"Earth: The Operators' Manual" by Richard B. Alley

Publisher:New York : W.W. Norton & Co., [2011]
Edition:First edition.
Copyright Date:©2011
ISBN: 9780393081091
Characteristics: x, 479 pages :,illustrations ;,25 cm

This is a companion book to the PBS television series, unfortunately I have not been able to get my hands on a copy of the video to compare the two, but in any case while the video would undoubtedly enhance the book, I'm fairly sure it wouldn't detract as this book is very well researched and written.

The amount of detail in this book is amasing, and the information should be indispensible to anyone doing research on the effects of climate change both historically and in modern times. The book takes the reader a journey via a series of stories that does delve into the scientific end of things, but it is kept to a basic level so it should be understandable to readers of a Junior High School level or higher.

Dr. Alley, a professor at Pennsylvania State University, takes on topics such as how did we get fossil fuels to begin with, the establishment of the American National Academy of Science, glaciation and the ice ages. He then delves into how humans can help be looking at solutions based on human waste, the wind, geothermal energy, nuclear, and solar energy.

Highly recommended to anybody who is interested in the future (or the past for that matter) of this rock we live on.

"The Number of the Beast" by Robert A. Heinlein(1907-1988)

Publisher: Fawcett Gold Medal

Copyright: 1980

ISBN: 0449144763

This book is considered be part of the World as Myth series, but while reading it there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of reasons for this inclusion. In fact you don’t really even get what the “World as Myth” is all about until you are at least three quarters of the way through the book. No, I’m not going to tell you why!

This story tends to be somewhat tedious to read because for the most part the text is almost completely dialogue. In addition to this the main characters - all four of them – are constantly arguing with each other throughout the middle third to half of the story. These two reasons force me to put this novel into my “not so favourite” category, which for something by Heinlein is rather strange (at least for me).

Other than the above issues the story is relatively interesting, especially in the first and last quarters, as it deals with a first contact scenario. In this case however the aliens, which come from an alternate universe have been on earth for some time, but have now become hostile because humans have discovered how to travel between the universes. In addition there are numerous references to the old pulp fiction stories, which are fun to encounter.

The person who discovered the method of travel, is targeted by the aliens, and is forced to flee along with three rather unlikely companions. As is the case with a number of Heinlein’s later novels a good deal of the storyline revolves around social issues, politics, culture, gender relations, sex, etc. I don’t find this too be bad, but some might.

In order to truly appreciate this book, I believe you first need to read Methuselah's Children & Time Enough For Love.

All things considered this is a fairly good read, but not nearly as good as some of his other stuff.

"Asimov on Science Fiction" by Isaac Asimov (1920-1992)

Publisher: Avon Books
Copyright: 1981
ISBN: 0380585111

This book is a collection of 55 essays that were taken from the editorials published in "Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine", and many other publications, such as Parade magazine. The range of topics is very large even though they are all concerned with some aspect of science fiction.

The majority of these essays deal with the writing of science fiction, the history of s-f, and to an extent the history of pulp fiction in general. When Science Fiction first became a literary genre (even though it was nowhere near official) virtually the only place that authors could have their stores published was in what was then known as the pulps (so named because they were printed on cheap pulp paper). VP the author is virtually nothing, one of the highest was 1 cent a word, but most much less than that. Nevertheless, this is were the majority of classic science fiction writers cut their teeth. Authors such as Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, E. E. "Doc" Smith, and many more.

While I had not been born when the pulps were in their heyday, I'm not sure what the current state of science fiction would be today if they hadn't existed, in fact it's possible that the genre might not even exist as we know it.

Any person who is interested in the history of science fiction, the history of the authors of the genre, or just reading some very good essays on the topic of science fiction would find this book very interesting I think.

"Titan" by John Varley

Publisher: New York : Berkley Pub.,
Copyright: 1979
ISBN: 9780441813049

Titan is the first book in a trilogy that was nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards.

