And the First Shall Be Last

I finished reading First Born by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter months ago, but I’m just now getting to the review. It’s the third in the “A Time Odyssey” series. The reviews of the first and second books are available. I’ll ramble on about the third one below.

First Born starts decades after the end of Sunstorm. Humanity is reaching out to the planets and stars at a furious pace. The sunstorm demonstrated how fragile and easily extinguished we are when we exist on only one sphere around one star. Also the threat of an outside force bent on our termination, the Firstborn, drives cooperation among the tribes of man as never before seen.

Our colonizers on Mars have found something under the polar ice cap and detection nets places around the solar system have found another incoming object unlike anything they have ever seen. The incoming “bomb” from space reveals that humans weren’t the first to draw the attention of the Firstborn, and under Mars’ pole is the key to our survival. Heroes and heroines from the last books, joined by new names, must race to Mars, to Mir, and who knows where else, in order to save humanity. This book reaches across time, space, and universes to expand the understanding of the Firstborn.

This one is a worthy successor to the first two books. It expands the universe and provides much more explanation, though Baxter does leave the door standing wide open for another book. It does provide a good basic understanding of that the Firstborn are trying to do and what they have done in order to achieve it. I liked it.

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Doors, Windows, Pictures, Dreams, Hearts

And so it has come to this, the end of our tale. I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling last week. I actually stayed up until 2:15 AM to finish it. There was just no sleeping when I was that close. And so now I’ll attempt my final entry on the series. If you would like to read the others simply follow the links: First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth.

Well this is it. The end. The last of the line. And… I was pleased. Quite pleased in fact. This book is still not the longest of the bunch, but it is lengthy. The biggest part is that there are great stretches where nothing happens, punctuated by an almost lurching of the plot forward at a very rapid pace. The beginning is like that, and various parts in the middle. Even the beginning of the end almost seems to happen by accident. It is as if it wasn’t intended, it just came to be despite the wishes of the main characters. Honestly, it’s what I liked most about it. The book really does communicate frustration, boredom, anxiety, and a feeling of wayward destiny. It’s like being stuck at sea with no wind for your sails with periodic typhoons rolling by. I liked it, but I can see how some people would get bored or aggravated.

I’ve altered the following text for those that don’t want spoilers. Copy the text to here to decode it.

Znal bs gur cvrprf jrer gurer, ohg gurl jrer qvssvphyg gb frr. Vg nyfb qvqa’g uheg gung gurl pbhyq svg gbtrgure va zber guna bar jnl, vs lbh qvqa’g unir gur xrl ovgf. Gb gur urneg bs vg, Fancr’f eriryngvba jnf unaqyrq ornhgvshyyl. Vg jnf n terng eryvrs gb zr. V unq ubcrq gur qbr jnf sebz Fancr, ohg V jnf abjurer arne fher. V oryvrirq vg unq gb or fbzrbar sbe jubz Yvyl jnf nf vzcbegnag nf ure uhfonaq, gur fgnt, jnf gb Uneel. Gbax’f punatr bs Cngebahf urycrq fbyvqvsl gung vqrn. V jnf ernyyl fjrngvat orpnhfr gur vqrn jnf fhpu n fgergpu. Ubjrire Ebjyvat chyyrq vg bss jvgubhg gbb zhpu fhfcrafvba bs qvforyvrs. Gur qrnguf bs uvz naq bs gur bgure punenpgref jr jrer vagebqhprq gb uvg uneq, ohg nqqrq zber ernyvfz gb gur fgbel. Vg nyfb urycrq qevir gur oryvrinovyvgl bs gur frys fnpevsvpr bs Uneel.

V zhfg fnl bar guvat gubhtu. Gurer vf bar yvar gung V pna’g jnvg gb frr ba gur fvyire fperra. Jura Zef. Jrnfyrl lryyf ng Orngevk Yrfgenatr (frevbhfyl Yrfgenatr pbzr ba) “ABG ZL QNHTUGRE LBH OVGPU!” V ernyyl jnag gb frr gung. Qba’g zrff jvgu n erq urnqrq jbzna’f puvyqera.

And so the series is over. And the recommendation is to read it for all who care for entertaining, well written literature. Beyond that I could talk, but I don’t know what else to say here. Though I will admit I pondered and pondered over a title for this entry. It was not easy. I am still not sure I like what I chose, but I needed something didn’t I. So I chose some nouns the book brought to mind, and below I put some adjectives. Match them up any way you wish. I know how I did it.

