John Brown (Author of Servant of a Dark God)

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John Brown rated a book 5 of 5 stars

The Drowned Cities (Ship Breaker, #2)
by Paolo Bacigalupi

read in January, 2012

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I just finished The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi, and, holy cow, folks—this story rocked.

It's set in the future in the area around Washington D.C. which is the titular drowned cities. They're drowned because the climate has gotten warmer, the s...more I just finished The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi, and, holy cow, folks—this story rocked.

It's set in the future in the area around Washington D.C. which is the titular drowned cities. They're drowned because the climate has gotten warmer, the seas have risen, and D.C. is half under water, permananetly flooded. It's more like Georgia or Florida—gators, kudzu, the works. But this is not another dumb book about global warming. If it were, I wouldn't be writing this.

No, the United States has fallen apart. Up north there's some alliance with money and power and the ability to keep those in the Drowned Cities out. South, who knows? West? Don't know. But right around D.C. everything has gone to hell.

It's like Mogadishu, Somalia in the 1990's (Blackhawk Down) with warlords fighting each other, tearing the place apart.

It's like Sierra Leone at the end of that decade with different factions butchering locals and forcing kids to fight as soldiers.

Except instead of the U.S. or Europe or the U-freaking-N sending in peacekeepers to stabilize the situation, it's China. And just like the U.S. in Somalia, the warlords send the Chinese peacekeepers packing. And so now it's just chaos.

Talk about a setting for a story. But Bacigalupi doesn't stop there. He adds in genetically modified creatures. He starts the book with one named Tool. A creature that's got the DNA of humans, mastiffs, tigers, reptiles and who knows what else all combined to make him smarter and stronger than humans ever could be—a monster that's the ultimate killer, the ultimate soldier, the ultimate war machine. One that was bred to submit to a master, but something went wrong with Tool. And he was able to break free of that bond.

Tool is trying to escape prison and death. But as mighty as he is, he's weak and injured. And then two kids from a village run into him while in the jungle. He knows they're going to reveal his whereabouts to the warlord searching for him. In his weakened state, Tool is only able to grab the small boy named Mouse.

Mahlia, the girl, promises to bring medicine if Tool will only spare the boy. He knows she's lying.

And so starts a rich tale of the monster, the boy, and the girl: a tale that is filled with friendship, triumph, loss, heroism, cowardice, and earthy sci-fi coolness all set in the midst of a guerilla war. The beginning sucks you in. The ending leaves you breathless. Along the way you get to see into the characters of all three plus some of the bad guys. And in the end you get a story about sacrifice and love.

If you liked A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah's memoir of his time as a child solider in Africa; if you liked The Hunger Games, and not primarily for the romance; if you like person in jeopardy fiction or war flicks where a small group has to fight for its life, I think you will love this book.

This is the second book set in the same world. The first was Ship Breaker. Tool, one of the most interesting characters I've come across, is in that one too. But you don't need to read that to enjoy this. And I wouldn't put this read off to do so. Go give The Drowned Cities a try. Three or four pages in, I suspect you'll be completely lost in the wondrous tale.(less)

John Brown rated a book 5 of 5 stars

A Long Way Gone
by Ishmael Beah

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John Brown rated a book 5 of 5 stars

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion
by Jonathan Haidt

read in January, 2012

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After this year's presidential election I emailed my sister, a smart, super-competent, true-blue, bleeding-heart, save the weeds and snails, liberal, who volunteered to do campaign work for Hilary Clinton in Colorado during the 2008 Democratic primar...more

John Brown made a comment on his review of Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy

"It's true there are deterministic relationships we've discovered. But there are plenty in science that are still probabalistic.