Titan is another first contact novel, but once again with a bit of a twist. An object is detected orbiting Saturn, and a spacecraft captained by Cirocco “Rocky” Jones the first female captain of a vessel, the Deep Space Vessel Ringmaster. When they get close enough to the ring shaped object they realise that it could only be the product of an alien civilisation. Foregoing plans to investigate the object they approach and are captured. The ship is destroyed, and the crew drawn into the object and kept isolated is a condition of almost total sensory deprivation.

Eventually after an unknown duration the crew are released into the interior of the alien space craft. They encounter centaurs, angels, gas filled whales that sail though the air. Rocky set out though this world to find her crew and to determine what makes the alien spacecraft which they have named Gaea.

Her travels took her and one of her crew Gaby though many adventures, and eventually they meet the person who is in charge of the ship.

This is a very good book, which I would recommend to anyone who is looking for a well written story that explores some interesting aspects of human relations.

"Many Skies: Alternative Histories of the Sun, Moon, Planets, and Stars" by Arthur Upgren

Publisher: New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, [2005]

Copyright: ©2005

ISBN:9780813535128 

Characteristics:viii, 198 pages :,illustrations ;,24 cm

This is an extremely interesting book that examines astronomy and astrophysics from the perspective of what would happen if the world were not as we currently know it. What I mean by this is if our solar system was not comprised of eight planets, a single sun, and various numbers of moons around all but the first two planets how would this have changed human discovery of astronomy, physics, or our understanding of the world itself, and much more.

The book is structured to pose an alternate scenario to what we know as normal in our universe. In it Dr. Upgren deals with our near solar system, and looks at what it would be like if Earth had three moons? Going on from this what if we were in a trinary star system? He then goes on to explain how stellar magnitudes work, and discusses proper motion. He then speculates what science today would been like if Ptolemy's discovery that the sun was at the centre of the solar (fourteen hundred years before Copernicus proposed nearly the same thing) had been accepted. He then concludes the first section by looking at what would have changed if Earth was the only planet orbiting the sun.

He goes on in subsequent sections to talk about other topics such as what would Earth be like if we had rings like Saturn, were close to a very large planet, were part of a double planet system, and so on. He also  writes about globular clusters, celestial mechanics and its history and so on.

Over the years I have dabbled in amateur astronomy, and have had the questions that Dr. Upgren poses in his book come to mind a number of times, but rarely was I ever able to find anyone who could answer them, or would be willing to even consider my interest.

As a writer, I have explored some of these questions more, and believe this book would be a valuable resource for any author of Science Fiction, or Fantasy who has a need to world-build and make it plausible (yes, I realise this actually contradicts the way some people define fantasy, but so be it).

Check it out.

"The Foundation Trilogy" by Isaac Asimov (1920-1992)

Publisher: Doubleday
Copyright: 1951

The Foundation Trilogy is considered by most readers to be one of the classic science fiction story. It one science fictions most coveted award the Hugo in 1966, and has never been out of publication since it's original release in 1951. Very few other science fiction stories hold this publication record, one of the few being "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert A. Heinlein.

The story itself is that many thousands of years in the future, and Earth (And the origin of humans) is a legend at best, but probably closer to a fable. Humans have essentially colonized the vast majority of the Milky Way Galaxy, and are governed by an Emperor who is located towards the centre of the Galaxy. It should be noted that in 1951 when this book was written it was unknown that a black hole is in centre of the Milky Way galaxy.

The empire however is in dire straits, and essentially falling apart. Hari Seldon, a mathematician develops the science of psychohistory-the mathematical formulation of sociology-which can be used to predict with fair accuracy the future based on group dynamics. He is able to predict the future of the empire, and its eventually downfall. His calculations indicate that there will be a gap of 30,000 year before the new Empire is founded. He however predicts that through the establishment of two Foundations that this can be reduced to 1000 years, even though the downfall of the current Empire is unstoppable.

The story tells of the events over a period of approximately 500 years following the collapse of the empire and prior to the predicted establishment of the second empire.