Closed, Opened, Changing, Shattered, Lost

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The Values of Halfs

I have been neglectful yet again. I have finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince for almost a week, and I haven’t re viewed it. I also neglected other reviews, but I may do those later. I will tell you of my tardiness at the end of this entry. This is of course the 6^th in the Potter series by J. K. Rowling. You can read what I said about the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth books following the links.

This is actually the first book in the series to contain fewer pages of text that the previous book. You can tell when reading it. It feels like it contains less things happening, but the events seem to carry a greater importance. I had originally hoped that the movie would come out right before I was ready to read this book. That way I would have seen 6 of the movies before reading the books, but alas they moved the release date back. Rather than wait for 6 more months I went ahead and read it. As a consequence there is no movie to compare it to. That means straight on to my take on the book.

Like previously I’m really not going to say much about specific things in the book. That really affects this review more than previous, because this books starts to bring to a head the themes and questions that have carried through all the novels. This one doesn’t really have the nice beginning, middle, close of the previous books. Those all had good closure for the conflict of that book. This one felt more like the first quarter of a game. The book ended but it wasn’t really closure. All of the buildup of the previous books built up to the point that it just exploded, and then it said to be continued. That’s why I chose to go ahead and read the next book right away. Yes that is why I didn’t write the review right away. I was busy polishing off number seven. But that means I now have to reconstruct some of my thoughts from last week and not have them tainted by having read book seven.

So basically this one is well written and planned, but the reader may not realize how well until they read the seventh book. Previously I had mentioned that The Order of the Phoenix, TOoTP, had diminished the likely hood of some possibilities for some of the characters, and that it left me wondering. Well this book did something odd. It seemed to have decreased the chances even more, BUT… I think it actually increased the likely hood of the things I had hoped for. I know that sounds odd, but that’s how it felt. That is why I think it is quite well written, even though it may not feel like it is as good at TOotP on first read. I urge all to dive deeper and think like a weaver of tales. And now for spoilers.

I’ve altered the following text for those that don’t want spoilers. Copy the text to here to decode it.

V jnf cyrnfrq ng gur tebjgu bs frevbhfarff naq senaxyl qrnguf bs yvxnoyr punenpgref va gur cerivbhf obbxf. V xabj gung fbhaqf bqq, ohg vg nqqf na nve bs ernyvfz naq “srne bs ybff” gb gur frevrf. Vg znxrf lbh gnxr zber pner va jung vf tbvat ba naq gelvat gb svther bhg jung vf unccravat. Lbh nyfb qba’g gnxr n punenpgre’f cerfrapr sbe tenagrq nf zhpu. Naq gurer unf orra na rfpnyngvba bs gur vzcbegnapr bs gur punenpgref gung qvrq. Gung yrnqf zr gb gur cbvag gung Qhzoyrqber unf gb qvr. V guvax V ernyvmrq guvf nsgre gur svefg pbhcyr bs zbivrf. V fnj gurz orsber ernqvat gur obbxf nsgre nyy. Vg jnf qevira ubzr gbb bsgra gung Uneel jnf eryngviryl fnsr ng Ubtjnegf nf ybat nf Qhzoyrqber jnf gurer. Ur jnf gbb jvfr naq cbjreshy naq sbe Uneel gb or va erny qnatre naq srry ybfg, ur unq gb or erzbirq. V erzrzore jura Ahzore 6 pnzr bhg naq V urneq fbzrbar fnl gurl pbhyqa’g oryvrir fur xvyyrq uvz. V vzzrqvngryl xarj Nyohf jnf qrnq, naq vg cyrnfrq zr sbe gur tbbq bs gur gnyr. Vg’f shaal, ohg xabjvat gung znqr vg rnfvre sbe zr gb ernq gur obbxf zber yrvfheryl. Qenpb’f jbex gb yrg gur Qrngu Rngref va jbeevrq zr, ohg uvf ernpgvba gb Terlonpx naq urfvgngvba ba gur gbjre erarjrq zl ubcrf. Fancr’f zheqre bs Nyohf ba gur gbjre znqr zr fpnerq gung zl ubcrf sbe gur obbxf zvtug or pehfurq, ohg gur synzr bs ubcr crefvfgrq va gur qnexarff gung Qhzoyrqber unq cynaarq, creuncf rira erdhrfgrq, uvf bja qrngu.

