Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion
ABOUT BOOKS AND READING
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What are you reading or what books have you read or heard about? (Part TWELVE) Ongoing general thread.
Jim wrote: "A Field Guide to Lies: Critical Thinking in the Information Age by Daniel J. Levitin is probably the most worthwhile book I've read this year. This is a book about ho..."That sounds like a very helpful book... if one can get through it! I'm not big on this sort of thing, although I understand how important it is. Your review gives a good idea of the type of info which the book presents. I think my husband might be interested. Thanks for telling us about it, Jim.
Well, that title is intriguing. I must read your review.
Ubik by Philip K. Dick was a disappointment, to say the least. I've seen a lot of rave reviews for it, but only gave it 2 stars in my review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I see that it's science fiction, Jim. Thanks for the review. At least you "managed to finish it". That's more than I do with many of the audio books I listen to. The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey dragged on and on. I finally threw in the towel when I had listened to about half of it. However, it was interesting to read the history of the Mormons on the trail. Also, I felt sorry for the poor mules who did all the work pulling the wagons for the many people who traveled that route!
Yes, Dick is a well known SF author. Quite a few of his stories have made it on to the screen, but they're probably nothing you've watched, Joy. "Blade Runner" which starred Harrison Ford & Rutger Hauer might be the most famous. Rutger Hauer rewrote one of his speeches into "perhaps the most moving death soliloquy in cinematic history". It's called the "Tears in the Rain Speech". Some background: Replicants are manufactured humans that are used as slaves out in space. They are far stronger & faster than natural humans, but they are built only to live a few years & then they die. Some escaped & came to Earth where they're not allowed. Decker (Harrison Ford) is a cop who is sent to track them down & kill them. Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) is a combat replicant & the last one alive. He has Decker in a bad spot & should be expected to kill him since Roy is supposed to be souless. This soliloquy shows he is human, though.
This Wikipedia article explains a bit more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tears_i...
And, you can watch it here on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoAzp...
Here is Rutger Hauer talking about it & some clips from the movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgcAb...
Thank you for the links, Jim. I did some investigating of my own and found the webpage linked below:http://www.mybladerunner.com/faqs/4-1...
At that page it says:
============================================
"Why are they called “Blade Runners”? Where does that term come from?
"The title can be traced back to a book by science fiction / fantasy writer Alan E. Nourse who wrote a story called “The Bladerunner”. The story dealt with an impoverished society where medical supplies were so scarce they had to be supplied by smugglers known as “Blade Runners”.
"William S. Burroughs took the book and wrote “Bladerunner (A Movie)” in 1979. Similarities between Nourse’s “The Bladerunner” and Scott’s BR are in name only.
"Ridley Scott felt that calling Deckard a “detective” just wouldn’t do. Hampton Fancher, screenwriter for the movie, began searching through his personal library and came up with Burroughs’ book.
"Scott liked it, and he and Fancher also felt the title would make a great new title for the screenplay, and so they eventually bought the rights for the use of the name Blade Runner from both Nourse’s and Burroughs’ representatives.
"So there you have it. The term “blade runner” is really best regarded as a code name; it doesn’t really mean anything by itself. Also, the words echo “bounty hunter”.
"Note: Early versions of the script were titled “Android” and, later on, “Dangerous Days”, before ultimately “Blade Runner” was chosen as the title."
==================================================
PS-Now I won't confuse the movie "Blade Runner" with the movie "Sling Blade"!And if you want to know where they got the title for "Sling Blade", go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_...
Interesting, Joy. I never thought to look up where the name came from. I read the original short story that Blade Runner is based on. It's a long one named "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" Did you watch any of the video clips?
Yes, I watched all of the links you posted. To tell the truth, coming in on the middle of it all, with no background at all about the movie, it was very confusing for me. The YouTube of the Rain Speech wasn't very easy to hear and I didn't see anything great about it. I tried to find the exact quote of the rain speech and when I did, it made no sense to me. Kind of like Shakespeare... too many words with no meaning for me. I hate obscure poetry! It makes reading too much like work!
PS-As for the title ("Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"), even Shmoop has a hard time explaining it. See the web page at:http://www.shmoop.com/do-androids-dre...
I suppose it's a way to find out if the Androids are really living creatures. At the web page it says: "if androids do dream, they must be a form of life, which means that Rick's android-killing job is to hunt down and destroy life."
That title is pretty far-fetched, if you ask me.
PPS-The title seems an attempt at being clever but it really turns me off because it's too long and it annoys me with it's ambiguity. As I've said before, I cannot tolerate ambiguity. Instead of making me curious it just bothers me. There's a fine line between curiosity and frustration!
