[Citation Needed]: The Best of Wikipedia's Worst Writing (Conor Lastowka & Josh Fruhlinger)
A fun little larf of a book, this is another case of a website being turned into a book done right. The authors pick out 200 examples of goofy Wikipedia writing and add their own mocking jokes at the end. There's not a whole lot to this, but it's always entertaining and makes a great bathroom book (altough I found myself lingering so I could read a few more pages more than once).
Grade: B
Friday, January 27, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
Starfish
Starfish
Peter Watts
There's an inherent danger in over-recommendation. I think it's half the reason Final Fantasy 7 is so reviled at this point in history, it was over-recommended. The eventual backlash against the game was so overwhelming that it has significantly tainted the reputation of every RPG to come out of Japan, and it's possible that the coming (and don't lie, you know it will come) backlash against the backlash against Final Fantasy 7 may be so immense as to destroy our reality.
Such was I think the byproduct of my knowledge of Starfish before reading it. All I knew was it was AWESOME. And that it was about people surgically and technologically modified to be able to survive at the bottom of the ocean.
Starfish wasn't bad. To be honest, I thought it was pretty good. It just wasn't the most amazing, fantastic book I've ever read. Does that mean I'm now participating in the requisite backlash against all the hype I'd experienced because I'm a smartass on the internet? I hope not, the book was still good.
Sort-of-not-really spoiler below:
Good stuff: Interesting view of the future, still dystopian, but less so than your average Atwood sci-fi book. The sort-of but maybe not really lack of an "antagonist" was probably the most interesting aspect of the book to me, as the not-protagonists/but-not-antagonists-either were more compelling than the "main" characters. Some of the terminology was funny, I particularly liked suffering from Nitrogen Narcosis being referred to as getting "narked."
Stuff I didn't really need: All the psychodrama. I know Evangelion is influential, but I don't think every Sci-Fi genre piece published after that pivotal day in the history of Fiction in which Shinji yelled at his dad needs broken characters doing badass stuff brokenly (see: Xenogears.) To me, characterization needs to be more than "was abused and has brown eyes." It was a bit too distracting in the middle of the book, but I got over it after the story moved on.
Grade: B
Peter Watts
There's an inherent danger in over-recommendation. I think it's half the reason Final Fantasy 7 is so reviled at this point in history, it was over-recommended. The eventual backlash against the game was so overwhelming that it has significantly tainted the reputation of every RPG to come out of Japan, and it's possible that the coming (and don't lie, you know it will come) backlash against the backlash against Final Fantasy 7 may be so immense as to destroy our reality.
Such was I think the byproduct of my knowledge of Starfish before reading it. All I knew was it was AWESOME. And that it was about people surgically and technologically modified to be able to survive at the bottom of the ocean.
Starfish wasn't bad. To be honest, I thought it was pretty good. It just wasn't the most amazing, fantastic book I've ever read. Does that mean I'm now participating in the requisite backlash against all the hype I'd experienced because I'm a smartass on the internet? I hope not, the book was still good.
Sort-of-not-really spoiler below:
Good stuff: Interesting view of the future, still dystopian, but less so than your average Atwood sci-fi book. The sort-of but maybe not really lack of an "antagonist" was probably the most interesting aspect of the book to me, as the not-protagonists/but-not-antagonists-either were more compelling than the "main" characters. Some of the terminology was funny, I particularly liked suffering from Nitrogen Narcosis being referred to as getting "narked."
Stuff I didn't really need: All the psychodrama. I know Evangelion is influential, but I don't think every Sci-Fi genre piece published after that pivotal day in the history of Fiction in which Shinji yelled at his dad needs broken characters doing badass stuff brokenly (see: Xenogears.) To me, characterization needs to be more than "was abused and has brown eyes." It was a bit too distracting in the middle of the book, but I got over it after the story moved on.
Grade: B
"Devil's Tower"
Devil's Tower (Mark Sumner)
Here's an interesting concept: The post-civil war Wild West, except people are developing magical powers (and no, this is never explained). The book starts off well ("The shaman rode into town on a dead horse"), and exploring the wild west with magic is fun, but the book doesn't stay that great, unfortunately. It's hard to put my finger on why; The book is competently written, and the setting is certainly imaginative. I think what it comes down to are two connected issues, namely the book's pacing, and the author's decision that Custer should be the main villain, but then doesn't appear until the heroes attack him at the very end of the book.
