Doug Lewars's Blog, page 36

Crazy Rich Asians

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

There were plenty of chuckles as I worked my way through this book. It satirizes the upper rich - the very upper rich - probably the 1% of the 1% of the 1%. In the eyes of these characters, someone with assets of, say, ten million dollars would be considered equal to beggars. They purchase the best and never count the cost. On the other hand, while life is easy, maintaining prestige and bloodlines isn't. As the story progresses, we see gratuitous spending by young people conflicting with an older generations sense of style and good taste. I think my favorite scene was where two of Nick's aunts (older cousins? I don't remember the genealogy) are in the process of snubbing Rachael when Kitty walks into the room wearing ... very little. She starts in their direction and without missing a beat they turn and chat with Rachael as if she's their best friend.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book but there I can't claim it was perfect by any means. I grew rather tired of constantly reading what everyone was wearing and by which designer. I found both the principal characters, Nick and Rachael to be rather naive. Admittedly she was subject to culture shock on a grand scale but he should have been more astute to what was going on. Oliver was my favorite character and I loved how neatly he separated Kitty from Alistair and partnered her with Bernard. They, truly were a couple made for one another.

All things consider this was still a great book to read and I shall certainly move on to number two in the series although I'm braced for a letdown after this one. If you think you might like a humerous backstage look at Lifestyles of The Rich and Famous the this one is for you.



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Medusa Uploaded

Medusa Uploaded by Emily Devenport

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

Are you familiar with those Russian dolls? You open one and there's a smaller one inside. Once more you open it and there's one still smaller. You keep going until you come to a tiny one in the center. Imagine you are living in the center doll and somehow you break out only to discover a larger one surrounding you, so you break out of that one as well and on and on. That's the feeling the protagonist of this novel, and by extension, the reader has. Just as it seems she's discovered what's going on, she learns of another factor influencing her life and those around her.

The setting is a galaxy class spaceship. and it's HUGE. We never quite get numbers with respect to the total size but from one airlock to another we're told is about two miles. This is a generation ship headed towards a new home world. It's been traveling for a hundred years when the story opens. We're told it will travel for another hundred.

Initially the story follows a well-known theme. An upper, authoritarian class holds absolute power over a lower one - sort of a space age feudal society - and our heroine comes equipped with magic (super technology) which gives her power over her adversaries and provides a means whereby she can alter the society along more democratic lines. Then, just as she's making progress she learns of something new, a factor influencing society's structure she'd never even dreamed existed. Then, as she starts to understand that, there is yet another twist.

I loved this book and it kept me spellbound wondering what our heroine would discover next. I highly recommend it although I felt the ending was a bit of a letdown and I really didn't care for the epilogue. Still, the latter is only about a page and a half so it didn't matter much to my overall enjoyment. If you like sci-fi with lots of complexities I think you'll enjoy this one.

One small technical detail. This is a galaxy ship. The author accepts the limitation imposed by the speed of light. I got the impression this ship was driven by chemical rockets. As a result, I doubt they could manage more than 80% the speed of light (if that). Therefore, in 200 years they'd travel around 160 light years (at most). I think the nearest galaxy to Earth (assuming that's where they originated and the author seems to suggest it might not be) is the Andromeda Galaxy. It's 2.54 million light years away so they wouldn't get anywhere near it in 200 years.



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The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of U.S. Power

The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of U.S. Power by Noam Chomsky

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

If your politics are to the left of center, you may enjoy this book. At the very least, you won't dislike it although much of its contents have been presented before. I don't think more than about 5% is new.

If your politics are to the right of center, you won't like this book although it may still be worth reading. Certainly, if you happen to be an author who writes satire, there's all sorts of material you can use. There's also a bit of nostalgia between the covers. I haven't heard slogans like 'military industrial complex', and 'imperialistic etc.' since the late 60s when groups of arts students were protesting, demonstrating, and in general, roaming about campus attempting to convince anyone who would listen that the sky was falling. They didn't have much effect at The University of Waterloo because it was predominantly Math, Science and Engineering, but they did their best to liven up York and a few other universities. I expect many of them, if not retired, are somewhere in the financial sector and likely vote Conservative.

