Reviews and Comments

This is the story of a hedge fund manager who offended the Russian Oligarchs by pointing out their crimes. Russia backed him until Putin ended up on the oligarch's sides. Now offended, he leverages the government against one man, killing his lawyer.

Sounds like a thriller, but this is real life. From Putin's source of power, to Russian corruption, to outright theft of money paid in Russian taxes. Also shows the resistance of that one man, his friends, and eventually some world governments. In fact just yesterday Canada passed a bill denying visas and investment to the people at fault for Sergei Magnitsky's murder.

This book does not cover some of the other financial climate in Russia, including the Russian financial crisis that started in 2014. A little more history on how the oligarchs ended up where they are would also have been welcome.

In summary,a powerful story, well written, and I could not put this down. Recommended to (and loaned to) me by my dentist, who is a great guy. I recommend it to all of you.

The original end to the series sees Slippery Jim diGriz retiring. Mildly entertaining, but filled with cringeworthy sentences starting with phrases like "All I want to know now about computer hardware now is..." Finally, the Rat was mostly on a leash.

That to me is the crime here. Reading how the Stainless Steel Rat pulls off an incredible caper or saves the galaxy is what I sought. Instead, diGriz is framed by a bumbling banker, and forced to commit crimes to prevent the death of his wife. Inexplicable, bizarre, and somewhat boring. At the end, he retires - perhaps to avoid more nonsense like this.

So was it better than the previous book, a 1 star stinker? Slightly. In the previous book, Harrison wrote himself into a technological corner. The swindled Rat doesn't have access to those resources, so this story stands up better. But in the previous book, Jim was more creative. Here, despite pulling off two crimes-of-the-century, he seems much more two dimensional - and that is saying something. The story was, at least, a quick read.

After a 10 year hiatus, Harrison expanded a short story into his final book, and the true final book fo the series. I look forward to reading that soon.

A very personal, somewhat scattered investigation into biological time. There was much I learned from this volume, and the author examined the question of "why does time fly" from several angles. His conclusion, in a simple answer - it really doesn't.

Alan Burdick is the father of twins, and this book was his labor for many of their early years. He weaves anecdotes about them, his father's watch, and sleepless early mornings into the scientific examinations. These latter are not too technical, but be prepared for basal ganglia and cyanobacteria.

In a way, this book is also a travelogue. The author travels to meet various scientists, clock keepers and chronological notables. He also participates in experiments related to time and time sense. The detail of those experiments was the most fascinating part for me - I have heard of only a few of the tests detailed in this book before.

This work lives up to the subtitle, "A mostly scientific investigation". I found it a great introduction, and plan to read more from some of the scientists he mentions here. Reading this book was one instance of time well spent.

A story in three sections, and the first is barely science fiction. Mostly politics, with a MacGuffin that gives free energy - or is it free? This book won a Nebula, a Hugo, and the Locus SF award, and was regarded by Isaac Asimov as his favorite book.

The second section is a very alien world, with the connection only visible near the end. The third section brings the whole story together quite well, though I found myself thinking of [b:The Moon is a Harsh Mistress|16690|The Moon is a Harsh Mistress|Robert A. Heinlein|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348768309s/16690.jpg|1048525], written six years earlier. Do all lunar colonies have intrigues and rebellions?

Keeping this from five stars for me was all the dialog to tell the story. There isn't a lot of action. How many other books did Asimov use a three part structure for? It turns out this was published serially in Galaxy Magazine, so that at least makes sense here. I am not sure I would have continued past the first in that format, it so lacked in sci-fi.

I am glad that it ended up on my list in book form, and also glad I finished it.

Timothy Egan writes about the northwest with a poetic grace. I first read this shortly after it came out (purchased at Tower Books!), shortly after I moved to the west side of Washington. The author says this hasn't aged well and unfortunately I agree.

