"The Goddess and the Bull Çatalhöyük: An Archaeological Journey to the Dawn of Civilization" by Michael Balter

 

Publisher: Free Press

Copyright: 2005

ISBN: 0743243609

I stumbled across this book while snooping through the shelves on Anthropology, and thought that it looked interesting. I was soon to be pleasantly surprised as it was much more than that, in fact it was extremely hard to put down even when I knew I had to get up for work the next morning. Having a degree in Anthropology explains why I was snooping in the above set of shelves, but having graduated close to 30 years ago I had never been exposed to the work at Çatalhöyük, much to my regret.

This book details the many years spent at the Çatalhöyük dig, and gives fascinating insights into the various people who worked there, their theories, and the amasing discoveries they found. Mr. Balter's book will I'm certain appeal to many readers both those in the field fo archaeology as well as regular citizens who are simply interested in prehistory.

While I have no influence at all in choosing books, I would highly recommend this book be used in an introductory archaeology course to give the students a taste of what a real archaeological dig can be like (especially one that spans multiple decades). 

I'm definitely going to look for any other books Mr. Balter has written, as his writing style is captivating and very informative.

"The Genesis Machine" by James P. Hogan (1941-2010)

 

Publisher: Del Rey

Copyright: 1978
ISBN: 0345305760

    This book was the very first one of James P. Hogan's that I ever read, and that was many years ago so I can't really tell why I was attracted to it in the first place, but it turned out to be an excellent story that I have read numerous times since then.

    The tale revolves around a independent scientist, Bradley Clifford, who feels constrained by the rules and regulations that are being forced upon him by the government institution he is working at. The world at this time is on the brink of a major international conflict / World War III, which would essentially be an all out nuclear exchange.

    Clifford is a theoretical physicist who develops/discovers a brand new branch of physics that has the potential to revolutionize virtually every facet of physics. He attempts to publish his findings but is prevented from doing so, so does an end run around his institution. This of course leads to major conflicts and the overall premise of the story which is that science should be allowed to pursue its own course of action for the sake of science. He teams up with another rogue scientist Aubrey Phillips and they go on to pursue science their way and shock the world.

    Mr. Hogan is an excellent author, however he does have the habit of going into exorbitant detail, and subjecting the reader to large amounts of information / backstory. This is typically something that is discouraged in writing as many readers simply will not read it, and this therefore causes them to miss a lot of what the author is trying to get across. However the way it is written in this, and Hogan's other books is very well handled and you don't really notice it as much as you do in others.

    Mr. Hogan has written a number of other books, at present I've only ever reviewed one other which is a trilogy entitled "The Minervan Experiment".

    I would recommend this book to any hard science fiction readers, even though it is out of date with current world events by a long way it is well worth reading

"How We'll Live on Mars" by Stephen L. Petranek

 

Publisher: TED Books
Copyright: 2015
ISBN: 9781476784762

This book is extremely informative and provided the source material for the docu-drama "Mars" which gives a fictional review of what might be encountered by astronauts going to the Red planet, interspersed with an examination of the current rather sad state of the space program.

Mr. Petranek begins with a basic overview of the space program from its impetus to approximately the 1980s. He deals a fair bit of time with Werner von Braun’s proposal “Das Marsprojekt” for missions to Mars that he began promoting in 1948 (I’ll be looking for a copy of this book as it sounds fascinating). After this he goes on to outline a very logical and in my opinion workable method of how we might actually make it there, and  why we should go.

A portion of the main narrative revolves around the work of Elon Musk and his Space Exploration Corporation aka SpaceX, but Mr. Petranek also looks into the various big questions such as will a small group of people be able to get along with each other, is anybody willing to pay for the project, the safety of the project, effects of prolonged exposure to micro-gravity, medical issues that might come about, and lastly the radiation the astronauts will be exposed to.

He then goes on to look at the economics of the project, the factors that will have to be taken into account if astronauts actually want to live on Mars, terra-forming, and other topics.

The only thing in this book that I found detracted from the overall plan is that it was written in 2015, and in the 6 years since then a number of major advances have been made, so it is hoped that the author will consider writing an updated second edition.

"The Andromeda Strain" by Michael Crichton (1942-2008)

 

Publisher: Dell
Copyright: 1969

    The Andromeda Strain is a book I haven't read for many decades, but I can distinctly remember the first time I read it when I was in junior high school (about 1973 or so), and poring over maps of Nevada to see if a place like Wildfire was on them. The ultimate test of an author is if they can make you believe that the story they are presenting is true, and Mr. Crichton definitely does that with this novel. This puts it in the techno-thriller genre, but most people likely consider it to be hard science fiction.

