Joe Martin
I enjoyed this book. McDevitt has definitely put effort into his world building. He packed the story full of references to various people, places, and events, giving the universe a lot of depth and history. The things that he showed directly were more vivid and real because of all of the other things that he referenced but didn't show.I also found the characters very believable. They occasionally acted in contradictory ways and did things for less than perfect motives and basically acted like real people.I'd recommend this and I'm now interested in reading other books by [a:Jack McDevitt 73812 Jack McDevitt https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1225722326p2/73812.jpg] and, especially, other books in this series.
This book is horrifying from the very beginning, in the exact same sense that [b:Lost Boys 40303 Lost Boys Orson Scott Card http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1291234740s/40303.jpg 1852188] is horrifying. You know something bad will happen to a child and you, as a reader, are powerless to prevent it. You can only watch with mounting dread as events move closer and closer to their appointed end.Also, it involved Virtual Reality, which is always cool.The technology was a bit dated. Bova apparently made some guesses about the future and got some right and some wrong. But that was easy enough to overlook.The book's real flaw was that much of the characters' back story was given through info dumps. Somebody would react and all of the sudden the story would pause for a 5 page summary of what the character's background and motivations are. It didn't ruin the story but it seemed awkward, each time it happened.
Ms. Bujold has a nice way with words and I enjoy her stories. This story was engaging and had a decent magic system. But the book has a huge flaw. If you've read [b:Cordelia's Honor 61900 Cordelia's Honor (Vorkosigan Saga, #1-2; Vorkosigan Omnibus, #1) Lois McMaster Bujold http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1348819303s/61900.jpg 5366624], much of this book will seem very, very familiar.Fawn is a naive young girl, from a very non-militaristic society. Dag is an older man, from a very militaristic society. Fawn is very spirited and outspoken, attracting the much quieter Dag. Dag is physically somewhat ugly but overcomes that by sheer charisma and force of character. In short, nearly everything about the romance between Dag and Fawn feels very, very much like the romance between Cordelia and Aral.It's hard to really get lost in a book and world when everything in that book reminds you of a different book and a different world. Misfire.
This was an interesting book. It's not my normal affair. In fact, for much of it, I complained that not much was happening and that I was on the verge of being bored. But I never quite fell into boredom and I'll forgive much for the sake of the last sentence.
This book felt very much like a Regency novel, with the same kind of flair, observations, and events that I'd normally associate with a Jane Austen novel. Only, it involved an England with a real magical past. An England formerly ruled over, hundreds of years ago, by John Uskglass, the Raven King. It's now the 19th century and the Raven King is long gone. With him, all of England's magic. Oh, there are still magicians, to be sure. But they're all theoretical magicians. They read books about magic and talk about magic, but no one actually does any magic. Enter Mr. Norrell. He's England's only practicing magician. Enter, later, Jonathan Strange, his sometimes pupil, sometimes adversary. Together, they begin to bring some level of practicing magic back to England.
The first 80% of the book meanders through descriptions of various day to day events in the lives of various characters. The story jumps back and forth between them, almost randomly. It's initially hard to figure out what each character brings to the story, why we should care, what the central point of the story is—or even if it's really a story at all. I feel like the point was simply to float through the lives of these characters, observing, without any broader aim than observation.
It does finally come together into a grand conflict and many formerly inexplicable characters turn out to actually have a point and a role. The last 20% of the book is fantastic and does, I think, make up for the proceeding 80%. But I still find myself wishing that it had been shorter and that the opening material had been a bit less comprehensive.
I enjoyed reading this book. Ben Bova is known as an SF author but this book was more of a mystery / thriller with a small soupçon of science fiction thrown in to enable the plot. This wasn't a deep book featuring lots of character development or or weighty meditations on the meaning of life and humanity. But it was a fun book and the central idea is a bit thought provoking.
I don't have any reservations about recommending this for some light reading.
This was a fascinating look at life in Iraq during General Petraeus's surge. Michael Totten spent a lot of time in Iraq, interviewing both Iraqi's and American soldiers about what was going on. He lets the subjects speak for themselves in long chunks and reports what he saw and heard accurately, regardless of viewpoint or ideology. From the Kurds in northern Iraq to the Arabs in the neighborhoods of Baghdad, this is a revealing look at Iraqi attitudes and desires.
This book is compiled from essays that Michael Totten originally wrote for Reason.com, City Magazine, his own blog, and other news organizations. It's been edited to remove repetitive sections, but otherwise stands as a very informative look at a very confusing country.
