<i>Ubik</i> by Philip K. Dick

I am having a very hard time writing about his book. It has been quite some time since I finished it and I am still not quite sue what to say about it other than I really liked it. Also, it is difficult to say too much about the story without giving things away, but there were two concepts that where particularly interesting.

The first is the ideas of psychic powers being in demand by companies to the point that those with opposing powers are employed by competing companies. The application of one person to look ahead (precog) against another who can change the future as a fundamental instrument in a capitalist battle between corporations is so naturally American.

The second is the concept of half-life, where if you can get some one on ice quick enough you can talk to them for a total of a couple days worth of time, with many people spreading that time out over years. It reminded me of a Max Headroom plot where people were supposedly placed into a similar state, but it turned out not to be true. AS Dick covers in the story, such a half-life state would add a whole level of complication to death and administering wills. In addition one might constantly have moral panics about whether it is worth waking some one up for an issue, thus using up the time left.

One last idea I really enjoyed was the coin-op everything (doorknob, toaster, coffee maker, fridge, etc.) in the low rent apartments. There is something frightening about the fact that you couldn't leave your apartment unless you had a nickel---left to die if you have no pocket change.

Overall, a great read that was hard to write about, and that I like better than Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

7/10

<i>Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?</i> by Philip K. Dick

I've seen Blade Runner once and had absolutely no idea what was going on. Now, I think I could watch it and be able to follow the plot. Though the androids were interesting, I thought the most compelling element was the electric animals and the level of regard that was given by humans to real animals due to the world's almost complete lack of them. It is an interesting thought experiment: Could humans become so compassionate toward animals on the whole that killing a spider would be a psychologically painful experience?Could we really feel complete and total empathy for all living things?

I'm not quite sure what to make of Mercer. In the end it sounds like a meme that keeps the human race going. One that always tells them to keep fighting, as one man's pain is something that all men feel.

This was also my first Dick book. I enjoyed it, though it is a bit pulpy and heavy handed in places. I'll be returning to him for sure for the next book I read and maybe for more in the future.

<i>Snow Crash</i> by Neal Stephenson

This is a first for me: a cyber-punk novel that I didn't lose my place in or otherwise lose the plot at some point. I was able to keep track of teh characters and understand what was going on for the entire book. Though I loved The Diamond Age, I lost the plot for a bit in the last 100 pages or so.

.There were a few interesting ideas that stuck with me. The first being the franchises. These took the corporate participation in American politics to a rather frightening conclusion. Unlike the traditional country with boarders, America is more a huge collection of individual corporations with individuals holding citizenship with them. There is no overall set of laws---each franchise controls its own land with its own force and internal rules.

Another was the visualization of cyberspace with a main street and houses, businesses, etc. Instead of logging on, you goggle-in, using a type of VR to interact with the cyber-world. a type of Second-Life, but with more people and more meaningful actions occurring.

I really liked the details Stephenson gave to some of the technology, like Y.T.'s skateboard, with all of its add-ons and exciting features. The wheels, in particular, which adjust to any surface to give a smooth ride---an adaptive surface. Very cool.

The mystery itself about the fundamental basis of language in the brain was interesting. I liked how Stephenson tied it tot he Tower of Babel story and how the story built on the myths regarding language and society's development. I think Stargate may have looked here a bit...

Great sci-fi. 8/10

<i>Torchwood's Another Life</i>

I grabbed this out of the library in the hope that it would keep my Torchwood high going after watching Children of Earth a couple weeks ago. I overestimated the quality of TV adaptations. It wasn't absolutely horrible---the other Torchwood book I grabbed at the same time was---but it really didn't do much in terms of giving the same complex sense of wonder and fear the show does.

Maybe the key is that if a character or a set of characters developed for a TV show and therefor defied more by the actor's interpretations of them, it is difficult to convey their actions entirely as you would see the actors do on the show. Everyone in the audience sees each of the characters differently, so putting down out particular description will not satisfy every reader's interpretation. As a result, there is probably little hope of any adaptations being much good and i should stick primarily to the show and maybe the radio dramas.

Or, I guess I could write my own fan fiction...

<i>The Futurological Conference</i> by Stanislaw Lem

This is very different from Solaris in tone and topic. Solaris was brooding and rather lonely, whereas this book was frenetic and very crowded. The title---The Futurological Conference---is used as only a device to get us to a dystopia based on hallucinations.

The idea of mind control---very specific mind control---using aerosol drugs is pretty frightening. One section where the main characters were discussing the reason for over population, they noted that everyone thought progress was going well on the space bases because the information they were told included an aerosol for naivety. With no way---and with the drugs no desire---to check, the bases on Jupiter never did, and were never going to, exist.

So, instead of just the standard government pulling the wool over the eyes of the citizens, you have the corporations pulling the the wool over the eyes of the government. Not even the people in charge---or who you think are in charge---know the truth. I guess it is the ultimate in lobbying.