For those who would like to see Critical Theory in action, The Withdrawl is a textbook example. It consists basically of a Marxist manifesto in which the west, primarily the USA but likely including Canada, is evil and the cause of all problems in the world. Facts are presented to support this premise but anything which might contradict it is ignored. For example, Hugo Chavez is lauded for standing up to the United States. The fact he and his successor largely destroyed the Venezuelan economy and caused great privation among the people while he, his friends and the military did very well is ignored. Likewise he lauds China while disregarding the emerging ultra-wealthy Chinese who are busily burying as much money as possible in western real-estate. He also fails to mention the Social Credit system by which the state tyrannizes its citizens. Nor does he mention the massive amount of censorship in the country or how any criticism of the government warrants a prison sentence.

He is not totally against the United States. What he dislikes are older, white, CIS, heterosexual, hardworking males, who, over the years, have managed to build a reasonable lifestyle and are not dependent on government handouts for their survival. Interestingly enough, he is an older, white male who was a professor at MIT and collected a considerable stipend for attacking the society which paid for his lattes. For some reason, he doesn't rail against hypocrisy.

Once more, if you are left of center you might like the book. If you are on the right I think you'd be better off reading something else.







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1066 and Before All That

1066 and Before All That: The Battle of Hastings, Anglo-Saxon and Norman England by Ed West

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

I doubt this book is likely to have a wide audience. It's a pretty good historical study into the 10th and 11th centuries with some notes as to how they affected future history but it's a little dry with plenty of facts but not much else. The author did his best to offer some commentary and some was amusing but overall it was okay but not great. That said, this is a fantastic book for authors. Almost every fact, and there was a LOT of them, could be twisted into a plot point or even a full story. There's intrigue, murder, violence (lots of violence), political marriages and plunder.



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How The Mulitverse Got Its Revenge

How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge by K. Eason

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

Fast paced, exciting, this was an excellent story. The only think I didn't like was the title. Both this and the first book suggest the multiverse is a preeminent part of the story and it's not. Although there is a bit of magic, which the author suggests is nothing more than the mathematical manipulation of the universe, and some sci-fi, with space ships zipping about here and there, in actuality this is a political thriller.

What I like best is the author's wry sense of wit. It isn't as pronounced as in the first book but it shows up every so often and is a treat. In addition, every so often she goes into lecturer mode. Some reviewers dislike that intensely but I find those parts the most interesting. There is some character development but mainly in the peripheral characters. It doesn't overshadow a great plot. I highly recommend this one.



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A Short History of The World According to Sheep

A Short History of the World According to Sheep by Sally Coulthard

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


*** Possible spoilers ***

I got this in audio format. It was interesting and the reader's voice very pleasant.



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Death of a Ghost

Death of a Ghost by M.C. Beaton

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

This wasn't a bad book but I found it a little tedious. The pacing was good but the author cut her scenes so short the book seemed choppy. I thought the protagonist rather lacking in detective skills and it seemed those around him provided most of the good ideas. The rival in the police force was too dumb to be believable perking up only at the end when challenged by someone as nasty as himself. This latter character was dealt with which might have been a mistake because he would have made a much better foil for the main character.

I selected this initially because another Goodreads member had it in her 'satire' bookshelf and I enjoy satire. If there was, in fact, any satire between its covers it went completely over my head. If you like Cozy Mysteries, you might like this one but otherwise I think you could do better with a different book.



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A Mathematician's Lament

A Mathematician's Lament: How School Cheats Us Out of Our Most Fascinating and Imaginative Art Form by Paul Lockhart

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

This book was published in 2009 and the original material came from something created in 2002. It seems many of the ideas supported by the author have been put into practice under the description of Discovery Math. How's that working out for parents and students?

Parents are less than impressed their children are making their way through k-12 with no ability to add, subtract, multiply or divide.