This book was okay. It was written as a young adult book and read like one. It was an interesting idea for a book: what really happened to the Roanoke colonists? But the writing didn't impress and a lot of the conversation and descriptions clanged and sounded more like an overly earnest attempt at dramatic writing.
I wanted to be impressed, but the book underwhelmed me.
For science fiction / fantasy written nearly 100 years ago, I was surprised by how enjoyable this story was. It was written before the modern divisions of fantasy from science fiction were even thought of and as such it straddles the lines between fantasy and science fiction. The ending was a little predictable but only because so many later stories have borrowed from it. Oddly, I keep finding myself coming back to the ending of A Tale of Two Cities whenever I think about the ending of this book. It was nowhere near as poignant (what is?), but it had, well, I suppose some of the same flavor.At any rate: recommended. It's a quick read and it's an interesting look at the history of the genre.
The historical detail was good and I started getting into the plot of the book as I got closer to the end. I never did feel like any of the characters really clicked with me, which detracted from the book. I enjoyed it while I was actually reading it but found it forgettable when I put it down. Given the names involved, I thought the book was a disappointment, overall. Still, I'm looking forward to the second book, so it wasn't a complete loss.
I've been looking forward to this book, ever since I read Master of the Senate two years ago. I knew it would involve the Johnson presidency but not the entire thing. So, I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I finally picked it up.
The book covers Johnson's flawed and failed candidacy for the 1960 Democrat Presidential nomination and Johnson's experience on the Kennedy-Johnson ticket. It covers his 3 years, as Kennedy's Vice-President, and then his succession to the Presidency itself and what he did during his first 7 weeks in office—the time from Kennedy's assassination to the 1964 State of the Union address.
Telling you that doesn't really convey what the book is about though. Here, in Caro's words, is the center of the book.
[T]he succession of Lyndon Johnson deserves a better fate in history. For had it not been for his accomplishments during the transition, history might have been different. Because the headlines in that first blizzard of news—PRISONER LINKED TO CASTRO GROUP; SUSPECT LIVED IN SOVIET UNION—have long been proven false or exaggerated, it has been easy to forget that for several days after the assassination America was reading those headlines, easy to forget the extent of the suspicions that existed during those days not only about a conspiracy but about a conspiracy hatched in Cuba or Russia, two nations with whom, barely a year before, America had been on the brink of nuclear war.
... Nor should other aspects of the transition be passed over as lightly as they have been. Because he moved so swiftly and successfully to create the image of continuity that reassured the nation, it has been easy to overlook how the Kennedy men might simply have resigned. It has been easy to overlook the obstacles—the shock and mystery of the assassination, the mushroom cloud fears, the deep divisions in the country over his predecessor's policies—that stood in the way of unifying America behind his Administration; easy to overlook how difficult to unify even his own party: to rally into line behind his Administration's banner labor leaders, black leaders, liberals, many of whom had, for years, been deeply suspicious of him and who would have needed little excuse to fall irrevocably into line behind another, more familiar banner, the brother's banner, that could so readily have been raised within party ranks; to fall into line behind a leader they knew, and were quickly beginning to love.
This book is the story of that transition. Everything else in the book is designed to set the stage for the transition. Caro wants you to understand, the man, the times, the place, and the history leading up to that transition.
In true Caro style, we get a mini-biography of President John F. Kennedy. We're treated to an up-close look at how Johnson lost his opportunity and 1960 and what he endured as Vice-President. But all of that is window dressing, to set the stage for the transition. Caro's focus on the transition is truly illuminating of both President Johnson and of how power is wielded in America.
This book was a shorter read than Master of the Senate and was truly engaging. I had trouble putting it down, once I started it, and was once again drawn into Caro's portrayal of this era of American history. Once again, I have to highly recommend Caro's work on Johnson. You won't regret reading it and you'll definitely learn from it.
Andrew Rosen is the CEO of Kaplan, Inc. Most people know of Kaplan through their SAT test preparation materials. Kaplan has been busy diversifying beyond test prep and is now also running Kaplan University, home to 50,000 online students. Andrew has written Change.Edu as an explanation of what he sees wrong with the traditional college experience and what he hopes to accomplish with Kaplan University. He also answers the most common criticisms of for-profit universities.
This is a book that I highly recommend, if you're interested in where higher education is going and how we can improve educational quality while increasing the number of college graduates, while dealing with bloated government budgets.
The book is clearly laid out, with six main ideas.
Harvard Envy. Rosen calls this the “Ivory Tower Playbook” and says that most universities feel that “the only permissible strategy is to climb the prestige ladder”. Schools are competing with each other to gain prestige, not to deliver an education. This strategy makes sense for the schools but not for society.
