Brilliant from beginning to end; the rare piece of science fiction that's so original in its use of the medium as to interest folks who aren't interesBrilliant from beginning to end; the rare piece of science fiction that's so original in its use of the medium as to interest folks who aren't interested in science fiction. ...more
Most impressed by the fact that even aside from the thoughtful premise (a world in which the human race has lost the ability to reproduce), this book Most impressed by the fact that even aside from the thoughtful premise (a world in which the human race has lost the ability to reproduce), this book would stand alone as a high-quality character novel. Also really like the contrast with the movie: the movie focuses primarily on society's breakdown in this scenario, the book focuses more deeply on individual and emotional coping. Among the best movie/novel pairings I've encountered...more
This is not a book for gearheads; it's really the story of the Beatles told through their instruments. And every *new* way I can read the story of thThis is not a book for gearheads; it's really the story of the Beatles told through their instruments. And every *new* way I can read the story of the Beatles is one more time I can be inspired, sad, stunned, etc. Also it's a *little* bit a book for gearheads....more
I consumed this primarily as an audio book, though I had the hard copy on hand for maps and the like. Actually "consumed" understates my experience wiI consumed this primarily as an audio book, though I had the hard copy on hand for maps and the like. Actually "consumed" understates my experience with this book; I felt completely immersed in "A World Undone" for about a month. I drove with it, ran with it, and walked my dog with it.
I've never read a war history text of any form before, and I'm not sure what made me pick this up... it may have been the pending (at the time) 100th anniversary of the beginning of the war, but strangely, I think it was more related to the pending (at the time) 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings, which got more attention in the media than the 100th anniversary of the Central Powers' declarations of war, and got me started on a European history kick. And I found myself feeling ... guilty? ... for not really being able to put together a coherent description of WWI. I realize that just puts me in an elite fraternity with 99.9% of Americans, so I don't feel *that* guilty, but still, this is a whole lot of death and modern-world-shaping that I really didn't understand. I read the first few pages of a few different single-volume histories to see which one's tone I'd get along with best (having no inherent love for reading history texts), and this was a clear winner.
I was *completely* satisfied, and I feel that not only was this one of the most "important" books I've read (for some nebulous definition of "important" that I can't write down but in which I have much confidence), but I was never less than 100% interested. The strategy of mixing "background" chapters throughout the book ("Background: The Ottoman Empire", "Background: An Infinite Appetite for Shells", etc.) to break up what might otherwise have been monotonous descriptions of army movement was brilliant. But even the military description was never too detailed to be boring, and if it got a *little* boring at times, THAT'S THE POINT, this was a 4-year, 20-million-life stalemate where nothing happened. That's the story, and part of what makes it so sad. So a bit of repetition seems in order, and Meyer managed this just right.
And perhaps the best testament I can make to this book is that I am now consuming two other single-volume WWI histories, and every WWI movie that's available in English. I.e., this book didn't just inform me, it created an appetite for more of the same. And I've already started down the inevitable path of finding the equivalent histories of WWII. In fact, if anyone has read this book and can recommend a WWII history with a similar vibe, I'm all ears. Because as Meyer and/or the fantastic British guy who reads the audio book says in the final sentence of "A World Undone": "...that is another story"....more
I'm not entirely sure why this book was so captivating. The prose was dry by design, and most everything after the first page was just horrible stuff I'm not entirely sure why this book was so captivating. The prose was dry by design, and most everything after the first page was just horrible stuff that happens when you're chronically dehydrated. But the historical fiction was flawless, and I couldn't help but search wikipedia for everything this book even vaguely mentioned. 9/10. ...more
I started reading this series mostly because Guns and Roses was in the movie soundtrack, and was not disappointed. Brilliant in its ability to set up I started reading this series mostly because Guns and Roses was in the movie soundtrack, and was not disappointed. Brilliant in its ability to set up a whole world spanning thousands of years, intricate yet always coherent and consistent. And at the same time, a great train-of-thought exploration for a very unusual character type....more
I started reading this series mostly because Guns and Roses was in the movie soundtrack, and was not disappointed. Brilliant in its ability to set up I started reading this series mostly because Guns and Roses was in the movie soundtrack, and was not disappointed. Brilliant in its ability to set up a whole world spanning thousands of years, intricate yet always coherent and consistent. And at the same time, a great train-of-thought exploration for a very unusual character type....more
I don't give a lot of 10's. This is only my fifth, in fact. But this book had me sold by page 50. I also highlight that the author does not overdo it I don't give a lot of 10's. This is only my fifth, in fact. But this book had me sold by page 50. I also highlight that the author does not overdo it in the plot department, and I typically read books for plot alone (could someone who reads for prose really stomach all the Tom Clancy books?). But the prose in this book is so original and so entertaining that I read this book more like poetry than like a novel. In 500+ pages, I don't think I skipped a word. And after my longest stretch with this book - a 15-hour flight in which I would have been fast asleep were it not for Calamity Physics - I found that even my internal monologue was in the tone of the book, because the prose itself was that compelling....more
This may be my overall favorite book. I've read it twice. It's funny, it's elaborate, the meta-story is executed flawlessly, and most importantly, thiThis may be my overall favorite book. I've read it twice. It's funny, it's elaborate, the meta-story is executed flawlessly, and most importantly, this book is wildly original. There is nothing else like it. Nothing. Brillant. The movie happens to be brilliant as well and is very faithful to the book, but as always leaves a lot of detail out by necessity....more
This is still my favorite of the TC series. It highlights what Clancy is best at: brilliantly intricate plots that are extreme but altogether not implThis is still my favorite of the TC series. It highlights what Clancy is best at: brilliantly intricate plots that are extreme but altogether not implausible. I happen to love the movie too, and if you like the movie I expect you'll see the book as an excellent complement that fills in tons of detail that didn't get into the movie....more
Plot, character, and setting are fantastically interwoven to create a book that reads with a fast enough plot, but is more like a snapshot of lower-miPlot, character, and setting are fantastically interwoven to create a book that reads with a fast enough plot, but is more like a snapshot of lower-middle-class struggle in Boston. Movie is excellent as well....more
The first five-star rating I've given a fiction book in a long while. If an excellent book is five stars, an excellent book that also makes you think The first five-star rating I've given a fiction book in a long while. If an excellent book is five stars, an excellent book that also makes you think "I've never read this book before" should get six stars. Like, in movie terms, I love "Gladiator", and I give it five stars, but I can't say it's wildly original, whereas "The Lego Movie" six-stars-tastic. "Watership Down" is a six-star-original book.
