Old, White fiction guy. Maximalist novels above all, SF/fantasy, mysteries, thrillers, whatever. Nonfiction: science, politics, sociology, vegan cooking, buddhism, art, litcrit, bicycling, urbanism
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Steampunk. Fresh and inventive, darkly humorous, and with wild characters who never take a backseat …
Apparently this American writing about London coined the term "steampunk" ... afterword by Jeff VanderMeer
When Martha Einkorn fled her father’s isolated compound in Oregon, she never expected to find …
This book is a blast. Karen Joy Fowler plus 1/Richard Powers times Matt Ruff.
It’s a barnburner of a page turner with enough technological sophistication to keep my disbelief suspended. The book is so well paced I’m willing to forgive some of the less believable tech.
There are big ideas about corporate leadership and responsibility to humanity, but it’s mostly a great page-turner with interesting ideas, unique inventions, well developed characters, and clever twists.
What if you had advance notice of when the world was going to end and had billions of dollars in resources to construct the perfect safe place for you and a small community of comrades to begin repopulating the world and reconstructing society … what would you do?
The billionaires who exploit our internet are not like us and very much like us. Brilliant beyond belief and yet dumb as a dog.
There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: take air in, …
I read this book over the course of two days last week. It’s an extremely well written book on a very important subject that doesn’t get enough attention.
I have a lot to say about this book, but I will start by saying that it is definitely a life changer.
Nothing is harder to do these days than nothing. But in a world where our value is determined by our …
Man, this book is a fucking trip. Has anyone actually read this thing all the way through?
“The Lathe of Heaven” ; 1971 ( Ursula Le Guin received the 1973 Locus Award …
I had not read Ursula LeGuin in a long while, and I don’t remember anything aside from Wizard of Earthsea (long ago) and Left Hand of Darkness (almost as long ago)
This book is much different — shorter and smaller in scope, although somehow tackling the huge, universal human issues that she always seems to manage to weave into her stories
The premise is very much Phildickian — a man dreams “effectively,’ whereas his dreams change reality present and past, all the way since the birth of the universe, so only he knows something has changed
A conflicted and morally ambiguous psychiatrist realizes that he’s not insane and uses hypnosis and a bit of magic technology to direct the man’s dreams to affect certain outcomes, leading to greater and greater impacts
Unlike Phil Dick, LeGuin knows how to end a story well. Satisfying and chock full of goodness in a …
I had not read Ursula LeGuin in a long while, and I don’t remember anything aside from Wizard of Earthsea (long ago) and Left Hand of Darkness (almost as long ago)
This book is much different — shorter and smaller in scope, although somehow tackling the huge, universal human issues that she always seems to manage to weave into her stories
The premise is very much Phildickian — a man dreams “effectively,’ whereas his dreams change reality present and past, all the way since the birth of the universe, so only he knows something has changed
A conflicted and morally ambiguous psychiatrist realizes that he’s not insane and uses hypnosis and a bit of magic technology to direct the man’s dreams to affect certain outcomes, leading to greater and greater impacts
Unlike Phil Dick, LeGuin knows how to end a story well. Satisfying and chock full of goodness in a small package — < 200 pp. Highly recommend
I am glad I finished this book, but it left a feeling of lack. It’s very close to a great book, and certain parts of it are wonderful, but punches are pulled and some of the scenes are just ridiculous
Dear readers, it did not end with a shocker. It’s not bad at all, esp. the first Alevtina chapter, but it is 789 pages. I dunno.
For the film of the same name, see A Long Way Down (film). Not to …
The whole thing is a bit ridiculous isn't it (why do they let these people on the roof anyway?!), but it's a fun, quick read, with enough twists and turns to keep anyone semi-interested. Good pool or plane read. Great free read
The future is no more, and eternity has begun.
It's 1986 and a nuclear reactor …
I am hitting page 500 on this mofo and I hope it's worth it bc it's getting close to a slog
It's gotta end with some sort of shocker, but is it worth it?
When a transphobic woman bombs Frankie’s workplace, she blows up Frankie’s life with it. As …
I wish I could read this in Riverdale's White Wyrm
A “fun” look at the future that might have been for public transit across mostly the US but also some Canada.
Only complaint is that I wish he added Louisville. ;)
For the film of the same name, see A Long Way Down (film). Not to …
Found this book on a sweep of free local libraries, thinking I would start it and quickly pass it along via my free bookshelf, but I started the first few chapters and liked it
Four people converge on one night at a popular roof for jumping off to kill oneself. I've only just met the characters but I have a feeling I'll see this one through (curious to find out why the pizza guy wants to die)
I loved Fever Pitch and enjoyed High Fidelity and then never read Nick Hornby again. We'll see how this goes...
Klein uses the public's conflation of herself and Naomi Wolf as a jumping off point for an extremely insightful analysis of social media and the internet. Absolute must read for anyone interested in sociology of the web