(spoiler alert!)
The secondary villain, Quantrill, shows up and murders a bunch of people and sells the female lead into prostitution, but he dies three quarters of the way through the book. Then the heroes decide that they need to go stop Custer, although he has only appeared in flashbacks, and only then killing someone in a legal duel. It's like if Star Wars had Princess Leia blow Darth Vader's head off 3/4 of the way through and then Luke was like "Well, I guess we should go fight the Emperor" - it doesn't really make any sense, and drains most of the tension and drama.
(There's also the minor issue of our hero being a generic boring white guy, whereas his supporting cast - the aforementioned female lead, and the moronically named "Bred" who can turn himself into a giant bear - are much more interesting.)
Overall, this book isn't bad, and I guess I got my $3 out of it, but I wouldn't be running out to pick it up, unless you really love wild west were-bears.
Grade: C
Here's an interesting concept: The post-civil war Wild West, except people are developing magical powers (and no, this is never explained). The book starts off well ("The shaman rode into town on a dead horse"), and exploring the wild west with magic is fun, but the book doesn't stay that great, unfortunately. It's hard to put my finger on why; The book is competently written, and the setting is certainly imaginative. I think what it comes down to are two connected issues, namely the book's pacing, and the author's decision that Custer should be the main villain, but then doesn't appear until the heroes attack him at the very end of the book.
(spoiler alert!)
The secondary villain, Quantrill, shows up and murders a bunch of people and sells the female lead into prostitution, but he dies three quarters of the way through the book. Then the heroes decide that they need to go stop Custer, although he has only appeared in flashbacks, and only then killing someone in a legal duel. It's like if Star Wars had Princess Leia blow Darth Vader's head off 3/4 of the way through and then Luke was like "Well, I guess we should go fight the Emperor" - it doesn't really make any sense, and drains most of the tension and drama.
(There's also the minor issue of our hero being a generic boring white guy, whereas his supporting cast - the aforementioned female lead, and the moronically named "Bred" who can turn himself into a giant bear - are much more interesting.)
Overall, this book isn't bad, and I guess I got my $3 out of it, but I wouldn't be running out to pick it up, unless you really love wild west were-bears.
Grade: C
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Don't Know Much About the Bible
Uses both Christian and Jewish texts for references. Explores events in the Bible and Torah in historical contexts as well as what is present in the book versus what people assume. Interesting read for an atheist but book would also be a good read for a believer interested in the textual origins of their faith.
Grade: B+
Sunday, January 15, 2012
"The Age of Darkness"
The Age of Darkness (Edited by Christian Dunn)
Yes, more Horus Heresy novels. More like the Age of Dorkness am I right!!!!!!!!!
Ahem. Normally I'm not one for short story collections, but when all the short stories are pretty good even I don't have anything to complain about. In fact, my only issue is with the first short story, which is by the usually dependable Graham McNeill, ends with a horrible, cliched, unexcuseable ending (spoiler) where IT'S ALL A DREAM. Well, a simulation, but still, a meaningless nothing that frankly makes everything preceeding it a waste of time. Oh, and it's also about how awesome the Ultramarines are, because that's breaking news.
Luckily, that's only one short story, and the rest are excellent. Even better, they provide a nice wide spectrum of legions that usually are wasted off-screen; The Salamanders show up in two stories (although they're getting beaten up by the Ultramarines in McNeill's), and the last loyal Iron Warriors get a great sendoff in one of my favorite shorts. Another excellent one has Horus Aximand, demi-villian of the opening trilogy of the Horus Heresy, literally gettings his face chopped off by one of the White Scars. It doesn't get much more 40k than that. Great stuff.
Grade: B+
Yes, more Horus Heresy novels. More like the Age of Dorkness am I right!!!!!!!!!
Ahem. Normally I'm not one for short story collections, but when all the short stories are pretty good even I don't have anything to complain about. In fact, my only issue is with the first short story, which is by the usually dependable Graham McNeill, ends with a horrible, cliched, unexcuseable ending (spoiler) where IT'S ALL A DREAM. Well, a simulation, but still, a meaningless nothing that frankly makes everything preceeding it a waste of time. Oh, and it's also about how awesome the Ultramarines are, because that's breaking news.