And that question forced me to jump straight to the next book. I said screw it, I’m going to read it now. The suspense was killing me. I feel sorry for those that waited two years for it to be published. Anyway as you expect I highly recommend the series, but I think that goes without saying. And so the next review comes shortly.

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Fire and Ash

Well I finished Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling. It’s the fifth year book. You can read the first , second, third, and fourth books in the series.

I finished this one the Monday after Thanksgiving. That’s not bad considering I started it over the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Like the last book this one came in at around 130+ pages longer. What you may not have noticed was that the font seems to have dropped by about one point size, maybe a drop from 12 pt to 11 pt. It may seem a small change, but it probably added a couple dozen pages to the book. Of course I didn’t measure it, so my eyes may be playing tricks on me. It also seems they used a thinner paper to curtail the book thickness growth as well.

Normally I don’t compare movies to the books that much. It’s a self defeating pastime in most cases. They are two different media with their own strengths and shortcomings. The storytelling has to be tailored to each in order to make the best story. I covered that in the last review. This book however, almost necessitates it. This is the longest book so far. It is jam packed with information. In fact there really isn’t much that could be removed from the book without diminishing the story. That is the problem. There was simply too much to put in the movie at its given length. You can see that in the review I wrote 18 months ago. Rereading the review I feel better about the review itself than I probably did at the time. After reading the book, I am amazed at what they managed to get in. Truly it is remarkable. I just watched the movie again to make sure I was comparing properly. There is a whole lot cut out to make the film, but the cuts were surgeon precise. They eliminated scenes that retold information and combined characters and changed who said lines. I am impressed. In fact it probably makes me admire the movie more. It would have had to have been two movies if done closer to the book. I think the movie suffered from a lack of more background, environment, and some cooling down time, but it holds up well.

This book is really just great. I think it is the best so far. There is a bunch of character development, the washing away of childhood simplicity, and the black and white nature of the world dissolves. It’s just great. It’s the first one that really had me yearning to get back to the book to finish it. I can see why some people read it straight through in one sitting, but that it a bit much for me. One sad thing though. The movie had left enough out of the storytelling that I had some hopes for some of the characters. With the book however, that seems less likely, but it is still a possibility. I’ll just have to wait to see. But honestly, this one has made it tough for me to wait my normal cycle of 2 fiction one non-fiction for the next one. I had hoped the next movie would be out now, but they pushed it back to Summer. Should I move on with the books or wait for the movie? Feel free to give advice on that one.

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The Universal Mulligan

As per usual recently I’m behind on this. So I finished Manifold Time by Stephen Baxter. It’s the first in the Manifold Series by Baxter. I’ve read a couple of Baxter’s later collaborations with A. C. Clarke. This is the first of the 3 book series, but it was written way back in 2000.

Frankly you can see why Clarke wanted to work with Baxter. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a kind of passing of the torch. I’ve only read 3 of his books so far, but Baxter seems to have the makings of the next great SF author, on the level of Clarke himself. This book is an excellent example of that. If the next two in the series hold up to the example this one set it is a series on par with the scale of The Space Odyssey series.

Baxter takes a big bite in this grand scale book that covers human existence from now until the heat death of the universe. And he does remarkably well living up to the goal he set himself. It starts at a time close to the publication of the book, 2000. That means that the 8 years that have passed make the story behind in some ways, but really it can be seen as an alternate universe anyway. Baxter weaves a tale that could lose many readers if not for his good use of characters that need exposition.

If you like stories with grand consequences that question humanity’s place in the universe, then this is a good one. It has made me really curious about the next books in the series.

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Black and White and Read All Over

I just finished reading Writing for Comics with Peter David, by Peter David of course. A friend got this book for a project, and thought I might like reading it. I must say that was a good assumption.

I’ve read quite a bit of David’s novel work, seen some of his TV work, but not so much of his comics work. The man is a prolific writer and story teller. I mean he has Hulk, Spiderman, and Wolverine under his comic writing belt, besides others. Safe to say he has enough experience to write a book like this. That experience and David’s engaging writing style come through.

