Grail

Elizabeth Bear
Book 3 of the Jacob's Ladder trilogy

Perceval as Captain, and Nova as her AI "Angel" have squashed all known remnant AI's and led the Jacob's Ladder through a 50 year time of relative peace. We open with the ship making contact with a human settlement on a planet (called Grail). With the intent of making landfall, Perceval must negotiate the political waters of what landfall would mean, both for the current inhabitants and for her own citizens. An ideological consensus does not exist on Jacob's Ladder or on Grail about whether landfall should be allowed or attempted. Amidst the continued AI/corporeal tensions and power struggles, we are treated to fun discussions of humanity's role in evolution in the universe and arguments about whether activist evolution is moral, or simply inevitable. Bear does a great job of teasing out some of the themes she set up in the first two books and setting up a tension that is easily translatable to 21st century earth. One of my favorite pieces is her referral to all ruling governments in 21st and 22nd century earth as Kleptocracies, including a reference to capitalism as one of the the religions of the time. As a forward looking piece of literature, we may in hindsight find these identifications prescient. 

This is an excellent sci-fi series. 

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Chill

Elizabeth Bear
Book 2 of the Jacob's Ladder trilogy

We start this episode with The World successfully surfing the front shockwave of a supernova. Perceval has successfully donned the mantle of Captain, with all its perqs and responsibilities. But she may not be emotionally ready to fully use the resources of the Angel that is ready to serve. Remnant minor angels continue to work at subterfuge and this entire novel follows Perceval in her efforts to maintain control of the world, keeping all its constituents safe. 

The fascinating thing about this series is the genre mashup of sci-fi and fantasy. It reads like a medieval knights tale, but is set on a massive interstellar space ship. And we begin to see the ideological lines setting up around the spectrum of directed v. natural evolution. Are humans "beyond evolution" since they dominate all other species? What is their responsibility in this role? Or should humans artificially limit themselves to participate as equals with other species? It is an interesting line of thinking that has implications for our current ideology around environmental impact. 

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Dust

Elizabeth Bear
Book 1 of the Jacob's Ladder trilogy

I would like to say this is straight up sci-fi, but in fact, it has the flavor of a fantasy novel... wrapped in straight up sci-fi. There are angels and battles, Houses in conflict and honor among royalty, gods and mythical creatures. Add in artificial intelligence, nanobots and symbionts, and type 1a supernovae and the fun begins. Finally sprinkle in some foreshadowing for black hole weapons and religious fervor in future episodes and I am hooked. For me, the joy of reading this was not knowing where we were going. Start with fantasy... proceed with caution.

If you need a plot synopsis, suffice it to say that Perceval is a knight of the royal bloodline. She has her wings amputated in battle after her surrender, which is completely without honor. She escapes from prison before her scheduled execution and works her way home to warn of the treachery that befell her and begin the planning for revenge. Meanwhile, the World itself turns out to be in grave danger, and the political reality is completely unstable with several factions vying for control, making catastrophe planning nearly impossible.

Have fun...
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As a Driven Leaf

Milton Steinberg

Published in 1939, the novel was written by a conservative Jewish Rabbi. It is written as a novel, but based on the idea of a historical figure Elisha ben Abuyah, of whom there is not actually very much known. The novel is set in the 1st century, moving between Palestine and Antioch (Syria), both under Roman rule. The protagonist Elisha was born to a landowner father who studied Greek philosophy as well as Jewish theology, and as a result, had greek tutors growing up. On his fathers death, he is put in the care of his uncle, and trained in the traditional Jewish scholarship, which eventually leads him to ordination as a Rabbi and as a member of the Sanhedrin. After a time, Elisha then leaves the faith to pursue a course of study in Greek philosophy, with the goal of creating a system of reason and logic that proves from unassailable axioms the existence of God.

The novel is fascinating on many levels. Steinberg paints a picture of 1st century life in two different worlds, the Jewish Palestine and the pagan Antioch. For each of these, he is able to demonstrate the idealism of the world as well as illuminating the underbelly. But this is not a historical narrative, so the idealism and the underbelly are all discovered in the midst of life experience, as each character develops over the course of their lives. Also fascinating is the metaphysical/theological conflict that is the center of Elisha's struggle: "What is the basis of faith?". Approached from the greek philosopher point of view as well as from the Rabbinical tradition, the implications of this study have real world impacts on people. In this world, metaphysical questions have physical realities. Also fascinating is the relationship between mainstream Judaism and the cults of Christianity and Gnosticism that are growing in prevalence. I think the western, christian ethnocentrism often thinks of 1st century as predominately christian. After the first easter, the world was taken over by a tidal wave of belief and conversion. More realistically perhaps, Steinberg shows how fledgling Christianity really is in the grand world of Pax Romana. Also interesting is how Pax Romana, the peace of Empire, is really what allowed this fledgling cult to survive, what allowed the relatively free development and flow of new ideas. So we must ask about the net benefit/cost of the Empire. And we must, of course, extrapolate to benefit/cost analysis of our current Empire.

