like that there is not one main character, but a series of stories of people who take different actions around the world to influence the final outcome. This is good science fiction.
Read
Having seen that Spielberg is contemplating a movie based on this book, thought I would read it. It is a story very much like The Terminator series, where an artificial intelligence gains sentience and takes control of the many robots mixed in among humans. The difference is that this story is about the beginning of the struggle, between the few months before "zero-hour" to a couple years after. The robots have not yet gained complete control, so it is a civil war, not a rebellion. It like that there is not one main character, but a series of stories of people who take different actions around the world to influence the final outcome. This is good science fiction.
Read
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Switch
Carol Snow
This book is clearly intended for a teenage girl. Claire is a typical teen girl with typical issues. Her uniqueness comes from the fact that the spirit of her dead grandmother hangs around and that when she gets an electric shock, she switches bodies with someone else who has a birthday near hers. So this is a standard plot of switching into the body of someone in a totally different social class and finding out that they have something in common. Nothing groundbreaking. Not poorly written, but nothing to write home about.
Rating: Skip
This book is clearly intended for a teenage girl. Claire is a typical teen girl with typical issues. Her uniqueness comes from the fact that the spirit of her dead grandmother hangs around and that when she gets an electric shock, she switches bodies with someone else who has a birthday near hers. So this is a standard plot of switching into the body of someone in a totally different social class and finding out that they have something in common. Nothing groundbreaking. Not poorly written, but nothing to write home about.
Rating: Skip
Pandemonium
Lauren Oliver
Book 2 of Delirium trilogy
Delirium - Book 1
Requieum - Book 3
Delirium set up the world. Love is the disease and the cure is basically a partial lobotomy that removes "extreme" emotion. At the end of book 1, Lena had escaped from the bordered and controlled world of Portland Maine into the Wilds. In the second volume, we follow Lena as she learns how to live in the Wilds and as she becomes integrated into the organized resistance against the cure. I am interested to observe that the world created by Oliver, were people truly believe that love is a disease, is a particularly insidious. That is, how do you fix this problem. We see hints here, that even when confronted with truth, people will still see love as a disease. They must simply be willing to accept infection. So to initiate large scale revolution, you must change the thinking of people who have already been cured (everyone over 18) as well as overcome the "fact" of the disease (which has been truth for over a generation). This is not just an "unlock the gate" problem like we see in Hunger Games or Inferior. Instead, it becomes a massive PR/social re-education problem. How does a rag-tag resistance movement initiate such change? This second book on its own is good enough as it lets us see into the life of the resistance and the Wild. But it really has me interested in a resolution. Well done.
Rating: Read
Book 2 of Delirium trilogy
Delirium - Book 1
Requieum - Book 3
Delirium set up the world. Love is the disease and the cure is basically a partial lobotomy that removes "extreme" emotion. At the end of book 1, Lena had escaped from the bordered and controlled world of Portland Maine into the Wilds. In the second volume, we follow Lena as she learns how to live in the Wilds and as she becomes integrated into the organized resistance against the cure. I am interested to observe that the world created by Oliver, were people truly believe that love is a disease, is a particularly insidious. That is, how do you fix this problem. We see hints here, that even when confronted with truth, people will still see love as a disease. They must simply be willing to accept infection. So to initiate large scale revolution, you must change the thinking of people who have already been cured (everyone over 18) as well as overcome the "fact" of the disease (which has been truth for over a generation). This is not just an "unlock the gate" problem like we see in Hunger Games or Inferior. Instead, it becomes a massive PR/social re-education problem. How does a rag-tag resistance movement initiate such change? This second book on its own is good enough as it lets us see into the life of the resistance and the Wild. But it really has me interested in a resolution. Well done.
Rating: Read
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Dune
Frank Herbert
It is good to read a classic. Especially a good classic. This is sort of a Hatfield v. McCoy blood feud in the future (around the year 10,000). The desert planet Arrakis is awarded to Duke Leto Atreides to manage and taken away from Baron Harkonnen. These two families want to annhilate each other. As it turns out, there are plots within plots. Leto's concubine Jessica is a member of the Bene Gesserit, an order of women who conspire in the background of power to manage genetics through selective breeding (all very passive agressive ov course). There are the Fremen, native desert dwellers of Arrakis who have their own plans for the planet and its riches of spice. There is the Shipping Guild, with a monopoly on space travel and its own particular interest in Arrakis. And there is the Emporer, nominally in charge of everything. Mix in a bit of oppression and religious ferver and what could go wrong. A fabulous world has be set up in this novel and it is a page turner throughout.