There are tons of books and courses out there for people that want to write novels. There are even resources for writing plays or screenplays, but few cater to the media of comics or graphic novels. David takes a pretty good, broad approach to the subject. He provides easy to understand examples of the current trend of comics to present more like film on paper, and how the media is more visual and less language than it was 30 years ago. He shows differences between comics and novels or screenplays. He breaks down basic plot and conflict styles into their simplest forms. It’s just an excellent resource for anyone who has good stories to tell and feels drawn to the medium. Pardon the pun. Though I wouldn’t dream of starting out in an endeavor like this myself, it gives me a better understanding of the peculiar difficulties of the art style. I think it’s a worthwhile read for anyone that enjoys comics or good literature in general. And it’s a definite tool an aspiring comic writer should consider for their reference library.

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Literary Consolidation 41 -50

Or the Reader’s Digest Condensed Edition 5^nd Ed. Well it’s time to reduce the page length again by creating a post of ten books. I’ll give the picture as a link to where it can be purchased, in exchange for using the picture, a little bit about each book, and a link to my original take on the book.

50.

This is the second Jared Diamond book I've read, and this one seems approachable by more people. Although some might not like what is alluded to.



My Take

49.

This installation of The New Frontier sereis will upset some fans. Life is a bitch and then you die.



My Take


48.

The next in The New Frontiers series. This one jumps three years into the future showing what has happened to the characters you love.



My Take


47.

This is the final book of the series. Lewis closes the series with a lot of heavy imagery that should spark discussion.



My Take

46.

This sixth of the series jumps back in time all the way to the creation of Naria and how it all began.



My Take


45.

This is the fifth of the series. It jumps back in time in the series and follows characters from Narnia itself and does a lot of lesson teaching



My Take

44.

The award winning biography of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph J. Ellis. A good exploration of his often times contradictory character.


My Take


43.

I got this book for an industrial Engineering class, but many of the stories in it do a good job of showing what kinds of minutia designers have to consider when making decisions.


My Take


42.

The next in The New Frontier series by Peter David. The gods of old appear to have returned offering their wonderful ambrosia, but at what price.


My Take

41.

This is the fourth book of the series. It sees Eustace and a new character Jill tying to rescue the lost son of King Caspian.


My Take

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Out of the Frying Pan

Well I finally got to and finished the fourth in the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Here’s my sparing comments about the first, second, and third books.

I said the last book was a decent leap in size by going up 100 pages. Well this one makes a leap from that one of around 300 pages. And you can tell it. I don’t just mean the physical size of the book either. The characters, descriptions, plot development, and critical thinking have all improved greatly in this one step. Although I will say the book didn’t have to be this long, the additional environmental development was enjoyable. There is still weakness in the storytelling, but taken as a series it is working out well.

I want to read the rest, but I only have one more book before I am caught up with the movies. I hoped they might finish the movies before I finished the books, but that doesn’t seem likely. I don’t usually hold books and movies to the same light of scrutiny. They are different media and require different handling. The first three movies weren’t too far a departure from the books, but this one, with its length, you really start to see where they had to compromise when they translated it to movie form. There is far more obviousness in the movie, but that again is a limitation of the media. When an author wants to call your attention to something it can be accomplished by merely including it in the text. Then the author can fill in other details to hide, but not completely obscure the important data. Movies are filled with so much visual information not included in books that the pertinent visual information can be lost in the low signal to noise ratio. So maybe I’ll get the next one around the time of the movie. Then I probably won’t be able to wait for Deathly Hallows.

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Birds in a China Shop

This is over a week late as well. What can I say? Busy busy busy. So I finished the 3^rd in David Brin’s Uplift Series, The Uplift War. You can see my review of the second book here.

This book kind of takes place around the second book. As stated in this one nothing happens at the same time over the vast distances of space, so the exact timing is of some question. What is not is that the events of this book happen primarily as fallout of the discovery the Streaker’s crew made before the beginning of the second book.

The book takes place on and around Garth. Garth is a troubled planet that was given to the wolfling humans because no one else wanted it. Apparently it is similar on all the worlds leased to humans See the previous caretakers caused a huge ecological disaster that threatens to cause the planet to decline into barrenness. Lo and behold the humans are making a name for themselves as ecological wizards on all the galaxies, and Garth is no different. That was until Streaker found their burden. Now the Gubru have shown up at the backwater outpost of Earth with the hope they can take it hostage in order to force the surrender of Streaker or it’s information. So now the few free humans and their even fewer galactic allies must survive and fight against a much stronger enemy.

