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Post by EdoBosnar on Apr 20, 2022 14:22:15 GMT -5
(...)
The Gods Themselves gave a pretty accurate idea of how actual scientific discoveries are made. As Asimov himself said, it doesn't start with "Eureka!" but with "Uh! That's funny".
Yeah, and I also liked how the guy who got the most credit for the central breakthrough that drives the plot it barely deserved it, and was in fact goaded by "the mediocrity’s frightened need to safeguard his pride." So, yes, like I said, it's very well-written and immensely readable - the explanations of the 'hard science' concepts do not bog down the narrative at all - which was, I think, to some extent the core of the criticism made in the first review here (by Ish Kabbible) that I linked above. I'd say my sole criticism would be the apparent fixation on the women's breasts in the third section - those passages kind of rubbed me the wrong way given what we now know about Asimov being something of a habitual groper of women at SF conventions and other social events.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 21, 2022 18:30:04 GMT -5
 Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke by Peter GuralnickExcellent biography of one of the most important figures in soul and popular music by one of the great music writers of our time. I was obviously familiar with Cooke's music before reading. And I was fairly familiar with the broad strokes of his life and career, but Guralnick certainly filled in all the gaps. As you can expect from Guralnick this isn't a hagiography, but it also, rightfully, shows Cooke's place in the pantheon of musical performers of the last half of the 20th Century. It also shows the warts of a very complex man. Warts that ultimately, whatever you believe the ultimate facts surrounding it were, lead to his death. I could talk about Cooke's life or career or his death (which I think Guralnick does a good job of covering without making it any more sensational than it was), but something struck me in reading this and comparing it to the bio of Marvin Gaye that I read a while back. What struck me, was the desire by both men (moreso with Gaye) to move in to the type of pop arena that had been occupied by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, etc. It was much more so with Gaye, who longed to be the black Frank Sinatra, but you could see a fair bit of it with Cooke also. With Cooke the impetus seemed to start with his management, pushing him to play White Pop venues like The Copa. You could also see it in the almost continuously lackluster albums that were produced with Cooke, while his singles, which he largely controlled, are iconic soul songs. Ultimately Cooke himself became fixated on being able to be successful at The Copa (after his first appearance there bombed), even as he recognized that the music scene was changing with the success of the British Invasion bands. He was able to clearly articulate to Bobby Womack what it was going to take to be successful in the future (something Womack was able to do) while pursuing a style that wasn't natural for him and that was, by and large, a dinosaur. And Guralnick never quite answers, why. And maybe there isn't an answer. With Gaye it was because it was his dream when he was a kid to be the black Frank Sinatra, but that wasn't the case with Cooke. Certainly there were pecuniary rewards for Nat King Cole and Johnny Mathis, but ultimately Cooke's influence on music is every bit as important as Cole's and eclipses Mathis' by a few orders of magnitude. The hunt for the "white" audience was a siren call, because the white audience was already moving to the music that Cooke and his fellow artists were making. An excellent biography of a legendary perfomer. |
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Post by berkley on Apr 21, 2022 22:03:46 GMT -5
(...)
The Gods Themselves gave a pretty accurate idea of how actual scientific discoveries are made. As Asimov himself said, it doesn't start with "Eureka!" but with "Uh! That's funny".
Yeah, and I also liked how the guy who got the most credit for the central breakthrough that drives the plot it barely deserved it, and was in fact goaded by "the mediocrity’s frightened need to safeguard his pride." So, yes, like I said, it's very well-written and immensely readable - the explanations of the 'hard science' concepts do not bog down the narrative at all - which was, I think, to some extent the core of the criticism made in the first review here (by Ish Kabbible) that I linked above. I'd say my sole criticism would be the apparent fixation on the women's breasts in the third section - those passages kind of rubbed me the wrong way given what we now know about Asimov being something of a habitual groper of women at SF conventions and other social events.