Read
It is good to read a classic. Especially a good classic. This is sort of a Hatfield v. McCoy blood feud in the future (around the year 10,000). The desert planet Arrakis is awarded to Duke Leto Atreides to manage and taken away from Baron Harkonnen. These two families want to annhilate each other. As it turns out, there are plots within plots. Leto's concubine Jessica is a member of the Bene Gesserit, an order of women who conspire in the background of power to manage genetics through selective breeding (all very passive agressive ov course). There are the Fremen, native desert dwellers of Arrakis who have their own plans for the planet and its riches of spice. There is the Shipping Guild, with a monopoly on space travel and its own particular interest in Arrakis. And there is the Emporer, nominally in charge of everything. Mix in a bit of oppression and religious ferver and what could go wrong. A fabulous world has be set up in this novel and it is a page turner throughout.
Read
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Colonization: Second Contact
Harry Turtledove
Book 1 of the Colonization Series
This is an alternate history / sci fi book. Set in the 1960's, we find an earth that followed history as we know it until the middle of World War II. This war was interrupted by the invasion of an alien species. In the current telling, the second wave of the alien invasion is beginning with the arrival of the colonization fleet which includes about 100 million settlers. The political scene includes the world powers of the U.S., USSR and Nazi Germany. Japan and England are secondary powers. China is rising and the alien race controls the entire southern hemisphere. The number of characters and concurrent storylines in this book are more than the average book, but this allows for telling a broad story and develops intrigue for how all the lines will connect. Here are the major characters:
- U.S. Rocket pilot
- German rocket pilot
- Polish Jewish resistance leader
- Russian Jewish intelligence
- Palestinian Jewish doctor
- USSR General Secretary (Stalin's successor)
- U.S. Alien liason expert
- Chinese communist leader
- U.S. Drug smuggler
- French drug smuggler
- English Jewish radar technician
- Alien Fleetlord
- Alien Shiplord (defected)
- Alien human liason expert
- Human girl raised as alien from birth
Read
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
I am Number Four
Pittacus Lore
Book 1 of the Lorien Legacies series
I first learned of this series by watching the film by the same name (which I liked by the way). It didn't get great reviews and didn't make any money, so we probably won't see the sequels. As always, the book allows us to go deeper and get more detail. The story places 9 young aliens on earth along with their 9 mentors. These 18 are refugees from the planet Lorian, which was conquered and destroyed by aliens from the planet Mogadore. Upon leaving Lorian, the 9 Guarde were protected with a spell that only allowed them to be killed in order. The book opens with Number 3 being found and killed by the Mogadorians and we follow Number 4 for the remainder of the story. We get a little bit of a love interest, we get so wacky alien, conspiracy nuts, and generic teen/high school drama. The emphasis here is to set up the story of these 9 young aliens as living in secret until their powers develop (as some sort of alien puberty). Once the Legacies develop, the guarde can join together to defeat the Modadorians and begin repopulation of Lorian. As a book that stands on its own, only moderately good. As the first book for a series, the series has promise. Will let you know with future installments.
Read
Next up: The Power of Six (Book 2 of the Lorien Legacies series)
Thursday, July 12, 2012
The Blue Zone
Andrew Gross
Witness protection and the Colombian drug cartel. What Gross does well here is develops a story with family connections that continue to unfold throughout the book. Revelations are not particularly groundshaking or shocking, but are pleasing twists that cause the reader to reinterpret the last 100 pages in light of their new information. This is fun... for an airplane book.
Read
Witness protection and the Colombian drug cartel. What Gross does well here is develops a story with family connections that continue to unfold throughout the book. Revelations are not particularly groundshaking or shocking, but are pleasing twists that cause the reader to reinterpret the last 100 pages in light of their new information. This is fun... for an airplane book.
Read
Chasing Fire
Nora Roberts
I guess I need a category for "Airplane book". We get the inside story on a smoke jumping unit out of Montana for a summer season. So it is fascinating to learn a bit about how that process works. Of course, we also get love, murder, sabotage and more love. Interesting, and a quick read. Not prize winning.
Wait
I guess I need a category for "Airplane book". We get the inside story on a smoke jumping unit out of Montana for a summer season. So it is fascinating to learn a bit about how that process works. Of course, we also get love, murder, sabotage and more love. Interesting, and a quick read. Not prize winning.
Wait
Saturday, June 30, 2012
The Mission Song: A Novel
John le Carre
It has been some time since I have read a book in the first person, so it took a bit of getting used to. For some reason I had a hard time taking this seriously since it read as a diary/journal. Or at least that is how I was reading it. The protagonist is Bruno Salvador, an English citizen whose mother was Congolese. Having been raised for part of his life in Africa, his identity is just as mixed as his genes. Bruno is a contract interpreter for the British government, using his talents to help with decoding the many dialects and local varieties of language from sub-Saharan Africa. When he gets a special assignment to interpret some high level, secret meetings, Bruno jumps at the chance. What he finds is that he is attending negotiations that will affect the future of his native Congo. What he realizes is that the neutrality required by his profession is not necessarily something that his personal ethics allow. Of course this leads to trouble and angst. An interesting look at what is probably the reality of how nation affecting negotiations happen and how corporations and money are the essential driving force. Otherwise, not really a great book.