Schools spend ever larger amounts of money on buildings, on attracting faculty, and on building better sports teams. Schools also compete for the best and brightest students. The result is that the school itself becomes more prestigious but doesn't increase the number of students receiving an education and doesn't even necessarily increase the quality of the education that the lucky students receive.
The end result is that most schools are competing for the best and the brightest students. But no one is competing for the poor student or for the middle-class student that just wants to learn something, without breaking the bank.
Club College. In many ways, this chapter is a continuation of the criticisms of the first chapter. Many universities are focusing their attention—and their budgets—on non-academic areas. In this chapter, Rosen examines the lavish lifestyle that many universities offer to students. From dining options, to living options, to fitness facilities, to sports teams and more, many universities are competing to offer incoming students the most entertaining 4 years possible.
All of these expenditures have nothing to do with academics and everything to do with attracting the most desirable students. Then, after those students graduate, the school can bask in the glow of their famous and accomplished alumni. The alumni, in turn, will look back on their college years with favor, leading to donations, prestige, and word of mouth marketing.
Rosen is careful to point out that there's nothing wrong with schools wanting to be prestigious or wanting to attract top students. The problem is that schools are spending large amounts of federal, state, and local tax dollars to do so. American taxpayers are paying hundreds of billions of dollars annual to subsidize expenses that have nothing to do with actual learning.
Community Colleges. Theoretically, community colleges are supposed to be the solution to status obsessed or entertainment obsessed schools. They're supposed to be a low-cost alternative for the masses. Unfortunately, Rosen concludes, they're failing in their mission.
They run their institutions based on a very different set of conventions—one I think of as the All-Access Playbook: They see their mission as providing an opportunity for everyone.
... Part of the problem with community colleges is the wide variety of goals and missions they are attempting to tackle. “If you visit a four-year college, you can predict what sort of student you are going to bump into,” writes New York Times columnist David Brooks. “If you visit a community college, you have no idea. You might see an immigrant kid hoping eventually to get a PhD, or another kid who messed up in high school and is looking for a second chance. You might meet a 35-year-old former meth addict trying to get some job training or a 50-year-old taking classes for fun.”
The problem is that community colleges are dependent on state and local funding. Often, when students most want access to classes, funding is limited. Many governments can't afford to increase funding and most community colleges are unable or unwilling to raise tuition to compensate. As a result, community colleges are unable to meet the demand and students are left without options. The “All Access Model” has noble goals but is often unable to meet them.
Private Universities. Rosen presents private, for-profit, universities as the answer to America's education dilemma. (“How do we educate a large segment of the population efficiently and without bankrupting the nation?”) Private universities are often mocked, but it's clear that they meet a need for a large number of students.
The largest of the private-sector schools, the University of Phoenix, counted more than four hundred thousand students in 2010, an enrollment larger than the undergraduate enrollment of the entire Big Ten.
He talks about why these schools are popular with both students and employers.
Private-sector schools tend to align their curriculum around those skills that are most needed in the workforce. Many of these institutions have advisory boards that consult with employers to get feedback on what employers want from prospective employees in a given area, and they regularly update their curricula to teach to those skills.
If a school is giving students the knowledge that employers most want to see, employers benefit by having an appropriately skilled workforce available and students benefit by being able to quickly and easily find jobs that utilize their new skills.
He points out that for-profit schools are not a new institution, driven by modern greed.
“The earliest universities in late medieval times were profit-making corporate associations, and the black gowns that professors still wear at graduations and special events have deep pockets into which students in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries deposited their fees,” writes George Keller, an educational historian.
... Viewed in this light, the surge of private-sector colleges over the last generation can be seen less as a new phenomenon taking hold, and more as a long-standing and successful educational model enjoying a renaissance—largely as a result of the unsustainable funding model relied upon by the public institutions that became dominant over the last century.
He points out that for-profit schools receive all of their revenue from student tuition. The only way they can grow, thrive, and survive is to offer students a benefit that's worth the direct tuition cost. By contrast, “at public universities, where taxpayers bear most of the costs, money from students can account for only 13 percent of the revenue.” As a result, private universities are very responsive to the direct needs of students while public universities can give the impression of being contemptuous of the needs of undergraduate students.
He talks, at length, about the culture and characteristics of private universities. Example: they don't live on donations, so you'll never have to worry about being hassled for alumni donations. For another: they don't focus on the educational inputs (teachers, buildings, libraries, etc). Instead, they focus on the educational outputs (percentage of students who graduate, percentage of graduating students who find work in their major, etc). The result is a university that feels far more focused on education than most public universities do.
