Reviews and Comments

This was the second Heinlein juvenile, published only a few years after World War II. Set 125 years in the future, after the first exploration and colonization of several planets, our solar system still provides a wonderful playground for the characters. Cell phones make an appearance, along with several other decent guesses about the future of technology.

Predating Starship Troopers and The Forever War, it tells of a group of young men going through cadet training for the Space Patrol. Humor and honor go hand in hand here, with a strong emphasis on morality and service. While the conditions on Venus aren't up to today's information, most of the novel does use fairly hard science to describe maneuvers and solutions.

Originally chosen to read with my daughter on a whim (more classic science fiction is always good), she really enjoyed this book and especially the characters.

This book (and the Gregory Peck movie) go in the category of "things I somehow missed in high school". I knew the rough storyline and was familiar with the characters, but that's about it.

Really enjoyed my time reading this tale. Especially well crafted was how the story of the trial bumped along at the edge of Scout's narrative for the first third of the book. Truly a timeless classic.

A massive black cloud approaches the solar system, with calculations and estimations laid out as part of the text. The first 2/3 is a high realism disaster novel, between boiling layers of atmosphere and massive temperature drop from lack of sunshine.

The whole novel reads like a screenplay, though I suspect Hollywood would remove the calculus. This ensemble piece doesn't have a main character, though cold-hearted scientist Professor Kingsley (apparently modeled after the author) comes close. The primary setting of Nortonstowe has a very British feel.

A very enjoyable book.

As relevant today as it was in 1966 and it will be in 2066. Filled with stories and pictures from the deadball era, as told through the recollections of several players who were there.

In the introduction, the author tells us the idea for this collection came to him on the death of Ty Cobb, widely regarded as one of the greatest players in baseball history. The resultant book is a top baseball bestseller and the original audio tapes are themselves in the baseball hall of fame.

This rating is based on the enlarged edition, published in 1984, and frequently re-read. This reading is of the audio version from the library, which is a subset of the original tapes with Larry Ritter's introductions. It ends with John "Chief" Meyers reading Casey at the Bat.

Published posthumously, Pale Blue Dot is a sober look at space exploration and climate stewardship, closely counting the costs of each. It was also regarded as a sequel of sorts to Cosmos, and is similarly a survey of several sciences.

All alliteration aside, this was a book I have been meaning to read for a long time. I really appreciated the comparison between "wanting to fly in space" and the more practical "robots can do a lot" accounting. For a book published 20 years ago, most of the science is spot on, and we've seen the results of some of the missions that were just in the planning stages here. What I really wanted was a few more benefits, a more positive outlook - this book unfortunately pales in comparison to Chris Impey's [b:Beyond: Our Future in Space|22253730|Beyond Our Future in Space|Chris Impey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1415581087s/22253730.jpg|41629757].

This love story between and a man and his raft and their journey nearly 70 years ago doesn't end well for the raft.

This book is the true story of one man's unwavering belief in his theory of South Pacific migration from South America, and his willingness to risk his own life to prove it. Comes across as a true adventure tale, a thrill to read and hard to put down. Recommended!

Through the first half the author focuses on proving the climate change point, disregarding modification options that don't prove his point. Though the intro was good, I got tired of waiting for him to get to that point - and other reviews indicate that it comes much later.

A collection of scenes from the life and business of E. Gary Gygax. Not a true biography - whole incidents take place between the scenes, and are not explained. More a history of Gary leading to a history of Dungeons and Dragons. There were a few anecdotes I hadn't read, and I was surprised just how instrumental he was in starting and then building GenCon.

A solid 2.4 stars, but rounded up on the Gem Appreciation table to a 3.

Cory Doctorow mashes together a story about gold farming and how it relates to global economies with lectures on financial markets and labor unions. It feels like a decent story could have come from one or the other, but both together (and a handful of characters for each) makes for a way-too-long slog. [b:Pirate Cinema|13539171|Pirate Cinema|Cory Doctorow|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1337400827s/13539171.jpg|13238987] and [b:Little Brother|954674|Little Brother (Little Brother, #1)|Cory Doctorow|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349673129s/954674.jpg|939584] were so good, leaving this book only so-so.

Kudos to the author for some realistic and fairly creative descriptions of online games that don't exist (yet). Groans to the author for using a waggled chin 19 times - I didn't search for variations on that.

Humor for the first half, horror for the last half - enjoyed the former more than the latter. I won't ever look at a flatpack cabinet the same way again. The first half of the epilog seemed long, but I liked where it ended up.

Where the first book was a wonderful romantic comedy, this sequel is a bad situation comedy.

Quirky Don Tillman gets into various scrapes, tells lies, and hides his escapades from his wife. Chapters read like episodes, mostly wrapping up with an improbable (yet convenient) solution. Rosie, once a vibrant character, becomes little more than a caricature, accepting most of Don's exploits with little comment. For part of the story, she is impersonated by another character in the book - a standard TV trope. My overall rating is very disappointing, with a strong recommendation to read only the first book (which is wonderful).

Finally, a note to other reviewers who blanch at giving this one star (did not like) because it is "too low" - see my "abandoned" shelf, which is very much the equivalent of zero stars. While I did not abandon this book, I was definitely tempted.