This was a worthy third entry in the series from Brin. It quickly becomes a page turner that doesn’t want you to put it down. Brin also manages to work in some good subtle subplots and intrigue into the mix to keep you interested and prevent dullness. Brin puts in the standard plugs for making Humanity seem to be better than we or anyone expected of a wolfling race. I always appreciate a book with short chapters and sections that allows you to read in spurts when you get small bits of time. Yet again this is a recommendation to all Science Fiction fans.

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Doing It Our Way

I’ve been so busy I actually finished reading A Social History of American Technology by Ruth Schwartz Cowan over a week ago. It’s taken me this long to have the time and the motivation to actually write a review of the book. I’ve actually been attempting to finish the book for some time. This was another one of those books I had to get for a class in college that I wanted to actually read all of later.

Essentially the book covers the growth and change of technology in the US due to its particular social and environmental conditions. It actually does a good job of covering the subject matter in an entertaining and informative matter. I enjoyed it, but those of the engineering bent can have peculiar taste in books like this. The earlier parts of the book are more thorough. Due to the rapid advance of technologies in the past half century, the latter part of the book covers a narrower group of technologies. This is understandable, and I dare say the book would have been too long had it covered much more. For what’s there though it provides a really good perspective on how American technology deviated from technologies originally developed in Europe and how technology altered American society in return.

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Water, Metal, and Religion

I finished Startide Rising by David Brin. This is the third book I’ve read from Brin and the second in the Uplift Series. After reading the first one, this book was a little more like the normal SF books I’m used to. Read my initial review for some background on this universe and its history.

This book follows the first spaceship crewed by advanced dolphins. Of course there are also some neo-chimps and humans on board as well. This historic test mission has hit a snag though. One thing that Humans have started doing is testing the veracity of the Galactic Library. They have been doing random spot checks and have found it lacking in accuracy of detail. That simple mapping mission led the crew of the Streaker to an enormous find. They found a derelict fleet of ships the size of moons that appeared to be billions of years old and the mummified body of one of the aliens. By eavesdropping on a transmission to Earth, Galactic religious zealots have come to the conclusion that this is the fabled return of The Progenitors. These super powerful races have now chased Streaker to the water covered world of Kithrup. Now Streaker’s crew has to survive Galactics, an ocean poisoned with heavy metals, dissention among the crew, and a secret the planet itself holds.

This was pretty sweet. The book revs up pretty good so that about halfway through you don’t want to put it down. The intrigues, plots, and plans are well executed and smart. I can easily see why so many people call this an excellent series. I can’t wait to start the next one.

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Work Release

This is the third of the Harry Potter series I have been able to work my way through. That’s right I have finished Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The short reviews of the first and second books are available too.

This was a pretty decent jump from the last book to this one. It’s almost 100 pages longer. It makes it a little longer to read, but it also makes the book feel much heftier. And the inside of it does so as well. I like how the books are starting to take on darker, more serious tones. The characters are growing nicely, and the situations are becoming more complex and less black and white. I can see why so many people have praised the series, and I’m looking forward to the fourth book.

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What’s so Special?

So previously I posted my first foray into graphic novel review. This is my second trip. I purchased a series started by J. Michael Straczinsky, the “Rising Stars (spoilers so don’t go there unless you have read it already.)” series. The series is sold in five collections now: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The first three were written by JMS. The second two were by other authors and artists that were filling in story parts JMS skipped over in the original series. That’s not particularly unusual for JMS. He somewhat regularly bypasses talking about something big that may have happened, even though he mapped out what it was that happened. Sometimes others go back and cover that event in detail later. So the fourth and fifth books occur before or during the first three books. Anyway, on with the show. There will have to be some small spoilers to whet your appetite.

This series of course takes place in an alternate universe that diverged from ours at one point in the late 1960s when some sort of meteor or object fell from the sky onto the town of Peterson in the Midwest US and exploded. No one was killed, but all the children who were in utero, all 113 of them, eventually begin to show abilities. Slowly, as situations test them, they find each has some unique abilities. Some can fly, are very strong, very smart, can control light, move small objects with their minds, or many other things. They eventually become called “The Specials.” This of course scares authorities who want to study and control them. JMS talks about the legal battles that ensued.