In the early 1980s Asimov wrote four other novels set in the same universe. Two were sequels: "Foundation's Edge" (1982) & "Foundation and Earth" (1986), and two were prequels "Prelude to Foundation" (1988) and "Forward the Foundation" (1993).

Enjoy!

"How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day" by Michael Gelb

Published: New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press
Year: c1998.
Physical Details: xiv, 322 p. : ill. ; 23 cm
ISBN: 0385323816

On the outside this may seem like a standard self-help book, but it is a bit more than that. Not only does it give you some very interesting insights into the life of Leonardo da Vinci, but it examines his philosophy and methodology on how he thought and practised what he accomplished during his life.

Mr. Gelb was invited to speak at a conference of executives, on how to be more creative, and balanced etc. The chairman of this conference even suggested something about Leonardo, and this book is the result of all the research that had to be done to produce the talk.

The book is separated into three sections. Part one of this book gives an overview of Leonardo da Vinci's life, his major accomplishments, some of the practical aspects of how he did his work, and an overview of what the renaissance was actually like. Part two takes you through seven different principles used by da Vinci: Curosità, Dimostrazione, Sensazione, Sfumato, Arte/Scienza, Corporalita, and Connessione. In English these are generally Curiosity, the willingness to gain knowledge through experience, the continual refinement of the senses, the willingness to embrace ambiguity, the balance between science and art, the cultivation of dexterity, and finally the appreciation of the interconnectedness of everything. Part three gives a short but very interesting course on da Vincian drawing principles, which is very interesting and worth the time.

Each of these sections gives an overview of the topic, as well as exercises the reader can do to further their knowledge and enjoyment of the lessons being learned. By doing these exercises it is almost guaranteed that the reader will open up a new understanding of how their life can be changed, and they enjoy it more.

There is a workbook that goes with this text, which I have not seen, but I am assuming it is just an expansion on the various exercises that are given in this book. 

Overall this is an extremely interesting book, and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in both the life of Leonardo da Vinci, as well as improving their enjoyment of life.

"Time Enough For Love" by Robert A Heinlein (1907-1988)

Publisher:New York : Berkley Medallion
Copyright Date:©1973
Characteristics:  589 pages

As mentioned in my review of Methuselah's Children a couple of weeks ago Time Enough for Love is the second book in a series. It takes place many centuries after Methuselah's Children, and the only character that is in both books for any substantial amount is Lazarus Long who is now about 2000 years old (although others are briefly mentioned). 

With the aid of the Libby – Sheffield Drive humans have essentially colonized the near galaxy in what is referred to as the Great Diaspora. We learn during the stories that are related in this novel that earth is essentially uninhabitable, due to a limited nuclear war, and pollution, etc. It is for the most part avoided by pretty much everyone.

When the story opens Lazarus, has essentially given up on life and decided he wants to die. However, the leader of the planet Secundas (and as it happens one of his great-grandchildren) has decided that they need to keep him alive in order that they can learn what he knows. This is a point of contention, because everybody in the story essentially lives an extremely long time the right to end your life is something that cannot be taken away. However, they do that, much to Lazarus' annoyance.

He finally relents and allows them to proceed with his rejuvenation on the condition that they find him something new to do. In order that they know how to proceed, and what he has done in the past he is asked to relate stories of his life and experiences which will be used to assist in the search.

The stories he relates, along with connecting material of what he's going through during his rejuvenation make up the bulk of the novel. With the remainder being made up by the new life they lead after migrating to a new planet, and the adventure they find for him.

There are some rather mature themes in this novel that may be unsuitable for young adults, but I read the novel for the first time when I was quite young and it the only thing it did was to open my eyes to the infinite different ways the a person can see the world. There are many discussions about genetics, sex, death, politics, religion, family values, and the like but it is done in an honest, and open style that will teach readers. This is also something that is rarely addressed in virtually any other science fiction, even though society is one of the more fluid things in the world. After all, this book was written in 1973, and look how much has changed between then and now only 47 years later.

Enjoy this book, I have read it many times, and I've always found new things that made me think about our world.