He also talks about how the private universities work to standardize their curricula, to ensure that all students receive the same quality education. As a result, their able to identify which teachers need additional help, which teachers need to be fired, and which teachers need raises. They're also able to quickly identify which students need additional help and how they can best be helped. They can also see when the curriculum itself needs to be revised, in order to better meet the needs of the students and to teach the concepts more clearly.
By standardizing the curriculum, it is possible to measure outcomes and make continuous improvements that will ensure that each term of students is getting a better learning experience than the term before it. Over time, the compounding effect of these steady improvements will be enormous.
Answering the Critics. This chapter was the main reason why I bought this book. Rosen offers an extremely compelling answer to all of the criticisms of for-profit education.
Do for-profit schools waste taxpayer money by encouraging students to sign up for lots of financial aid dollars?
Perhaps the biggest fallacy in the debate over proprietary schools is the argument that the private sector is “wasting” taxpayer money because most of its students make use of federal financial aid programs. In fact, the truth is precisely the reverse: analyses show that private-sector colleges use substantially fewer taxpayer dollars per student than traditional institutions, a gap that widens even further when you measure them apples to apples based on the number of demographically comparable students who actually make it through to graduation. Only by comparing use of federal Title IV student aid dollars in isolation, and ignoring all other governmental contributions to higher education, can one plausibly make the case that private-sector colleges over consume taxpayer dollars.
Do for-profit schools suck up large amounts of taxpayer money?
... And when it comes to direct support—government money contributed directly to institutions, as opposed to student financial aid that is based on where an individual student goes to school—the difference is even starker. “For every $1 in direct support for private for-profit institutions, per student, at federal, state and local levels, private not-for-profit institutions receive $8.69 per student and public institutions receive $19.38 per student.”
Do for-profit schools lead students to amass large debts and then default on them?
... [S]tudies have shown that nonprofit schools that also serve nontraditional student populations have nearly identical default rates, and that students' socioeconomic level is by far the dominant driver of defaults. There is a very high (91 percent) correlation between institutional default rates and the percentage of low-income, Pell Grant students at an institution.
Do for-profit schools sucker students into taking classes that they won't benefit from?
At Kaplan, we've gone a step further by making the first weeks of school “risk free.” Kaplan assesses students during the first month of each program and determines whether they evidence the ability and rigor to succeed; if not, they are asked to withdraw, without any tuition owed or debt incurred. And any student who finds that the real experience during that period does not match his or her expectations for any reason can choose to withdraw, similarly without tuition obligation. A large percentage of those who drop out do so in the first term; the “Kaplan Commitment” leaves most of these students with no debt at all.
The Learning Playbook. Rosen concludes with a look at how standardized curricula, online learning, and the lack of prestigious campuses could transform the face of American education. More students could receive a better education, at a lower cost. If he's right, the future is very bright. And I think he's right.
Katniss has once again survived the arena. She's in District 13 (not destroyed!) and recovering from her latest ordeal in the Hunger Games. She's also worried about Peeta, who's a captive in the hands of the Capital.
District 13 is about as dictatorial as the Capital is, only with less fun and no games. Katniss is drafted into serving as a useful propaganda piece, the figurehead leader of the very real rebellion. She spends her time dressing up in costume and going from place to place while District 13's video crews film her acting heroic.
Mockingjay climaxes with Katniss forcing her way into the battle for the Capital itself. She undertakes a self-imposed mission to find, and assassinate, President Snow. She fights her way through Capital streets that are so booby trapped that they represent, yes, another edition of the Hunger Games.
I enjoyed Mockingjay more than I enjoyed Catching Fire, but that's not really saying much. The plot, once again, seemed derivative of the first two novels. Katniss ended up fighting for a rebellion whose leaders seemed like a dark mirror (light mirror?) of the Capital's leaders. She played a propaganda role that was little different from the role that the Capital put her into.
I'm not sure if the constant repetition of themes and character types was deliberate or if it was just a lack of creativity on Collins' part. Either way, I didn't enjoy the outcome much. I still think The Hunger Games was a good book. Catching Fire and Mockingjay were unworthy sequels.
Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games and is safely back in District 12. After the events of The Hunger Games, everyone expects her to lead a rebellion against the Capital, including the odious President Snow. In response, Katniss spends the first half of the book moping, half-heartedly planning to run away into the woods, and and half-heartedly trying to figure out how to lead a rebellion.
Suddenly, President Snow announces an extra special edition of the Hunger Games: the third Quarter Quell. The Quarter Quells are a special way of reminding the Districts just how evil their 75-year old rebellion was. Each of the two previous Quarter Quells has featured special editions of the Hunger Games. This time, the tributes will be drawn from the victors of the previous Hunger Games. Just like that, Katniss and Peeta are back in the Hunger Games.
