The World Jones Made

Recently read The World Jones Made by Philip K. Dick. This novel is set in 2002 on a post-apocalyptic earth that has been nearly destroyed by radiation and is filled with bizarre and disturbing mutants. The populace is ruled by a Federal World Government, aka Fedgov, and has been bullied into adopting Relativism, a philosophy that has led to the legalization of hard drugs and public acts of perversion. The plot revolves around the messianic fervor aroused by the titular character, Jones, and explores the issues of liberty and free will.

A Canticle for Leibowitz

A Canticle for Leibowitz is Walter Miller's classic science fiction novel about post-apocalyptic Catholic monks in the desert of Utah, preserving what scraps of ancient writing they have managed to gather together through a post-nuclear dark ages in which all scientific knowledge is seen as evil. The novel is composed of three sections, roughly analogous to the dark ages, the renaissance, and a new technological age. The Catholic church provides what little cultural stability exists in the period, and the story follows the history of the abbey of the Albertian Order of Leibowitz, founded by a scientist after the war who became a martyr in his attempts to save books from being burned by the barbaric remnants of human civilization.

This is one of the masterpieces of American science fiction. I'm glad to have finally filled this particular hole in my knowledge of the genre, and I really can't recommend this book highly enough.

Where is Everybody?

This book presents a set of 50 possible solutions to the Fermi Paradox ("where is everybody," i.e. if the universe is so big why haven't we met any other technological civilizations?). The solutions come in three main categories: they're already here, they exist but haven't communicated, and they don't exist. The book is not at all rigorous but serves as a broad-ranging introduction that includes more speculative material than the textbook below. My only quibble with this book concerns his chapters on evolutionary biology, where I don't feel he's fully acquainted with the complexity of the issue, but in fairness there isn't space to even begin to address those questions here. Overall this was a entertaining and good broad overview to a wide selection of factors to consider on the subject, from the physics of interstellar travel to von-Neumann probes and Dyson spheres, although a lot of the science is glossed over and I found a couple of his mathematical models a bit suspicious (or at least poorly defended).

Rocannon's World

Rocannon's World is Ursula K. LeGuin's first novel, published in 1966 as a lengthening of the story "Dowry of the Angyar," which appeared in Astounding in 1964 and comprises the prologue to the novel as "Semley's Necklace". It's currently out of print, but I found it in a used book store in Seattle and there are some used on the internet as well. It is basically an epic fantasy set in a world of relativistic interstellar travel, in which an anthropologist studying quote highly intelligent life forms (a hilfer) from the galactic league of worlds is stranded on Fomalhaut II, an alien world with a heroic early age culture (think Homer) that involves living in castles and riding giant flying cats (see cover). Our boy Rocannon has to journey across the planet with a motley band of locals (think Tolkien), seeing the sights and getting into various problematic situations along the way. It's not her most mature work, but in particular the way in which she incorporates relativistic travel into the epic register is pretty impressive. Plus, giant flying cats are sweet.

An Introduction to Astrobiology

I am doing some readings about aliens this summer and this was one of the books on my list. It is basically an undergraduate level textbook with some fairly nontechnical chapters on the genesis of life, cell biology, the essential chemical reactions of life, extremophile terrestrial species, planetary geology, exoplanet astronomy, and SETI. It does a very good job of explaining what we know and how we know it. The book is about five years out of date (most relevant for the astronomy section, as exoplanet discoveries are starting to pour in) but gave me a good basis for further reading on the subject.

An Actor Prepares

First of all, this isn't what it looks like.

One would expect this to be an annoying non-fiction book about how to act in theater.

Au contraire. The book is set as a novel that illustrates the journey of one actor, and shows how one could similarly learn to act.

The reason I post this up here is because non-actors, if they are enlightened, will find deeper meaning in this book. This book teaches a way of life.
Anyway, the book's a great read, and if you're into that whole self-help/self-improvement shtick, you'll find this to be quite the interesting book.

Also, please tell me if you like shorter reviews. I feel like I use 5 words for every one word of my fellow bloggers, so I tried to shorten this one up.