I haven't read The Gods Themselves since it first came out in hardcover, so I would have been pretty young - 11 or 12, I think. I think remember one of the passages about breasts - was a male character staring at a woman's name-tag, something like that? In my mind's eye I think I pictured the woman's uniform as something like the UFO series that was on tv around that time.
I also remember wondering if Asimov had some real-life famous scientist in mind with the character who he thought had such an undeserved reputation - not Einstein, surely? But looking back as an adult I wonder if it might not have been more of a comment on how scientific work has become more and more collaborative and that we might not ever see any more Einsteins or Newtons, individuals who single-handedly revolutionise physics. But I haven't re-read since then, so I should withhold judgement. I'm surprised at how much I do recall, if vaguely - the book must have made a pretty deep impression. It was my first Asimov - I didn't read Foundation and I, Robot until a few years later.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Apr 23, 2022 12:31:24 GMT -5
Collision with ChronosBarrington J. Bayley, 1973 (original title: Collision Course)  ( NOT the cover of the copy I have) Again – as with The Gods Themselves, this one was reviewed here before by Ish Kabbible – I promise everyone that I am not going through all of the books he covered and posting revisionary reviews, it’s just a coincidence. Anyway, that preceding review sums up the main plot points pretty well and explains the main driver of the plot, i.e., the two timelines on Earth moving in opposite directions and the various related discussions of the nature of time itself (which were pretty clearly explained but I’m still not sure I understood them entirely – and damned if I can summarize them here). Something the previous reviewer only touched upon was the theme of racism, which also looms large over the entire story. Also, besides Earth, there’s another setting in this book, the Interstellar Space Society (also called Retort City), a giant artificial habitat peopled by humans (all of Chinese descent) floating halfway between Altair and Barnard’s Star. They are, among other things, masters of time travel, and their interest in the colliding timelines on Earth leads them to get involved, albeit more out of cold scientific curiosity rather than any warm feeling for the planet they had abandoned at some forgotten point in the distant past. They also have an oddly stratified society, with a leisure class consisting of scientists, philosophers, artists, etc. living in one half of the city, and a productive class consisting of engineers, mechanics and so forth living in the other half – and there’s at least one denizen who is unhappy with the arrangement, and that becomes an important plot point. Overall, this isn’t a bad book, but I was vaguely unsatisfied after finishing it. First, the characters, except for maybe one or two, are not really very well fleshed out, and most of them are unlikable. Also, there is a dearth of women – only two with any dialogue, just barely. The ending and resolution of the main problem also seemed kind of hastily worked out, with almost a literal deus ex machina being involved (a term used by one of the characters in the book itself, as though Bayley was sort of wryly poking fun at himself). (By the way, wildfire2099, you have the author's surname misspelled on the index page, i.e., it says 'Bayler' instead of Bayley).