Luckily, that's only one short story, and the rest are excellent. Even better, they provide a nice wide spectrum of legions that usually are wasted off-screen; The Salamanders show up in two stories (although they're getting beaten up by the Ultramarines in McNeill's), and the last loyal Iron Warriors get a great sendoff in one of my favorite shorts. Another excellent one has Horus Aximand, demi-villian of the opening trilogy of the Horus Heresy, literally gettings his face chopped off by one of the White Scars. It doesn't get much more 40k than that. Great stuff.
Grade: B+
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Hyperion, or, judging artists by their later politics
Does Mike Nelson's current Yoostabee-ism prevent me from still liking Mystery Science Theater 3000? Can I not still laugh at the mocking of the brilliantly inept Space Mutiny simply because the head writer of MST3K went crazy after 9/11? Is it merely a political disagreement, or do I now disagree with the artist on a more fundamental level? Questions that must be wrestled with in the hypercharged politics of the 21st century.
And also a question I asked myself after reading Hyperion and wanting to look into more by author Dan Simmons. As it turns out, and after wanting to read more by the author, I uncovered that he likes to have political discussions on his website/blog and message board, which usually involve stories of him politely pointing out the flaws in his liberal friends' logic, and arguing with readers on his messageboards who found some sections of his Illium series borderline anti-Islamic.
I didn't know this before I read Hyperion. All I knew about Hyperion was that it won a Hugo, it was recommended to Kyon by Nagato Yuki, and I bought it for half off the cover price at Bookman's about 2 years prior without getting around to reading it.
Hyperion is hard to describe as it is several small plots woven into one large, sweeping Sci-Fi story. It compares itself to Chaucer, due to the way the narrative is divided into each major character telling their tale of how they came to Hyperion for the momentous occasion of the opening of the Time Tombs, the mysterious and eventually sort of explained galactic MacGuffin which drives the overall plot. Some of the stories are very good. The opening tale, that of the priest, is particularly interesting, and the desire to read more led to me reading about 1/3 of the book in one sitting on a 12 hour flight.
The individual nature of the stories makes Hyperion a very character-driven novel, and some of the characters are quite strong, while others seem to be a bit more archetypal (the hard-boiled detective [IN SPACE!] in particular was too cliche and didn't really interest me much personally), but their motives and drives are still well thought-out. It's easy to see after reading Hyperion that it quietly influenced a lot of genre (including anime, somehow) in the years since its release, and it didn't win the Hugo for no good reason. It's an very solid book, and worth a read. I can't really recommend looking further into Dan Simmons's politics and personal beliefs, however. Contemporary religious politics, specifically lauding one while damning another have no place in discussions of Science Fiction, as far as I'm concerned. But try keeping that knowledge out of your head while reading the depictions of the Catholic Church and Islam in this novel now.
Yes, there are sequels, and no, they didn't win Hugos.
Overall Grade: A
And also a question I asked myself after reading Hyperion and wanting to look into more by author Dan Simmons. As it turns out, and after wanting to read more by the author, I uncovered that he likes to have political discussions on his website/blog and message board, which usually involve stories of him politely pointing out the flaws in his liberal friends' logic, and arguing with readers on his messageboards who found some sections of his Illium series borderline anti-Islamic.
I didn't know this before I read Hyperion. All I knew about Hyperion was that it won a Hugo, it was recommended to Kyon by Nagato Yuki, and I bought it for half off the cover price at Bookman's about 2 years prior without getting around to reading it.
Hyperion is hard to describe as it is several small plots woven into one large, sweeping Sci-Fi story. It compares itself to Chaucer, due to the way the narrative is divided into each major character telling their tale of how they came to Hyperion for the momentous occasion of the opening of the Time Tombs, the mysterious and eventually sort of explained galactic MacGuffin which drives the overall plot. Some of the stories are very good. The opening tale, that of the priest, is particularly interesting, and the desire to read more led to me reading about 1/3 of the book in one sitting on a 12 hour flight.
