Reviews and Comments

Journalist [a:Stephen L. Baker|4641655|Stephen L. Baker|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] wrote this forward-thinking book nearly 10 years ago, connecting math to computer assessments of the population and describing the results. While the history is good, the current analysis and future predictions are a ways off.

The authors math seems up to the challenge, but he underestimates the power and storage of computers and overestimates the cleverness of algorithmic methods. The result is chapters on topics which seem very dated. The writing style is anecdotal and the research too personal for my tastes.

Perhaps the most interesting chapter was on medical monitoring, which the author says will work best if it is truly voluntary. Enter fitbit and google or amazon devices to speak to users, and it should be a short time before the tracked information is not stored in raw form but as part of a model. With that, Alexa and their ilk should be able to warn us when they notice signs of medical problems before it is too late.

Those models don't exist outside of a few labs, and until they do (and are somehow focused into sellable products), the rest of us will miss out. The reams of data (still being collected) are at a higher risk of being used against us instead of for us. This book unfortunately doesn't go far enough into this topic either.

Goodreads uses one star for "did not like it" and five for "Awesome". This book comes in just under the two star category, "it was okay" - and perhaps would have rated higher upon first release.

The most comprehensive look at early space programs for both the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Chapters deal with individual flights, starting with a biography of the principles and ending with their further career accomplishments. It was also fun to read!

I have read articles about Titov or Tereshkova, but this book goes into much more detail than any other source I have found. The authors speculate on the propaganda which has covered up the facts also, though in some cases we may never know more. Interviews were conducted with subjects on both sides of the former iron curtain, giving us an unprecedented look into the space race.

In the last year, I've read [b:The Right Stuff|586472|The Right Stuff|Tom Wolfe|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1393654700s/586472.jpg|907221] and Gus Grissom's biography, but neither is as useful or interesting. This book is followed by [b:In the Shadow of the Moon: A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965-1969|757632|In the Shadow of the Moon A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965-1969|Francis French|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328821131s/757632.jpg|743745], and both are part of the Outward Odyssey series by the University of Nebraska press.

Written 15 years ago for geeks and for my generation, this quick read was a lot of fun. Narrative is interspersed with essays from a fictional Catalog of Obsolete Entertainment, both moving the story forward. The conclusion is very unusual. Recommended!

Unlike [b:Ready Player One|9969571|Ready Player One|Ernest Cline|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1489368740s/9969571.jpg|14863741], the references are well explained. MAME, the Atari 2600 and Intellivision make an appearance here, along with several arcade games in the Catalog. The titular game is fictional, but well described and also mysterious enough to draw the reader in. What we know (and later learn) of this video game mirrors the novel structure.

In addition to his work on the TV Game of Thrones, Daniel Weiss has a Masters of Philosophy and wrote his dissertation on [b:Finnegans Wake|11013|Finnegans Wake|James Joyce|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1336408055s/11013.jpg|322098]. I am not familiar enough with this work to say whether Lucky Wander Boy has elements of that, but I wouldn't be surprised. One must also wonder how closely the main character mirrors the life of the author.

I'll close by echoing the simple review from the San Francisco Chronicle - "Startlingly good."

Fairly quick read, this is Chuck Grossart's first published novel and winner of a 2014 Amazon breakthrough award. More horror than science fiction, this novel combines a genetic horror story with a political thriller, but not really excelling at either.

The author was originally a strategic analyst for the U.S. Air Force, and that experience shows as the US military tries to deal with a genetic horror derived from Soviet chemical experiments. While the mutations of the little beasties are fairly unrealistic, the response vectors and chain of command are very believable. One could easily class this with giant ants (Them!) and other matinee horrors to make for an enjoyable story. I do wonder why nobody tried fire (or napalm) to deal with this problem.

Halfway through the book, things take a political thriller turn, and this author is no Tom Clancy. Also unrealistic, a shadow organization uses this internal threat to turn the world on its ear, launching revolutions and coups in governments around the globe. US allies (and supported governments such as Taiwan and South Korea) are attacked in a complete sideshow that in the end means nothing.

