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defrogADMIN NOTE: This is actually two months worth of books (October and November). I usually post this at the start of the month, but I was traveling in the US on November 1 (without my laptop), and the same trip limited my reading time anyway. Also, I’ve been thinking about posting each month’s report at the end of the month in which I read them rather than the beginning of the next month, so this is as good an excuse to change up as I’m going to get.
The Centauri Device by M. John Harrison
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
This is my first time reading M. John Harrison. It may be my last. I get that it’s heralded as a pioneering and influential “anti-space-opera”, and there’s little doubt Harrison has a kind of lyricism to his writing. But for me, the latter really gets in the way of the story – which is not a good thing when yr describing a universe 600 years in the future. It’s a shame too because the story – in which space captain John Truck, the only man alive who can operate the title device, is being pursued and harangued by different political and religious factions who want the Centauri Device for their own purposes – sounds like a winner. But honestly I really had trouble following it and figuring out what was going on (or at least why). That might be my problem instead of Harrison’s, but the author himself has long since disowned the novel. I wish I’d known that before I started this.
Dinosaur Tales by Ray Bradbury
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is billed as a complete collection of Ray Bradbury’s short stories involving dinosaurs, but you should know that amounts to just four short stories and two poems, a couple of which were written just for this volume when it came out in 1983. That said, they do come illustrated by notable artists like Steranko, Moebius and Gahan Wilson, so the overall package is nice. Also, you get the classic story “The Fog Horn”, which was the basis for the film The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, and is also the best story here for my money, along with “Tyrannosaurus Rex” (a nice tribute to Ray Harryhausen, who also wrote the introduction for this volume).
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
When I finally decided to try out Ursula K Le Guin a few years ago, I started with this book, and I just couldn’t get into it. Later I tried again with The Left Hand Of Darkness, which I loved, after which I read A Wizard Of Earthsea and The Word For World Is Forest, which I also liked. So I tried this one again and for the life of me I can’t imagine why it didn’t spark with me the first time. It’s like that sometimes – you just have to be in the right frame of mind to get into a particular book. That’s what happened this time, because I really enjoyed this story of Shevek, a physicist on the anarcho-syndicalist world of Anarres, who defies convention and travels to the sister world of Urras not only to complete his work, but to break down the sociopolitical barriers between the two worlds. The parallels between the philosophical ideologies of capitalism, communism and libertarianism here on Earth are pretty obvious, but Le Guin does a really good job of exploring the nature of each and the societies (and individuals) that evolve within those ideologies, showing the pros and cons of both worlds. Extra points for splitting the narrative into parallels covering Shevek’s trip to Urras and the events of his life leading up to his decision to go there, which I think works better than if Le Guin had tried to tell the story in chronological order. Highly recommended unless yr politics are very narrow-minded or you hate books with lots of philosophical discussions (neither of which apply to me).
The Seeds of Time by John Wyndham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I’ve known for awhile that there’s more to John Wyndham than triffids and Village Of The Damned, but this is the first time I’ve read him in short-story form. And in some ways, Wyndham’s particular brand of slow-burn keep-calm-and-carry-on science fiction works better when it’s compressed into short form. There’s a lot of good ideas here, from annoying time-travel tourism and body-swapping duels to an alien visitation with scale issues. Wyndham has fun with them, but still keeps the human element front and center. There are a couple of misfires, but for the most part it works, especially when exploring issues like survival and racism. One thing to add: while it's great Penguin is reprinting most of his books, the cover art for the current batch is just awful. It's like they're trying to make them look like "proper" literature instead of sci-fi. That doesn't impact my rating – I'm just saying.
Patty Hearst & The Twinkie Murders: A Tale of Two Trials by Paul Krassner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another one from the PM Press Outspoken Authors series that also serves as my introduction to Paul Krassner, whose name I’ve seen dropped in various 60s counterculture contexts, but who I knew very little about. His main line is paranoid sociopolitical satire, which is worth keeping in mind as you read this book about his experience covering the trials of Patty Hearst and Dan White (the guy who killed Harvey Milk and George Moscone and whose lawyer invented the “Twinkie Defense”, though Krassner actually coined the term). His tales from the trials are not so much meant to be objective journalism, but rather a satirical take on what both trials represented to the counterculture at the time, to include the various conspiracy theories that abounded regarding the CIA, FBI, and even Jim Jones. It’s an interesting, short chronicle of two of the stranger tales of the 1970s. There’s also an interview, and a short piece about Michelle Shocked being ostracized from the LGBT activist community. You may not get much objective truth from this, but then it’s been said that satire gets closer to the truth than any official version.
Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m off and on with the Discworld books – some are great, some are average, and I’m in no hurry to read the whole series, but they’re generally okay. I bought this mainly to honor Pratchett’s death – I was prepared to skip it, as it’s the one about bringing football (or soccer, for the Americans out there) to Ankh-Morpork, and while I’ve found the best Discworld books are the ones where Pratchett introduces a modern institution to Ankh-Morpork (newspapers, postal services, banking system, etc), I’m not that big a football fan. But as the jacket says, football is not just about football, so I gave it a try. And I think I’ll file this one under “average”. Like other Discworld books, its main strength is compelling characterization and humor. But at 540 pages, it seems to meander at times, and while you don't necessarily have to be a football fan – or someone raised in (or nearby) Britain’s class-obsessed football culture – to get the satirical elements, it arguably helps. Overall it’s a decent addition to the series, but I felt it took a lot more work to get through than previous Discworld novels I’ve tried.
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
This book by essayist/scholar/statistician Nassim Nicholas Taleb is essentially a 500+ page philosophical argument that the future cannot be predicted – from stock market forecasts and civil war outbreaks to box office successes – and any “expert” who claims otherwise is a charlatan. He also criticizes the way we react to statistically rare events, often employing hindsight to see how we should have seen it coming, which is pointless since it won't tell you how to spot the next “black swan”. Also, Bell curves are bullshit. These are fairly valid points, but I confess I ended up skimming most of the book. Taleb’s writing style is comparatively light compared to other philosophical books, but not light enough for me personally – possibly because I’m not that well versed in economics or philosophy, which is Taleb’s main background, so it could well be my problem, not his. Also, a lot of his examples (especially from the financial sector) come across more as personal gripes. It also bugs me that the case study of Yevgenia Krasnova that opens and closes the book to illustrate the black-swan concept, is actually fictional – surely a real-life example would be more convincing? And surely he could have found at least one? There’s some good points to be made here, but the overall package is too dense and maybe a little smug, like someone trying to convince you he’s the smartest guy in the room.
View all my reviews
The unknown knows,
This is dF
The Centauri Device by M. John HarrisonMy rating: 1 of 5 stars
This is my first time reading M. John Harrison. It may be my last. I get that it’s heralded as a pioneering and influential “anti-space-opera”, and there’s little doubt Harrison has a kind of lyricism to his writing. But for me, the latter really gets in the way of the story – which is not a good thing when yr describing a universe 600 years in the future. It’s a shame too because the story – in which space captain John Truck, the only man alive who can operate the title device, is being pursued and harangued by different political and religious factions who want the Centauri Device for their own purposes – sounds like a winner. But honestly I really had trouble following it and figuring out what was going on (or at least why). That might be my problem instead of Harrison’s, but the author himself has long since disowned the novel. I wish I’d known that before I started this.
Dinosaur Tales by Ray BradburyMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is billed as a complete collection of Ray Bradbury’s short stories involving dinosaurs, but you should know that amounts to just four short stories and two poems, a couple of which were written just for this volume when it came out in 1983. That said, they do come illustrated by notable artists like Steranko, Moebius and Gahan Wilson, so the overall package is nice. Also, you get the classic story “The Fog Horn”, which was the basis for the film The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, and is also the best story here for my money, along with “Tyrannosaurus Rex” (a nice tribute to Ray Harryhausen, who also wrote the introduction for this volume).
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le GuinMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
When I finally decided to try out Ursula K Le Guin a few years ago, I started with this book, and I just couldn’t get into it. Later I tried again with The Left Hand Of Darkness, which I loved, after which I read A Wizard Of Earthsea and The Word For World Is Forest, which I also liked. So I tried this one again and for the life of me I can’t imagine why it didn’t spark with me the first time. It’s like that sometimes – you just have to be in the right frame of mind to get into a particular book. That’s what happened this time, because I really enjoyed this story of Shevek, a physicist on the anarcho-syndicalist world of Anarres, who defies convention and travels to the sister world of Urras not only to complete his work, but to break down the sociopolitical barriers between the two worlds. The parallels between the philosophical ideologies of capitalism, communism and libertarianism here on Earth are pretty obvious, but Le Guin does a really good job of exploring the nature of each and the societies (and individuals) that evolve within those ideologies, showing the pros and cons of both worlds. Extra points for splitting the narrative into parallels covering Shevek’s trip to Urras and the events of his life leading up to his decision to go there, which I think works better than if Le Guin had tried to tell the story in chronological order. Highly recommended unless yr politics are very narrow-minded or you hate books with lots of philosophical discussions (neither of which apply to me).