I enjoyed the book, especially the dystopian section, which was quite different from the others I have read. The style was tough to get into at first, but as the story started out so outlandish, I couldn't stop because I wanted to find out just where it would end up.

<i>The Sphere</i> by Michael Crichton

I am fed up with Crichton. The plot lines are far too predictable: man escaptes everyday life to investigate some amazing new thing; something goes wrong; people die; time is spent figuring it out; more people die; problem is solved; es cape is made; everything is better---or is it?

Here the mystery was intriguing for a time---I was very curious about what the alien was saying ans was very disappointed to find out it wasn't really an alien speaking and they never really did figure everything out...plus, once everyone was trying to escape, the formula was far to obvious and I go really fed up with the book.

There is one more Crichton book I want to read---Andromada Strain---but I think I will have to wait quite some time before I'm ready to pick up another of his books.

3/10

<i>Neuromancer</i> by William Gibson

I often have trouble following these "cyberpunk" novels. It is sort of like reading one's first Russian novel---you can't, for the life the life of you, keep the characters straight and, after making it through 2 or 300 pages, you are lucky if you have even a basic idea of the plot. This was definitely the case for me when reading The Golden Age series and The Diamond Age.

I, though, after this book am getting a better feel for the genre---what is the basic play between good and evil and what are the character types I can expect. I was more prepared for the battle inside the computer and how it interacted with what was going on outside---both The Golden Age and The Diamond Age use the interplay between cyberspace and the real world as a major theme of the stories.

There were some really great images in the book. I really liked the images of cyberspace that Case was hacking through. Of course, it is very attractive to think of coding and hacking in that way---visual---despite the fact it is rather like writing (if I am to believe my coding friends). Though, I guess when I write---and get things right---it is not a pleasurable sound I have in my head, but more like fitting puzzle pieces together to have a perfect picture. So, maybe for coders it is a similar imagery in the brain, and since Case has a neural link to the system, and we are looking through his POV, it could be that we are seeing his brain interpretation of the code.

Another great image was of the sacks of poison hanging inside of Case to keep him in-line. I imagined the dynamics of these sacs as Case moved along and they swung like so many shopping bags gently hitting his internal organs. There are few things as frightening as the poison inside you.

The ending wasn't bad. It left enough unsaid to not make it feel like Gibson as wrapping everything up with a bow. It was short, to the point and uncomplicated, as Case's life quickly became the same. So, overall a good read. Gibson is great at describing a cyberspace in 1983. It didn't read like dated sci-fi. My 21st century brain still felt this was in the future not the present or the past. That's pretty good for a book from 25 years ago: before the web and cell phones.

8/10

<i>Prey</i> by Michael Crichton

It appears that the last Crichton book I read was Jurassic Park, back when I was riding the bus home from high school. I remember from that experience that Crichton is a quick engaging read and does a reasonably convincing job with the science.

Prey was similar. I read the entire 500 pages in one day. It was an excellent read for waiting at the train station and for taking a slower than expected train ride from Sacramento to Reno. The science is reasonable, if not believable. I enjoyed many of the characters, though Crichton kills them off pretty readily.

Despite the sci-fi of the book, Crichton addresses a modern concern: how do we control what we create. It is similar to the point made in Jurassic Park---life finds a way. More specifically, evolution works and anything with mutating genes will work its way out of our control. It reminds me of the concern over genetically engineered crops.

The writing was fast paced. There were a couple moments when the writing was wrong, or just not how a computer programmer would talk or think about a problem. It was a satisfactory book for its purpose.

6/10

<i>Ender's Game</i> by Orson Scott Card

This was a really great read. I would have, I think enjoyed it even more reading it as a 13 or 14 year old. Card mentions in the introduction that many gifted kids use the book as their Bible---identifying strongly with Ender. I had trouble seeing that for myself---though maybe the 13 year-old me would have easily made that identification. Now, though, Ender seems too perfect, too young and the one story too well worn (though I really liked this retelling) for me to identify completely with Ender's point of view.

With that said, really liked the sci-fi aspects of this book. Card mentions in the introduction how he was trying to figure out how fighting would be different in space. I think Ender demonstrated that most perfectly in the idea that there is no "down" when there isn't any gravity. "Down" is toward the goal. The orientation of the entry point's ceiling and floor means nothing once you are in a weightless environment: orientation is relative to your task.

I liked how Card visualized the internet. Granted his last revision for the copy I had was in 1991, but even then, few people had any vision of how the online world would emerge and dominate. He saw it as the primary location for human discourse, with entire symposiums held online. We haven't quite reached that point yet, but we are getting there.

The battle school appears to be a necessary outcome of the time the plot is set. With 2 invasions of aliens fought off, it is expected that militarization would be required to keep them at bay---a normal human response to an external threat that we are unable to understand.