Wait
It has been some time since I have read a book in the first person, so it took a bit of getting used to. For some reason I had a hard time taking this seriously since it read as a diary/journal. Or at least that is how I was reading it. The protagonist is Bruno Salvador, an English citizen whose mother was Congolese. Having been raised for part of his life in Africa, his identity is just as mixed as his genes. Bruno is a contract interpreter for the British government, using his talents to help with decoding the many dialects and local varieties of language from sub-Saharan Africa. When he gets a special assignment to interpret some high level, secret meetings, Bruno jumps at the chance. What he finds is that he is attending negotiations that will affect the future of his native Congo. What he realizes is that the neutrality required by his profession is not necessarily something that his personal ethics allow. Of course this leads to trouble and angst. An interesting look at what is probably the reality of how nation affecting negotiations happen and how corporations and money are the essential driving force. Otherwise, not really a great book.
Wait
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Artifact
Gregory Benford
This is exactly what I was hoping Solar would be. A political thriller with a strong sci-fi base. Benford provided two strong protagonists, archeologist Claire (junior professor out of BU and expert on ancient Greece) and mathematical physicst John (post-doc at MIT). Claire discovers a strange cube at her dig in Greece and brings in John to help with metallurgical analysis. By time they realize that this is a strange artifact in many ways, they get thrown out of the country due to Grecian political instability. But neither can let this go and they continue to pursue the strangeness. What I like is that the science the is used to explain much of the strangeness is itself quite strange (as most quantum mechanics is) and yet Benford provides a very good laymens description so that the story does not get bogged down in science. And yet gives enough to make everything probable and engaging. Basically a lot of fun, and if books are supposed to be entertainment, this one gets high marks.
Read it
This is exactly what I was hoping Solar would be. A political thriller with a strong sci-fi base. Benford provided two strong protagonists, archeologist Claire (junior professor out of BU and expert on ancient Greece) and mathematical physicst John (post-doc at MIT). Claire discovers a strange cube at her dig in Greece and brings in John to help with metallurgical analysis. By time they realize that this is a strange artifact in many ways, they get thrown out of the country due to Grecian political instability. But neither can let this go and they continue to pursue the strangeness. What I like is that the science the is used to explain much of the strangeness is itself quite strange (as most quantum mechanics is) and yet Benford provides a very good laymens description so that the story does not get bogged down in science. And yet gives enough to make everything probable and engaging. Basically a lot of fun, and if books are supposed to be entertainment, this one gets high marks.
Read it
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Animal Farm
George Orwell
Another in the series of books that everyone else read in High School. A group of farm animals on an English farm (the Manor Farm) initiate a coup, kicking out the human owner and running the farm themselves as a collective. Over time, heirarchies develop and memories are adjusted in this new animal society that has been created. Very clever, very biting comentary on the development and existence of the Stalin (Napolean) regime. Insightful (although not pleasant) perspective on how malleable a population of people can be. This is short enough that I think it would be fun to write the same premise, with the revolution being based on the Solidarity movement in Poland, or anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, or the Arab Spring. What insightful commentary would envisioning each of these revolutions as an action of animals setting up their society for themselves for the first time offer us.
Read it
Another in the series of books that everyone else read in High School. A group of farm animals on an English farm (the Manor Farm) initiate a coup, kicking out the human owner and running the farm themselves as a collective. Over time, heirarchies develop and memories are adjusted in this new animal society that has been created. Very clever, very biting comentary on the development and existence of the Stalin (Napolean) regime. Insightful (although not pleasant) perspective on how malleable a population of people can be. This is short enough that I think it would be fun to write the same premise, with the revolution being based on the Solidarity movement in Poland, or anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, or the Arab Spring. What insightful commentary would envisioning each of these revolutions as an action of animals setting up their society for themselves for the first time offer us.
Read it
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Solar
Ian Mcewan
The protagonist (Michael Beard) is a physicist who received a Nobel Prize early in his career and is now coasting on his own coattails. He becomes involved in developing artificial photosynthesis while his true occupation is managing his hedonism. While technically this is science fiction, it isn't really very interesting or novel unless you are interested in watching a character devolve. The fact that Beard is a scientist is really just an excuse for a plot to see the guy blow up. He could have just as well been an artist or a welder. I like my science fiction to stretch my ideas of science. In effect, I like it to be fantastic.