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 23, 2022 20:26:19 GMT -5
I'm all for multiple reviews of different books.. I think it's really fun to get different opinions, and I especially like people discover new things they like because of this thread. I appreciate the note.. I'll fix the list when I get here (I was updating this week.. almost done)
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Post by EdoBosnar on Apr 24, 2022 4:09:57 GMT -5
I'm all for multiple reviews of different books.. I think it's really fun to get different opinions, and I especially like people discover new things they like because of this thread. I appreciate the note.. I'll fix the list when I get here (I was updating this week.. almost done) I have discovered a few books thanks to this thread, although the last three - which were already reviewed here by someone else - are just books that have been sitting on my shelf for many years (just a case of me slowly whittling away at my immense backlog). |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 24, 2022 7:26:29 GMT -5
I definitely can relate to that! The last couple years I've made a concerted effort to read what I have and definitely reduced the shelf.. I still can't resist a good library book sale though, so it's often 2 steps forward, one step back.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2022 23:50:39 GMT -5
 The Time of the Twins (book 1 of the second Dragonlance trilogy) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman As big a fan as I am of the original Dragonlance trilogy, and as many times as I have revisited it over the years, I had never gotten through the second trilogy, never even finished the first book. And it took me a bit to slog through the first half of the book this time, but I got through and the second half was much better. The first half has to take one of the Heroes of the Lance, Caramon, down to the depths so it can tell a redemption arc of sorts, but the descent into the depths just isn't that interesting or believable, so it makes the first half a bit of a slog when when he is the focus character. The other parts were much better, and that got me through. Caramon works well as part of an ensemble cast in the first trilogy. He is a great foil for his twin brother and serves as a contrast when juxtaposed with the other warrior characters of the Heroes of the Lance (Tanis, Sturm, Flint, Riverwind, etc.) but as a main protagonist trying to carry the story he just isn't that interesting, and his descent into becoming a drunkard and a slob was excruciating in parts. The opening with Tanis was wonderful, the bits with Raistlin and Tasslehoff were good, but the Caramon stuff was difficult and the main plot revolves around time travel, something I am rarely enamored with, so overall this one was tough for me. The parts that were good, I really liked and they captured the magic of the first trilogy. The other stuff, not so much. It did pick up in the second half (after Caramon had climbed out of that pit of despair and been surrounded by more supporting characters to let him be a foil and not a focus again), so I am game ot go on to book two of the trilogy, but I will likely make a pit stop or two before I do. -M |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Apr 26, 2022 8:18:03 GMT -5
The Fall of ChronopolisBarrington Bayley, 1974  ( I *wish* I had the edition with this cover) Like Bayley’s other book that I just reviewed above, this one is focused on time travel, and it’s a much better story overall: it once more deals with high-concept SF, but told in a more fast-paced and coherent story, with better-realized characters. The titular Chronopolis is the capital city of what is called the Chronotic Empire that rules not only the entire globe but also the very timeline for about a thousand years of history. This is because time travel is possible and the empire’s rulers use it to expand their power over history and part of the future. Bayley’s definitions of time and how it can be traversed are explained more or less clearly (and repeatedly) but it would take too much space here to provide even summary account. The Empire is something of a theocracy; even though it was an amazing discovery of physics that made time-travel possible, an entire dogmatic religion grows out of it, centered around the Empire’s rulers. There’s also a heretical sect called the Traumatics, who oppose the official church and whose rituals, among other things, involve human sacrifice (but by playing cat and mouse games with their victims). As the book opens, the empire is girding for all-out war with the Hegemony, which originated/exists at some point in the misty, distant future and seems bent on altering history to destroy the Empire. And some pieces of history have already been wiped out in the initial skirmishes of the war. An almost casualty of one of these skirmishes, Mond Aton, the captain of a destroyer-class time-ship, becomes one of the book’s main characters. A series of events, including a botched attempt at an execution after his court-martial for treason (he is falsely accused by several secret Traumatics aboard his ship), leaves Aton with the ability to travel through the time stream without any kind of machine or ship. He goes about trying to stop the war between the Empire and the Hegemony, because he realizes it may destroy humanity entirely. In the process he discovers many disturbing truths about the origins of the Empire and its state religion, as well as the Traumatics and the Hegemony. There’s also two other plot arcs that involve one of the princes of the largely decadant imperial family and a woman who gets randomly chosen by the Traumatics to be their next human sacrifice. Like in Collision with Chronos, I wasn’t necessarily enamored with the way the plot resolves (in this case, there was a little too much exposition, and also mysticism, for my tastes), but overall I found this a pretty enjoyable read. By the way, my comments about the covers posted here are due to the fact that I read these two books in an omnibus edition published in the UK in 1989, which has a very so-so, generic SF cover: 