But that’s where the story began. The tale begins in Volume 1 when a man is found dead in his home. He’s a portly man, and someone murdered him. The thing is, he was a Special. His ability wasn’t being strong, fast, able to fly, or any of that. He was simply invulnerable. So how does one go about murdering an invulnerable man? Well it requires intimate knowledge of the person you are trying to kill. Then the question becomes, Who with that knowledge would want to kill him? And here is a spoiler if you want to skip to the next paragraph. Honestly invulnerable was not my word and not the word I would have chosen. I would say he was impenetrable. You could shoot him with a howitzer and he wouldn’t feel it. He could swim in a blast furnace or liquid nitrogen and not feel hot or cold. In fact he couldn’t feel anything. Not even the caress of someone’s hand or the touch of their lips. How does being invulnerable sound now? One of the Specials begins an investigation of what happened. That leads to flashbacks and the unfolding of the plot of the story.

One of the things I really like about the story and the specials is that they are all just regular kids and people. They all have problems and issues. That includes some bad ones like child abuse and molestation. Real people are complicated and sometimes damaged things. Giving a random group of them superpowers can be interesting. This one will be shared with friends as well.

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Through the Seamy Side

So I splurged a little a while back and ordered a few books from B&N. Now me buying some books isn’t that unusual. What is unusual is that these books are graphic novels. In fact they are two novels in three books. I’ve read both of them in normal comic form, thanks to a friend. I liked them so much that now years later I bought the anthologies. Both of them are by J. Michael Straczynski. I recommend reading his Wiki article. And I read one of the graphic novels over again last night. It was great, so I decided to throw up a short review of Midnight Nation. You know I’m not sure if I should italicize that or put it in quotes. Eh whatever.

I’ll try to keep any spoilers to a minimum. Oh and Smitty you will read this when you move up.

Midnight Nation (Big spoilers in link so don’t look if you haven’t read the story already) was made in 12 issues and covers the year long journey of LAPD Lieutenant David Grey as he walks from LA to New York. Why would someone with a steady job and responsibilities do that? Well David got too close while investigating a murder and what appeared to be a new crime power moving in LA. As a consequence, he had his soul stolen by “The Other Guy”, and he only has a year to get it back. This has thrust him into an invisible world that exists alongside ours where all the lost people and discarded objects go. A woman named Laurel is his guide and possibly more on his journey to reclaim his soul. Together they must traverse the country in heat and snow to get to New York in time. All the while “The Walkers”, servants of “The Other Guy” try to slow him down. Will David make it or will he succumb to the growing urges creeping though his mind as his struggles get harder and the road never seems to end? And one question looms. What must he do once he gets there to reclaim himself?

It’s good. I mean it’s really good. I always love JMS’s writing and characterization. And he has a way with telling a story. Not many times you can read something so profoundly religious (not necessarily Christian), and political, and psychological all at once. I know this one is going to have to make the rounds with some family and friends.

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Ocean of Fire

A few months back I bought the first 3 of The Uplift Series by David Bryn. I reviewed The Postman a while back by Brin as well. In fact The Uplift Series is why I bought Postman. The store didn’t have the Uplift Series, so I bought TP, so I would remember his name. Later I found the first 3 books, and while reading this one I went ahead and purchased the next three. That probably tells you a fair amount about Sundiver already. Well if you want to know more I’ll probably ramble on about it some.

I don’t consider this next part to be spoilers, because I knew it ahead of time myself.

Sundiver takes place several centuries into the future. The world and world politics have changed quite a bit by then. Man has taken to the stars and has made great strides in technology and stewardship of the Earth. One of the biggest changes is that Man knows he is no longer alone in the galaxy. When we went out, we made contact with peoples that told us of a galactic consortium of sorts. Really it’s a series of organizations that are supposed to keep everything somewhat orderly. Much of the interactions of the different sophonts in the galaxy are governed by a hierarchy of, essentially, prestige. Prestige based on lineage and accomplishment.