Skip it
The protagonist (Michael Beard) is a physicist who received a Nobel Prize early in his career and is now coasting on his own coattails. He becomes involved in developing artificial photosynthesis while his true occupation is managing his hedonism. While technically this is science fiction, it isn't really very interesting or novel unless you are interested in watching a character devolve. The fact that Beard is a scientist is really just an excuse for a plot to see the guy blow up. He could have just as well been an artist or a welder. I like my science fiction to stretch my ideas of science. In effect, I like it to be fantastic.
Skip it
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian
Sherman Alexie
This novel traces the life of high school freshman Arnold Spirit Jr. He is a member of the Spokane Indian tribe and has decided early in the novel to go to school off the reservation at the local white school. Alexie not only illuminates the traditional difficulties of a teenager in a new environment, but is able to bring to light many of the particular difficulties that an American Indian would face. Addressing topics like alcoholism, suicide, racisim and abuse head on, Alexie presents a picture of overcoming both extreme personal and cultural obstacles. Arnold is clearly an exceptional person and by the end of the novel he is truly a hero. I listened to this as an audio book read by the author and was thinking that it would not be nearly as good if I had read it myself. However, I noticed that the print version includes lots of cartoons "drawn" by Arnold, and was left wondering what I was missing. My guess is that one would be pleased with either the audio or print version, thinking that full enjoyment could not be achieved with the other.
Read it
This novel traces the life of high school freshman Arnold Spirit Jr. He is a member of the Spokane Indian tribe and has decided early in the novel to go to school off the reservation at the local white school. Alexie not only illuminates the traditional difficulties of a teenager in a new environment, but is able to bring to light many of the particular difficulties that an American Indian would face. Addressing topics like alcoholism, suicide, racisim and abuse head on, Alexie presents a picture of overcoming both extreme personal and cultural obstacles. Arnold is clearly an exceptional person and by the end of the novel he is truly a hero. I listened to this as an audio book read by the author and was thinking that it would not be nearly as good if I had read it myself. However, I noticed that the print version includes lots of cartoons "drawn" by Arnold, and was left wondering what I was missing. My guess is that one would be pleased with either the audio or print version, thinking that full enjoyment could not be achieved with the other.
Read it
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Watchman: A Novel
Ian Rankin
British political spy thriller with all the bells and whistles expected in such a thriller. Intrigue and infighting between MI-6, MI-5, Special Branch, and "the cousins". Irish intrigue, tabloid press and the constant wondering about who is good, who is bad and who is helping whom. As with many of these well written and semi-realistic stories, the answers to the good/bad question is not always answered. Spying is just darn complex. Miles Flint is our protagonist who is part of the Watcher task group, which is the internal surveillance system for the British. A couple of screw-ups by the team leads Miles (a dedicated and well trained watchman) to start asking questions which of course brings attention to him. Miles is supposed to watch, to be invisible, not be watched. So a series of decisions, both by Miles and others, leads to the development of Miles from a passive man of observation to a decisive man of action. You will have to read it to see how it all turns out.
Read it
British political spy thriller with all the bells and whistles expected in such a thriller. Intrigue and infighting between MI-6, MI-5, Special Branch, and "the cousins". Irish intrigue, tabloid press and the constant wondering about who is good, who is bad and who is helping whom. As with many of these well written and semi-realistic stories, the answers to the good/bad question is not always answered. Spying is just darn complex. Miles Flint is our protagonist who is part of the Watcher task group, which is the internal surveillance system for the British. A couple of screw-ups by the team leads Miles (a dedicated and well trained watchman) to start asking questions which of course brings attention to him. Miles is supposed to watch, to be invisible, not be watched. So a series of decisions, both by Miles and others, leads to the development of Miles from a passive man of observation to a decisive man of action. You will have to read it to see how it all turns out.
Read it
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Run
Ann Patchett
I grabbed 4 books from the library (Patchett, random spy thriller, random sci-fi drama, non-fiction treatise on technology). When I picked up this book and read the first chapter, I was really confused since I wasn't sure which book I was reading (I forgot to look at the title before starting in and it isn't obvious on my Kindle). But once I eliminated the spy and alien genre's, the book became much more clear in purpose. In typical Patchett style, this is a story of life in a particular strange crossroads of people. And the relationships that develop are a bit convoluted. But that is what makes it interesting. Rich, white Boston politician and his Irish wife have a son and later adopt a couple more sons. This story tells of their life, particularly after the Irish wife dies and leaves the four men to fend for themselves. I like how Patchett portrays the assumptions and stereotypes of each character while also revealing the reality to the reader. So we can read with a bit of superiority, "knowing better" but at the same time, wondering if we would actually "know better" if we were in those shoes.
