"Colossus" by D. F. Jones (1915-1981)

Publisher: Berkley [United States]: 1976
Edition:Unabridged.
Characteristics:246 pages

I first read this book may years ago, and was fascinated by it and the implications that it mentioned. Since then, some 40 years later a lot of what is mentioned in this novel has come true although not with the sinister implications that the book foretold. Today humans rely on computers to a great extent, and when you consider that this book was written some 20 year before the internet came to be that is pretty good.

The book itself is a good story, and delves a fair bit into human psychology, emotions, etc. It is the first in a trilogy, and I'll be reviewing the other two books in the near future.

This book was made into a movie in 1970 starring Eric Braeden, Susan Clark & Gordon Pinsent. The director Joseph Sargent was quite true to the book, and captured a great deal of the suspense, which makes the movie worth watching as well. The movie is somewhat dated in it's attitudes towards women, etc. but this is the way things were done in the 70's so unless Hollywood decides to remake this movie were are forced to put up with it. This however, is not a plea for Hollywood to remake another movie - please get some original ideas!

While I have no evidence of this I would venture to guess that this book may likely have influenced some screen writers in Hollywood as shows like the Terminator franchise, West World (original movie and series), to name just a few have technology as one of the protagonists in a classic struggle with humankind.

"Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail" by Cheryl Strayed

Publisher:New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2012.
Edition:First edition.
ISBN:9780307592736
Characteristics: 315 pages :,map ;,25 cm

An amazing book that details the trials of a young woman who hikes the Pacific Crest Trail (Mojave, California to The Bridge of the Gods, Oregon) alone. It details the problems she had, what made her attempt such a trek--and win, and the people she met.

This book is written in a way that grips the reader, and forces them to keep turning those pages. From the first few right through to the end. You hike the trail with her through scorching heat, snow, rain, and in one case a whole lot of frogs. She met quite a few people, some bears, a deer, fox, and a few rattlesnakes but survived her ordeal and was a different person at the end.

This was an excellent read, and I would encourage anybody who is interested in hiking the Pacific Crest Trail to definitely read it before they leave, along with the various guide books on the trail: "The Pacific Crest Trail, Volume 1: California" & "The Pacific Crest Trail, Volume 2: Oregon and Washington". Come to think of it, I think it would be a good book for everyone to read, as it gives a person insight into a whole new world.

"Hunt for Red October" by Tom Clancy (1947-2013)

Publisher:Annapolis, Md. : Naval Institute Press, [1984]
Copyright Date:©1984
ISBN: 9780425240335
Characteristics: 387 pages ;,23 cm

This was Tom Clancey's first novel and as such was well written. He did an extensive amount of research, and developed an interesting plot that keeps the reader in suspense. For those people who have watched the movie, it is quite different as it seems to be typical that Hollywood feels the need to dumb things down for their audiences, as well as eliminate and change others things for no apparent reason.

With that being said this is really the only novel by this author that I have ever really enjoyed, as in later books he tends to get a little preachy on how wonderful the United States is. In this book that works well as it deals to defectors the United States, but in others of the series it simply gets to be too much.

The one thing that tended to irk me a fair bit in the book is that nowhere in it is Canada mentioned. Now considering that the majority of the action takes place off our Eastern coast you'd think that we would at least get a mention, but this doesn't happen. Mind you I wouldn't have expected the author to fabricate facts about our submarine fleet, as we don't really have one, but we could have been mentioned with regard to the Atlantic surface fleet. But, I guess you can't have everything, as I've seen American school textbooks, and Canada is primarily depicted as a barren wasteland north of the 49th parallel. Yes, I'll stop whining now!

"Dinosaurs of the Alberta Badlands" by Dr. W. Scott Persons IV

Publisher:Harbour Publishing, 2018
Edition:First edition
ISBN: 9781550178210
Pages: 144
Includes glossary, index

This book is a great introduction to the world of palaeontology for students, as well as their parents. Dr. Persons spent a great deal of time crafting the text to make it enjoyable to read, and I believe it will delight anybody who picks it up.

The book covers a wealth of topics in an easy to read format, with lots of illustrations (by Dr. Julius Csotonyi) and photographs which help to explain the various topics and concepts. Some of the topics covered include why Alberta is such a perfect place for palaeontology, how fossils are found, how the age of the fossils is determined, how evolution works, how fossils are safely extracted and prepared, and much more.

Interspersed throughout the book he also gives brief biographies of some of the palaeontologists that have worked with him in the Badlands and other parts of Alberta such as Drs. Philip Currie, Angelica Torices, Victoria Arbour, Eric Snively, Michael Burns, and Ryan McKellar. Readers also get to read about various dig sites and find out what is so special about them. Another section examines the various dinosaur species that were common, and are typically found in the Badlands, and other parts of Alberta.

This isn't a large book, but it would be a valuable one for any school library to have in their collection as todays elementary and junior high students are tomorrow's palaeontologists. The final section of the book details what a current students needs to know, and what's they'll need to specialize in if they want to be a palaeontologist.