The book is a series of articles, loosely following in the footsteps of Theo Winthrop, descendant of John Winthrop (the first governor of Massachusetts Bay). Young Winthrop wrote a book ([b:The canoe and the saddle|8074602|The canoe and the saddle|Theodore Winthrop|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|3345256]) about his experience, and some quoting and contrasting occur. Egan's descriptive language is amazing and often poetic - e.g. instead of describing the omnipresent light rain, he instead repeatedly uses drip, drip, drip.

This beautiful setting is not today's, however - it belongs to a time after eight years of Ronald Reagan and James Watt. Large companies are (and have been) having their way with the land, taking resources and leaving waste. In the late 1980s, it seemed like this was leading to a dystopia of epic proportions. This narrative reflects on this rather dirty mirror, and makes for (at times) quite depressing reading.

Finally, I found the book a bit more scattered (and more like a series of articles) than I remembered it. Western Washington and the Oregon coast take center stage, with only the Columbia and Okanogan showing any of eastern Washington. Young Winthrop probably didn't go that far, but I wanted more from eastern Washington and Oregon.

Taking this down a peg from my original five star rating, I will probably recommend this to fewer friends than before. Glad I reread it, though, and looking forward to reading more from [a:Timothy Egan|40820|Timothy Egan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1270092404p2/40820.jpg].

Some YA fiction is aimed at the younger set - this is one. Bonus, it is science fiction, though far from the hard-SF that I enjoyed as a youth. Most of the high ratings are for nostalgia, where this is my first time. Not sure I can recommend this book.

The scooby doo mystery takes a few chapters to get rolling. After that, most chapters kept my interest, though there were slow patches. At other times, important action happened in just half a page. The pace was ragged.

The plot worked, and wasn't predictable or narrow - though the focus was quite linear. No side story, no romance, and very soft science fiction. As the protagonist was fond of sci fi (and shown reading [b:The Puppet Masters|7171856|The Puppet Masters|Robert A. Heinlein|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348052588s/7171856.jpg|2534984] early on), I am surprised he didn't ask more questions when he had the chance.

I don't plan to seek out the sequel (written 18 years later), but would welcome a conversation with someone who loved this book. For me, it was just OK.

Super popular at the library, so when this arrived I knew I'd have one chance - kind of like our main characters. Story alternates between them, with occasional extras. What draws you in at first devolves into teen romance. I am not the target audience.

So why did I check it out? I try to keep an eye out for good YA stories, and this has been compared to John Green's work. Knowing my teen's predilections, this would be too sappy for her - especially the last half. Romantic comedies are great, but this one feels forced.

So much negativity in one review! I applaud the author for engaging characters, digging into culture and racism, and a good journey through New York. Discussions of physics and metaphysics were nicely balanced. This was a quick and breezy read.

It bears repeating, I am not the target audience. For me, this wasn't five star awesome, but it definitely wasn't one star bad. Dark matter makes up approximately 63% our universe, and this book rates a similar percentage of a five star rating.

A fairly quick read and a great summary of Carlisle Indian School, coach "Pop" Warner, and Jim Thorpe. Chapters were short and mostly focused on one aspect of the history each. I would classify this as an excellent young-adult book, highly recommended.

After finishing Joseph Bruchac's [b:Jim Thorpe, Original All-American|799553|Jim Thorpe, Original All-American|Joseph Bruchac|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1309198519s/799553.jpg|785518], I was left wanting to know more about Pop Warner and Carlisle. This book scratches that itch, while also providing a good overview of Jim Thorpe.

The book starts by focusing on Warner, Thorpe, and Carlisle in roughly equal measures. Relevant US history (Indian wars and the subsequent land grab) are also touched on. Later in the book Jim's story takes over, with only occasional appearances by other characters (e.g. Eisenhower).

It also glosses over a few things, compacting the story to fit those short chapters. The many photographs are excellent accompaniment, but also shrink the word count.

Forget the movies, this war story demands to be told in a book. Written in 1973, author William Craig interviewed survivors and studied documents on three continents to assemble this narrative of the setting, the battle and its aftermath. Recommended.

