Reviews and Comments

A debut novel about a two teen boys (one rich, one poor) and a girl robot. Both boys are disconnected from the real world, and both learn to connect by the end of the story. While the message is good, the medium is not - both the YA plot and the boys have a lot of problems.

The fembot AI and chassis are far beyond current capabilities, but we will let that go. Over the course of the novel, she learns to be more human, and in doing so, becomes more annoying. Perhaps it is her environment - she is purchased for David, the rich kid with no morals and a dysfunctional family. Teaching him lessons (through electric shocks) doesn't work directly, but does open his eyes eventually. That change of heart is not really shown, weakening the character and plot.

This novel contains the angst of some YA novels, with some added sex scenes. I would avoid it for that audience - the underlying message seems to be girls are robots, responsible for male pleasure. It doesn't really work as a Romance novel either. This story starts out with a powerful scene - a girl committing suicide on live camera - but doesn't really follow up on that. Additionally, the fembot corporation and school psychologist are portrayed as somewhat evil, but are never unmasked or vanquished. The author has a short story sequel freely available, so perhaps that wraps up some of the plot.

Overall, this book left me cold. It is relatively short, which is perhaps the only reason I didn't abandon it. I can't recommend it for any audience.

Powerful ending to an excellent series, the Sixth Watch brings together elements from all five previous books, nesting them like матрёшка dolls. Many strong characters are on the stage, and all are changed by the events and conclusion.

The first novel of the series was published 20 years ago (1998) in Russia, finally appearing in the US in 2005. Later novels were translated more quickly as the author and series gained a strong following. Each of the novels (including this one) is broken into three parts, and at the beginning, each could stand alone as a story. My first impression is that these three would not.

While the main character is Anton Gorodestky, a key character in the last four books is his daughter Nadya. By the time of this story she is fourteen. Some of her actions lighten the story, and I recognize some of her in my own daughter. It does feel as if her mother, Svetlana, takes less of a role in this book. Also greatly reduced are the references to music, which provided commentary and aided decisions in the earlier books.

Reading these books as they've become available means loss of the details of the earlier books over time. The first several have recently been republished with a common cover theme, and I just found the first one to match the series in a used book store. I look forward to reading it soon and providing an actual review to this excellent book.

Expanded from a short story, this final novel has some of the humor and satire of the original series. Released more than 10 years after the previous book, it serves as a much better end to the saga. This story of Slippery Jim's Flying Dutchman is mostly just okay.

In a standard trope, Jim's cousin the porcu-swine farmer shows up in need of assistance. Shortly (and in a very contrived fashion) our main character is broke and ends up taking charge of his cousin's space ship load of farmers and livestock, vowing to bring them to a new world.

One of the adventures that follow is likely the short story, and the others were probably notes to be expanded later. They have aspects of Slippery Jim, but miss out on the plot twists and pulp action that makes the first book so good. In it's favor, it is better than the two previous books and most of the prequels - but I would only recommend it to a completist.

So speaking of that, here are my recommendations. Read the first book, or the first three (Stainless Steel Rat + Revenge + Saves the World). The first prequel (A Stainless Steel Rat is Born) has some good features, and the 4th and 5th (Wants You and for President) are okay - the latter would make a nice ending to the series. Avoid the rest like the plague.

Four Joe Hill novellas, and three of them (mostly) fit the title theme. The other one? Well, it's about guns and more guns and the problems they cause, and feels very preachy. If a person were to read some stories and skip others, what would I suggest? Here goes...

The first story (Snapshot) is excellent. I read it, then reread it in audio form (Wil Wheaton).

The second (Loaded) is described above, and skippable.

Aloft has the sci fi elements of Snapshot, but doesn't really deliver. It could have been a dream sequence for the character from [b:Horns|6587879|Horns|Joe Hill|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1402958805s/6587879.jpg|6781405].

The last (Rain) had a solid main character and a plot worthy of Stephen King, but felt unwieldy. The author states he wrote this to parody himself, as a reaction to [b:The Fireman|29875363|The Fireman|Joe Hill|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1478683499s/29875363.jpg|40296144], which I haven't read.

Ten years from now I would reread one of these stories again, and .250 isn't a good batting average.

Started this thick volume on April 1, and had to check twice to make sure I wasn't being fooled. This is the story of computing both ahead of it's time and mostly ignored by the mainstream. The information is interesting, if too complete, and the history scattered at times.

The first 200 pages are an excellent history of the PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations) terminal and the principal figures. Just the right amount of technical detail balances with history and even philosophy (of education). The next few hundred pages rambles some, covering a lot of territory. Topics such as games and network communities are discussed with relevance to PLATO. Firm editing and a few less anecdotes may have helped here.

The final section of the book covers the inevitable downfall of the company and the terminal, for a variety of reasons. The investments in Russia and Iran were unpredictably poorly timed, the overpricing of new hardware could have been avoided, but in reality the juggernaut of personal computers would have been impossible to avoid. The author clearly has some strong feelings about this topic. The book then concludes with some short bios of famous names connected to PLATO and an extensive bibliography and index.