Getting to know Silence Dogood, Alice Addertongue and others

K2 recommends....
THE FIRST AMERICAN: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, by H.W. Brands (a Pulitzer Prize finalist)

How well do you know Ben??? You might just be surprised…..

In truth, I was initially attracted to this book as a new Philadelphian, seeking a little more information about past events in my historic city. What I uncovered was an engaging, delightful biography that revealed a Ben Franklin I never knew!

Told where possible through letters, autobiographical pieces, and historical record, Ben’s thoughts and adventures unfold. Young Ben was quite a rascal, and his path to Philadelphia was by no means a simple one. In particular, I enjoyed Ben’s deft, recurring use of literary alter-egos (eg Silence Dogood, Alice Addertongue, Caelia Shortface, etc) as a means to sway public opinion, scold, or scandalize. Another manifestation of Ben’s wit (Polly Baker) proved to be an early advocate of women’s rights. Go Ben!!!

Of course, in the later “Founding Father” years, much of the information was not new to me, but I still I found it to be cleverly written and an excellent read. All said, I can strongly recommend this book.

Re-assess your chess

I figure this post won't be of much use to others, considering that chess seems to be mostly my own interest, but...

If you enjoy chess and you want a leg-up on your other family members, this is a key book for you. To plumb its secrets entirely will take quite a while, but by reading through at least the rudiments of it you'll have quite an head-start on most of America.

Silman's thinking technique and his list of imbalances are things of beauty. Their simplicity rivals that of Dale Carnegie, who I praised heavily for similar qualities in my last post.

This book is gonna get your game on-- I give it my blessing.

How to Win Friends and Influence People

After hearing both Lauren and one of my friends praise this book lavishly, I felt justified in taking a look at it myself.

Their praise is well-deserved: the book is a fairly quick read, very easy on the eyes, and, most importantly, VERY helpful in regards to the subject matter it addresses.

The excellent organization of the book is responsible for the first two approbations. The book is divided into several parts, with each part looking at different areas of dealing with people, namely, as a leader, as a friend, and as a casual acquaintance. Each part is further subdivided into chapters that are all very readable, and contain numerous/humorous anecdotes.

The advice itself is fantastic, for a couple of reasons. First of all, it is very simple. Although every idea is expounded by a horde of the aforementioned anecdotes, each one can be distilled to a single phrase which Carnegie places at the end of each chapter. Secondly, the advice is tremendously practical. No matter if you're a businessperson or simply an interested reader, the ideas will be useful to you.

In short, I give this book my highest commendation and would suggest it to anyone and everyone. I would also suggest that everyone suggests to everyone else to read it. It would improve the world so much if we all did.

Touch and Go

Studs Terkel was a larger-than-life figure, who seems to have interviewed or known nearly everyone. I skipped around in this memoir, sometimes reading selected short passages and sometimes a few chapters in a row. Terkel was pretty liberal and describes many of the causes he was involved in - often as a performer. Not surprisingly, he ended up being blacklisted during the 1950's. I particularly enjoyed his descriptions of his radio show and his 1949 TV show, Stud's Place - he describes several of the story lines, but I especially enjoyed his summary of the show's appeal:

Our themes were all about ordinary things, about daily life. Today some would say that's too dull, the lack of glamour. But the ordinariness is what made it unique, and people loved Stud's Place. The character I played was both good and bad, pointing up the frailties of human nature: I could be benevolent; I could be a faker and a phony, too.

I enjoyed it, but would probably recommend it only if you know and like Terkel.

Kill Bin Laden

Another book I picked off the "librarian's selections" at our local library. It's an account, by the commander of the elite Delta Force unit, of their mission to find and kill bin Laden in the Tora Bora mountains during a few days in December of 2001. Not my usual reading fare, and filled with tough guy talk that didn't appeal to me, this nevertheless gives great insights into the capabilities, and personalities, of the most highly trained and extraordinarily impressive special forces units. According to this account, they nearly had him - thought they might have had him - and only found out much later that their mission had failed, in terms of its specific objective, although the author (the pseudonymous "Dalton Fury") argues persuasively that killing large numbers of al Qaeda soldiers and driving bin laden from Afghanistan were major successes. Interesting read.