I guess the speech is tough if you go into it cold. You summed up Dick pretty well with 'attempt at being clever' & 'ambiguity', but should add 'addled'. He was famous for doing drugs & it shows in his work, IMO. I don't care for it. The overall idea is a good one, though. If we make something sufficiently man-like, where do we draw the line? In this case, they were very human-like, mostly biological machines, but in others they aren't human-like at all physically, just mentally & possibly spiritually. It's favorite SF fodder.
Asimov handled it in a different direction in many of his robot stories. Did you ever see "Bicentennial Man" starring Robin Williams? He started off as a robot & tried to become human. Very touching.
The Terminator movies are yet another take on it. There an Artificial Intelligence, SkyNet, becomes self-aware & tries to destroy humanity. It has no mobile body of its own, but exists in a big computer or many of them. It uses robots as its hands, sort of.
This was done with a nice computer in many other novels such as Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Mike, the AI, was a dinkum cobber. Colossus wasn't as warm & fuzzy, but benign. Laumer's Bolo shows tanks becoming self-aware & not just for destruction. Saberhagen's Berserkers consider all life bad & seek to sterilize the universe. We didn't make them - they're the remnants of a war between other beings & we just have to survive them.
Good stuff!
:)
Jim, thanks for those explanations and summaries. At least now I have a clue. :) Just now, I put "Bicentennial Man" on my Netflix queue. I haven't seen it because usually I don't care for Robin Williams. However, you never know till you see the movie.
Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger wasn't my normal read, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. I took a walk on the wild side in a Victorian steam punk novel. I gave it 4 stars in my review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I bought The Dark End of the Street: New Stories of Sex and Crime by Today's Top Authors for one short story. The rest were just icing on the cake. I gave it an overall rating of 3 stars here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Thanks for posting, Jim!
Just finished a book I thought I might not get through it and found it was now on my favorite books list. "The Novel Habits of Happiness," by Alexander McCall Smith. It has an intriguing premise on reincarnation among other stories and is set in Scotland. It is, however, sometimes introspective and not plot oriented but if it hadn't been a library book there are so many good lines I would have put a pencil to them.
RE: The Novel Habits of Happiness by Alexander McCall SmithNina, thanks for posting about that book. Sounds like a good one! I'm trying to get the Overdrive version so I can listen via my laptop.
Jim wrote in Message #862 above: "... Asimov handled it in a different direction in many of his robot stories. Did you ever see "Bicentennial Man" starring Robin Williams? He started off as a robot & tried to become human. Very touching...."Jim, yesterday I watched "BICENTENNIAL MAN" via a Netflix DVD. Thanks for recommending it. I enjoyed it very much. It kept my attention all the way through. Robin Williams was very appealing in this movie. I wondered about how they managed his robot costume. Very clever!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0182789/
Of course it was based on Asimov's:
The Positronic Man or maybe his short story/novelette:
"The Bicentennial Man".
The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories
The Bicentennial Man
PS-I notice that Robert Silverberg is also listed with Asimov as author of The Positronic Man. I wonder how much of the book he wrote. I can't find details on that issue anywhere online.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_A...
The Dog Who Knew Too Much by Spencer Quinn is the fourth in the Chet & Bernie mystery series. I haven't read one in a while & this turned out to be a real treat. The story is told by Chet, a dog who failed police training, but still makes a great partner for Bernie Little owner of the Little Detective Agency. I gave it 4 stars here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Jim wrote: "The Dog Who Knew Too Much by Spencer Quinn is the fourth in the Chet & Bernie mystery series. I haven't read one in a while & this turned out to be a real treat. The..."Thanks, Jim. I'll keep that in mind when I'm in the mood for a mystery. Sounds good.
The Dameby Richard Stark is the second of the Alan Grofield spin-offs from the Parker series. Always a pleasure! I gave it 3 stars in my review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Joy H. wrote: "Jim wrote: "The Dog Who Knew Too Much by Spencer Quinn is the fourth in the Chet & Bernie mystery series. I haven't read one in a while & this turned out to be a rea..."I too used to read these and enjoy them. Thanks, Jim for reminding me of them again.
Jim wrote: "The Dameby Richard Stark is the second of the Alan Grofield spin-offs from the Parker series. Always a pleasure! I gave it 3 stars in my review here:https://www.goodre..."
Thanks for posting, Jim. You read 100 times more than I do. :)
BTW, I'm finding that the scientific CDs are way above my head. IMO, that sort of information requires extended course study. The audible stuff goes by too fast.