    The story for those of you who have never heard of it revolves around a satellite that returns to earth a couple of days after being launched, bearing an organism that kills almost all the people in a small Arizona town. There are only two survivors an old man and a 2 month-old baby. The satellite and the survivors are taken to a secret laboratory in Nevada so a top team of scientists can determine what happened. The way this books is presented is in the form of a report that describes the events as they happened over a 4-day period.

    A movie was made of this book in 1971 directed by Robert Wise, and starring Arthur Hill, James Olson, David Wayne, and Kate Reid and it is a movie you must see if you like quality science fiction that deals with an actual story rather than relying on special effects. There was also a four episode mini-series made of it in 2008, however I haven't seen it.

    A fantastic story, highly recommended.

"Time Travel" by James Gleick

 

Publisher: Pantheon Books
Copyright: 2016
ISBN: 9780307908797

    This was an extremely interesting book to read, as it began with an examination of the phenomena created by H. G. Wells when in wrote "The Time Machine" in 1895, and then went on to look at how it has been treated in other stories. Mr. Gleick also reviews the science behind time travel, as well as the philosophy of it as well.

    To say that the concept of time travel is a staple of science fiction as some authors have said is, I believe, an exaggeration as Wells was the originator of the concept, and science fiction itself existed for a considerable time before he came on the scene, even though it went by other names. Mr. Gleick looks at a number of different topics related to time travel such as: the concept of time itself, paradoxes, how time flows, etc.

    Mr. Gleick's research on this topic was extensive, and I am looking forward to reading some of his other books, as if they are even half as good as this one they should be well worth it.

"Limitless" by Alan Glynn

 

Publisher: Picador
Copyright: 2001 (Originally published as "The Dark Fields"
ISBN: 9780312428877

I was drawn to this book after watching the 2011 movie (Bradley Cooper, Abbe Cornish, Robert De Niro) by the same name, and while the movie is quite different in some aspects I was quite impressed Hollywood didn't mess it up too bad. The book is much darker than the movie, but to a certain point this is to be expected considering the topic. The ending of the book is not what I expected, and this was the biggest change that was made. The movie in contrast to the book has a very positive / uplifting conclusion.

The story tells a tale of a down and out writer (Eddie), who is introduced to a mind enhancing drug by his former brother-in-law (Vernon), and is hooked after just one pill. The drug works absolute wonders with his memory, research skills, work ethics, he doesn’t have to sleep or eat as much, you name it. But when Vernon is killed, Eddie has in his hands the only supply of the drug that exists, and he uses it to his advantage..

Unfortunately this drug is also extremely addictive, and has some very detrimental side effects such as blackout, migraines, and violent outbursts, and when you try to stop taking it the withdrawal effects can kill you.

An excellent book, highly recommended. But watch the movie too so you can enjoy the differences.

"The Art of Taking It Easy: How To Cope With Bears, Traffic, and the Rest of Life's Stressors" by Dr. Brian King

 

Publisher: Apollo Publishers
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9781948062466

This is a very interesting book to read, and Dr. King's sense of humour is great. His methods for relieving stress are easy to follow, and make so much sense that I'm quite surprised a book of this sort didn't come out many years ago. His method of expressing his ideas is straight forward, and the stories he tells to illustrate the concepts are excellent. He does who into some detail about how the brain works, and some might anticipate this would be a little hard to understand, however he does it in such a way that it is easy to comprehend.

Here's hoping that he continues writing books of this kind, and while I've never seen him perform I am sure his stage show would be extremely entertaining.

Highly recommended.

"Deception Point" by Dan Brown

 

Publisher: Pocket Books

Copyright: 2001

ISBN: 9781416524809

I reviewed Mr. Brown’s book Digital Fortress a couple of weeks ago, and he is back with another great story that will keep you turning the pages. This time he takes on the entire political structure of the US Government, and it’s relationship with NASA and a number of other factors. It is an election year, and the president is  vying for a second term in office. His opponent is a ruthless senator who will stop at nothing to ensure he is elected instead, no matter what it costs.

The story revolves around the locating of a meteorite that was determined to have fell to the Earth in the early 1700s, and has been buried in the Arctic ice ever since. A team of civilian personnel are sent to investigate the meteorite, and discover some absolutely startling information. What this information is I’m not going to tell you, but if it is true then the whole world will be changed.

Once again the lead character in this novel (as in Digital Fortress) is female, which definitely adds (in my humble opinion) to the overall story as these types of novels have been dominated from the beginning by males. In many cases these males were also portrayed as essentially being super-humans, with a few minor flaws which makes them almost laughable in many cases.

Another great story, looking forward to the next book.