I don't know if this book counts as a novel. The only thru-character is a fiction oral history archivist working for the UN, and he deliberately keeps...moreI don't know if this book counts as a novel. The only thru-character is a fiction oral history archivist working for the UN, and he deliberately keeps his own contributions to this collection of interviews to the absolute minimum.
So far (I'm on page 230 of 339), the author doesn't have all that much to say about zombies, but he has an enormous amount to say about governments, their relationships to the citizens, and how they respond to threats and crisis.
The research that went into this book is mind-blowing. The interviews are collected from people on all continents, and I get the impression that the research that might provide a credible cultural context and setting for an entire novel went into the preparation of a single 5 page vignette. One after another after another.
And it has zombies.
I hope to re-read this book. I think that about most of the enjoyable books that I read, but it almost never happens. I think there is a higher possibility with this book than with most.
This book reminds American readers that while the United States is, of course, the center of the universe, there is a country to the north of the US w...moreThis book reminds American readers that while the United States is, of course, the center of the universe, there is a country to the north of the US with a stake and a meaningful role to play in the matter of climate change and its mitigation.
Thomas Homer-Dixon's previous book, The Upside of Down, was voluminous, diligently researched, and thoroughly engrossing. Judged against that, Carbon Shift was a bit of a disappointment, but once I adjusted to it and recalibrated my expectations I got a lot out of it. I typically finish one in four books that I start, and I did finish Carbon Shift.
Homer-Dixon acts more as editor than author, and interestingly, the authors of the various chapters disagree with one another on some pretty basic points, like whether we have enough fossilized carbon in the ground to considerably change the Earth's climate. A couple of months after the fact, the major take away message from the books remains, "Canada matters."(less)
The first half of the book could be described as a memetic history of the image the UFO took in the popular imagination, and how that image informed t...moreThe first half of the book could be described as a memetic history of the image the UFO took in the popular imagination, and how that image informed the objects later encountered/reported by human witnesses. For example, some of the earliest UFO encounters were with zeppelin-like airships after those vehicles had been conceived and promised but before they were a practical reality. This first half of the book seems like subtle and kid-gloved debunking.
In the second half of the book Greer explains how the approaches of both the ETH (extra-terrestrial hypothesis) advocates AND those who favor the NH (null hypothesis) are both decidedly rhetorical and NON-scientific.
He also takes the position that the single biggest obstacle to unraveling the UFO phenomenon is the belief that it is a single phenomenon. Specifically, Greer argues that a sizable portion of UFO sightings were staged hoaxes by military and intelligence agencies meant to provide cover for the development of top secret aircraft.
He describes another class of encounters as "apparitions," and these are likely to have an element of high strangeness about them. This section of the book held the most interest for me and was too cursory for my liking.
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Very enjoyable, though I wish I could lay my hands on my copy of the previous installment, Counting Heads, as this book throws no bones to those who d...moreVery enjoyable, though I wish I could lay my hands on my copy of the previous installment, Counting Heads, as this book throws no bones to those who don't want to start from the beginning. I'd say it's the best SF novel I've read this year, but that would be faint praise given that I think it's the only SF novel I've read so far this year. Still, very enjoyable.(less)
Marvelous! What will the world look like after a few more iterations of Moore's Law and several more steps down the economic path that concentrates we...moreMarvelous! What will the world look like after a few more iterations of Moore's Law and several more steps down the economic path that concentrates wealth in the hands of a privileged few? Most of the work in Marusek's imagined world is done by robots and millions of clones of a few very capable human beings. Most of the benefit accrues to a minority of "affs" (the affluent), and a disappearing middle class whose members struggle to find a means of continued existence. A great book. Can't wait to read the sequel.(less)
This book contains the short story "We Were Out of Our Minds with Joy," by David Marusek which later formed the first chapter of his debut n...moreThis book contains the short story "We Were Out of Our Minds with Joy," by David Marusek which later formed the first chapter of his debut novel Counting Heads. That story moved me. If I had time, I'd say a lot more. There are other great stories in this volume as well. Thanks to Mike Brodie for sending it with me when my family and I departed Thailand for Australia!(less)
This is a grand book. The explanation for why there's a "down" fills more pages than the details of the "upside," but at this poin...moreThis is a grand book. The explanation for why there's a "down" fills more pages than the details of the "upside," but at this point, I think that's still a necessary evil.
I have interviewed the author twice for the C-Realm Podcast, once before reading the book and once after. You can find those interviews here:
This book starts off with a clunky scene involving some very unbelievable dialog between two teenage boys. Fortunately it only lasts for a couple of p...moreThis book starts off with a clunky scene involving some very unbelievable dialog between two teenage boys. Fortunately it only lasts for a couple of pages, and then the novel really finds its feet and starts running.
There are many MANY ways in which a technological singularity could unfold, and this book shows us two. Fortunately, the first one was reversible. The second one leaves plenty of challenges in its wake, but at least it isn't a Republicans-only "paradise" with a W clone as God-Emperor, which is what the first post-singularity world was shaping up to be before the re-call.
This book can be downloaded as a PDF for free. That's how I'm reading it.(less)
I loved this book. It's light in style and narrative structure, and Rucker doesn't take himself at all ...moreHere's the review I posted to Amazon:
I loved this book. It's light in style and narrative structure, and Rucker doesn't take himself at all serriously. Rudy Rucker is a brilliant mathmetician and science fiction writer, and his protagonist, Randy Karl Tucker, is an uneducated redneck, whose primary passion is for sex with artificial life forms that smell of cheese. Other characters include a down-to-earth California surfer girl who, along with her stoner mathmatician husband, runs a fleabag sea-side resort in the autonomous nation of California, the head of a corporate empire who made his fortune selling burgers made from the cloned flesh of his half-human wife, and a delighful host of "moldies," artificial life forms with the power of gods, short lifespans, and generally no other ambition than to buy enough of the expensive high-tech goo of which they're made to form a child to perpetuate their own software.
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