The list of fascinating things could go on. Loved this novel.
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What I Talk about When I Talk about Running

Haruki Murakami

This is a short memoir describing a few years of Murakami's life in the early 2000's. As an avid runner (he has run at least one marathon a year for the past 25 years), the premise is one of illuminating his thinking about running and ruminating on its impact on his life. This particular book follows his preparations for one running of the New York City marathon in 2006. It turns out to be as much about him as a novelist and a person as it does about running. The only other thing I have read by Murakami is The Windup Bird Chronicle, which I really enjoyed and shows some of the same style characteristics. Here, I think, we get a picture of how Murakami is as a person, which informs his writing style. I would probably categorize him as a severe pragmatist. He takes everything in life in stride, accepting what befalls him as it is and moves on. There is no drama. Perhaps that should read NO drama. I don't know if this is Murakami personality, or this is Japanese culture. I suspect it is more of the former, and only a bit of the latter. When he talks about running, he does not proselytize, or dissuade. He reveals, "this is what I feel like when I run. I don't think it will be that way for everyone and if you think this sounds appealing and decide to run, great. If not, also great." You could substitute almost any idea in for running, as he says the same thing about his writing. "This is why I write. If someone happens to like what I write, that is great. If not, then they don't." And yet, with this pragmatic personality, Murakami is able to simultaneously demonstrate a true passion for what he does, describing the joy and energy that he receives from writing and running. It is by no means a dry or stale existence. He is a fascinating person and author. A very fun read.
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Special Topics in Calamity Physics

Marisha Pessl

One of my personality traits is the inability to leave a story unfinished. When it comes to things like work projects, this is a strength since it means projects get finished. When it comes to bad films or books, I suppose it is a weakness. I continue to read a bad book, even though it is not enjoyable or fulfilling, just to get to the end. So here we have the first review of a half-book. I am intentionally not finishing it, with the full support of my bibliophile/librarian/recommender-extraordinaire friend Nora.

Here's the thing. This book is all gimmick. Our storyteller is Blue. She is a senior in high school, travels around with her itinerant professor of a single father, and hasn't spent a full year in a single school for her entire life. Her education comes primarily from her father, who seems to be an arrogant, philosopher/historian type, but whom Blue adores and idolizes. So the gimmick of the text is that every thought that Blue has is footnoted and referenced. This is a cute device, and I was hoping that Pessl would hit it heavy early on to give the reader the idea, and then taper off, banking of the fact that an occasional inline citation would remind us of the personality of the character. But I suppose to her credit, she sticks with the gimmick throughout (the first half at least). Secondly, the story is really about these Breakfast Club like characters in school. The troubled teens that band together in spite of their differences, rallying around the part-time film class teacher as mentor. But I just wasn't that interested in the characters, nor was I patient enough to see them develop. While I don't need there to be action (a la fancy car chase scene), I do need to see progression of character. 300 pages in and I don't see it... or enough of it.
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Budding Prospects

T.C. Boyle

Our protagonist is Felix. He is a very smart, not very ambitious young man. I think he is intended to be a caricature of the millennial generation, or at least with much of what is supposed to be wrong with it. Felix finds himself embarking on a new venture to grow pot in Northern California. He (and two buddies) provide the year of labor in exchange for 1/3 of the profit (starting out at $500k). Of course they encounter problems with locals, nature, the law, and themselves. But through it all, we are taken in with a story-telling style that mimics the millennial generations traits of narcissism and entitlement. The story folds in on itself, forcing the reader to be as myopic as the characters. When a character is introduced that could potentially provide perspective, we see them through millennial eyes. In this way, Boyle does an excellent job of drawing the reader in and creating the world that the characters live in. Only after sitting and reflecting a bit after the story has wrapped can we see what was, and what could have been. I find that I like this book better having read it, than while I was reading it. So if you like to discuss these sorts of themes with your friends, it is quick and worth the read.
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