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,220 
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Post by Confessor on Apr 26, 2022 11:13:41 GMT -5
The Tolkien Reader by J. R. R. Tolkien.  I've been dipping into this collection of odds and ends by J.R.R. Tolkien off and on since late last year, in between other books and I finally finished it last week. Published in the U.S. in 1966 by Ballantine, the book gathers together some of Tolkien's short stories and poems, such as "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil", "Leaf By Niggle", "Farmer Giles of Ham", and the professor's celebrated essay on fairy-stories. This latter piece, in particular, is very well written and casts light on precisely what stories and storytelling conventions Tolkien considers a part of the realm of faerie and which he does not. This, in turn, provides us with clues to the origins and inspirations of some of the most memorable events and locations The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Of the rest of the book, it varies in quality. I really enjoyed the enchanting fairy story of "Farmer Giles of Ham", which is a light-hearted, Mediaeval pastiche of a tale, in which a fat farmer triumphs over a marauding giant and a dragon to eventually become King. I have to say, that its quasi-Mediaeval style of writing rather reminded me of Tolkien's friend Roger Lancelyn Green's version of The Adventures of Robin Hood. Regardless, for me it's by far the best thing in this book, aside from the aforementioned essay "On Fairy-Stories". On the other hand, I found "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" to be, frankly, rather silly and boring – although this poem does illuminate some interesting back story of Bombadil and his wife Goldberry, who are two of my favourite characters from The Fellowship of the Ring. Of the rest of the book, the historical fiction of "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son" was quite stodgy and a bit of a slog; "Leaf By Niggle" is kinda ho-hum; and the end section, which consists of short-ish poems by Professor Tolkien, is mildly diverting and, on occasion, rather well written. So, all in all, not an essential collection, unless you are a bit of a Tolkien nut (which, admittedly, I am). But even for someone like me, this is a book that I may dip back into occasionally, but I'm very unlikely to read it in its entirety ever again.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Apr 26, 2022 12:39:30 GMT -5
As I noted in my review of it somewhere upthread a few years ago, "Farmer Giles" is my favorite thing by Tolkien. It's such a funny, cleverly-written story. It probably wouldn't be a bad movie, either - just as long as Jackson doesn't do it (I don't want it to get turned into a trilogy).
Otherwise, even back when I was really into Tolkien, I never bothered picking up the Reader. I already had Farmer Giles and none of the other stuff in it interested me as much.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 26, 2022 16:37:02 GMT -5
The Time of the Twins (book 1 of the second Dragonlance trilogy) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman As big a fan as I am of the original Dragonlance trilogy, and as many times as I have revisited it over the years, I had never gotten through the second trilogy, never even finished the first book. And it took me a bit to slog through the first half of the book this time, but I got through and the second half was much better. The first half has to take one of the Heroes of the Lance, Caramon, down to the depths so it can tell a redemption arc of sorts, but the descent into the depths just isn't that interesting or believable, so it makes the first half a bit of a slog when when he is the focus character. The other parts were much better, and that got me through. Caramon works well as part of an ensemble cast in the first trilogy. He is a great foil for his twin brother and serves as a contrast when juxtaposed with the other warrior characters of the Heroes of the Lance (Tanis, Sturm, Flint, Riverwind, etc.) but as a main protagonist trying to carry the story he just isn't that interesting, and his descent into becoming a drunkard and a slob was excruciating in parts. The opening with Tanis was wonderful, the bits with Raistlin and Tasslehoff were good, but the Caramon stuff was difficult and the main plot revolves around time travel, something I am rarely enamored with, so overall this one was tough for me. The parts that were good, I really liked and they captured the magic of the first trilogy. The other stuff, not so much. It did pick up in the second half (after Caramon had climbed out of that pit of despair and been surrounded by more supporting characters to let him be a foil and not a focus again), so I am game ot go on to book two of the trilogy, but I will likely make a pit stop or two before I do. -M Weis and Hickman were my first love in fantasy (I loved the Darksword trilogy as a kid), but for whatever reason a connected alot more to Forgotten Realms than Dragonlance. The original Trilogy is decent, but I never felt motivated to go further.... especially when a re-read the Darksword books not TOO long ago and realized that I really just didn't know any better. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 26, 2022 22:08:06 GMT -5
Forty-Seven Samurai: A Tale of Vengeance and Death in Haiku and Letters
by Hiroaki Sato
I was pretty excited to read this when I found it, but it turned out it was far to focused on the intracacies of Haikus (which definitely don't translate well), and not enough on the history behind the story.