I can see where the science lectures would be rough if you haven't kept up with it, Joy. I doubt your high school covered science as extensively as mine did plus yours was a generation earlier & a lot more has been discovered & changed. I was surprised to find out how much better they understood some of the inner workings of cells & the chemistry of cell walls. I'd previously read a bit on it & the genes inside the mitochondria though, so wasn't totally surprised. I'm glad you brought it up, though. I wanted to look into her explanation of how the sap rises so high in trees. She made it sound as if it was a siphoning action. Last I read, they still weren't sure.
Jim wrote: "I can see where the science lectures would be rough if you haven't kept up with it, Joy. I doubt your high school covered science as extensively as mine did plus yours was a generation earlier & a ..."Yes, Jim, the teaching of science made great strides after I left high school. The only science I took in college was chemistry and it was a 101 course. I graduated from college in 1955. That was a long time ago!
BTW, do you know anything about Robert Silverberg who is listed with Asimov as author of _The Positronic Man_ ? I wonder how much of the book he wrote. I can't find details on that issue anywhere online.
I found my answer about how the sap rises so high in trees. Actually, several different explanations. They all say the same thing, just in slightly different ways.https://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...
1955! That was before I was born. I looked through my daughter's college chemistry 101 book & thought it was awfully basic, but I went to a prep school that was heavily into math & sciences, as was I. Where my daughter's course barely touched on organic chemistry, my first high school chemistry course was far better & then I took advanced chem, too. I also took the same (2 classes each) in biology & physics & math through Calculus I. The math included extra courses in analytical geometry & logic. It's one of the reasons I got my computer programming cert so easily in college since I tested out of the first couple of years of math & sciences. I wish they had offered Latin, though. Never have gotten the hang of that.
I don't recall much about Silverberg. I read several of his books, but that was back in the 70s & I don't recall them very well - at all really. Since then, I've probably read several anthologies that he edited. He's as well known for his work as an SF editor as an author.
I haven't read much of Asimov's work in decades, either. I'm pretty sure I read at least one of the short stories you mentioned & have read quite a few of his robot stories - the first set not long ago in I, Robot. I've always preferred these early ones to his later effort at extending & wrapping them all up into one universe.
I didn't care for a lot of his writing & loved other works. He's one of the few authors that have been published in almost every major section of the Dewey Decimal system. I have a couple of his popular nonfiction books. One I especially liked was Realm Of Measure: From The Yardstick To The Theory Of Relativity. He wrote some juvenile fiction that was pretty awful, the Lucky Starr series. Definitely no Heinlein or even Bradbury in that regard. His mysteries are OK, though. Kind of long for the payout, though. Besides the robots, he's probably most famous for his Foundation series which I also never cared for much.
Anyway, I didn't comment on Silverberg's contribution since I can't say. Not well enough acquainted with either recently enough to have a feel for their respective styles nor with that particular story & version.
Jim wrote: "... I didn't comment on Silverberg's contribution since I can't say. Not well enough acquainted with either recently enough to have a feel for their respective styles nor with that particular story & version."Jim, I found the answer to my question about Robert Silverberg. After you mentioned the "Foundation series", I went to Wiki and looked up "Foundation series".
Wiki says: "The Foundation series is a science fiction series of books by Isaac Asimov. ... _The Positronic Man_: Robot novel based on Asimov's short story "The Bicentennial Man", co-written by Robert Silverberg."
Oh, so Asimov wrote the short story "The Positronic Man" & Silverberg novelized it into "The Bicentennial Man" which is what they made the movie from?
Jim wrote: "Oh, so Asimov wrote the short story "The Positronic Man" & Silverberg novelized it into "The Bicentennial Man" which is what they made the movie from?"No, Jim, your wording is incorrrect.
Wiki says:
"Bicentennial Man" is a 1999 American science fiction comedy-drama film ............ Based on the novel _The Positronic Man_", co-written by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg, which is itself based on Asimov's original novella titled "The Bicentennial Man"...
SEE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicente...
PS-Jim, the reason your wording was incorrect was because you correctly interpreted the misleading wording from Wiki's page about the Foundation Series.See the misleading wording at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundat...
It's in the chart near the bottom of the page.
(At that page, search for "The Positronic Man".)
OR see my post above in Message #878.
Jim, you would have been good at Latin. You know how to parse a sentence. :)
The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly is a Mickey Haller book, #22 in the Harry Bosch Universe. It was well read, but uneven. Still, I wound up giving it 4 stars in my review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Jim wrote: "The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly is a Mickey Haller book, #22 in the Harry Bosch Universe. It was well read, but uneven. Still, I wound up giving it 4 stars in my..."Jim, what do you mean by "pedantic" in your review? Does Connelly give detailed documentation and facts within the story? If so, are they interesting at all?