Reviewers with a closer tie to Germany or Russia have called the book biased towards the other side, and pointed out small mistakes. I cannot speak to those, but will say that this story does wander at times. The author uses much of his research, jumping from the story of a private to a general. This is also a difficult book to read, but any story of this struggle would be.

To its credit, this book does an excellent job telling the tale. We see the obstinacy of Stalin and Hitler, the latter also saddled with misinformation from the Luftwaffe. We see the drive of the commanders on the scene - General von Paulus and the mighty German Sixth army, Lieutenant General Chuikov and the newly formed 62nd army. We hear the stories of scattered individual soldiers, and also civilians.

While reading, I found myself thinking of "what if"? The German Sixth army was adept at rolling through the open countryside - what if they had bypassed Stalingrad and taken up positions beyond, leaving the city fighting to experts. Would the civilians of that town held out as well as the encircled people of Leningrad? Vasiliy Chuikov's units failed to defend the city, what if he had better troops and could have held the front?

So yes, this book is recommended. Excellent for story and sources, they layout could have been a little better. All tolled, it stands the test of time.

Originally published as a novella in 1981, this version of True Names contains illustrations by Bob Walters and an afterword by Marvin Minsky. I read this back in 1984, and really enjoyed re-reading it on a plane flight across the country. Recommended!

While some of the tech is a little dated, Vinge keeps it mostly in the background. At one point, the protagonist utilizes other computers to increase his "power" online, and this is not so different from networked computers participating in a DDOS attack today. For a story written in 1981, the author was remarkably prescient.

Other aspects of the plot are also well done, and I found the female protagonist (Erythrina) well written. Using fantasy metaphors for the imagined "cyberspace" works well. The conclusion provides a satisfying and believable resolution to the story.

This novella was republished a few years after that in a collection titled [b:True Names... and Other Dangers|321005|True Names... and Other Dangers|Vernor Vinge|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1330657262s/321005.jpg|6670362], which I need to read next. I plan to hand this publication to a friend who absolutely hated [b:Neuromancer|22328|Neuromancer|William Gibson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1167348726s/22328.jpg|909457], in an attempt to show that not all cyberspace is bad.

Read this to satisfy two challenges - Defining SF books of the 1950s AND 1970s. The first (Mission of Gravity) focuses on the Science of Science Fiction - an adventure story about earthly contact with the 18 inch centipedes of Mesklin.

Certain facts (their size, the length of their day, and so on) are discovered over the first few chapters, though contact has been going on for a while before the story opens. Through their journeys, we examine some interesting facts about high gravity worlds and the effects on biology, chemistry, and physics.

Being two difference groups (species), each has their own motivations also, and this comes out well. Barlennan is a savvy trader, the ideal explorer in an unknown land. The human crew is kept busy in an Apollo 13 like scramble to solve various problems.

For the right (technically minded) audience, recommended!

The short stories "Under" and "Lecture Demonstration" were little bits of hard SF, each a minor puzzle and solution. The essay "Whirligig World" is very interesting for the history of the concept and more science behind the world itself -for me perhaps the best part of the book.

Finally, this book also contains the sequel, "Star Light". This had a lot of the same characters, the Mesklinites still scheming and the Humans still solving problems. The setting is different - a new heavy gravity world, with the first exploration contracted out to the Mesklinites. This story suffers for lack of pre-exploration inspection. The humans have plenty of satellites but have made no maps. They've been studying the world for three years but have no idea about temperature or "seasons", and this causes much grief for the explorers. The schemes are more transparent than the first novel also, and humans completely clueless.

If you like the problem solving aspects of Apollo 13 or The Martian and the hard science of a high gravity world, this can be a good set of stories. The first is on many "best of" lists, the latter was nominated for a Hugo, and the collection is a nice assembly. Mainstream science fiction doesn't often have this tech focus anymore, but it is not for everybody. Overall rating - 3 stars.