I liked it and learned a lot. It is comparable to Stephen Levy's [b:Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution|56829|Hackers Heroes of the Computer Revolution|Steven Levy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1435697935s/56829.jpg|1407224] and Walter Isaacson's [b:The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution|21856367|The Innovators How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution|Walter Isaacson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1410191571s/21856367.jpg|41129225].

Baseball metaphors and survival skills combine in this story of a nine year old who is "big for her age." It has been described as a psychological horror book, but it is really a confrontation with the self and the scary things in our own heads - or are they?

I liked the main character, though she seemed way more capable than nine-year-olds I have known. The story is believable, with some fantastic elements. The baseball metaphors may require some explaining - Tom Gordon was the "closer" for the Red Sox, and would come in late in the game to "save" the win. So in this book, the girl who loves Tom Gordon is looking for the "save" - in this case of her own life. All of these elements combine into a smash ending (the chapter is labeled "bottom of the ninth") which satisfies.

It has been said that King was angling towards "Lord of the Flies" with this novel, but to me it felt more like "The Old Man and the Sea". A lot of King fans were likely disappointed, because what horror is here is subtle, or perhaps non-existent. What we learn of the main character is first person train-of-thought, but this reverie is broken at times to describe what was going on the in real world - the hunt for a kidnapper, etc. Would it have been better without, or would fans have been screaming about no way the search would find nothing after a week?

So, I liked it, but I didn't love it. It was more than just OK, but quite a bit short of stellar. The writing is good, the survival stuff is accurate and the baseball is apt, but some spark was lacking.

Somewhat scattered biography of the Hungarian Paul Erdős, describing his life and his mathematics through anecdotes and examples. Mathematician Ron Graham acted as his factotum and a few chapters act as his biography also. I think the math is accessible to the public, but your mileage may vary.

One of the things that makes Erdős famous is his contributions to papers in math, and these are not just in name only. He fostered young talent where possible and made real contributions to his last days.

Paul is also quirky, and that comes out clearly here. His travels remind me of Moe Berg, both of them itinerant wanderers. Unfortunately this biography also wandered quite a bit. The first portion of the book was solid, but without an index I would have trouble finding topics in the latter half - sometimes visiting math, sometimes history, and sometimes relatives. An index, bibliography, and sources of the many quotes are all here, I just wish they weren't so necessary.

Not really science fiction, though John D. MacDonald wrote a lot of that in his early career, before turning to hard boiled crime fiction and Travis McGee. Two good characters in what is really a coming-of-age story with fantastic elements - I liked this quick read.

This not the first time I have read this, but this is the only book I've read from this author. As a kid, I was intrigued by the gimmick - a watch which can stop time for an hour. Often I thought about what I could do with that device, and while reading this I reconsidered those possibilities. On this re-read, however, I was struck by the solid characters. The appearance of Bonny Lee Beaumont really made this story, and I cannot today picture this firecracker played by Pam Dawber.

This story did start slowly, and the other characters are mostly caricatures - though I found myself rooting for the accountant Wilma Farnham. The villain and her cohorts are described as devious but come across as clueless.

A collection of MacDonald's science fiction stories ([b:Other Times, Other Worlds|671464|Other Times, Other Worlds|John D. MacDonald|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1324214708s/671464.jpg|657495]) is on hold for me at the library, and I plan to delve into some of his other fiction as well - including the infamous Travis McGee. I may even rewatch the made-for-TV film of this book.

Solid characters, clever puzzle solving, and political schemes make up this really good story. This was the first of Lois McMaster Bujold's novels purchased by Baen, though Shards of Honor was the first written and published. On the strength of this book, a career was launched.

This book introduces the character of Miles Vorkosigan, who appears in a total of 15 books and short story collections. I can see why he is a fan favorite - his combination of witty and wise reminds me of Horatio Hornblower. The setting is introduced in the previous book but explored in depth here, with an emphasis on the Barryaran politics towards the end of the tale. Elena Bothari is a strong female character who grows stronger as a result of her trials; I expect we will see more of her in future novels.

I couldn't summarize further without spoiling some of the surprises, so suffice it to say that this is worthwhile reading. Looking forward to the rest of the saga.

One of the first sf novels I read as a kid. 2018 reread in honor of ʻOumuamua. Much like The Martian, each chapter deals with a new mystery or problem. Scant character development but loads of hard science fiction - no wormholes or instant communication here.

Unlike Star Trek or Star Wars, the hard SF aspect put the story in reach of us - this is the sort of space exploration we were likely to see in our lifetime. The crew is not hand-picked, the exploration ship is not designed for this - but that only adds to the urgency of this tale. Each new puzzle or problem keeps the pages turning right to the end.

This novel won the Nebula, Campbell, Hugo, BSFA and Locus in it's day, and has been added to every list of influential or top rated books since. From Alien to Interstellar, its impact can be felt on Hollywood science fiction as well. 45 years after initial publication, it doesn't feel at all dated. Highly recommended!