This is a very imaginative book best approached with no preconceived notions. It certainly isn't as dark as Liu's previous trilogy, nor is it asThis is a very imaginative book best approached with no preconceived notions. It certainly isn't as dark as Liu's previous trilogy, nor is it as complex. It is a fascinating look at human nature and the inertia of geopolitics and social organization. I think it is both realistic and optimistic and it's certainly unique. It is nothing at all like Lord of the Flies, so please dispense with that notion.
It moves in its storytelling at a rather predictable pace. You can easily imagine the scenarios presented at the beginning and middle of the book. But as the children take over and their ultimate values make themselves evident things evolve in a fashion nobody could predict. Because we're adults, that's why.
The case is very clear that children and adults think very differently and I think Liu has nailed it. In some way this book is conceptually reminiscent of Dennis Taylor's Outland. The very fact that the protagonists are young heightens the sense of danger and drama. ...more
A very plotty book with some depressing politics that takes Suarez gritty take on corporate power (noticing that a lot now in retrospect) into aA very plotty book with some depressing politics that takes Suarez gritty take on corporate power (noticing that a lot now in retrospect) into a near-future realistic realm. It is definitely worth the read for its twists and turns, and it sounds exactly like what one could expect from grubby humans taking their turn at pitch and toss with the physics of space travel and the exigencies of ego driven commerce.
This doesn't compare emotionally well to Weir's Artemis or Peter Cline's Dead Moon, but read as a trilogy of sorts rounds things out a bit. The problem is that there is Adrian Tchaikovsky and he puts all three to shame, with one exception that I'm taking to Suarez and Tchaikovsky both, but ultimatly mostly to Suarez. There are not enough people in a lot of these space dramas to make them actually dramatic. So I'm kind of down on books that mix the weight of mission with the fate of a tiny shipwrecked crew and the evil necessity that put them off the Earth in the first place.
So in the end, of the near-future space fictions, I still have to give it to Sandford & Ctain's Saturn Run. Inside of our solar system it doesn't get much better than that one. ...more
As a computer science major and philosophy minor I found it brilliant. The thing is, I waited so long to read it that many of its profundities soundAs a computer science major and philosophy minor I found it brilliant. The thing is, I waited so long to read it that many of its profundities sound almost like common sense. So from an older reader's perspective I find it marvelous because it reminds me of how intelligent men used to talk. I can easily see the author as one of those engineers for the Apollo program but I can just as easily see him as a cousin to Mr. Rogers. Clearly he was the type that got me into technology - similar in many ways to my own father, a social worker who wrenched his own Porsche.
The story is autobiographical and also allegorical. At some point it doesn't matter which because the argument is so rich both in substance and in metaphor. What is consistent is the wonderful pace he takes in moving back and forth between the motorcycle journey and its descriptions of the beauty of traveling the West, the interactions with his friends and son, the distinction between his current self and his prior self, and the structure of his case for observing the difference between classical reason and romantic understanding and reconciling the two.
It didn't surprise me to learn that this was the most popular selling philosophy book of all time, and I can attest that I like every person who ever mentioned it to me, though I was too stubborn to be bothered reading it.
The book is not perfect. When he gets into the debate about Quality being the source of knowledge, it doesn't quite work, and it gets rather wonky as he describes his prior self's push for a grade-less college course. But then as he moves to speak of Poincare's observations and the geometric inventions of Lobachevsky and Riemann, it all pops back together neatly.
I am reading it this weekend with a sense of evolutionary psychology and biology in the back of my mind, and what he is saying snaps nicely into focus as we consider exactly why we select facts in a dynamic way to help our understanding. But he's right. We do know what quality is, and it's hard as hell to describe, but yeah we just know it.
At point in the book:
At present we’re snowed under with an irrational expansion of blind data-gathering in the sciences because there’s no rational format for any understanding of scientific creativity. At present we are also snowed under with a lot of stylishness in the arts—thin art—because there’s very little assimilation or extension into underlying form. We have artists with no scientific knowledge and scientists with no artistic knowledge and both with no spiritual sense of gravity at all, and the result is not just bad, it is ghastly. The time for real reunification of art and technology is really long overdue.
Pirsig, Robert M.. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (p. 264). HarperCollins e-books. Kindle Edition.