The first half of the book is slow moving and fairly boring. The second half of the book is a re-do of the second half of The Hunger Games. That was surprising and not in a good way. I was very disappointed with the structure and plot of this book.
I really should know better than to underestimate John Scalzi. After all, I still think Old Man's War was one of the best books I've read in the past 7 years. But, I did. I didn't expect Fuzzy Nation to be all that good.
I had my reasons too. Fuzzy Nation is a remake of H. Beam Piper's book Little Fuzzy. Movies are remade all of the time in Hollywood. And most of those remakes are poor imitations of the original. How often are books remade? Never? I should have taken a clue from Tyler Cowen and realized if something is done that's never done, that's likely to mean it's of higher than average quality. And, boy, is that ever true here.
Scalzi has take a good but dated 1950's story and updated it into a very good, and fresh, story for 2010's. The broad, general, structure of the original is still here. Jack Holloway is a prospector working on Zarathustra XXXIII, looking for sunstone gems. He discovers an immense cache of them, enough to make his fortune several times over. Then he meets a small, fuzzy (of course), cute creature. Then he meets the creature's family. Soon, he's involved in determining whether these cute creatures are super smart animals or sentient people.
Scalzi modifies a good bit too. His book is every bit as much of a page turner as the original was, just in different ways. He manages to make a series of court cases far more interesting than the original did. But I find the most interesting changes to be the way that the story revolves around Jack Holloway.
Holloway is what Scalzi's story is really about. The fuzzy's are there and central to that story, but Holloway is the focus. He's a complex character and Scalzi progressively reveals him to us. Is he merely the galaxy's biggest jerk? Or is there more to him than that? Scalzi continually gives us more insight into him as the story moves along, but still manages to keep his character ambiguous until the end. It's not character development, exactly, but it's character revelation, which I find just as interesting.
After reading this book, I've very definitely moved from “I'll read it because it's from Scalzi” to “I'd definitely recommend this book”. If you're looking for an entertaining read, pick this up. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
This book contains three complete Flandry novels. (Books were a lot shorter, in decades past.) Here, collected in one volume for the first time, is The Plague of Masters (aka Earthman, Go Home), Hunters of the Sky Cave and A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows.
The Plague of Masters had an enjoyable setup. Flandry lands on a planet where the air itself is deadly and prolonged exposure will lead to a torturous death. The only hope of a survival is to take a specific drug, every 30 days. It's not even enough to flee the planet—without a final dose of the drug, you'll die from the delayed effects of the air. Of course, the planet is under the thumb of a dictatorial group of scientists, who tightly control access to the drug. Anyone whoever stops playing along, stops getting doses. The setup and development of the story is wonderful. The ending is almost confusingly abrupt, lessening what would have otherwise been a very good story.
Hunters of the Sky Cave has Flandry confronting some invaders that he finds personally likable. Unfortunately, in order to complete his mission he has to smash not only their invasion but also their societal structure, just to keep the Terran Empire alive for a few more years. This was a well told story that showed Flandry doing what he does best but also recognizing that his efforts would have limited impact on the larger picture.
A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows is the best story of the bunch. Flandry finds the son he didn't know he had as well as a woman he can actually love. In the end, he completes his mission but at a staggering personal cost. As the story ends, you know the Empire will live on but you wonder if Flandry, personally, sees any point to it anymore.
These stories are uniformly good because they feature an older, wiser Flandry. He still cracks wise, he still dresses well and loves fine women. He's still a staunch defender of the Terran Empire. However, he's increasingly more aware of how decadent, corrupt, and unworthy that Empire is. It's the best thing going, but it's failing fast and not even he can keep it together much longer. He does everything he can to push back the arrival of The Long Night, even knowing that everything he does will ultimately prove futile.
That underlying emotional tension drives the stories and forced me to sympathize with Flandry to a much greater degree than I have previously.
I loved the first volume of Robert Caro's biography of Lyndon Johnson, The Path to Power. I'd ever read a better biography. I've still never read a better one but I've now read one that's just as good.
This book really succeeds because it's essentially four stories in one book.
Chapters 1–5 are the story of Johnson's later years in Congress and what he did during World War II. (Johnson spent most of the war avoid danger and then flew into danger, literally, at the last minute in order to have some record to present to his increasingly restless constituents.) This first section of the book is crucial. It portrays the absolute desperation that Johnson felt both to get out of the House and to gain wealth.
I feel that this section of the book is the slowest and repeats the most information from The Path to Power. (Sometimes entire paragraphs are listed from the previous book.) Caro did this to remind the reader of crucial aspects of Johnson's character but, when reading the books back to bad, it really feels repetitive and slows the pace.
