Since reading Mission of Gravity, I've gone through everything of Hal Clement's that I can find.
A year later, I can say that Mission of Gravity is definitely his best.
It has a few scientific problems in the harsh light of the 21st century, but overall it's fabulously well-thought-out hard science fiction.
Mission of Gravity features a limited cast of characters, a slow but steady progression of trials and setbacks and a satisfyingly optimistic conclusion.
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moopet rated Bears discover fire and other stories: 3 stars
Bears discover fire and other stories by Terry Bisson
From the gentle fantasies that include the wry title story—winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards—to ecological allegories; a …
moopet reviewed Mission of gravity by Hal Clement
Mesklin is a vast, inhospitable, disc-shaped planet, so cold that its oceans are liquid methane …
Review of 'Mission of gravity' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
moopet reviewed The Ghost from the Grand Banks by Arthur C. Clarke
Review of 'The Ghost from the Grand Banks' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
I'm about 15 pages from the end of this book and I'm giving up.
It's written badly. It's constructed of short (2-4 page) chapters which all follow exactly the same progression. It's full of patronising little scientific titbits where Clarke tells some convenient dimwitted stooge something the reader needs to know. It's clumsy in its building of suspence and it's clumsy in its introduction of characters. The characters don't so much feel fleshed-out as built to meet a quota. In fact, that's exactly what this reads like, a book written to meet a contractual obligation or for a quick buck.
moopet rated The Sense of an Ending: 5 stars
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
By an acclaimed writer at the height of his powers, The Sense of an Ending extends a streak of extraordinary …
moopet rated Mister Pip: 3 stars
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones, Jones, Lloyd
On a copper-rich tropical island shattered by war, on which survival is a daily struggle, eccentric Mr. Watts, the only …
moopet reviewed Adolf Hitler by Spike Milligan
Review of 'Adolf Hitler' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
Even reading it with Milligan's voice in my head, I didn't find it funny.
moopet rated Fahrenheit 451: 3 stars
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 451 is a 1953 dystopian novel by American writer Ray Bradbury. Often regarded as one of his best works, …
moopet rated I Shall Wear Midnight: 3 stars
I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett, Paul Kidby (Discworld, #38)
It starts with whispers.
Then someone picks up a stone.
Finally, the fires begin.
When people turn on witches, the …
moopet reviewed The Door into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein
Electronics engineer Dan Davis has finally made the invention of a lifetime: a household robot …
Review of 'The Door into Summer' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
More interesting than captivating. Mostly interesting for the protagonist's expectations of the future (the year 2000) and how they clash with the "reality" he finds there. That sort of retro-futurism is always fun, especially when it's told slowly and methodically. It ends with a brief scene tying up a few loose ends but feels like more should have been explored.
Yes, on the face of it this is one of Heinlein's novels with multiple worlds, but in this case they're the same world, our world, re-experienced through a time loop. It's the grandfather to both Primer and Back to the Future.
The title is interesting. The "door into summer" metaphor is tacked onto the novel at the beginning and end. Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely image, but here Heinlein's writing is distinctly different. It's nicer. He stops looking at the world through a magnifying glass for a …
More interesting than captivating. Mostly interesting for the protagonist's expectations of the future (the year 2000) and how they clash with the "reality" he finds there. That sort of retro-futurism is always fun, especially when it's told slowly and methodically. It ends with a brief scene tying up a few loose ends but feels like more should have been explored.
Yes, on the face of it this is one of Heinlein's novels with multiple worlds, but in this case they're the same world, our world, re-experienced through a time loop. It's the grandfather to both Primer and Back to the Future.
The title is interesting. The "door into summer" metaphor is tacked onto the novel at the beginning and end. Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely image, but here Heinlein's writing is distinctly different. It's nicer. He stops looking at the world through a magnifying glass for a little while to relax and describe something in much more confortable terms. I found it a bit of a lurch, and would have preferred him to stick to one or the other style throughout.
moopet rated Starship Troopers: 3 stars
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
Starship Troopers takes place in the midst of an interstellar war between the Terran Federation of Earth and the Arachnids …
moopet reviewed Shockaholic by Carrie Fisher
The electro-convulsive shock therapy she's been regularly undergoing is threatening to wipe out (what's left …
Review of 'Shockaholic' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
The title and cover are a bit misleading. This is a book more about Fisher's relationship with her parents than anything else. It's also pretty short. But it's good fun nonetheless.
moopet rated Don't Panic: 4 stars
Don't Panic by Neil Gaiman, David K. Dickson, M. J. Simpson, and 1 other
'It's all absolutely devastatingly true -- except the bits that are lies' Douglas Adams
Don't Panic celebrates the life of …
moopet reviewed Redshirts by John Scalzi
Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship …
Review of 'Redshirts' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Started off thinking this was a bit weak, but it got a lot better. 4 stars because he took the metafiction further than I thought he could without everything collapsing.
Hiroshima by John Hersey
On August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was destroyed by the first atom bomb ever dropped on a city. This book, John …