2010 – Page 4 – Made by Mikal

Mars: A Survival Guide

Post author:mikal
Post published:October 19, 2010
Post category:Book

This book, written in the style of a travel guide, was an impulse purchase the other day as a brand new book. That's rare because I don't tend to buy new, and certainly not in Australia (everything is so expensive!). However, this book isn't available on Amazon because its from the ABC, and looked good, so I bit the bullet. The book's first half is interesting and very readable. After that it tends to die down into an exhaustive treatment of issues you'd need to consider if moving to Mars, and feels like a list of lists. It picks up again towards the end. I know its hard to be interesting in non-fiction reference books, but I feel this book lost its way at the midpoint and could have tried harder to be interesting. However, it was still ok overall and I might be being overly harsh as I don't read much non-fiction. [isbn: 9780733324895]

Camouflage

Post author:mikal
Post published:October 17, 2010
Post category:Book

This is a book about two shape changing beings living through their centuries on Earth. It mostly follows on of them, but the other is important to the plot as well. Once again its an enjoyable read like many of Haldeman's other books. Similarly to other books it also explores what it is like to be isolated from the rest of society, with most of the book being written from the perspective of one of the shape changers. I really liked this book.

The Accidental Time Machine

Post author:mikal
Post published:October 16, 2010
Post category:Book

Joe Haldeman does good work, and in general I have really liked his books. They're easy to read, fun, and interesting. Better than that, they're all quite different in the topics they cover, so he's not in a rut. The only exceptions have been There Is No Darkness, which wasn't very good and Forever Free, which I thought was lazily plotted. This book is no exception to the rule, and I really enjoyed it. One theme to Joe's work that I am noticing is that the "sex scenes" are always anti-climatic, which is interesting to note. I'd like to have heard more about the One Year War, but there is scope for that to be another separate book. I don't think this book suffers from the lack of coverage, and its mostly tangentially interesting because I'd like to see how a society transforms itself in that way.

Destinies Volume 1 Number 1

Post author:mikal
Post published:October 13, 2010
Post category:Book

Stand Pat, Ruby Stone (Roger Zelany): a story of alien marriage. Interesting. Old Woman By The Road (Gregory Benford): not my favorite author (given he wrote the worst book in Asimov's Foundation universe, which is a bit of an achievement given some of the others. This story isn't terrible, it just doesn't go anywhere. There is a single small plot element, which has been repeated in many other books (for example The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, which predates this story by 12 years). New Beginnings (Jerry Pournelle): a non-fiction column about design choices baked into our existing infrastructure which make it hard for it to be efficient, the failure to save for baby boomer retirement, and our need to be concerned about growing oil use and failure to find alternative energy sources like solar. The scary bit? This article from 1978 reads like it could have been written yesterday. Transition team (Charles Sheffield): are we suited to life on a space station? A good short story. Antimony (Spider Robinson): a pretty good cryonics story. Its a pity 1990 didn't give me a personal flyer like he promised. Very Proper Charlies (Dean Ing): a novelette about terrorism, specifically how terrorists…

Consider Phlebas

Post author:mikal
Post published:October 8, 2010
Post category:Book

This is a good read, although its a bit weird in places (cannibal scene, here's looking at you). Its easy to read, enjoyable, and fun. Very much in the vein of other sweeping space operas such as Saturn's Children. [isbn: 9780316005388;031600538X]

I Know You Got Soul

Post author:mikal
Post published:October 5, 2010
Post category:Book

This is a collection of relatively short Clarkson articles about machines he thinks are inspiring. I don't agree with all his choices, and many of the articles are clearly biased against America. For example, he insists that everyone on an aircraft carrier is stupid. Why? Because they didn't let him film a fighter with one engine on fire. However, the book is funny, and good light reading. I read most of it on a bus for example. If you're into Clarkson, then its worth reading. [isbn: 9781856130974]

Books read in September 2010

Post author:mikal
Post published:October 2, 2010
Post category:Book

The Diamond Age The World According to Jeremy Clarkson Currency

Currency

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 30, 2010
Post category:Book

This is the second last book in the Baroque Cycle and its good to see so many diverse plot elements being wrapped up. It does feel like Neal is going to have to work pretty hard to get them all wrapped up in just one more book -- especially at the pace that these books move at. This book focuses on Daniel's adventures in London, although the usual suspects are of course present. An enjoyable read. [isbn: 0060750863;0060895357]

The World According to Jeremy Clarkson

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 19, 2010
Post category:Book

Like On Cars, this book is a collection of Clarkson's newspaper articles. These articles are relatively recent though (post 2001), and cover a much smaller span. This book focuses on things other than cars, and Clarkson's opinions range from sensible and thoughtful to outright weird. I read this book during a series of take offs and landings of flights when they wouldn't let me use my e-book reader, and that worked well. I wouldn't want to sit down to read this entire book front to back. [isbn: 9781856132626]

The Diamond Age

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 16, 2010
Post category:Book

I loved this book. I think its going on my list of all time favorites. The first half of the book is better than the second, but I think that might be because young Nell resonated much more strongly with me than older Nell. I read this book because it came up at a scientific conference where I went to a presentation about 3D fabrication, and its now entirely clear why the presenter thought this was relevant, given 3D nanotech fabrication plays a strong part in this book. Excellent read.