And that is where the problem lies. Humanity doesn’t fit into the system very well at all. All the races in known existence were raised to sentience with the help of an already advanced, patron, race. Well that is everyone except these upstart Humans. But even that is suspect. All the galactic knowledge and activities are stored in The Library. The galactics can’t fathom that a race achieved intelligence through evolution, because their great Library says it has never happened in hundreds of millions of years if not longer. All of the races that have popped up unexpectedly turn out to have been abandoned by a patron race, something that is frowned upon. The Library has always found an origin for them. That is until humanity stood up and said, “Hi.” The Library has no clue as to where we came from. The galactics can’t fathom our origin, and don’t know what to make of us in the order of the galaxy. Humanity has done a lot of things in its past that the galactics frown upon and normally the patron race would not have let happen, or the patron race would have been punished along with the new race. But humans had no guidance in this. In fact much of the damage we did to our own planet, especially extinctions of potential sophont species, would have been grounds for summary extermination, but for one saving grace we were essentially put under observation. Humanity had already begun raising two species, chimpanzees and dolphins to sentience before contact was made. In fact Sundiver has an intelligent chimp as one of the ship pilots. That fact threw a very large wrench into where this wolfling race of humans sat in the grand order of galactic politics. And lots of people don’t like wrenches in their systems of order.

This part has a bit of a spoiler to it.

Anyway, that’s a good background for the book. The actual book itself turned out to be different from what I was expecting. The whole galactic political situation unfolds as a backdrop and driving force behind what is essentially a mystery novel. A brilliant but troubled human named Jacob is asked by his alien plant based friend Fagin to assist him in looking into something. Jacob reluctantly is drawn into an affair that entwines murder, science, interstellar political maneuvering, and the fate of two peoples around the discovery of something the great Library has no record of. Life has been discovered on our sun.

And you know what? I liked it. I’ve never really read any honest to goodness plain old mystery novels. I’ve thought about it, and would probably like them given the TV shows I like to watch. But I really liked this one. And it does an excellent job of introducing politics and humanity’s place in the galaxy. I understand the rest aren’t like that. Oh well, but I’m still looking forward to reading the other 5 books.

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Clear the Chamber

Well, I have finished the second in the illustrious Harry Potter series. Some have expressed surprise that I am managing to keep to my earlier goal of reading one per cycle, two fiction and 1 non-fiction. I read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets relatively quickly, but I didn’t read it nonstop like some people have done. I don’t think I’ve ever done that with a book. Anyway my review of the first book is here, and I’ll ramble on about this one below.

This is a nice baby step up from the last book. It’s more complex. The characters are more ambiguous. I kind of want to watch the movie again now. I don’t usually have as big a problem with changes from a book to a movie as some people do. You go from a written medium to a visual one and you have to change some things. Plus there is the time limitation.

I digress. I don’t even have to say the book is good and a fitting second addition to the series. Everyone else already has. I will say I am pleased with where this is going and look forward to the next in the series.

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The Face of Hundreds

Well I finally finished reading The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by H. W. Brands. I tell you what that took me a long time. The thing is over 700 pages long and I swear it’s like 8pt font. I read it in 3 goes. I broke those up with fiction books in between. It helped to take a bit of a break from the flood of information.

Well I’m not exactly sure what to say here. This was a darned good book. It’s well written. It covers an extremely important person in American history. And I really liked it. The reason I don’t know what to say is that the book just covers so much. Franklin lived a long time and did more in his life than most people could imagine. This is one of the people that helped make the US the country it is today. And some of the things the thought of and helped institute are very modern ideas even by today’s standards. So if you like history and good writing then you should pick this one up and give it a read.

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Busy and Lazy

Man April was a busy month for me. I was at the house for all of one weekend that month. And once I was gone for 6 days straight. So what was I doing. I'll cover part of it in other posts. But for now I'll ramble about these.


The first weekend I went to Atlanta on Friday evening with some people from work. I was a late replacement for someone else. I work on Campus and they work off Campus, so we don't normally mix much. I think I fit in pretty well and might have just extended my friend pool. We went to see Jeff Dunham the comedian. Many of you have watched him. Let em tell you right now I haven't laughed that much since my Dad and I went to see Jeff Foxworthy. I suggest you watch Jeff Dunham on YouTube if you haven't seen his act. My back was sore the next day from laughing. It was his second show of the evening. He came out a little drunk, asked for some Jack D., and then had us rolling for almost 2 hours. I think he came up with some new material on stage, and If he was truthful he said it was one of the weirdest shows he'd done in a long time. I judge that to be a success.

I got home at 3:30 AM and got up at 7:45 so I could drive to see my family. Yeah I took a nap later that afternoon, but it was so worth it.

