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Yahtzee Croshaw's Jam starts out with a simple, but interesting premise where Brisbane finds itself in a post-apocalyptic state courtesy of, well, jam. The story follows Travis who realizes that the jam in question is no laughing matter as his roommate, Frank, dies while wading into the sticky depths. Shortly after, Travis confides in Tim, Angela, and Don Sunderland from Mogworld-well, sort of-as they try to navigate a jam-devoured city.

Jam starts out strong. The comedy is spot-on with the dialogue and the action picks up quickly with characters who may know more than they're letting on. I found some of the jam survival tactics pretty neat and the denizens in the later buildings and malls had their own ways of surviving the jam-pocalypse.

Does drag out somewhat near the end, but still worth the read.

Clearly inspired by Douglas Adams, but falls short as Yahtzee Crowshaw applies his Zero Punctuation technique-using similes in excess to describe and exaggerate a game's flaws for comedic effect-and also puts too much emphasis on details in general. The misfortune of the former star pilot turned Jacques McKeown impersonator had a good liftoff, but sputters near the end. The satirical elements focus on those who were hailed as heroes, veterans, and economic drivers in generations past struggling in a universe where their talents are no longer needed at large.

Crowshaw himself does a decent job at audio narration though. A decent space adventure through and through.

A script for a possible feature-length Doctor Who movie in the 1970s is reborn as a novel written by the Fourth Doctor himself (Tom Baker) with a little help from James Goss who was responsible for the equally marvelous City of Death novelization among other things. Having Baker himself as the reader for the audiobook is some very delicious icing on the cake and much like his acting in his Big Finish adventures, he shows no signs of slowing down. I'm still waiting on my hardcover edition to come in the mail, but from what I listened to, the story showcases the essence of what made Philip Hinchcliffe's Doctor Who so riveting.

In the words of the Fourth Doctor himself, "Marvelous! Absolutely marvelous!"

Slated for February here in the States.

An academic inquiry into the psychological significance of "grand narratives" and why many people see world events as such. Myths, Bible stories, and historical events--specifically World War II, the atrocities that occurred at Auschwitz, and the Cold War--get analyzed with a little help from Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell alongside others.

Found it pretty decent. Not familiar enough with portions of the research materials to give it a thorough grilling.

Wish the transitions from quotation to Peterson's thesis were defined more clearly, similar to how Dawkins does it in The Selfish Gene. Aside from that, Maps of Meaning was alright.