There's some good stuff in there though.. it provided some excellent historical context... it's really amazing just how cheap human life was, compared to the lives of all other 'sentients'.
There's also literally hundreds of end notes.. so are just references, but many would have been great to have in the text, so the flipping back and forth was really pretty annoying. This is not the only history book to have this issue for sure, but that doesn't make it less annoying.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Apr 30, 2022 13:44:45 GMT -5
The People TrapRobert Sheckley, 1968 (this UK edition, 1972)  This is a short story collection; first off, I have to say that the complete title of this book is pretty amusing, i.e., T he People Trap and other Pitfalls, Snares, Devices and Delusions, as well as Two Sniggles and a Contrivance. Sheckley has a reputation for writing humorous SF, and there’s evidence of that in the fourteen storie included in this book. However, there’s also some serious and dark themes that are covered herein. The titular story, also one of the longer one at 20 pages, is set some time in the late 21st century, when the world is straining under intense over-population, and every year the ‘Land Race’ is held, when a group of contestants, from their starting line on the north Jersey shore, have to get to a land registrar’s office in the heart of Manhattan, where they will be awarded title to their own piece of land with a house and some farm equipment on it. The only problem is that New York in particular is teeming with hostile residents, including well-organized street gangs that control big chunks of the city, and insane traffice snarls. An ordinary guy named Steve Baxter braves the peril hoping to secure a better future for his wife and two kids. Two other really interesting stories, the shortest, are original to this book, “Redfern’s Labyrinth” and “Dreamworld,” and neither of them are necessarily SF. The first one is hard to summarize without just retelling the whole thing – it involves a writer named Redfern who receives two letters, one containing a highly critical hand-written review of a book he wrote called Labyrinth and the other containing an invitation to a real labyrinth. It’s almost a sort of a mental exercise. ‘Dreamwold’ is almost a horror story, in that it involves a man who apparently slips between reality and his nightmares, and the twist at the end is really quite good, and thought-provoking. Probably the best story in the book. “Shall We Have a Talk?” is my second favorite story; it involves a sort of scout who finds suitable habitable planets for Earth to, well, conquer, but by subtler means than outright military conquest – it usually involves buttering up the local inhabitants into selling some of their real estate, which thens leads to a sort of land-grab before they know what hits them. Said scout/agent is a smooth-talker with an uncanny ability to learn languages, but he seems to meet his match here with an alien species whose language apparently evolves on a daily basis. This is in fact a pretty sly commentary on colonization. Most of the rest of the stories are not as good as these, although they are mostly engaging and/or entertaining. A solid collection.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 30, 2022 22:35:57 GMT -5
Foundation and Empire Isaac Asimov  Continuing my re-read... I remember this one really well. Asimov takes the conceptions he's created in the first few stories and turns them on their head. It continues to be 100% plot driven as far as story goes, though there is a female main character in this one, which is exciting. The Mule is probably the most developed, interesting character, even if he does simply exist to be a flaw in Seldon's equation. I love the dynamics of the fall of empire, especially the old emperor. The progression of the Foundation makes so much sense, even here when that progression isn't all that good... as is the evolution of the traders. What Seldon expected to happen certainly makes sense, and that fact the Mule both was a surprise, and changed the plan fits in logically. Just some great concepts that are fun to follow through to a logical conclusion. I do wonder though... why essentially put a spoiler on the cover? And why don't I remember what happens in book 3? Makes me wonder if something happened in there that annoyed me.
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