Chapter 6 is a terrific look at crony capitalism. This is where the book really begins to pick up, in my opinion. It's the story of how Lyndon Johnson acquired the KTBC radio station. He used the power of politics to turn a money-losing business into an insanely profitable business practically overnight. If you've ever wondered how crony capitalism works or how a politician can become wealthy just from “serving” in Congress, this is your chapter. After reading it, I don't think I'll ever look at the intersection of business and politics the same way again.
Chapter 8 is an utterly fascinating mini-biography of Coke Stevens, a forgotten figure in Texas politics. Prior to the 1948 Senate race, he was a living legend. During the race, Johnson and his partisans slimed him mercilessly. Today, he's remembered only as another reactionary conservative in a long-line of reactionary conservatives.
Robert Caro corrects the historical record and shows a man who lived an incredible life as a self-taught lawyer, accountant, architect, and rancher. He ran a one-man “freight line” when he was just 17, transporting goods in and out of the most inhospitable regions of Texas. He drove the horses during the day and taught himself law at night, by firelight. He scrimped and saved to buy his own books, always saving a a tiny amount for the ranch that he wanted to one day buy.
When he did finally start to buy land for his ranch, he did all of his own branding and shearing. He taught himself architecture so that he could build single handedly build his ranch house. He dug his own post holes and set his own fence posts. He nearly singlehandedly built the entire ranch, from the ground up.
He was a politician only reluctantly but was the most successful politician in Texas history. In his second gubernatorial election, he received 85 percent of the vote (the highest ever total in a contested Texas primary) and won all 254 Texas counties. “He was also the only man in the state's history who had held all three of the top political posts in state government: Speaker, Lieutenant Governor, Governor.” And he served an unprecedented two consecutive terms as Speaker: the only man in Texas to ever succeed himself as Speaker.
This mini-biography alone is nearly worth the entire purchase of the entire book.
Chapters 9–16 chronicle the 1948 Senate election. Caro definitely investigates allegations that Johnson stole the election—and finds them to be true beyond a reasonable doubt. The fraud was breathtaking in both its sheer audacity and scope.
More than that though, he chronicles the entire election. Johnson, a mediocre vote getter, was running against Coke Stevenson, the most successful vote getter in Texas history. Johnson had very little hope of beating Stevenson in a fair fight. So, he did the only thing he could: he relentlessly slimed his opponent. He used an unlimited fund of money, coming from crony capitalists dependent on him, to blanket the radio airwaves, to cover newspapers, and to stuff voter mailboxes with dishonest rhetoric and accusations. It was the most rotten and contemptible form of campaigning imaginable and Caro reports on every aspect of it.
I can't recommend this book highly enough. It was a fascinating and enlightening look at modern American politics and a pivotal player in them.
In 1997, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory developed a device that could generate a persistent, spherical force field of arbitrary size and project it almost anywhere. The resulting “bobble” will completely cut off whatever is inside the field from the rest of the world. These scientists quickly act to use the bobble to encase nuclear weapons, military bases, cities, and governments. They declare themselves the Peace Authority and enforce peace by threatening to bobble anyone who rejects their authority.
The Peace War starts 51 years later, in 2048. The world has been at peace for as long as most people can remember. Not everyone is happy with the Peace Authority's limitations on technology and freedom. Small bands of Tinkers have been clandestinely developing new technologies, in an attempt to overcome the Peace. And the original inventor of the Bobbler is still alive, a Tinker himself, and working hard to defeat the scientists who took his invention and used it to enslave the world.
Vernor Vinge does exactly what a good SF author should do: he poses a new technology and examines how it might change the world, for good and bad. I liked his depictions of how American society would change after the last year and enforced peace. I liked his depictions of how technology would progress in the face of severe restrictions against innovation. And I liked his depictions of how an insurrection might work when facing an enemy that not only had superior firepower but also had the ability to completely take pieces off of the map.
This was a very imaginative book and a great example of what “hard science fiction” should be. I highly recommend it.
This is the 13th book in David Weber's Honor Harrington series. When the series started, back in 1992, it was pretty easy to follow. Sequel followed sequel and each book picked up where the last left off. More recently, in 2002, Weber approved the creation of two sub-series. The result is that the plotline and scope of the “Honorverse” expanded dramatically
The first sub-series was “The Wages of Sin”, starting with Crown of Slaves, which follows book #10, War of Honor. The second sub-series was “Saganami Island”, starting with The Shadow of Saganami, chronologically following both book #10 War of Honor and Crown of Slaves.