Children, you would think, would be more than happy with this laissez-faire state of things but it would seem, from the reports of parents whose offspring are part of the program, such is not the case. The children are horribly frustrated and convinced they're not good at math and what's more, hate it. This was precisely what the author hoped to avoid and believed was happening in the old system.

The author believes one needs to face frustration in order to come to enjoy math. Well kids today are certainly frustrated. Some don't have the faintest idea what's happening while others, whose parents have sat them down and taught some basics, cannot comprehend why a simple question such as what is 6 + 2 requires an explanation of possibly three methods by which the answer can be derived when they know perfectly well it is 8. Even worse, if they simply write 6 + 2 = 8 they don't get marks while someone who comes up with processes, but never obtains the answer 8 does. To them it seems patently unfair and it is. However, what is desired in the education system of today is creativity at the expense of tools and techniques.

Fine. How about we take today's kids, give them a pile of rocks and see if they can creatively invent a wheel. Or how about this, we'll take a bunch, strip them naked, and leave them alone in the woods to creatively learn to survive. Oh darn, a bear just ate Johnny. Oh well, at least the bear creatively broadened the spectrum of its dietary selections. People spent millennia developing the tools and techniques of modern math and to take that away from students, particularly early learners, is criminal. Sure, every now and then toss them a problem a little beyond their capabilities and let them stretch a bit, but don't leave off teaching the basics.

How are these creative students devoid of math knowledge going to fare when they graduate and have to enter a business? And here we come to the crux of the matter. The author despises business and balance sheets. All these things are beneath him. But here it becomes interesting. Paul Lockhart is a teacher in the k-12 system. He gets paid by taxpayers and those taxpayers are able to pay the taxes which keep him in lattes by working at businesses and paying attention to the balance sheets. I'm becoming rather tired of left-wing hypocrites who bemoan all crass commercialism and then live off it. Hey Paul, how about tossing aside your cell phone, stripping off all your commercially made clothing, and entering the woods in winter to give yourself the opportunity of creatively surviving in difficult conditions. We'll see how well that works for you.

In short, this book is drivel from cover to cover and I do NOT recommend anyone waste his or her time on it.



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Amongst Our Weapons

Amongst Our Weapons by Ben Aaronovitch

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

I loved this book but then I love the entire Rivers of London book series. I emphasize 'book' because I find the comics rather flat. The don't provide the charm of the book and while I can tolerate the audio ones, I much prefer reading myself.

In this one we've got a brand new villain. True, most of the plot revolves around a magic-user under a compulsion to kill and given some pretty heavy-duty magical weapons to do it with but in the background lurks The Collector and I expect we'll be seeing more of him in future works.

As usual, the pacing is good and periodically we're provided some background information which has the effect of making our protagonist, Peter Grant, seem a bit like an outside observer. Sure, he does all the real legwork and brings down our villain in the end but for me, he always seem like just a bit of an outsider, watching the pageantry of life in London through the lens of the police force. I like that.

I also liked the Monty Python reference although giving it to Seawoll seemed a bit out of character for him.

There was one editing oversight.
"I wrapped my left arm around her right, rabbit-punched her once in the face, and grabbed her collar."
"A rabbit punch is a blow to the back of the head or to the base of the skull." - Wikipedia

In general I thought this was a great book, amusing in places, well paced with interesting characters. If you're the type of reader who like character arcs and deep dives into personalities you probably should take a pass but for readers who like action and an enjoyable story, this one is for you.



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Numbers Don't Lie

Numbers Don't Lie: 71 Things You Need to Know About the World by Vaclav Smil

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

Despite giving this book a 5 I'm not recommending it. It got the 5 because it fulfilled a specific purpose, not because it was interesting. It's basically just a random collection of facts backed up by numbers along with some editorializing.

I selected this book because I wanted some background noise. When I was on vacation I was a week without radio or television and by the time I came home I was totally relaxed so decided to continue leaving both radio and TV turned off. But still I like some spoken word during meals so I got the audio version of this book and listened to it. I didn't pay much attention, just let the reader rattle on in the background and it was quite pleasant. As background it's great, but for interest not so much. Admittedly I a few topics caught my attention but not many.



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