For example, we cite "...more "

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“The FUTURE of this world has long been DECLARED; the final outcome between GOOD and evil is already KNOWN. There is absolutely no question as to who WINS because the VICTORY has already been posted on the SCOREBOARD. The only really strange thing is all of this is that we are still down here on the FIELD trying to decide which TEAM’S JERSEY we want to wear!” — Jeffrey R. Holland

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John Brown rated a book 5 of 5 stars

1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
by Charles C. Mann

read in July, 2012

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New Revelations About America (a review for both 1491 and 1493)

A common idea taught about the Indians (and, yes, it appears when you can’t simply refer to their tribe, most prefer that term to “American Indian,” especially those in South and Central...more

John Brown rated a book 5 of 5 stars

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
by Charles C. Mann

read in August, 2012

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New Revelations About America (a review for both 1491 and 1493)

A common idea taught about the Indians (and, yes, it appears when you can’t simply refer to their tribe, most prefer that term to “American Indian,” especially those in South and Central...more

John Brown rated a book 5 of 5 stars

No Apology: The Case for American Greatness
by Mitt Romney

read in September, 2012

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Political TV ads can be fun. And annoying.

Debates can be fun. And maddening.

You can indeed learn things about the candidates from watching the ads and debates. But fifteen and thirty second snippets of information really don’t give you the full pictu...more

John Brown made a comment on his review of Dave Ramsey's Complete Guide to Money: The Handbook of Financial Peace University

"Yep, it's just good solid financial sense."

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John Brown is now friends with Peter Ahlstrom
12 hours, 1 min ago · like
John Brown rated a book 5 of 5 stars The Drowned Cities (Ship Breaker, #2) by Paolo Bacigalupi read in January, 2012	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I just finished The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi, and, holy cow, folks—this story rocked. It's set in the future in the area around Washington D.C. which is the titular drowned cities. They're drowned because the climate has gotten warmer, the s...more
Jan 02, 2013 11:20pm · see review
John Brown rated a book 5 of 5 stars A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 02, 2013 11:07pm
John Brown rated a book 5 of 5 stars The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt read in January, 2012	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
After this year's presidential election I emailed my sister, a smart, super-competent, true-blue, bleeding-heart, save the weeds and snails, liberal, who volunteered to do campaign work for Hilary Clinton in Colorado during the 2008 Democratic primar...more
Dec 15, 2012 09:00am · see review
John Brown made a comment on his review of Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy "It's true there are deterministic relationships we've discovered. But there are plenty in science that are still probabalistic. For example, we cite "...more "
Oct 18, 2012 08:22pm · see review
John Brown liked a quote “The FUTURE of this world has long been DECLARED; the final outcome between GOOD and evil is already KNOWN. There is absolutely no question as to who WINS because the VICTORY has already been posted on the SCOREBOARD. The only really strange thing is all of this is that we are still down here on the FIELD trying to decide which TEAM’S JERSEY we want to wear!” — Jeffrey R. Holland like
Oct 06, 2012 12:38pm · more quotes by Jeffrey R. Holland
John Brown rated a book 5 of 5 stars 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann read in July, 2012	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
New Revelations About America (a review for both 1491 and 1493) A common idea taught about the Indians (and, yes, it appears when you can’t simply refer to their tribe, most prefer that term to “American Indian,” especially those in South and Central...more
Sep 30, 2012 09:42pm · see review
John Brown rated a book 5 of 5 stars 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann read in August, 2012	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
New Revelations About America (a review for both 1491 and 1493) A common idea taught about the Indians (and, yes, it appears when you can’t simply refer to their tribe, most prefer that term to “American Indian,” especially those in South and Central...more
Sep 30, 2012 09:42pm · see review
John Brown rated a book 5 of 5 stars No Apology: The Case for American Greatness by Mitt Romney read in September, 2012	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Political TV ads can be fun. And annoying. Debates can be fun. And maddening. You can indeed learn things about the candidates from watching the ads and debates. But fifteen and thirty second snippets of information really don’t give you the full pictu...more
Sep 30, 2012 09:39pm · see review
John Brown made a comment on his review of Dave Ramsey's Complete Guide to Money: The Handbook of Financial Peace University "Yep, it's just good solid financial sense."
Jun 18, 2012 08:17am · see review

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