Later mainline novels, such as At All Costs and Mission of Honor, incorporated elements of both sub-series. The plotline of the sub-series's increasingly started to drive the plotline and direction of the main series. This book, A Rising Thunder, is Weber's attempt to fully tie the main series into the elements and events of the two sub-serieses.
The resulting book is a bit of a boring train wreck. It does include characters and plot elements from both sub-series. What it doesn't include is a lot of action. Given that all 3 serieses are built around action, this is a glaring omission. Mostly what we get is a lot of talking, as officials in 3 or 4 locations talk about how recent events will affect future events. I remember one main battle, out of 464 pages. Given how action packed the previous books have been, this was a major letdown.
In some respects, a slow book was almost inevitable. Given how much things have changed over the last several books, there needed to be an attempt to tie everything together and then to re-launch the series in its new direction. But I feel that the relaunching could have been achieved with a greater economy of words and a bit more action.
Perhaps the most damning indictment I have is that most fans would be best served by reading a plot summary of this book rather than reading the book itself.
I download this book for free, several years, ago as part of a Tor.com giveaway. I read it then and enjoyed it. I was always interested in the sequels but never quite got around to tracking them down. (There are a few series that I read but I'm generally pretty bad about tracking down sequels.)
Recently, I was visiting a used bookstore in preparation for air travel. I saw both this book and it's sequel, Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart. I really wanted to just pick up the sequel, to read on the airplane. But I discovered that I really couldn't remember anything about the first book. So I bought both and had to start by rereading this one.
Jane Lindskold plays with one idea: a child raised by wolves. But, just for fun, don't make this a Jack London story about a child raised by wild wolves. This is, after all, a fantasy novel. No, these wolves are Royal Wolves. They are bigger and stronger than normal wolves. Most importantly, they're smarter. They have a shared culture and language and are at least as intelligent as humans, even if it is in a very wolfian manner. Make the girl be the keeper of fire, leading the wolves to call her Firekeeper. And give her a friend: a Royal Falcon named Elation. Also bigger, stronger, and smarter than your average falcon.
Now, bring Firekeeper back to the kingdom of Hawk Haven. King Tedric is elderly, without a clear heir. Earl Kestrel believes that Firekeeper is the king's heir. The court, predictably, disagrees. Now, add in tensions with the neighboring kingdom of Bright Bay. Mix all of these ingredients together, stir, and simmer for the length of one novel.
Overall, I think this recipe works. True, it was slow moving. There was a lot of talking, as a girl accustomed to wolf society needed to have human society explained to her. There was a lot of political maneuvering too. While some of that is based in action most of it is also based in talking. But, after all, this books is titled “through wolf's eyes”. It was all about depicting the kingdom of Hawk Haven from the perspective of a non-human outsider.
Yes, it was slow moving. But the book was entertaining nonetheless. Now that I know how the story starts, I can read Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart to see what happens to Firekeeper next. I see that the series has expanded to 6 books. I don't know yet whether or not I'll read all of them. A lot depends on what I think of the next book. And none of us will know how that turns out until I take my next trip by air.
I'm definitely not the target market for this book. Not if my general level of enthusiasm means something, at any rate. Still, it was a good novel and it deserves it's wide audience and fan base.
If you've been paying any attention to pop-culture at all, then you're familiar with the broad outlines of this book. (But I'm going to recap anyway.)
In the far future, America is gone. Panem, a totalitarian nation, now occupies North America. Panem is divided into 13 Districts plus the Capital. Years before the story begins, the Districts tried to rebel against the Capital. They lost and District 13 was destroyed.
As a result of the loss, the remaining Districts were forced to sign a treaty of unconditional surrender. But that wasn't enough. In a show of force and strength, the Capital instituted “The Hunger Games”. Each year, each District is forced to send 2 teenage contestants to compete in a bloody arena battle, to the death. The winning contestant wins a year's supply of food and medicine, for his or her District.
This year, 16-year old Katniss will compete in the Hunger Games.
It's an interesting idea: how will a bunch of teenagers, still trying to grow into maturity, handle being flung into a life or death situation and forced to survive? What decisions will they make? What emotions will they feel? What lengths will they go to survive? And, even if they survive, will any of their humanity with them?
It's not only an interesting idea, it's a well-written book. Katniss is a very vivid character. The story is told from her perspective. As a result, some of the characters start out rather flat and then, as she interacts with them and gets to know them, they develop increasing depth and humanity. The book is full of action (especially the second half, once the games begin) and the action is well described. It was a very fun, fast, read.