The individual nature of the stories makes Hyperion a very character-driven novel, and some of the characters are quite strong, while others seem to be a bit more archetypal (the hard-boiled detective [IN SPACE!] in particular was too cliche and didn't really interest me much personally), but their motives and drives are still well thought-out. It's easy to see after reading Hyperion that it quietly influenced a lot of genre (including anime, somehow) in the years since its release, and it didn't win the Hugo for no good reason. It's an very solid book, and worth a read. I can't really recommend looking further into Dan Simmons's politics and personal beliefs, however. Contemporary religious politics, specifically lauding one while damning another have no place in discussions of Science Fiction, as far as I'm concerned. But try keeping that knowledge out of your head while reading the depictions of the Catholic Church and Islam in this novel now.
Yes, there are sequels, and no, they didn't win Hugos.
Overall Grade: A
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
"Cell 2455, Death Row"
Cell 2455, Death Row: A Condemned Man's Own Story (Caryl Chessman & Joseph Longstreth)
Here's another acclaimed book (almost no negative Amazon reviews) I didn't like. In fact, I hated this book. The very beginning, where the author is actually talking about Death Row, is interesting if a bit overwrought, but then we switch away from this and into the author's life story. Here the book commits the cardinal sin of wasting the reader's time. A common problem I have with biographies is that I don't care what so and so was doing as a kid; It's what she did as an adult, that she's, you know, famous for that I'm interested in, not reading about her growing up in Bumfuck Nebraska or whatever. This book covers the boring part of the author's life not only in incredibly boring and pointless detail, but also with flat out bad writing. Here's a sample:
Grade: D-
Here's another acclaimed book (almost no negative Amazon reviews) I didn't like. In fact, I hated this book. The very beginning, where the author is actually talking about Death Row, is interesting if a bit overwrought, but then we switch away from this and into the author's life story. Here the book commits the cardinal sin of wasting the reader's time. A common problem I have with biographies is that I don't care what so and so was doing as a kid; It's what she did as an adult, that she's, you know, famous for that I'm interested in, not reading about her growing up in Bumfuck Nebraska or whatever. This book covers the boring part of the author's life not only in incredibly boring and pointless detail, but also with flat out bad writing. Here's a sample:
And why? He didn't, he couldn't fool himself any longer. He didn't try. He knew why. [The author is rhymin' crazy! - Ed] But not rationally. Emotionally. Arbitrarily. Thatwas how he knew. And knowing required no proof.Frankly, either the author giving us page after page of his going through junior high or the terrible writing alone would be enough, but taken together I just put this book down after slogging through as much of it as I could stand. Maybe it gets more interesting once the author actually begins his life of crime, but I won't be sticking around to find out.
It was then that Hate and Rebellion took off their masks and introduced themselves. They had been hiding within Whit for a long time, playing a waiting game - for sickness, frustration, resentment, hostility, fear, confusion to build into an intolerable tension - for anxiety to generate a pressure that could not be withstood. Waiting for the inevitable physical implosion. And then it came, and it was soundless, and did its devastating work.
Hate had showered sparks and the sparks had kindled a fire in the midst of the devastation; Whit vowed he would fan and feed that fire until it became a roaring infero.
I'll get even! (It didn't matter against whom or what.)
Grade: D-
Friday, January 6, 2012
"Fraggle Rock"
Fraggle Rock (Various authors and artists)
Here's a collection of short Fraggle Rock comics. Why? I dunno. I guess it's cute, but unless you're a huge Fraggle Rock fan, I don't think you're going to get much out of this. Not a lot of ideas or much of a message besides HEY, FRAGGLES and Fraggle Rock's omnipresent flavor of Canadian crypto-socalist utopian thinking where little green people who really enjoy their work come and build things out of food for weird monsters to eat.
Also, Red is still an asshole, surprise.
Grade: C
Here's a collection of short Fraggle Rock comics. Why? I dunno. I guess it's cute, but unless you're a huge Fraggle Rock fan, I don't think you're going to get much out of this. Not a lot of ideas or much of a message besides HEY, FRAGGLES and Fraggle Rock's omnipresent flavor of Canadian crypto-socalist utopian thinking where little green people who really enjoy their work come and build things out of food for weird monsters to eat.
Also, Red is still an asshole, surprise.
Grade: C
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