Read It
I grabbed 4 books from the library (Patchett, random spy thriller, random sci-fi drama, non-fiction treatise on technology). When I picked up this book and read the first chapter, I was really confused since I wasn't sure which book I was reading (I forgot to look at the title before starting in and it isn't obvious on my Kindle). But once I eliminated the spy and alien genre's, the book became much more clear in purpose. In typical Patchett style, this is a story of life in a particular strange crossroads of people. And the relationships that develop are a bit convoluted. But that is what makes it interesting. Rich, white Boston politician and his Irish wife have a son and later adopt a couple more sons. This story tells of their life, particularly after the Irish wife dies and leaves the four men to fend for themselves. I like how Patchett portrays the assumptions and stereotypes of each character while also revealing the reality to the reader. So we can read with a bit of superiority, "knowing better" but at the same time, wondering if we would actually "know better" if we were in those shoes.
Read It
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Water for Elephants: A Novel
Sara Gruen
Set in the 1930's U.S., Jacob Jankowski drops out of Cornell vet school to join a small time train circus. And set in the 1990's, Jacob is an old man in a nursing home, dealing with old age and negligent family, and remembering the circus. I found the descriptions and stories of the back side of circus life interesting, but what really sold this book for me was the old man Jacob story. Two different people in different times, but the same person. And it made me think about being old and how to make that a time of dignity for myself and for others. It is hard in this age where people live well beyond their ability to care for themselves or mentally participate in the world. Well done. Maybe I will see the film.
Set in the 1930's U.S., Jacob Jankowski drops out of Cornell vet school to join a small time train circus. And set in the 1990's, Jacob is an old man in a nursing home, dealing with old age and negligent family, and remembering the circus. I found the descriptions and stories of the back side of circus life interesting, but what really sold this book for me was the old man Jacob story. Two different people in different times, but the same person. And it made me think about being old and how to make that a time of dignity for myself and for others. It is hard in this age where people live well beyond their ability to care for themselves or mentally participate in the world. Well done. Maybe I will see the film.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Agent X
Noah Boyd
Airplane book. This is a classic national security / spy thriller that reminds me of the cold war agent-double agent stories of the 80's and 90's. Here the FBI brings in its now retired, disgraced and reluctant super cop to help uncover Russian sleeper agents in the U.S. government. Steve is a typical lone-wolf operator who is forced to work with his once-lover of an assistant deputy director to save the U.S. for certain peril. My only complaint is how much a a pedestal Steve is put on. Whenever there is a particularly difficult problem, Steve comes in and is allowed to sit in silence and look at all the evidence while everyone else stands around and watches him. Then he has an epiphany and a course is charted to solved the next piece of the mystery. A bit too well wrapped up for me. But I liked how seemingly unrelated mysteries tied back together into a single story. A pretty good effort in this genre.
Airplane book. This is a classic national security / spy thriller that reminds me of the cold war agent-double agent stories of the 80's and 90's. Here the FBI brings in its now retired, disgraced and reluctant super cop to help uncover Russian sleeper agents in the U.S. government. Steve is a typical lone-wolf operator who is forced to work with his once-lover of an assistant deputy director to save the U.S. for certain peril. My only complaint is how much a a pedestal Steve is put on. Whenever there is a particularly difficult problem, Steve comes in and is allowed to sit in silence and look at all the evidence while everyone else stands around and watches him. Then he has an epiphany and a course is charted to solved the next piece of the mystery. A bit too well wrapped up for me. But I liked how seemingly unrelated mysteries tied back together into a single story. A pretty good effort in this genre.
The Lola Quartet
Emily St. John Mandel
Airplane book. The Lola Quartet is a jazz group formed during high school by four kids. Their lives are intertwined for years as one of them has a child, steals money from a drug czar and lives on the run. The running and the rescuing provides the impetus for reunion and reminiscing about "the good ol' days". Not particularly excellent, but as an airplane book, it passed the time and kept everything moving.
Airplane book. The Lola Quartet is a jazz group formed during high school by four kids. Their lives are intertwined for years as one of them has a child, steals money from a drug czar and lives on the run. The running and the rescuing provides the impetus for reunion and reminiscing about "the good ol' days". Not particularly excellent, but as an airplane book, it passed the time and kept everything moving.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
The Variable Man
Philip K. Dick
A short story (or maybe a mini-novel). Earth (Terra) is in a war with Proxima Centauris. A war of sorts. There is not actually any battle or fighting. Earth scientists design a weapon and then feed the existence of this weapon into their statistical modelling computers to determine if they could win a war. And then the Cenaurians design a defense to this weapon and the defense gets fed into the model. There is never enough gap between weapon and defense to actually allow a weapon of defense system to be built. The statistical models never predict strong enough odds inspire actual action. But somewhere along the line, a man gets pulled to the present from the past and the statistical models have no way of calculating his effects on anything. So they get stuck and the generals are just as stuck. No statistical model, no ability to determine if they should actually start fighting.