I didn't enjoy the book as much as I could have though. While Ms.. Collins created interesting characters and engaging action, she failed to create a fully develop the world of Panem. To give just one example, the Capital is located in Denver and District 12 is located in the mountains of Appalachia. District 12 is desperately poor and most of the people there live on the edge of starvation. That's part of why the games are called the “Hunger Games” and why winning is such a big deal.
Some of the other Districts are fabulously wealthy though and don't have to worry about food. Why? The book portrays the Capital as sucking up nearly 100% of District 12's resources. The book also portrays the Capital lifestyle as tremendously decadent and lavish. It would seem that it would suck up most of the resources of all of the other Districts too. So why are some wealthy and some poor? What makes the world of Panem go around?
There is very little about the world of Panem that is explained. Much of it doesn't make sense and the book seems to just rush through the world building. Everything related to Katniss is in sharp focus and a pleasure to read. Everything else is distinctly fuzzy and out of focus, even the things that should be basic, background, knowledge for Katniss. That's certainly the author's prerogative but it turns what could have been a great book into merely a good book.
Still, I'll probably read the next book in the series, just to see where things go next.
Take one jaded, burn-out mercenary. Jon Moore. Give him an AI-enhanced Predator-Class Assault Vehicle. Lobo. One desparate to live a quiet life, in an out of the way spot. The other itching to leave the quiet, out of the way spot and get back into action. Mix in some corporations eager to gain an edge and some corporate officials willing to lie and cheat to gain an edge. The end result is an angry mercenary with a lot of weaponry and a burning desire to both gain revenge and set things right.
All of that by itself would make a decent military novel. What makes this novel really stand out, and what makes it a great SF novel, is Mark L. Van Name's use of nanotechnology and biotechnology. Jon Moore is loaded with nanotechnology that he can use to break in, break down, or confuse. Van Name, knowingly or not, keeps Sanderson's Second Law in mind. The nanotech doesn't make Moore invincible or omnipotent. It merely gives him a different set of tools. He still has to use his ingenuity to survive and win.
Moore also uses various bioengineered animals to achieve his goals. As with the nanotech, these animals are impressive for what they can do as well as what they can't do. It's a close look at another technology that's currently beyond our grasp but close enough to be convincingly portrayed.
This book was very well written and Van Name revealed some impressive worldbuilding skills. I especially liked the planet name of “Pinkelplonker” (named by the 5-year old son of the captain that discovered the planet) and the jump system used to travel between worlds. I very much look forward to reading the rest of the novels in the series.
This is the second book in Jim Butcher's “Dresden Files” series. After the events of the first book, PI Harry Dresden has found it hard to drum up work. Actually, it's been impossible. The police don't trust him and the underworld isn't certain it wants to work with him. That's true up until dead bodies start showing up. Dead bodies that look suspiciously like the result of werewolf killings.
This was a pretty solid follow-up to Storm Front. The first book in the series dealt the magic side of the supernatural world. This book dealt with the hairier side of the supernatural world. It was well written but I didn't think that it had as much tongue-in-cheek humor as the first book. I missed that.
Butcher incorporated many different variants of the werewolf legends. It made for a more complex story, as it involved a mix of characters, each with different motives, abilities, and weaknesses. On the other hand, it made the story more complex and I'm not entirely sure that that was such a good thing.
Overall, this was a solid, but not a great, follow-up to Storm Front. Dresden remains interesting as a character and his relationships with the people around him continue to evolve. Ultimately, any story is about people and this story, whatever minor flaws it may have, succeeded in making me continue to care about Dresden and to cheer the progress he's making in his relationships.
I never thought I'd think of a biography as a page turner. With this book, I did. It was absolutely enthralling. Robert Caro graphically describes life in the Hill Country of Texas, painting a vivid country of the land and the people that produced Lyndon Johnson. His descriptions of Johnson himself are equally vivid.
Lyndon Johnson is one of the most repellent people I've ever read about. He was a consummate politician—that is, liar—and his life reflects that. Robert Caro's book was so well written that I was able to thoroughly enjoy it, in spite of the Lyndon Johnson's own flaws.
Caro's research was meticulous, allowing him to paint a very detailed portrait of Johnson's early years: home life, college life, as a driven Congressional secretary, and as a Congressman himself. It's a fascinating, fascinating picture that's told as a story, not as a dry recitation of facts. I highly recommend it.
Brian Herbert, on Dune.
Dune is a modern-day conglomeration of familiar myths, a tale in which great sandworms guard a precious treasure of melange, the geriatric spice that represents, among other things, the finite resource of oil. The planet Arrakis features immense, ferocious worms that are like dragons of lore, with “great teeth” and a “bellows breath of cinnamon.”
Dune
Dune