mikal – Page 65 – Made by Mikal

Dragonquest

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 18, 2009
Post category:Book

This is the sequel to Dragonflight. To be honest, I think Dragonflight is a better book, although this one is by no means bad. I suspect part of my problem with this book is that I found Kylara insanely annoying (which I was meant to). Every time her character popped up it made the book hard to read until she went away again. This is a good interesting book, and I'm looking forward to the later books in the series when you find out more about the settlement of Pern. [isbn: 0345284259] [award: nominee hugo 1972]

Dragonflight

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 13, 2009
Post category:Book

This is the first book in the Dragons of Pern series, which I read a small part of as a child. Given that they're still being written, its not surprising that I'm pretty out of date on this series. This book is excellent for a few reasons -- the idea is unique and well implemented; its an amazing mix of fantasy with science fiction style justifications for the way things are; and its well written. The underlying premise is that a planet named Pern as a nearly neighbor on an eccentric orbit. When that neighbor comes near to Pern, spores from the other planet try to land on Pern. These spores breed by eating organic life, so they need to be neutralized or life on Pern will cease. There are however a few patches I had to re-read to make full sense of. I really liked this book. [isbn: 0345335465] [award: winner nebula 1968; nominee nebula 1967]

Deathworld Two

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 11, 2009
Post category:Book

This book is possibly better than Deathworld One, although I find Mikah's character intensely annoying. That's probably ok though, because he's meant to be annoying. Oh $DEITY is he successful. This was another good fun light read, the kind of Harrison I enjoy. [isbn: 0722144849;B000OFKKP6]

Deathworld One

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 9, 2009
Post category:Book

This is an interesting book. Its quite Stainless Steel Rat like in approach. There is a slightly crooked male lead character, who has unusual insight. He has a beautiful female side kick, who has a strong personality of her own. The story is slightly humorous, and amazing. This is probably the most exciting book I've read in the last couple of months, and I look forward to the two others in the series. [isbn: 0722143508;B000OFKKP6]

Logan’s Run

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 7, 2009
Post category:Book

Its all about the distopian future novel at the moment (I just finished reading Make Room, Make Room! and Friday, both of which have a not-so-bright vision of the future). This book was turned into a movie as well, and is a lighter read than Make Room, Make Room!. The future is equally dark here though, and I think the writing technique on display in Make Room, Make Room! is better than the one used here. In places this book feels like a script outline. An example is during an escape sequence, where there is a single sentence describing how Logan escapes from a danger. There is no tension or insight -- just "Logan avoided the blah". Overall I thought this book was disappointing, with a premise that is hard to believe. [isbn: 0553025171]

Friday

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 4, 2009
Post category:Book

This is the first Heinlein book I have read in a long time -- since High School in fact. I read this one simply on an impulse, as the back cover description made it sound interesting. Heinlein isn't on the list of authors that I am pursuing at the moment, although I might consider changing that. This book covers a more complicated Earth than the one we have right now, although in some ways its more simple. The main character Friday doesn't ever seem to have trouble making friends, and portions of the book are just a series of her romantic entanglements. Most of the complexities are political. The story is mostly about a journey, both physical as well as emotional, and interestingly there isn't a consistent opposing force. I suspect that might be unusual, at least for the stuff I read. This book was good, even if the constant romantic entanglements seemed extraneous. [award: winner nebula 1982; winner hugo 1982; winner locus 1983; winner prometheus 1983] [isbn: 034530988x]

Books read in April 2009

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 1, 2009
Post category:Book

Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Changeling Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Renegade Servant of the Empire Make Room, Make Room! Nightfall (short stories) Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Intruder

Isaac Asimov’s Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Intruder

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 1, 2009
Post category:Book

This is the third book in the second Asimov tie in series. Its one of the better ones of the nine I have read so far, and I actually enjoyed reading it (some of the others felt like a bit of a chore). This one covers a return to Robot City, where an outside force has disrupted the operation of the city for its own nefarious purposes.

MythTV Chapter Ready: The Hard Way: Installing MythTV From Source

Post author:mikal
Post published:April 29, 2009
Post category:Mythtv

The Hard Way: Installing MythTV From Source is now ready. In fact, its been ready for quite a while, but I have been trying to blog about the finished chapters in the right order, so it has been trapped in the queue. This chapter discusses how to compile MythTV from source code, which is useful if you've either had problems with a packaged version of MythTV, or want more control than you'll get from packages. The awesome Michael Carden did the review for this chapter once again.

Nightfall (short stories)

Post author:mikal
Post published:April 28, 2009
Post category:Book

There are four Asimov books called Nightfall. There is a two volume collection of short stories (Nightfall One and Nightfall Two), a single volume version of this collection, and a novel length version of the short story "Nightfall", which headlines the short story collections. I've previously attempted to explain the list of short stories in the various versions of the collection at http://www.stillhq.com/book/Isaac_Asimov/Nightfall_Short_Stories.html. There is also a correlation with previously published Robot short stories at http://www.stillhq.com/book/Isaac_Asimov/Robot_Short_Stories.html. I just finished reading the short story collection (in this case in a single volume). I haven't read any Asimov short stories in a few months (since September last year to be exact), and I had forgotten how much I enjoy them. One of the advantages of these short story collections is that you get to cover a lot of ground, and there is a real sense of accomplishment in finishing a short story. I think also that the shorter form keeps the author honest -- there simply isn't room to waste space on long passages which don't progress the plot. This collection is excellent, much like the others I have read from Asimov. I will note that I particularly enjoyed "The Up-to-date Sorcerer",…