Once again Ben Coes delivers. I suppose it's settled. I'm going to digest this entire series. I have to say that at the moment I still like CourtOnce again Ben Coes delivers. I suppose it's settled. I'm going to digest this entire series. I have to say that at the moment I still like Court Gentry more than Dewey Andreas. But that ship has sailed and it was fun while it lasted. At this moment in the series, Coes is still gear happy but Andreas gets into much larger catastrophes and that's part of the thrill. ...more
OK listen up. While the lot of you chimps were scratching each other's heads, we gorillas were feasting on the comic genius of Kyle Baker. You simplyOK listen up. While the lot of you chimps were scratching each other's heads, we gorillas were feasting on the comic genius of Kyle Baker. You simply don't know how brilliant this was. Yes some of you caught a clue when the Boondocks swung around, but this is the OG delectable. (Sigh). It was the thing that reminds me of the beginning of the New World Afrikan Renaissance. Ahh George C. Wolfe we hardly knew ye...
Kyle. You need to march into Jordan Peele's office and sweep the papers off his desk. You want to go out like Little Richard? ...more
This one is borderline 3 and 4. It's an extraordinary tale, one of the best conspiracies you can come up with in the genre, but it veers between aThis one is borderline 3 and 4. It's an extraordinary tale, one of the best conspiracies you can come up with in the genre, but it veers between a kind of Marcinko-complete accounting of gear and a self-justifying single minded terror campaign of rage. Despite the fact that it can be rather formulaic, you really do want to know what the protag is going to do next.
One of these days I'm going to have to rank all of these operators......more
**spoiler alert** The cast of characters is beginning to wear thin. I think this edition finally clears up just about everything there is to know**spoiler alert** The cast of characters is beginning to wear thin. I think this edition finally clears up just about everything there is to know about the paradox of time travel and does a good job explaining misremebering. There's still a goodly amount of dramatic tension in the mutual heartbreak of Phillip and the Brits considering what we know and what they've been forced to forget. But we're running out of wizards to fight and we're at the point at which fratricide is the only place left for them to go.
Somehow, perhaps they can be unleashed on the world, or discover deeper secrets of programmer of their Matrix. ...more
Quick and delicious. A rather fascinating account of the competitive culture of top minds at top universities. More catty and sloppy than what anyQuick and delicious. A rather fascinating account of the competitive culture of top minds at top universities. More catty and sloppy than what any outsider would expect - a personal memoir of import. A good companion to those dramatic presentations of the Manhattan Project. ...more
Once upon a time I remember believing that Robert Ludlum was on the government payroll and that his fiction was partly paid for by our intelligenceOnce upon a time I remember believing that Robert Ludlum was on the government payroll and that his fiction was partly paid for by our intelligence services just to scare the enemy into thinking about how we might be thinking. Then I started reading Tom Clancy, so I thought no it's not Ludlum, it's Clancy. Then, if you can believe it, for a short time I thought it might be Dick Marcinko. Now who knows? I mean there are writers like Littel and LeCarre and my new favorites Jason Matthews and Ben Macintyre all who know quite enough history to have their work reviewed for approval.
None of that approaches the verisimilitude of Greaney's new book with Rip Rawlings. These two in combination have done to the genre what Speilberg did to the war movie with Saving Private Ryan. Suddenly everything prior seems fake, staged and artificial and 'tacticool'.
This collaboration is stellar. It puts together a complex timeline, memorable characters, geographic settings, strategic consideration, battle details in a compelling narrative. It works on multiple levels with remarkable precision that doesn't sound stilted and it doesn't force you to suspend disbelief while delivering just the right amount of drama. It is not romantic, nor pessimistic and it is far from far-fetched. The duo have set a new high water mark for the military thriller.
The way this turns out I even wonder if there is much of a market for this kind of fiction written in Russia. I feel sorry for Russian authors.
This one gets tanks, militias, choppers, close air, infantry, submarines and artillery operations down with stunning precision (as far as I could possibly tell) and by doing so takes a great combined joint strike at the genre of the special forces that do it all. What a refreshing take. The story itself is certainly plausible and it gives the reader a new take on how quickly things can go from bad to worse. No book I have read has ever done a better job of dealing with the fog of war in the manner this one does.
