"The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood" by James Gleick

 

Publisher: Pantheon Books

Copyright: 2011

ISBN: 9780375423727

This is a very interesting book that takes a in-depth look at the history of information from the very beginning of humankinds existence to the modern day (or at least 2011 when it was published).

Mr. Gleick looks at such topics as drum speaking, cryptography, the telegraph and development of morse code etc., modern day communications using things such as memes, and much more.

There is so much information in this book that a times it is rather daunting to read, but at the same time the amount of research the author has done to support his conclusions is amazing. A book such as this could easily (at least in my humble opinion) form a good portion of a master's thesis.

Admittedly, it did take me some time to read this book but a lot of that was due to the fact that not only was I reading other books at the same time, but the majority of the world at the time was trying to get things back to normal after the Covid outbreak.

Overall, and extremely well written and researched book that is recommended for anybody who is studying communications theory, and do some sand anthropology as well.

"Hench" by Natalie Zina Walschots

 

Publisher: William Morrow

Copyright: 2020

ISBN: 9780062978578

Hench is a delightful book that tells the tale of a temp agency worker who works for the criminal establishment, as the blurb says "even criminals need office help..."

The protagonist Anna is working though a temp agency for criminals in a place where people are tested at puberty to see if they have any super abilities. If you do then you get to be either a super-hero or a super-criminal, if you are neither then you are a regular person which typically seems to mean you are either a target or will end up as collateral damage when the former two groups fight. At the beginning of the story gets a job with an up-and-coming criminal. But then she gets injured by a so-called hero and while she is recovering she begin researching things and it turns out when she compares injuries that she's the lucky one. The story itself from that point on revolves around her essentially getting revenge on this supposed "hero" after assessing all the damage that he is actually done in the name of justice.

This is a very interesting take on the super-hero / villain genre as the effects of their epic battles are never looked at. Don't believe me, just think of any Marvel comic book, movie (and DC for that matter too). The heroes and villains are fighting each other, buildings are falling down (and you'd expect there to be people in these buildings right, after all that what buildings are built for), cities are being destroyed, etc. etc. ad nauseam but who cleans it all up, pays for it etc.

This is the authors first novel, and it is a wonderful debut. I am definitely looking forward to any future novels, as she leaves us with an interesting cliff-hanger.

"What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions" by Randall Munroe

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Copyright: 2014
ISBN: 9780544272996

    This book was an absolute delight to read, however I'm still having issues even after finishing it three days ago with regard to some of the weird questions people will ask.

    Randall Monroe is the creator of the xkcd web comic, and its associated what if blog. The questions range from the relatively normal to some that are so far out in left field that it's hard to believe people would actually think of things like this. However Mr. Munro does a wonderful job i'm explaining how things work in the real world.

    Some of the topics covered are global wind storms, the risks of swimming in a nuclear  spent fuel pond, using machine guns as a jet pack, how a submarine would fair in orbit, the effects of hitting a speed bump at ridiculous speeds, building a bridge from London to New York with Lego, printing out Wikipedia, the odds of guessing all question right on the SAT exams, and many more.

    Some these questions may sound a little odd and off the wall (and some are really odd and there are no walls anywhere near), all are answered honestly but with a good deal of humour.

    There are hints in the book that additional volumes might be coming out, and if so I will definitely be looking for them. I'll also be signing onto xkcd.com and checking this out. After all I've got some weird questions too.

Highly recommended.

"Myth Adventures" by Robert Lynn Asprin (1946-2008)

 

Publisher: Nelson Doubleday

Copyright: 1985

It's been many years since I first began reading this series, and it was a lot of fun to take a break from the more serious books I've been reading and indulge myself in this one. Myth Adventures is a compilation of the first four books in the myth series, namely "Another Fine Myth", "Myth Conceptions", "Myth Directions", and "Hit or Myth". As you can probably appreciate from the title it is humorous (the titles being puns), and from the cover its in a fantasy world. I typically do not read a lot of fantasy, but this series is definitely one of my favorites.

The series begins with "Another Fine Myth" and tells the tale of Skeve, a rather lacklustre apprentice to the magician Garkin. In an offhand demonstration of power Garkin summons a demon named Aahz, and then gets himself killed by an assassin. This has the unfortunate result of trapping Aahz with Skeve in the dimension he was summoned to.

Because it seems assassins typically travel in groups to ensure the success of their missions Aahz and Skeve are now on the run, as Garkin had been able to kill his assassin, who therefore couldn't return to his partners and divide up the loot. Other characters from future novels in the myth series are also introduced.

In the second book "Myth Conceptions" the dynamic duo of Skeeve and Aahz have to defeat a huge invading army, that is camped on the border of their kingdom, and preparing to cross. A project such as this will surely test Steve's limited magical abilities, but with the assistance of a few friends some of whom we met in the first book they concoct a rather interesting response.

"Myth Directions" has Skeve, Tananda, and a number of others trying to find Aahz a birthday present and that was the easy part.

"Hit or Myth" has Skeve's boss King Roderick skipping town in order to avoid getting married, and forcing Skeve to take his place with the use of his trusty disguise spell, and that's just the beginning/

This first four books in this series are extremely funny, and the entire Myth series has acquired a significant following in fandom. The numerous jokes, puns, word play, and odd situations the group find themselves in make the story worth reading.

Highly recommended.

"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.