Brilliant.
Rating: Read it
A short story (or maybe a mini-novel). Earth (Terra) is in a war with Proxima Centauris. A war of sorts. There is not actually any battle or fighting. Earth scientists design a weapon and then feed the existence of this weapon into their statistical modelling computers to determine if they could win a war. And then the Cenaurians design a defense to this weapon and the defense gets fed into the model. There is never enough gap between weapon and defense to actually allow a weapon of defense system to be built. The statistical models never predict strong enough odds inspire actual action. But somewhere along the line, a man gets pulled to the present from the past and the statistical models have no way of calculating his effects on anything. So they get stuck and the generals are just as stuck. No statistical model, no ability to determine if they should actually start fighting.
Brilliant.
Rating: Read it
Player Piano
Kurt Vonnegut
Now I remember why I like this guy. This is a dystopian future novel. The fun part is that this is a future where automation has been identified and the great progress and magnetic tape storage and vacuum tubes are ubiquitous. Automation is so rampant that most Americans are without work and only a few managers and engineers are actually employed to keep the automated systems working. The unemployed are given money so that they can continue to consume so the automated factories can continue to efficiently manufacture products. Of course this cries for rebellion and protest. Vonnegut has fun with the characters leading the revolt and holding the status quo. And he has fun crashing reality into the idealism of the revolutionary. For me at least, this was a page turner.
Rating: Read it
Now I remember why I like this guy. This is a dystopian future novel. The fun part is that this is a future where automation has been identified and the great progress and magnetic tape storage and vacuum tubes are ubiquitous. Automation is so rampant that most Americans are without work and only a few managers and engineers are actually employed to keep the automated systems working. The unemployed are given money so that they can continue to consume so the automated factories can continue to efficiently manufacture products. Of course this cries for rebellion and protest. Vonnegut has fun with the characters leading the revolt and holding the status quo. And he has fun crashing reality into the idealism of the revolutionary. For me at least, this was a page turner.
Rating: Read it
Sunday, May 20, 2012
The Years of Rice and Salt
Kim Stanley Robinson
How would civilization have developed if the plague that wiped out huge populations in Europe actually wiped out all of Europe? With a void of western ideas and Christianity, scientific and religious progress was made in Asia and the Middle East. How do you even tell this story, which spans many hundreds of years and thousands of miles of geography? Robinson chooses to set the story in the guise of a Buddhist jati. A jati is a group of souls that are connected somehow and continue to be reincarnated together so that they encounter each other in every life. This device allows us to travel from Asia to Arabia to the New World as each new reincarnation takes place. Very clever and very well done. I found myself looking for the reoccuring characters since it was not always obvious. I love the imagining of how Newton's laws would have been discovered in an Eastern scientific context, or how democracy might have developed. Covering science, religion, politics, economics and philosophy, Robinson provides a fascinating and entertaining look at an alternate universe.
Rating: Read it
How would civilization have developed if the plague that wiped out huge populations in Europe actually wiped out all of Europe? With a void of western ideas and Christianity, scientific and religious progress was made in Asia and the Middle East. How do you even tell this story, which spans many hundreds of years and thousands of miles of geography? Robinson chooses to set the story in the guise of a Buddhist jati. A jati is a group of souls that are connected somehow and continue to be reincarnated together so that they encounter each other in every life. This device allows us to travel from Asia to Arabia to the New World as each new reincarnation takes place. Very clever and very well done. I found myself looking for the reoccuring characters since it was not always obvious. I love the imagining of how Newton's laws would have been discovered in an Eastern scientific context, or how democracy might have developed. Covering science, religion, politics, economics and philosophy, Robinson provides a fascinating and entertaining look at an alternate universe.
Rating: Read it
Sunday, May 6, 2012
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing
Traitor to the Nation - Volume I - The Pox Party
M.T. Anderson
While I like a book that has an immediate hook, there is something inherently satisfying about settling into one as well. Asimov's Foundation Series is such a settling series. You just have to have faith that it will become impossible to put down at some point. In this case, I didn't have that faith and so meandered through this book. In the end, I was hooked. Our hero is a young black slave named Octavian. He is owned by Boston colonists who are interested in finding out about the different capacities of the races. So Octavian is actually a specimen to be studied. He is given a classical education and over time observed to compare his acquisition and use of education in comparison to white persons. What strikes me now is that the "scientists" are extremely concerned about not giving Octavian unintentional advantages to skew the results of the experiment, but in fact they do not have a control. They do not have a white child who is going through the same experimental education regiment for which to compare. They also do not seem to care about individual differences in intellect or ability. This one boy will answer the question for the entire race. Perhaps the most fascinating part of this book for me is seeing the historical events happening (the American revolution unfolding) in a scenario where the revolution is not "The Story", but is only "The Setting". Very interesting, very insightful commentary on the development of our capitalist society, and very disturbing all at the same time.