Card concludes the story with redemption---absolution given by the enemy to the humans through Ender. Ender is the one---with enough empathy, survival instincts and smarts to save the world as a tween (a young Paul Atrides, Luke Skywalker or Neo) and later redeem human kind to bring back the enemy in the name of empathy.

A well written and engaging book.

8/10

<i>Blue Mars</i> by Kim Stanley Robinson

...we stand on the brink of a---of a kind of golden age---which will only come to pass when our generation has died. We've worked for it all our lives, and then we have to die before it will come...it's---it's frustrating. I would rather see what happens then. Sometimes I get so curious. About the history we'll never know. The future after our death. And all the rest of it. Do you know what I mean?---Sax

Robinson continued the story of Mars in much the same way as he had in Green Mars. In this story, though, he focuses much more on the relationships between individuals, rather than the relationships between planets (the focus of Green Mars). The relationships on display are those between Michel and Maya, Sax and Ann, Art and Nadia and Nigral and Jackie. While there is still great concern among the characters about the place of Mars in the ever growing government of the solar system (there is even a rotating settlement on Mercury), Robinson puts this aside somewhat to display and examine how each character is dealing with the new order.

I was, again, strongly drawn to Sax. He desired to not accept the disorganization of his brain and the quick decline of his friends and instead applied his own ability and influence to solve the problem. I admire that dedication, loyalty and action greatly. I as a bit confused by his desire to get Ann to understand the "green" side, but once his interest---or past interest---in Ann is presented it made more sense. One can have odd relationships with those who once rebuffed one.

Maya annoyed me. Her shifts of moods were too volatile for my liking. It especially bothered me when those swings were taken in contrast to the manipulation she was capable of---shown most clearly in her interactions with Jackie on the canal trip. She was a very complex person---who I, like Sax, really didn't understand.

Nadia, on the other hand, shined more brightly in this book. I was better able to connect with her desire to build, construct and organize in this book than in Green Mars. I remembered why I liked her: she is a systems thinker and wants things to be set in order. Her relationship with Art made sense. As demonstrated in Red Mars, Nadia tended to end up with men who were friends or close collaborators before they were romantic partners.

In Green Mars Robinson only gave each character a single section. Here a few of the characters spoke twice. I found this very helpful, as the stories weren't as intertwined in this book---plus I really enjoyed reading from Sax's point of view twice.

The ending was good. Life continued. All who remained had meaning. One can't ask for much more than that. Overall, a good conclusion to the trilogy.

9/10

<i>Green Mars</i> by Kim Stanley Robinson

After reading the rather lousy sci-fi of The Puppet Masters, this book was a welcome change. Looking back on my notes at what I liked about Red Mars (the first book in this sci-fi trilogy that I read about 2 years ago), I liked similar aspects of this book. I had forgotten all of the characters---only faint scenes remained (much like the first 100's memories---I can sympathize in that regard). The characters came back as their stories were told.

I completely fell back in with Sax as one of my favorites---predictable, as he is the "pure science" character. I sympathized with his attempts at slight personality modification, so he could better integrate with society---i.e. hide in plain sight, not drawing attention to the fact that he was indeed *the* Sax Russell. It turns out, though, that he can't hide his scientific introverted self and inclinations for too long.

I had more trouble connecting with Nadia this time around. She was so well communicated in the first book and I had really identified with her (a female engineer who just wanted to be working on useful projects), but I couldn't find that same connection in this book. It may have been because the section of the book in her voice was so near the end of the book.

I liked how Robinson split the story telling task up between the various characters (each character had a collection of sequential chapters where were from their perspective) and didn't bounce around between perspectives in each chapter as some authors do. Though it does mean that the reader only sees one perspective of each scene, it gives a more coherent narrative and a stronger voice to each character. Additionally, it would have been exceedingly difficult to write such a planet encompassing story from only a single perspective---many of the varying view points would have been lost.

The question of what happens to the power structure when we colonize other planets is a compelling question. Robinson answered it with something akin to the American Revolution, where distance trumped force. It like that, as it seems a likely outcome when colonists are there fore more than just extracting riches, and generations have grown without stiff, defined authority from the mother planet/country.

Robinson's writing is clear, descriptive and scientifically reasonable. I had trouble with some of the words he coined, but was able to gather the gist through context. Also, the geography of Mars and the settlements was very difficult to follow at times. In those regards, a map and glossary would have been helpful. Other than that, I enjoyed the book emensely.

9/10

<i>The Puppet Masters</i> by Robert A. Heinlein

I can't remember where I picked up this book, but I had reasonably enjoyed Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land---at least the sci-fi aspects---so I figured this might be a good read. Overall, it was alright, though rather pulpy. I was a bit annoyed with the main character: he was really rooted---values-wise---in the era the book was written (the early 1950s), though they did have a very capable female agent (who, of course, ended up marrying the main character).