So, what to make of this chimera, this twin plot novel? It was mostly just okay, slightly more enjoyable than irritating. It was also a very quick read. If the author had just stuck to the monster story, I would have rated it a high 3 or low 4. Planning to read more from this author - I have last years' [b:The Phoenix Descent|26209242|The Phoenix Descent|Chuck Grossart|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1441463342s/26209242.jpg|45492004] on my list, and it has higher goodreads ratings also.

The author gave a keynote at a tech conference I attended, focusing on the aspect of Gus Grissom, engineer. Had this book focused on that topic, it would have been better - and quite a bit shorter. Instead, this scrambled biography is poorly edited.

Problems with editing include the order of events and repetition of phrases. The author has gathered a lot of information about Grissom's life and work, and it deserves a better treatment. Were I to recommend this book to anyone, I would recommend they jump to chapter 6.

The author shines in certain sections - describing the Mercury and Gemini programs. The text is concise and hits all the important points. Research is another major plus - the author's access to new information and personal interviews gives this text high marks as source material.

The author's talk and slides were good, and I enjoy this author's engineering focus. I hope to see something better from him in the future.

The author clearly has a huge world in mind, and this story gives us a small glimpse of it. That said, this glimpse is a bit of information overload. The main character is a wise cracking teen whose mouth gets her into trouble. All in all, a mixed bag.

First the information - this is one of those books that one would follow better on a second reading. It is also part of a series. I'm not exactly pushing for a glossary, but this world is different enough from ours that some introduction to it would help immensely. Another reviewer compared this to fan fiction for a show we've never seen, and that unfortunately rings true.

The main character is caught in the middle of some huge plot and starts out nearly clueless about it. This is good, she discovers the story. I just wish she could discover it with fewer emotional outbursts and without so much whining.

Finally the plot - the mystery was good. The investigators were well written, with their own motivations and responses. The ending seemed overly large to me - without spoilers, I can say it seems more like of the ending of a series.

So I liked it, but for me it wasn't amazing. This is the 9th of 10 books snagged from the "top" lists of friends.

Questionable psychology and a Mars settlement more like Northern California than a NASA colony. PKD writes a good narrative that varies with his characters, but while it works with [b:A Scanner Darkly|14817|A Scanner Darkly|Philip K. Dick|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388737865s/14817.jpg|1527439], this SF Masterworks novel seems just out of sync to me.

One must first look past the non-colony aspect of the Martian residents - Bradbury's stories helped with that. Then one must discount the Natives, who are described in extremely racist terms - 1964 helps here, but not much. This leaves one with a thriving "black market" in items brought from Earth. Sorry, my modern sensibilities to the cost of this transport takes me too far from the story.

A story which may be political, with union and capitalist notes. Other reviewers comment on this, but I didn't see it. Perhaps because it just took forever for me to read this book - nearly two months! More by far than any other PKD novel I have read.

A one star rating is "I didn't like it", and while that covers many aspects, it doesn't cover the whole. The two star "It was just okay" fits fine - there are better choices out there.

Originally published as "Stories of Your Life and Others", the title story was the basis for the film Arrival. I read this short story before seeing the movie, and then came back to read the rest. A better than average collection.

My favorite was "Understand", which starts as a standard 'experimental treatment increases intelligence' story (ala Flowers for Algernon). I really liked some of the directions the author went here. The ending took me by surprise, but in hindsight was an excellent fit.

The title story is also very good, and I would recommend it either before or after seeing the film (or even both).

Wasn't particularly impressed with "The Tower of Babylon", primarily because of the ending.

What these stories have in common is Ted Chiang's alternate realities, including one where Golems are normal, another where visitations by Angels are, etc. These worlds are well described in a short medium. The stories end up being investigations into life and situations in these new worlds, with parallels to ours often available (if not obvious). Finally, this was a fun collection to dig through, and I did so fairly quickly.

Looking forward to reading more from this author soon.