"Abaddon's Gate" by James S. A. Corey

Publisher:New York : Hachette Book Group, 2013.
ISBN: 9780316129077
Characteristics: 566 pages

This is the third book in the Expanse series. I previously reviewed the first two books "Levithan Wakes" & "Caliban's War" sometime ago and you could read these reviews by clicking on the titles.

As you are likely aware this series is being made into a television series as well and I originally watched the first three seasons, then read the two first books but unfortunately had to wait due to COVID-19 to catch up with the third book. So far I am extremely impressed by the closeness that the directors have been staying to the books. There are of course some differences but these are easily overlooked.

I am eagerly waiting the release of the fourth season, but once again due to this pesky virus I have no idea when it's going to be available. Because of this I am somewhat hesitant to start the fourth book as I would prefer to read it after I watch the shows.

It would be very difficult to describe all the ins and outs of the plot in a review such as this, because it is so detailed, and I would be afraid of missing something.

This book takes place a few years after Caliban's War, and the entity that crashed into Venus, has since launched itself outward into the solar system, and constructed a huge torus shaped object known as "The Ring". The crew of the Rocinante along with ships from the Belt, Mars and Earth are on their way to investigate the phenomenon but other people have plans that don't exactly mesh with those of James Holden or most others for that matter. For example the Martain Navy would really like to get their ship back, which all happens to by the Rocinante. Julie Mao's sister is out to get Holden, and doesn't really care who gets in the way. The Belters aren't to crazy about him either, so he has a rather full plate to deal with.

A very good read, but definitely read this series in order or you will miss something.

"Poisoned Jungle" by James Ballard

Publisher:  Koehler Books
Copyright: 2020
ISBN: 9781646633111

I had the good fortune to read the advance copy of this book. Many reviewers will say things like "Couldn't put it down" and such, but in my case it actually was close to being the truth. Thanks to this silly virus that's messing up everyone lives I got to stay up late and keep reading, as we we're still not allowed to return to full time hours.

The novel itself is definitely engrossing, and brings you right into the life of a combatant during the Vietnam War. You get to experience the horrors of war, and the frustration the soldiers themselves experienced had having to be there. While I've never experienced anything like this myself (and hope I never do) I'm sure their one year tour of duty, likely seemed almost never-ending. When you add to this the way they were treated by their government, and others when they returned it makes you very sympathetic to their plight.

The story takes you through the life of Andy Parks starting in 1969 when he was the medic in the Mekong Delta, and his dream that the seemingly endless war he was living thorough would be over for him when he returned home, but not realising that it would continue for many years afterward. We meet the various members of this unit, and watch as their lives unfold. We get a glimpse of what Andy experienced during his time there, and I'm fairly sure this was somewhat scaled back.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking to find out what the life of a veteran is/was like for those who returned from Vietnam. I'm looking forward to James' next book which I've been told is in the works.

“M*A*S*H” by Richard Hooker (1924-1997)

Publisher:New York : William Morrow and Company, 1968.
Edition:First Ballantine Books edition.
Copyright Date:©1968
Characteristics:  211 pages

Richard Hooker was the pseudonym for H. Richard Hornberger a surgeon, and MASH was based on his experiences during the Korean War.

For those readers who are familiar with the movie version of MASH it follows the book quite closely, which detailed the lives of a group of surgeons while they were posted in Korea for approximately 15 to 16 months.

The two main characters in the book are Hawkeye Pierce, and Duke Forest,  both surgeons who arrived at the 4077 MASH at the same time. In the movie & series the lead characters are Pierce and Trapper John McIntyre. There are certain characters in the book though that do not play anywhere near as big a part as they did in the television series, such as Major Houlihan, Major Burns.

The book is very well written and gives a good account of what the surgeons and medical staff of a typical MASH unit went through on a daily basis. There's a fair amount of medical terminology which might confuse, or at least slow down the understanding of someone who isn't familiar with it.

There are a number of scenes in the book that appear in the movie, but do not appear in the TV series, such as the suicide of Painless Pole, The football game, and the trip to Japan to operate on the Congressmans son (and play golf). There is also a great section where Trapper John poses as Jesus Christ and sells autographed pictures of himself in order to raise money to send Ho-Jon to medical school in the States. This I'm sure would have been great had it been in the movie, but I'm also sure that the religious right would have had a rather large fit about it.

This book is a very good read, and I would recommend it as an interesting comparison to what you have seen or might see if you have never seen either the movie it the series.

"Caliban's War" by James S. A. Corey

Publisher:New York : Orbit, [2012]
Edition:First edition.
Copyright Date:©2012
ISBN: 9780316129060
Characteristics: 611 pages ;,24 cm

"Caliban's War" is the second book in The Expanse series. It takes place approximately one year after "Leviathan Wakes" which I reviewed a few weeks ago.