I mean that his description of court are overly detailed & fussy. The bit about asking very similar questions to make minor points. It was almost as boring as a real trial without TV editing.
Jim wrote: "I mean that his description of court are overly detailed & fussy. The bit about asking very similar questions to make minor points. It was almost as boring as a real trial without TV editing."I see. Yes, court cases can be stultifying. It takes a good story-teller to make them interesting to the average person. They're dull enough in movies. In a book, they can be even worse, I imagine. I do remember a court scene in the movie, "Judgment at Nuremberg" (1961) (with Judy Garland & Montgomery Clift) which was riveting. IMDb says: "Spencer Tracy's 11-minute closing speech was filmed in one take."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055031/?...
My Goodreads notes say that the film adaptation of The Verdict by Barry Reed was an "absorbing courtroom drama". For ME to say that, it MUST have been absorbing! :) Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I have to admit I probably won't read the "lies" book but it does seem like very worthwhile reading for those younger than me and your review was excellent.
Nina wrote [about Jim's post in message #851]: "I have to admit I probably won't read the "lies" book but it does seem like very worthwhile reading for those younger than me and your review was excellent."Nina, speaking of lies, I am so sick of the election news about all that fact-checking. It's just too much to keep up with. Too many people telling half-truths! I just can't wait until it's all over.
I hope the election results won't be contested. If there's that kind of a dispute, this could really stretch out even longer.
I agree Joy, as I am tired of the so called results of who is ahead of who. all this is second guessing who is going to win. Why don't we just wait and see.
Nina wrote: "I agree Joy, as I am tired of the so called results of who is ahead of who. all this is second guessing who is going to win. Why don't we just wait and see."That's what I'm doing. It's called a "Wait & See Attitude". :)
I see Joy why we are friends as we do quite often think alike. nina
Nina wrote: "I see Joy why we are friends as we do quite often think alike. nina"So true, Nina.
Thanks, Nina. 'Lies' was a good book & the election half-truths are disgusting, but not surprising. They're catering to the lowest common everything & stupidly simplifying complex issues to do it - both the candidates & the news.I've run into several stories lately about how biased CNN's reporting is. I found that surprising as I thought they were one of the better news stations. One was about them reporting those who are voting for third party candidates as 'undecided' in their panel group after the vice presidential debate. That's unfortunate because this election will probably wind up with the largest third party vote since the 1800s. It would certainly be larger if the news stations would give these candidates any coverage at all.
No one seems to really like either candidate save for the fanatics in their camps. Most seem to want to vote against, not for, one major candidate or the other. Both are too tarnished &/or nasty in one respect or another.
Not that it matters in the long run, but I for one, agree with you, Jim.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is fantastic. I first read it as a teen over 4 decades ago. Then it was the other world power, the country that we half expected to mutually destroy the world with us in a nuclear war. As a teen, I wondered how they could continue with such inefficiencies as I read in this book. About 15 or 20 years later, I found out they couldn't. It didn't change the novel much for me, though. It's just fantastic & horrible, but I can't recommend it highly enough. Here's my 5 star review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Jim wrote: "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is fantastic. I first read it as a teen over 4 decades ago. Then it was the other world power, the count..."Thanks for posting, Jim. Definitely NOT a feel-good book. Sounds horrifying! Not everyone can tolerate dark books like that. It's enough that it was written, since, as historical fiction, it's educational.
Venomous: How Earth's Deadliest Creatures Mastered Biochemistry by Christie Wilcox was very interesting & gave me a whole new appreciation both for the creepy-crawlies, the scientists that study them, & the drug companies that both make medicines from & for their toxins. The biodiversity & examples of convergent evolution were staggering. I gave it a 5 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Jim wrote: "Venomous: How Earth's Deadliest Creatures Mastered Biochemistry by Christie Wilcox was very interesting & gave me a whole new appreciation both for the creepy-craw..."A very interesting review of a book I'd never think of reading. It makes me realize how much specialized research is taking place. It's not a subject I am drawn to but it's a good thing that others are.
The Drop by Michael Connelly was an excellent addition to the long running Harry Bosch series. It's hard to believe how fresh the story felt when it is #17 in that series or #23 in the HB Universe. I gave it a 4 star review & can't recommend it or the series highly enough for anyone who likes police procedurals.
Thanks for posting, Jim.
Today I picked up an CD at the library while browsing the shelves. It's the audio version of Jane Austen: A Life by Carol Shields. I started listening to it in the car but didn't get very far. Hope to listen to it soon.Seems there's another book with the same title by a different author. I wonder how they're different: Jane Austen: A Life by Claire Tomalin. I see other books with similar titles.
Seems she didn't leave much personal stuff behind. So she seems a mystery.
Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group
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