More for the exercise than the performance, this is a very good book. I'm always curious to see what things percolate in the minds of interestingMore for the exercise than the performance, this is a very good book. I'm always curious to see what things percolate in the minds of interesting thinkers, and Gayou is that. I do often wonder how well networked we are and how much automation connects in the world, but given that it is still a bit surprising that an evolved AI with superior intelligence would not be destructive or at the very least 'touched in the head'. Gayou's is not, but perhaps we'll see one that is in the future. Given what has transpired after the Manhattan Project, it is reasonable to believe that those capable of developing such a capacity would have the ethics necessary of a coherent project. It makes sense then, that the first 'super capable' AI would have some ethics of a sort. But once that capability to make those becomes commodified......more
In the second of the Magic 2.0 series, Martin and Phillip are summoned to the City of Atlantis to deal with a mobius plot of predestination, murder,In the second of the Magic 2.0 series, Martin and Phillip are summoned to the City of Atlantis to deal with a mobius plot of predestination, murder, inequality, free will and governance. And Love! And Revenge vs Forgiveness. Uh Oh. Meyer has proven that he can work this Connecticut Yankee thing with much more imagination and depth than one might imagine.
This is one of the first books I have read that dares to casually talk about the dysfunctions of a female led society. It's starting to make me think that Scott Meyer is on to something. Yes, I know that Scalzi has given us some first rate hell spawned bitches in his Interdependency series, but Scott Meyer rules the small scale with a kind of lighthearted style that is subtle, humorous and profound all at once.
I'm going to give it five stars because in a page-turning style Meyer has managed to put some big ethical matters center stage. The battle of the sexes is done quite well. ...more
What a fun book, and what an exceptionally diabolical villain. Scott Meyer's protag is an ordinary bumbling, self-deprecated cornball of a 'GreatestWhat a fun book, and what an exceptionally diabolical villain. Scott Meyer's protag is an ordinary bumbling, self-deprecated cornball of a 'Greatest American Hero'. All good intentions and smarmy sentimentality of a Millenial Charlie Brown, Martin Banks can't figure out a purpose for his life and becomes a marvelous fish out of water in the series. And having read the audiobook, one of the greatest voice actors in the business does a pitch perfect mentor in Phillip, the wise and conscientious mentor to Martin the Magnificent. But the true genius of this book is found in the character of Jimmy, social engineer par excellence. I cannot think of a villain who exemplifies so much of what is wrong in this world than this ruthless manipulator. He is the kind of glib evil that permeates so much of American society that recognizing the lengths he goes to is a revelation.
The book is an excellent meditation on ethics and power, wrapped up in fantasy and fun, a brilliant and entertaining combination. Trekkies will immediately recognize the centrality of the Prime Directive in this work. ...more
I have been enjoying the Sandman Slim series of novels by Richard Kadrey for years. This week I just finished his latest novel, The Grand Dark. It isI have been enjoying the Sandman Slim series of novels by Richard Kadrey for years. This week I just finished his latest novel, The Grand Dark. It is a revelation. I will place it, in my ultimate library right next to Gene Wolfe's 'The Land Across'. The new book, The Grand Dark, takes place in what could be described as an alternate Mitteleurope postwar near future. It's at once both futuristic and retro, a brilliant creation in which serves as a kind of gothic background for a tale of youth and innocence lost, repression, rebellion and decadence. In describing it thus, having read it, I find myself getting excited about something I'm sure I wouldn't have been excited about had I read an overview. It's Kadrey, a writer of wondrously dark imagination. There's not much of any other way to describe him now as the caretaker of the morality of dark degenerates.
So start with the phrase 'entartete kunst', and imagine an American 1980s romantic punk sensibility in a Reagan era where the CIA was not turned against Soviet Russia, but against Americans whose common folks had turned to a minimally employed louche cokeheads and heroin addicts. Imagine thin wastelings like the Pet Shop Boys, East end punks in tattered jackets looking after scores with West End girls, dragging on Shermans all black lipsticked in sheer gauzy blouses. Imagine a precisely speaking man in small hornrimmed glasses dressed formally with a preternatural intelligence lording over a bicycle delivery service with a ratpack of couriers looking just out of the workhouses of Oliver Twist. Imagine a grimy industrial city barely hanging on to civility patrolled by automatons, robot taxi drivers, spiderlike police bots. Imagine disfigured war veterans who wear steel masks covering their deformities grumbling to themselves on public transit everywhere you go.
