"The Map of the Sky" by Felix J. Palma

 

Publisher: Atria Books
Copyright: 2012
ISBN: 9781451660319

This novel is like the first in the series very detailed, and meticulously plotted, with a very interesting premise that definitely makes it worth adding onto any science fiction or fantasy readers list. There are even more plot twists than before, to once again make it a good combination of mystery and science fiction.

The second book is "Map of the Sky" and a number of the same characters reappear (sometimes quite literally in this one, but we also journey to Antarctica, and meet some new characters such as Arthur Conan Doyle and a few others, however they are rather busy combatting an invasion of planet Earth.

This novel is long, but the reader will quickly lose themselves in the story so that time will pass quite quickly. Mr. Palma does force you to pay attention to what's going on in order to grasp what he is telling you about, but it is well worth the read.

Very highly recommended.

"The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity" by Carlo M. Cipolla (1922-2000)

 

Publisher: Doubleday

Copyright: 2011

ISBN: 9780385546478 (hardcover)

Professor Cipolla takes an economically based look at human behaviour and in particular at human stupidity. He provides the reader with an important book that allows them to detect neutralize the effect of stupidity 

He does this in both a hilarious and serious manner that will leave you better equipped confront political leaders, unreasonable colleagues, and in-laws.

This was a very interesting book to read that does manage to render some humans odd behaviour and make it more understandable.

Well worth the read, both for the humourous side as well as the insight.

"The Map of Time" by Felix J. Palma

Publisher: Atria Books
Copyright: 2008
ISBN: 9781439167397 (Time)

This novel is a very detailed, and meticulously plotted time travel story, with a very interesting premise that definitely makes it worth adding onto any science fiction or fantasy readers list. There are lots of plot twists, some very interesting red herrings both of which make this a good combination of mystery and science fiction.

The first book in the series is "Map of Time" and in this book you will meet a number of different historical characters such as H. G. Wells, Bram Stoker, Jack "the Ripper", Marie Kelly and number of others. Some of these people play large roles, while others are minor but all of them do their job in advancing the plot very well.

This novel is long when compared to most on the market today, however the story is so well written that you don't really notice it. Mind you you will have to pay attention to what Mr. Palma is saying to grasp the concept, but that shouldn't be too hard a thing to do when the story is as well written as this one.

Very highly recommended.

"An Immense World: how animal senses reveal the hidden realms around us." by Ed Yong

 

Publisher: Random house

Copyright: 2022

ISBN: 9780593133231

An immense world is a fascinating book that examines the world of senses. Most people consider the fact that they have five senses smell, taste, sight, hearing, and touch. However this is an old concept (essentially what they have been taught in grade school, and that has persisted into adulthood) and we now know that there are many more senses that need to be considered.

Mr. Yong has broken his book down into eleven chapters, that deal with smells and taste, light, colour, pain, heat, contact and flow, surface vibrations, Sound, echoes (as an echo-location), electric fields, and magnetic fields. All of which are studied in laboratories around the world to hopefully better understand how animals and humans perceive their world.

The book goes into an amazing amount of detail, but is extremely easy to read and I'm sure it will be a book that will be referred to for many years to come.

This is a book that should be in every classroom, and school library.

Highly recommended.

"Guilty Pleasures" by Laurell K. Hamilton

 

Publisher: Jove Books

Copyright: 1993

ISBN: 9780515134490

This was a very different book that I normally read, and the reason I read it is because I happen to have 

picked up another book in the series without realizing it was a series, so I figured I'd better start at the beginning to attempt to figure out what the story was all about. Unfortunately this book did not accomplish this.

"Guilty Pleasures" is the first in a relatively large series of novels featuring Anita Blake who is a vampire hunter. While this might sound like a rather interesting profession  to have a character have, the story unfortunately it didn't live up to expectations. We are thrown into a world where for some unexplained reason vampires, along with various were-creatures, zombies and ghouls all exist albeit with a fair bit of tension. There are human groupies who idolize vampirism, and there is a church of the undead where people who wish to become vampires can you join. 

Unfortunately, we are given virtually no information with regard to backstory and world building as to how this happened. In addition, as this book is written in first person it will likely be rather difficult for the reader to comprehend what could possibly have brought about the societal changes to allow something like vampires etc. to exist alongside humans.

Now I concede that this may be the accepted standard for this genre, however in my opinion it is stretching the "willing suspension of disbelief" past the maximum. 

Outside of this, the characters are quite two dimensional and very difficult to like, or comprehend. In addition there are lots of characters, most of whom are just a name and a brief description.

Sorry, Anita Blake fans but I'm very much on the fence whether I will read anymore of this series.

"Longpath: Becoming the Great Ancestors Our Future Needs" by Ari Wallach

 

Publisher: HarperOne 

Copyright: 2022

ISBN: 9780063275881

The theme of this book is one that is rather different especially nowadays. It is about taking the long look at your life, the world around you, and the information you get from various sources in that world.

The author draws on aspects of history, theology, neuroscience, psychology, sociology, and various other resources to teach people how to look ahead and plan for the future. This allows the practitioner to relieve stressful events, allow them to cooperate better with others, boost their creativity and many other things.

It doesn't really matter what aspect of life you are thinking about at the present time long path is likely relevant as it allows you to make decisions that will help you in the future, By enriching your life and hopefully making your descendants proud of how you handled your life.

And extremely interesting, and thought-provoking read. Highly recommended. 

 

"The Secret World of Og" by Pierre Burton (1920-2004)

 

Publisher: McClelland and Stewart

Copyright: 1961

ISBN: 0771013868

This book is a lot of fun to read, it is obviously a children's book, and one I've had in my collection for many many years. I can remember one of my elementary school teachers reading it to me our class in the mid 60s. And I subsequently read it to my daughters when they were young.

The story tells the tale of five children who discover a secret passage underneath her playhouse leading to a underground civilization a little green people who primarily speak by saying the word "Og". A few can speak English, or at least a version thereof as they learned the language through comic books, children stories, etc. In addition to this the little people act like the characters they have read about in the comics, which leads to sound rather humourous encounters.

The storyline is very straightforward and would be an easy read for anybody in the middle elementary grades (grades three and up), and would make a very good story (as I know for certain) for parents to read to their children.

There was never any sequel to this book to the best of my knowledge, but it would've been nice if there was.

Highly recommended.

"Police Your Planet" Lester Del Rey (1915-1993)

 

Publisher: Del Rey Books

Copyright: 1956

ISBN: 0345298586

This book is quite dark in its portrayal of life on Mars, which is essentially an outlaw territory where citizens of Earth who are no longer welcome are sent. This plot detail obviously parallels the British use of Australia as a penal colony.

The protagonist Bruce Gordon is an ex-boxer, ex-gambler, ex-cop, and ex-reporter who is shipped off Earth for Mars with a one-way ticket, his alternative punishment being the mines on Mercury. Gangs run various parts of the city, graft is ever present, the police are corrupt, as are the politicians, and pretty much everybody else. While I can't be totally sure (as I was never exiled to Australia, not have I visited Mars), I think that the descriptions of how people would live in a penal colony are likely fairly accurate. 

Being that this book was written in 1956, the science is fairly incorrect based on what we now know of the solar system. The story itself is also quite confusing in a number of places, as there are a fair number of characters, and unfortunately for the most part they are very one dimensional. I have read very few of Mr. Del Rey's books, so I'm not overly sure how his other works stack up to this one, but he is a very famous author, so I will see what else I can read of his.