"The It Girl and Me: A Novel of Clara Bow" by Laini Giles

Publisher:[United States] : Sepia Stories Publishing, [2017]
Edition:First edition.
Copyright Date:©2017
ISBN: 9780994734938
Characteristics: 430 pages

This is the second book from Edmonton's Laini Giles (the first being "The Forgotten Flapper"), and I have enjoyed them both. The thing I find hardest to grasp about these books is the amount of research that had to have gone into writing them.

The book is written from the perspective of Daisy DeVoe, Claira Bow's personal secretary, friend, and confidant and tells the tale of what it was like to live and work in Hollywood in the 1920's and 1930's. Daisy is I believe the perfect protagonist for this novel as you get to learn about all of Clara Bow's eccentricities through her. Her mother and three other members of her immediate family were all committed to instance asylums, her father chased virtually every skirt in Hollywood, and much more.

The story details the meeting, friendship, and sudden falling out between the two women when Clara's latest in a long line of paramours decides he wants to take over, run her life and to do this he has to get rid of Daisy. This is done, and Daisy ends up in jail, but she has a few tricks up her sleeve.

If the rest of the hollywood films stars of this era are as interesting to read about as these first two, then Laini will be writing for a long time.

"Pop Sculpture" by Tim Bruckner, Zach Oat & Ruben Procopio

Pop Sculpture: How to Create Action Figures and Collectable Statues
by Tim Bruckner, Zach Oat & Ruben Procopio

Publisher:New York : Watson-Guptill Publications, 2010.
ISBN: 9780823095223
Characteristics: vii, 272 pages :,illustrations (chiefly colour) ;,28 cm

This is an extremely well written book that gives the aspiring sculptor virtually all the information they need to begin turning out small figurines of action characters, and the like. It takes the artist through all the stages of production in great detail, with photographs of all the steps. In addition the authors detail all the equipment needed as well as alternative items that can be used instead, the various processes, and where to expect problems.

Pop Sculpture, however is not designed for the novice sculptor, but would make a valuable resource once they have gained sufficient experience to be able to complete a relatively detailed project. The book details the production of two statues The first of these is a statue of the Greek goddess Athena, and the second the Norse god Thor (an action figure). I wasn't able however to determine if either of these figures were actually produced for sale.

Finally the book gives an overview of what it takes to get into the sculpture business professionally.

An excellent book that is well worth the purchase price, if you are into sculpting these types of figures.

"Islands In the Sky" by Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008)

Author:  Clarke, Arthur C.
Published:  New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston
Year:  1952
Other Physical Details:  209 p. 22 cm

Once again I am forced to dip into my rather large library to review a book for this week, as I'm still working through the large one (but so far it's really worth it!).

This story is set in the not too distant future (which in 1952 terms likely meant 2001 or there about), still the story in fun to read, and read again. It may be difficult to find in print, but electronic copies are available.

The premise of "Islands in the Sky" is that Roy, a teenager wins a all expenses paid vacation to anywhere that a given company flies to, and he chooses to visit the Inner Station, which is a low earth orbiting satellite likely much like the International Space Station is for us. This is also where the space cadet train, and Roy has to not only learn how to live in null gravity, but interact with others quite a bit older than himself.

He also gets into some exciting adventures as expected, and this set his future course for him.

Islands in the Sky falls definitely into the category of juvenile fiction, and this is one of the places where Clarke excelled, along with Robert A. Heinlein and a number of others. To add to the flavour of the book, Arthur C. Clarke was the scientist credited with inventing the concept of the communications satellite. Today our whole world owes him a debt of gratitude, after all can you imagine what our world would be like today without satellites and what they give us?

Enjoy!

"Space Doctor" by Lee Correy (G. Harry Stine 1928-1997)

ISBN: 9780345292636
Edition Language: English
Mass Market Paperback, 245 pages
Published June 1981 by Del Rey

I'm partway through a rather large book right now so I dipped into my library to give this week's review. "Space Doctor" was written 38 years ago by Lee Correy, a pseudonym of G. Harry Steine, and is a great novel in the same vein as the early works of Robert Heinlein (who was a good friend with Steine) & Arthur Clarke. It tells of an energy hungry Earth, and the design and construction of the first of a series of Solar Powered Satellites in geosynchronous orbit.

The book's main character Dr. Tom Noels is hired on to design and operate an orbital hospital which is one of many stipulations that the government insists on before the project can go ahead. But, there has never been a hospital in orbit before so Noels has to reinvent virtually every medical technique that he has been trained in because it all depended on gravity, which he was soon to be without.

The author examines a number of different aspects of both engineering and medicine (G. Harry Steine was an engineer, and model rocket pioneer) and forces the reader to rethink how relatively mundane tasks might have to be redesigned to work in orbit, and eventually on long term missions to other planets. As the title suggests the main focus is on orbital medicine, but a few other aspects of engineering creep in as well along with a good dose of humour.

The blurb on the book jacket was one of the things that originally drew me to the novel as I had never heard of Lee Correy, and I was not disappointed as the story is well written, with believable characters. The plot itself is well thought out and overall is an extremely good read. I had hoped that a sequel to this novel was forthcoming but none was ever written.