The Grand Dark is the pseudonym of the theatre of the absurd in which the most crumbly of human dramas are shot through with sexual drama and political innuendo that caters to the most ribald and degenerate sensibilities of a bounding youth and a slumming aristocracy - where poets and students and grand dames & dukes meet at opioid cocktail parties signifying about the potential of transgressive creativity, each production aiming to rise the level of shock and awe to that of civilizational neutron bombs. And around every corner are the brutal police and the even more vicious secret police.
The novel is the story of a naif and his lover, an actress, two against the whole demonic world. Like Forrest Gump stranded in Milan Kundera's Prague, Kadrey's protagonist Largo struggles against the news of the world as he manages to escape its crushing jaws by inches every day. He is animated by his passionate love for Remy whose love and life are romantically reckless in the way only an energetic and beautiful youth animates to the stunned jealousies of the jaded who surround her at work. Their love is true and it surpasses all until things with gravity and grit get their grubby ways. Remy disappears. Largo struggles to find Remy. Has she abandoned him? Is she lost? Kidnapped? Dying of the miasmic vapors of this cruel industrial wasteland?
In all ways subtle and clever, Kadrey's world pulls you into its twisted orbit, drowning you in gothic mystery and the horror of war, the heat and hate of the beat down humans and the intrigues of revolution and counter-revolution. It is a world of creeping cold claustrophobia, like Terry Gilliam's Brazil set in Eastern Europe. Kadrey's writing simply and occasionally brings you directly into the head-pounding despair of a sweet young man fighting for his very survival in a world intent on destroying all that gives him hope.
In all this, Kadrey has brought me face to face with something I would not have known how to approach - which is how one who is weak and powerless with no cause to hope and no ethos beyond survival lives at the mercy of sophisticates who see in him only a means to crafty ends. Largo's degeneracy is genuine. He is a son of the underbelly of society, and no he doesn't know how to tie a tie. He doesn't jog for his health, he grabs on to the parcel of peace that can be purchase by a couple of drops of opioid under the tongue, by the hot breath of his lady love, by the thrill of outrunning the gangsters out to bash his brains. And so we are left breathless trailing a youth with none of the degraded common sense of a degraded time, yet whose honesty is the only sort that can reflect the humanity of those who struggle on the daily. He is dirty and unsubtle. He is weak and frightened. He is used by inches in ways he cannot comprehend and all he can do is try to stand up straight and stand up for his friends. He who suspected no one finds himself pinioned, as was my heart. ...more
Crouch is the most emotional sci-fi writer I read. In that regard, what he writes may be a great deal more accurate for his characters and NPCs.Crouch is the most emotional sci-fi writer I read. In that regard, what he writes may be a great deal more accurate for his characters and NPCs. Danger, confusion, loss and suffering are more vividly illustrated in this book than in others, but quite resonant with his prior 'Dark Matter'. Oddly, I preferred Dark Matter's protagonist who was a bit more bumbly and challenged.
However the scale of Recursion is a great deal broader. The entire planet is entangled in a quantum dilemma. At its best, this book gets us close to Michael Crichton level drama. Its take on 'time travel' is a very clever working on the order of Primer and Inception.
There is a kind of blind naivete driving the ambition of the characters here that didn't ruin the book for me, but annoyed me for a time. And since this is a book about people's lives rather than the situational drama created by technological disruption I think it's something Crichton would have handled much better. The way the ordinary Joe protagonists in this cinematic drama handle their dilemma puts a locus on character that requires me to suspend disbelief more than I should. In other words, if you give somebody the talent, financial and technical wherewithal to change the world, and their ambition is actually to change the world, how do they end up so squeamish when they actually do change the world and people die? That said, I find the protagonists' reactions to the tragedies that ensue quite realistic in an oddly informative way.
What Recursion reveals, emotionally and psychologically is the extent to which people whose lives spin out of control tend to seek comfort and solace from an ever-shrinking circle of intimates. In Crouch's world, the keys to all survival are the hugs and kisses that only one person in the world can give and losing that person drains all meaning from life. Recursion is the illustration of what could happen when that person is erased or altered by memory. The world comes apart. ...more
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