Rating: Read
M.T. Anderson
While I like a book that has an immediate hook, there is something inherently satisfying about settling into one as well. Asimov's Foundation Series is such a settling series. You just have to have faith that it will become impossible to put down at some point. In this case, I didn't have that faith and so meandered through this book. In the end, I was hooked. Our hero is a young black slave named Octavian. He is owned by Boston colonists who are interested in finding out about the different capacities of the races. So Octavian is actually a specimen to be studied. He is given a classical education and over time observed to compare his acquisition and use of education in comparison to white persons. What strikes me now is that the "scientists" are extremely concerned about not giving Octavian unintentional advantages to skew the results of the experiment, but in fact they do not have a control. They do not have a white child who is going through the same experimental education regiment for which to compare. They also do not seem to care about individual differences in intellect or ability. This one boy will answer the question for the entire race. Perhaps the most fascinating part of this book for me is seeing the historical events happening (the American revolution unfolding) in a scenario where the revolution is not "The Story", but is only "The Setting". Very interesting, very insightful commentary on the development of our capitalist society, and very disturbing all at the same time.
Rating: Read
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Crossed
Ally Condie
Book 2 in Matched series
Matched - Book 1
Reached - Book 3
Cassia has accepted a job in the boundary provinces because she thinks that is where she might find Ky. Meanwhile, Xander has been placed in a high level government job back in the city. We get wind of a resistance, and Cassie and Ky meet up in the wilderness. Unfortunately, this book is a big plot bridge from Matched to the third book (yet-to-be-released) Reached. I don't do well with placeholder books or films in a series. It must be good on its own. This wasn't.
Rating: Wait
Saturday, April 14, 2012
The Scorpio Races
The Scorpio Races
Maggie Stiefvater
Irish island mythology. Sean Kendrick and Kate (Puck) Connelly are young residents of Thisby, an island of the Irish coast. This island is known for its horses and its fish and annually hosts horse races that attract tourists and buyers from the mainland. This annual event supports most of the island for the rest of the year. The mythology comes in the form of the water horses. These creatures are monstrous horses that live in the sea, and when the come on to land, their carnivorous appetites terrorize the locals. As part of the annual festival, a water horse race is held, and as the first line states "It is the first of November and today someone will die".
With Sean as the resident horse whisperer and Puck a feisty girl not willing to bow to conventional wisdom, our protagonists follow paths that eventually intertwine. This is an excellent character book, with the island as much a character as the people. Stiefvater has a way with the phrase that is both clever and able to convey deep meaning with few words.
Very enjoyable.
Rating: Read
Maggie Stiefvater
Irish island mythology. Sean Kendrick and Kate (Puck) Connelly are young residents of Thisby, an island of the Irish coast. This island is known for its horses and its fish and annually hosts horse races that attract tourists and buyers from the mainland. This annual event supports most of the island for the rest of the year. The mythology comes in the form of the water horses. These creatures are monstrous horses that live in the sea, and when the come on to land, their carnivorous appetites terrorize the locals. As part of the annual festival, a water horse race is held, and as the first line states "It is the first of November and today someone will die".
With Sean as the resident horse whisperer and Puck a feisty girl not willing to bow to conventional wisdom, our protagonists follow paths that eventually intertwine. This is an excellent character book, with the island as much a character as the people. Stiefvater has a way with the phrase that is both clever and able to convey deep meaning with few words.
Very enjoyable.
Rating: Read
Sunday, April 8, 2012
The Inferior
The Inferior
Peadar o Guiloin
Book 1 of The Bone World trilogy
Stopmouth is the hero here. He is a hunter in the human tribe, one of many hunters whose sole purpose is to bring enough flesh back to the tribe to insure survival. Stopmouth knows that when he can no longer contribute flesh, he will need to volunteer his own in trade for food for the tribe. Such is the scenario set up in this seemingly gruesome throwback tale of survival. Without giving too much away, it turns out that what we have is a developing battle between the meat-eaters and the vegetarians, the savages and the civilized, the powerful and the weak, or the knowledgeable and the ignorant. What becomes clear as we progress though the story is that, aside from the meat-eater/vegetarian distinction, it is not clear which side falls into the other categories. In fact, it isn't even clear that there are sides for awhile. This first book does an excellent job of introducing the fantasy world with meaningful and complex characters while giving hints of what is to come in resolving this plot. I see an epic battle in the future...
