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March 20
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Roger
gave
 
to:
Cities in Flight (Paperback)
by James Blish
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my rating:
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recommended for: teens+
read in January, 1972
Roger said:
"I first read these books longer ago that I usually admit to being alive. I think they had a profound influence on me. Having said that, and having reread them recently I have to say they are really bad in places. Characters are cardboard stereotypes ...more
I first read these books longer ago that I usually admit to being alive. I think they had a profound influence on me. Having said that, and having reread them recently I have to say they are really bad in places. Characters are cardboard stereotypes for the most part and the story really betrays that it was written as magazine serials so things pop up that really ought to have been mentioned earlier.
So what's good about them? Well this is 'hard' science fiction. You get formulae to describe the physics and the organic chemistry. It isn't a text book and the oft mentioned Blackett-Dirac equation that describes how the 'spindizzy' space drive works is simply wrong. But it almost could be right. Lots of the science is very convincing. But this is also the first (only?) SF book I ever read that considers economics as well as science. Blish has come up with a whole society of space-faring cities and how they would work. He misses a lot of stuff, but remember he was writing for a magazine. And how many SF writers even think about serious navigation issues when crossing the galaxy at many times light speed?
Then there's the philosophy. I still quote stuff from the last book in the series (not that anyone listens).
And finally there's the timeline. Blish has mapped out 2000 years of future history. This is reminiscent of Tolkien, although it's the future not the past. It starts in the not too distant future and assumes the cold war situation in the 60s doesn't improve.
I can't resist mentioning the 'bridge' on Jupiter. A vast structure made of ice built by people stationed on Jupiter's moons by remote control. They wear virtual-reality helmets that give them control over the construction machines. He wrote this stuff way back in the '60s.
...less
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March 08
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Roger
gave
to:
Night Watch: A Discworld Novel (Mass Market Paperback)
by Terry Pratchett
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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recommended for: Anyone over 12
Roger said:
"Pratchet is brilliant. The story is part of the 'Guards' sequence in the Disc World series. For non-Disc Worlders you have to understand that prolific Pratchet created a comic fantasy world called the Disc World and then proceeded to write stories se...more
Pratchet is brilliant. The story is part of the 'Guards' sequence in the Disc World series. For non-Disc Worlders you have to understand that prolific Pratchet created a comic fantasy world called the Disc World and then proceeded to write stories set in different parts of it, with different characters etc that sometimes meet each other.
The Guards sequence centres on Sam Vimes who is a cop in the city of Ank-Morepork. It is kind of medieval, kind of modern. In this story Sam has risen to be commander of the Watch (the police). He's rich and successful and trying to hunt down a killer, the kind who kills cops, so it is personal.
While the action keeps going, as does the humour, Pratchet finds time to take us inside Sam's head where he is thinking about what the real role of the police is and how it is different from the military, and where should the police be when a revolution takes place and the army is called in to keep the peace when the rulers are certifiably insane? He works in some time travel and the barricades section was surely influenced by 'Les Miserables', and lots of other stuff too.
This could be done badly, but it is done well. As with all Pratchet's books you are rewarded by paying attention. I am sure I don't get all of his obscure jokes, you have to know lots of stuff for them to take, but I feel smug when I do get them....less
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February 27
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Roger
added:
The Logic of Scientific Discovery (Routledge Classics)
by Karl Raimund Popper
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my rating:
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read in February, 2008
Roger said:
"This is not an easy-to-read book. I've read Popper's 'Open society and its Enemies' and that was a lot easier going. However, this is Popper's definitive work on the difference between science and non-science, and how to tell them apart. When you hea...more
This is not an easy-to-read book. I've read Popper's 'Open society and its Enemies' and that was a lot easier going. However, this is Popper's definitive work on the difference between science and non-science, and how to tell them apart. When you hear scientists refer to Popper they are referring to this book.
He also delves into the thinking behind probability theory and interestingly questions some of the fundamental assumptions there, and then goes on to apply those ideas to quantum physics and questioning some of the fundamental thinking there. I don't know enough about quantum to be sure but if Popper is right then it might make it simpler to understand....less
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January 24
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Roger
gave
to:
The Pyrates (Hardcover)
by George MacDonald Fraser
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my rating:
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read in January, 2008
Roger said:
"I enjoyed this a lot. It is kind of manic, intentionally, and that can take just a little getting used to. The author says in the afterword that he had seen all the old pirate movies, read all the old 'Boy's Own' pirate stories and wanted to spoof th...more
I enjoyed this a lot. It is kind of manic, intentionally, and that can take just a little getting used to. The author says in the afterword that he had seen all the old pirate movies, read all the old 'Boy's Own' pirate stories and wanted to spoof them all.
He cheerfully mixes in historical facts with deliberate anachronisms and unlikely plot elements to make for some laugh-out-loud reading. This has about every pirate motif I could think of: sword fights, plank walking (with one of the pirates pointing out they never actually did that), kidnappings, sea battles, a lost city in the central American jungle, buried treasure, more sword fights, a flawless hero (who is too good to be true) etc etc.
The hero is frequently helped and hindered by another character who reminded me a LOT of Jack Sparrow (this book predates the movies). The character is one Colonel Blood who is actually based quite closely on a real person (and that is is real name too).
So, a good read if you don't want anything too serious. It gets a bit racy in places, but nowhere near porn. And it is fun....less
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January 06
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Roger
gave
to:
Lord Darcy (Paperback)
by Randall Garrett
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in January, 2008
Roger said:
"This is an alternate earth story where Richard I didn't die of the arrow wound in Chalus and the Plantagenet dynasty is going strong in the mid 20th century, having expanded the empire to encompass both the Americas (named New England and New France)...more
This is an alternate earth story where Richard I didn't die of the arrow wound in Chalus and the Plantagenet dynasty is going strong in the mid 20th century, having expanded the empire to encompass both the Americas (named New England and New France). Sometime in the 13th Century someone called St Hilary discovered the mathematics of magic and they've since developed it into a sophisticated science. In our terms their technical developments are 19th Century (gas lights, horse drawn vehicles) but their magical technologies give them an interesting perspective. They can, for example, forecast the weather to the minute and they have some neat forensic techniques.
That's the backdrop. The protagonist is Lord Darcy of the title who is a detective solving murder/espionage crimes. He is no relation to Jane Austen's Darcy. His sidekick is a sorcerer, Darcy doesn't have the Talent himself. The volume is a collection of whodunnit stories with this magical twist, mostly short but there is one novella length story.
The stories have been published in various places in the past. I first read the novella in Analog in the 1960s. The plots are neat and the magical and odd historical twists are well done. They could do with a little editing, the writer is apt to reuse the same phrase a little too often, but otherwise very enjoyable....less
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New comment on Revie's review of
Rama Revealed (Bantam Spectra Book)
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November 29
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Roger
added:
Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold (Paperback)
by C.S. Lewis
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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recommended for: Anyone
read in January, 1978
Roger said:
"Everything by Lewis is brilliant but this one tops the lot. It is about Psyche and Cupid (the story that later became Beauty and the Beast) but the characters are like real people. I had to read it a couple of times before I 'got' it but that was so ...more
Everything by Lewis is brilliant but this one tops the lot. It is about Psyche and Cupid (the story that later became Beauty and the Beast) but the characters are like real people. I had to read it a couple of times before I 'got' it but that was so worth while....less
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Roger
added:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)
by J.K. Rowling
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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recommended for: over 18
read in July, 2007
Roger said:
"Gosh, Rowling can write well.
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