The next weekend I had accepted the invitation of a friend to come to a mountain cabin the father of a friend of his owned. Man that was a confusing sentence, and I knew what I was trying to say. Anyway here's a picture of it.


Actually my friend described it as a lodge rather than a cabin. I tell you what that is a nice place right there. Central heat and air, a wrap around porch, 5 or so bedrooms with real honest to God beds. It was wonderful. We got up there and we made pulled pork BBQ and fried chicken and hot dogs and hamburgers throughout the weekend. Mmmm Fried Chicken. I sat out on the porch, when it wasn't chilly, and read the Benjamin Franklin book I've been trying to finish. When it was chilly I sat inside and basked in the sun coming through the windows or glanced out at the mountains while I relaxed reading. I haven't had a chance to do that in such a lovely place in a long time. I included some pictures below of the view from the porch.

But that wasn't the best part. I also got to do something else. We went skeet shooting. That's the first time I've ever gone. I probably put a total of about 110 rounds through the old double barrel. I still don't have a name for it yet. I'll have to ask her again. Anyway, You know what. I 60+ year old 12 ga double barrel hurts when you shoot 100+ rounds. I imagine it tripled if not quadrupled the number of rounds I've put through it. Though I didn't think I did very well, 31% maybe, For a first time at skeet I had a hell of a lot of fun. Plus I think I was getting better near the end. But the things it did to my shoulder. My entire Pectoral was sore the next day. And later in the week the whole area was bruised. I took a picture for posterity, but I'm not posting hairy man-nipple here. Damn that was fun though. Maybe I can do it again sometime.

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The First Stone is Cast

Well after much fanfare, gnashing of teeth, and taunts from friends I finally started the Harry Potter series. I purchased the entire set on sale after Christmas. It made each book about $16, which was a pretty decent price at the time. Anyway I finished Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone after only a few days. I probably could have read it in one, but I don’t read that fast and had other things to do. It was asked if I was going to read them all together, but I plan on continuing my two fiction one nonfiction pattern for the time being. So on with the rambling.

This is I believe the shortest of the books. Shoot I’m not even going to go into the story itself. Most of you are familiar with it aready. You can tell somewhat that they made some wording changes to move the book from Britain to the US. Frankly it’s probably the largest font I’ve read in a while. And yes it is a good children’s book, though it is a bit darker than the movie version. I also understand the changes they made for the movie. I usually don’t have as big of a problem with a book and movie being different, and some of my friends do. I just want them both to be good. Being different media means that changes have to take place to make the story flow and look right.

In short, I liked it. It was fun and a nice break. It was well written and engaging for a book aimed mostly at young people. I’m curious to see how the style evolves as the characters get older and their views of the world become more complex. I hope the writing style and plots become more complex as well. It would be interesting to see it grow like the human psyche and intellectual capability evolves through those formative years. And no spoilers please.

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Literary Consolidation 31-40

Or the Reader’s Digest Condensed Edition 4^nd Ed. Well it’s time to reduce the page length again by creating a post of ten books. I’ll give the picture as a link to where it can be purchased, in exchange for using the picture, a little bit about each book, and a link to my original take on the book.

40.

In this the third of the series two of the children return with a cousin to Narnia. This is a bit more mature and definitely is good for parent and child to read together.

My Take


39.

This book was bought after I got The Civilized Engineer for my class. The title pretty much says it all. The book is about the deep fulfilling pleasure we get from creation.


My Take


38.

I read this book for a class on Industrial Engineering. It's a good take on processes for making good, innovative designs.



My Take


37.

This is an odd tale by Atwood, Handmaid's Tale, that jumps between pre and post destruction of human civilization. You get to watch it all unfold.


My Take


36.

This is the second of the Narnia series by publication date. The story follows the children going to Narnia again, but centuries have passed there since the left.


My Take


35.

This is the excellent place to begin the Narnia series of books. I recommend it as a good story to read with your children.


My Take


34.

This is another in Peter David's series New Frontier. It's another great book for anyone who like Star Trek.


My Take


33.

I originally got this book for an engineering class and finally read the whole thing years later. It's about what engineers were, are, and what they should strive to be. I really liked it.


My Take


32.

This is the last of the three book arc in the series. I concludes bringing everyone back together again. It works out well and makes you want to continue the series.

My Take


31.

This is the second of a 3 book arc in this series. It continues following the crew of the Excalibur after it's destruction, but read them in order.


My Take

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