The Seeds of Time by John WyndhamMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I’ve known for awhile that there’s more to John Wyndham than triffids and Village Of The Damned, but this is the first time I’ve read him in short-story form. And in some ways, Wyndham’s particular brand of slow-burn keep-calm-and-carry-on science fiction works better when it’s compressed into short form. There’s a lot of good ideas here, from annoying time-travel tourism and body-swapping duels to an alien visitation with scale issues. Wyndham has fun with them, but still keeps the human element front and center. There are a couple of misfires, but for the most part it works, especially when exploring issues like survival and racism. One thing to add: while it's great Penguin is reprinting most of his books, the cover art for the current batch is just awful. It's like they're trying to make them look like "proper" literature instead of sci-fi. That doesn't impact my rating – I'm just saying.
Patty Hearst & The Twinkie Murders: A Tale of Two Trials by Paul KrassnerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another one from the PM Press Outspoken Authors series that also serves as my introduction to Paul Krassner, whose name I’ve seen dropped in various 60s counterculture contexts, but who I knew very little about. His main line is paranoid sociopolitical satire, which is worth keeping in mind as you read this book about his experience covering the trials of Patty Hearst and Dan White (the guy who killed Harvey Milk and George Moscone and whose lawyer invented the “Twinkie Defense”, though Krassner actually coined the term). His tales from the trials are not so much meant to be objective journalism, but rather a satirical take on what both trials represented to the counterculture at the time, to include the various conspiracy theories that abounded regarding the CIA, FBI, and even Jim Jones. It’s an interesting, short chronicle of two of the stranger tales of the 1970s. There’s also an interview, and a short piece about Michelle Shocked being ostracized from the LGBT activist community. You may not get much objective truth from this, but then it’s been said that satire gets closer to the truth than any official version.
Unseen Academicals by Terry PratchettMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m off and on with the Discworld books – some are great, some are average, and I’m in no hurry to read the whole series, but they’re generally okay. I bought this mainly to honor Pratchett’s death – I was prepared to skip it, as it’s the one about bringing football (or soccer, for the Americans out there) to Ankh-Morpork, and while I’ve found the best Discworld books are the ones where Pratchett introduces a modern institution to Ankh-Morpork (newspapers, postal services, banking system, etc), I’m not that big a football fan. But as the jacket says, football is not just about football, so I gave it a try. And I think I’ll file this one under “average”. Like other Discworld books, its main strength is compelling characterization and humor. But at 540 pages, it seems to meander at times, and while you don't necessarily have to be a football fan – or someone raised in (or nearby) Britain’s class-obsessed football culture – to get the satirical elements, it arguably helps. Overall it’s a decent addition to the series, but I felt it took a lot more work to get through than previous Discworld novels I’ve tried.
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas TalebMy rating: 1 of 5 stars
This book by essayist/scholar/statistician Nassim Nicholas Taleb is essentially a 500+ page philosophical argument that the future cannot be predicted – from stock market forecasts and civil war outbreaks to box office successes – and any “expert” who claims otherwise is a charlatan. He also criticizes the way we react to statistically rare events, often employing hindsight to see how we should have seen it coming, which is pointless since it won't tell you how to spot the next “black swan”. Also, Bell curves are bullshit. These are fairly valid points, but I confess I ended up skimming most of the book. Taleb’s writing style is comparatively light compared to other philosophical books, but not light enough for me personally – possibly because I’m not that well versed in economics or philosophy, which is Taleb’s main background, so it could well be my problem, not his. Also, a lot of his examples (especially from the financial sector) come across more as personal gripes. It also bugs me that the case study of Yevgenia Krasnova that opens and closes the book to illustrate the black-swan concept, is actually fictional – surely a real-life example would be more convincing? And surely he could have found at least one? There’s some good points to be made here, but the overall package is too dense and maybe a little smug, like someone trying to convince you he’s the smartest guy in the room.
View all my reviews
The unknown knows,
This is dF