If I had to knock anything here, I would say he's dancing around a bizarre line with the rabbit language and the fourth wall, where sometimes the narrator is a person, and sometime the narrator only knows things that rabbits know, and sometimes rabbits have silly words for things they don't seem to need words for, and it bumps me a little, like in '80s action movies when Russian characters spoke in English but still said "da" and "comrade". But you can't really ask anyone to walk right up to the line and not cross it a little... I wish Game of Thrones didn't involve swords that have names, because that's the thing that bumps me into just-a-little-too-nerdy territory, but it's silly to quibble over that, and Game of Thrones is awesome. So I can take a few silly words with my Watership Down.
Also, how did I make it halfway into 2017 without reading this book? I.e., why did I read pieces of shit like "Billy Budd" in high school when "Watership Down" was perfectly available?
How this book didn't get boring remains a mystery, but there you have it, it never got boring. This book, even decades after being written, fills precHow this book didn't get boring remains a mystery, but there you have it, it never got boring. This book, even decades after being written, fills precisely the gaps in American popular understanding of Nazi Germany; Shirer seems to have found interesting exactly what American popular education does not. Americans pretty much learn the broad strokes of the war (if mostly from movies) and are extensively exposed to information about the holocaust, but - at least when I was in high school - learn almost nothing about the Nazi rise and Hitler's war aims. This book only touches on military details and only devotes one chapter specifically to the holocaust; it is otherwise a (remarkably captivating) picture of the Nazi rise to power, Nazi policy, Nazi personalities, and Hitler's ideology, which for me cast the war in a new light and - if anything - highlights the lessons the world should be learning from WWII history.
The quality of prose here vastly exceeds that of other books in the adolescent-age fantasy genre (read: Harry Potter), as does the creativity invoked The quality of prose here vastly exceeds that of other books in the adolescent-age fantasy genre (read: Harry Potter), as does the creativity invoked in creating the world in which the book is set....more
Retribution strikes a perfect balance between informative and thoughtful, between editorial and reporting. So much so that I can't decide which was thRetribution strikes a perfect balance between informative and thoughtful, between editorial and reporting. So much so that I can't decide which was the more important part of my experience with this book: being deeply immersed in the basic narrative of aspects of the war that are often omitted from introductory historical texts and with which I was almost completely unfamiliar (e.g. the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, the Burma front, and the Pacific submarine campaign), or being deeply immersed in Hastings's no-holds-barred judgement (positive and negative) of the key decisions and personnel of the war. In addition to the expected condemnation of the behavior of the entire Japanese Empire, Hastings is harsh (but fair) toward MacArthur, toward British competence and motivations, and toward more or less the entire nation of Australia. But at the same time, he is equally willing to dole out praise not only for the individual soldiers who often appear only *because* of their sacrifice and endurance, but for the U.S. Navy, for Slim, for LeMay, and even - in a moment of balance near the end of the book - for the post-war MacArthur.
But most moving to me, perhaps, was Hastings's treatment of the atomic bombs, despite his claim that he was not doing to devote much of this book to this topic. To be fair, this was not one of the longer sections of the book, so he lived up to this claim. But the depth of his treatment of the decision goes far beyond that of the usual supporters, and of course far beyond the usual critics. With cautious conservatism about projected losses in a continued war, Hastings not only highlights the lives saved by the attacks, and the almost certain Soviet land-grab that would have divided Japan, but also gently scolds those who object to the nuclear attacks and the fantasies they're usually entertaining (IIRC, he uses the word "fantasies").
I can't wait to read "Armageddon". Interestingly one of the few war histories I've abandoned was Hastings's "Inferno", which I found wildly boring. This book is structured similarly, but nonetheless stands miles above Inferno IMO, and probably stands as the best book I've read in my recent WWI/WWII history kick....more
Spectacular take on the genre, spectacularly clever use of the medium. I can't wait for the sequel and the movie. Every time I thought it was going Spectacular take on the genre, spectacularly clever use of the medium. I can't wait for the sequel and the movie. Every time I thought it was going to dive into something formulaic, it literally jumped a couple hundred years and into a whole new style....more
I started reading this series mostly because Guns and Roses was in the movie soundtrack, and was not disappointed. Brilliant in its ability to set up I started reading this series mostly because Guns and Roses was in the movie soundtrack, and was not disappointed. Brilliant in its ability to set up a whole world spanning thousands of years, intricate yet always coherent and consistent. And at the same time, a great train-of-thought exploration for a very unusual character type. Also an important point on this book in particular... if you saw the movie, do not let that dissuade you from reading the book. The movie was like a comic book gone bad, with acting and dialog to match. The plot sort of follows the book, but the movie really misses the point....more
Loading...