The plot was similar to countless invasion stories, where a virus kills the aliens in the end. I did like the "puppet master" aspect where the "slugs" were controlling the bodies and minds of the humans. It was different than some of the other mind control methods I have read and seen. The funny part of that was the "masters" didn't know how to run the humans. It reminded me of how the Sims need to be taken to the bathroom, put to bed and made to eat.

Heinlein's writing was nothing to speak of. It reminded me of detective novels that I have read from the same time period, with a nonchalant though-guy attitude. It was a bit annoying at times, but moved the story along quickly.

6/10

<i>The Diamond Age</i> by Neal Stephenson

I really liked this book. I really disliked the ending. It reminded me of the ending of Fahrenheit 451---sort of the idea that nothing bad can end up coming of this. All will be well because we deem it so. Frankly, though, I am not sure what type of ending I would have preferred. Maybe tragedy---with Nell dying or sacrificing herself---like 100 Years of Solitude or Stranger in a Strange Land. Maybe it would have been better to know the end from the beginning, like with Vonnegut or The Virgin Suicides.

The Primer was an awesome imaginary creation. Its ability to teach, learn, incorporate and adjust was very, very cool. This is what computers should be doing. It was too bad, in some regards, that there needed to be a human doing the work behind the scenes. But the consistency of the human seemed to make the difference, giving Nell the ability to stick with the Primer and learn more than the other girls.

The mix of Victorian and SciFi elements is always a fun juxtaposition for my mind. It think instantly of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and The Wild, Wild West (the TV show, not the movie with Will Smith). With all of these, and especially here, the mix of elegance with technology is very appealing to me. The Victorian imagery (not necessarily its rigidity) with its detail and elegance seems to be the perfect visualization of complex thoughts that are intricately and beautifully put together. It could be argued, though that the Victorians provided a complicated exterior when one wasn't needed (form not following function), but it provided an aesthetic of thought, which today could be, maybe best represented by a circuit board.

Overall, the writing was strong and the characters were well established. I, of course, liked the engineer (but not how he and his group treated women: their place was in the home). The ending, though, was hurried. I liked the tale told by the Primer and was often looking to get back to it when I was reading about the real world. I loved watching Nell learn. This is well recommended.

8/10

<i>Galapagos</i> by Kurt Vonnegut

I think this book typifies what I like about Vonnegut beyond his cynical nature. It took me reading part of a Wikipedia entry (warning, spoilers) on this book to realize that the big things that get me---why I keep coming back to his books---are his non-linear plots which tend to imply events rather than state them directly and his character descriptions, which are mostly done through the actions of the characters themselves rather than through formal descriptions. I guess I like to have room for my imagination to fill in the details of both the plot and character descriptions. I feel more invested in the book this way.

In this book, the narrator is a ghost explaining how the human race ends and, more importantly, how it is saved by a group shipwrecked on the Galapagos Islands. The ghost follows the group and their descendants for 1,000,000 years (not much of the middle is described, more the before and the after). The humans end up evolving much like their animal counterparts on the Galapagos, to a stasis point. Humans no longer have big brains. They live only to eat fish and lay in the sun and procreate. They still laugh when some one farts.

Definitely Vonnegut is questioning our modern society (the main portion of the book is set around 1986), showing us that so much of it is there merely to occupy our big brains, which have little to do since we are regularly safe from danger, hunger and cold. The resulting humanoids are safe, full and warm as well, but have lost what we consider a fundamental human quality: curiosity. The curious ones get eaten by sharks. They have reached a point where evolution stops (much like with the animals currently on the Galapagos), maybe similar to our current time with our big brains. But, the humanoids of Vonnegut's future have no charge to make things better. They have become a perfect fit for their geographic location. They are in their heaven and could imagine nothing further.

9/10

Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut

Amazing---a Vonnegut that I have not read and really liked. There were a number of images that stuck with me. I liked the picture of the library with all the pieces of paper numbered for the book strewn out. I also liked the image of the professor sniping from the bell tower at the convicts below. Sort of a last ditch effort to save education. Oh, and the best has to be the bells that the students said were whale genitalia. Nice.

I think Vonnegut's point with this book is that life, on the whole, is thankless. No matter how long you care for your mad relatives, or help those who haven't learned to learn, you still aren't guaranteed to end up being given credit for that. You'll just end up in jail.

Here, Hartke (the main character) is not thanked by his wife, mother-in-law nor by his school. The prisoners---the outcasts of society---seemed to be the only ones who appreciated his help and used it for their own advancement, though not quite as he expected. The dumb and powerful don't know good information when they see it. The smart and imprisoned don't know how to use it. And each doesn't trust the other.