Rating: Read
Peadar o Guiloin
Book 1 of The Bone World trilogy
Stopmouth is the hero here. He is a hunter in the human tribe, one of many hunters whose sole purpose is to bring enough flesh back to the tribe to insure survival. Stopmouth knows that when he can no longer contribute flesh, he will need to volunteer his own in trade for food for the tribe. Such is the scenario set up in this seemingly gruesome throwback tale of survival. Without giving too much away, it turns out that what we have is a developing battle between the meat-eaters and the vegetarians, the savages and the civilized, the powerful and the weak, or the knowledgeable and the ignorant. What becomes clear as we progress though the story is that, aside from the meat-eater/vegetarian distinction, it is not clear which side falls into the other categories. In fact, it isn't even clear that there are sides for awhile. This first book does an excellent job of introducing the fantasy world with meaningful and complex characters while giving hints of what is to come in resolving this plot. I see an epic battle in the future...
Rating: Read
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Across the Universe
Beth Revis
Book 1 in Across the Universe trilogy
Amy is just a kid and is put in a position to make the biggest decision of her life. Should she end her life as she knows it in order to jump on a space ship with her parents and wake up in 250 years on another planet?
On the ship Godspeed, the Eldest and Elder are the current and future leaders. Their "cargo" is secret but their purpose is clear. Get to Centauri-Earth and initate the first human colony on another planet. When Amy is unfrozen before her time, she is taken under Elder's wing. What starts as a straight-up sci-fi drama turns into the space version of dystopia. A teen age boy and girl slowly uncover the corruption and systemic evils of the world they live in and become determined to change things for the better. And we get to evaluate the value of life, how to insure quality of life for all, the rights of one vs. the good of all, etc. This one just happens to be in a bit more of a claustrophobic atmosphere. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the next in the series.
The thing with sci-fi is you should probably get the sci part right. And these are just easy fixes. Why refer to an inertial confinement hydrogen fission power source? Clearly this would be a fusion device? Why talk about a lead cooled fast reactor engine that can take the uranium waste, recycle it and use it again for fuel --- indefinitely? At least don't break the fundamental laws of physics without making this a significant part of the plot line. Actually, for now I will give Revis a break on the recycled fuel since that little piece of science was told to us by Eldest, a known scientific neophyte. But she better clear that up in the next installment.
Rating: Read it
Friday, April 6, 2012
Delirium
Lauren Oliver
Book 1 of Delirium trilogy
In the world created by Oliver, Love (Deliria) is a disease. And like all diseases, it can be cured. Lena, our hero, is a teenager in Portland Maine. She and her friend Hana are enjoying the last summer before their senior year of high school, and the last summer before they receive the cure. At the age of 18, every American citizen has the surgical procedure that cures Deliria. After that, mating matches are made and life goes on without the trouble caused by excess emotion. Of course, for this to be a story, Lena and Hana begin to have questions about this system. What they discover and how they and those around them react will change their lives forever. I find the pattern of dystopian future plotlines interesting. Much like an alternate history (e.g. What would life be like if the south won the Civil War) where a particular key event turns out differently, each of the dystopian future novels chooses a particular societal ill and vanquishes it. So here, Love is what causes all of our problems and we imagine a future where love is controlled. In The Hunger Games, Hope is what is taken and in Matched, Love remains, but the choice to Love is removed. In Divergent, several problems are highlighted at once (truth, courage, power, etc.). By imagining what life would be like with a missing element, we are able to show the true value of that element. With that in mind, what would a dystopian future novel look like where the missing element was Violence? Could you write such a novel, or would it cross into Utopian?
Rating: Read
Matched
Ally Condie
Book 1 in Matched series
In this future, the computer distills everything there is to know about you and your genetic makeup and finds for you a perfect mate. Perfect in terms of the best use of your genes for the future of society as well as for your own happiness. The government also provides all your nutrition (along with a few pacifying drugs) and is reponsible for all of your culture. They have outlawed (and actively destroy) non-approved culture. The problem is, our heroine Cassia is matched to her childhood friend Xander, but the computer accidentally gives her bio information on Ky. So who is her true match?
Rating: Read
Rating System
Recommending books to read is dangerous since everyone has their own tastes and idiosyncrasies. This is primarily a reflection of what I wish I had done, had I known the book. You will have to make your own decision based on the reading you like.
- Read - Entertaining and enjoyable, maybe even thought provoking.
- Wait - not up to standards for this author, or perhaps a second quality story. Wait until series is finished to see if it is worth your time, or just find a better book.
- Skip - don't bother.
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