During that year the phenomenon on Venus has grown considerably and is under investigation by a number of ships from Mars and Earth. As yet they have not been able to ascertain what it is though.

The characters in this novel are once again very well drawn out and developed. We meet a few new characters, two which stand out are Marine Sergeant Bobbie Draper, the U.N's. Assistant to the Undersecretary of Executive Administration Chrisjen Avasarala, and Botanist Praxidike Meng, amongst others.

The television series in its second season follows the events in this book quite well however there are some differences as to be expected, but for the most part they are very minor. For those of you who have read my column before you know that I tend to dump on Hollywood pretty good, but in this case I am still quite impressed with the job they are doing. Mind you at this point in time it isn't actually Hollywood that's wholly responsible for the series, it is the SyFy Channel, and I'm not certain how they are connected to Hollywood.

I am definitely looking forward to reading the third book in the series, however with the ongoing COVID-19 issues that may have to wait for a while as quite a number of book stores are closed as well as the library system. If however it proves to be as good as the first two books, then it will be well worth the wait.

"Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

Publisher:[Toronto] : Signal, 2014.

Copyright Date:©2014

ISBN: 9780771038518 

9780771038501 

Characteristics: 443 pages :,illustrations, maps

This is an excellent book that is well worth the praise that it has garnered to date. It covers areas as diverse as politics, history, religion, economics, and much more in a well researched and very understandable format.

The author's writing style is very refreshing with the odd bit of humour thrown in to keep the reader interested. Even though the style is easy to read, the topics covered are quite complex, but this will hopefully not dissuade anybody from reading it.

I would recommend this book to anybody who is looking for a good overview of human history, and what we've managed to accomplish in the 100,000 years or so. It would also I believe make a good addition to a senior level courses in anthropology or sociology as it analyses their disciplines from a layperson's standpoint.

Definitely a book I'll be adding to my collection!

"Of Dice and Men" by David M. Ewalt (Level Fifteen Cleric)

Publisher:New York : Scribner, 2013.
Edition:First Scribner hardcover edition --.
ISBN: 9781451640502
Characteristics: vii, 276 pages

This book intrigued me as I used to play Dungeon & Dragons many years ago, and after reading it I definitely want to get back into it (however this will likely have to wait for a short time until I relearn my way around). The history of the development of this game system, was very interesting, and the author must have done vast amounts of research to provide the reader with an end product this complete.

I thought I knew something about the history of this game when I first picked up the book, but this myth was soon put to rest as I didn't know a fraction of the history of this fascinating (in my humble opinion) game. It is rare to see people playing games of any sort now-a-days that don't involve a smart phone, pad, or other computer device. Dungeon & Dragons was a phenomena that reached out to people throughout the world and still does. It's true that some of the earlier editions were difficult to master, but from the introduction that the author gives to the newest (5th) edition a lot of these issues seem to have been solved.

The behind-the-scenes look at the world of D&D and other similar games was intriguing as I and likely most other people were not aware of all that went on, from its beginnings in the Gary Gygax's basement, the founding of TSR Hobbies, it's rise to be a multi-millions dollar company, and it's unfortunate demise.

I was first hooked on D&D way back in the late 70s. This was back when we didn't have personal computers, and all the fancy stuff people have today. I still have my copy of the "Blue Box" edition, and it's in relative decent shape too. After reading Mr. Ewalt's book I'm going to be looking to get my hands on a copy of the 5th edition, and then after suitable time to peruse the the material I will be searching for a campaign to join. Maybe someday, I'll try running one myself. Who knows?

"On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century" by Timothy Snyder

Publisher:New York : Tim Duggan Books, [2017]

Edition:First edition.

ISBN:9780804190114 

Characteristics:126 pages

A very good overview of humans passion for inflicting suffering on other humans. Timothy Snyder is a professor of History at Yale, and this book is geared specifically at all the fun and games the American people are being put through by their new president. When Dr. Snyder writes it is really obvious about whom he is speaking about. The links he makes to other historical figures are quite chilling to say the least.

While this book may seem small (it's only 128 pages) each story is packed with references to all the bad stuff you learned in your world history courses in school. Most of which you have probably forgotten or suppressed if you've been out of school for any length of time.

The parallels that Mr. Snyder draws between the Trump administration, and some of his predecessors in other countries such as WW II Germany, Stalinist Russia, etc.

Many people might dismiss the comparisons that Mr. Snyder uses for his examples, but I personally find them chilling and having studied a fair amount of history (as well as taught it in school) I find them quite accurate.

Mr Snyder gives his readers 20 important lessons, that are easy to implement and designed to prevent or at the very least open the minds of the American public how the freedom they famously boast about  could easily be taken from them.

This is a book that I believe all peoples should read (especially those living in the United States). Here's hoping that what could happen, never does!