Book Review · 150 words
I have to say, I did not get on with this book. The central conceit is that a sci-fi fan is abducted by aliens and their universal translator converts everything into understandable slang. So we get lots of warp factors, ansibles, dilithium crystals, and Hitchiker’s references. It makes the whole thing feel a bit cheap. OK, maybe it is a little silly when an author comes up with some t…
Continue reading →Book Review NetGalley · 350 words · Viewed ~294 times
This is a cheerful and convivial look through the history of humanity's search for life "out there". It isn't an "ancient aliens" style book of nonsense, but rather a steady walk through what has actually happened - and what we hope might happen. It is a beautiful PDF which has been gorgeously typeset and lushly illustrated. So many fonts! Sure, it isn't brilliant for eInk but excellent for a…
Continue reading →Book Review Mary Robinette Kowal · 2 comments · 250 words · Viewed ~275 times
The Lady Astronaut books are an absolute triumph - it's just a shame that they've been somewhat overshadowed by the TV series "For All Mankind". They both follow a similar trajectory - what if women were an integral part of the early space race and helped us to colonise off-world? The books, thankfully, don't pad out as much as the rival show - this latest novel is tightly focussed and takes us …
Continue reading →Book Review satire Sci Fi · 2 comments · 200 words · Viewed ~404 times
No book has the right to be this good. It's the sort of howling sci-fi satire that Ben Elton used to excel at - a novel set five minutes in the future with a eye firmly on today's problems. The plot is delightful - what if carbon credits extinction credits were the new capitalist plaything? What second, third, and forth order effects would that have on the world? The worldbuilding is sublime -…
Continue reading →Book Review politics · 1 comment · 350 words · Viewed ~306 times
I expected so much more from this book. It starts with a central thesis - the UK over-indexes on America because we speak the same language, but there is an enormous gulf in attitudes between the two nations. We rarely hear on the news what's happening in France, Germany, or Ireland even though they're much closer geographically, politically, and culturally. That sounds like a pretty good book! …
Continue reading →Book Review history · 1 comment · 400 words · Viewed ~364 times
This is a charming travelogue through the confusing and contradictory world of measurement. It has a similar thesis to Seeing Like A State by James C. Scott and is infinitely easier to read than Inventing Temperature by Hasok Chang Emanuele Lugli has noted, units of measurement are, for the powerful, ‘sly tools of subjugation’. Each time they’re deployed, they turn the world ‘into a place that …
Continue reading →Book Review · 1 comment · 450 words · Viewed ~244 times
Is reading a morally good pastime? Do eBooks rot the brain in the same way that pulp paperbacks do? Should people of feeble character be allowed unfettered access to books? Show me how you want to read, and I’ll show you who you want to be. Leah Price has produced a pithy and astonishing look at what books were and whether they will survive. It is, perhaps, a little overwrought and o…
Continue reading →Book Review history · 2 comments · 200 words · Viewed ~265 times
Jonn Elledge has a witty and friendly tone. It skirts just the right line between trivia nerd and your favourite history teacher. He cheerfully points out the absurdities in history and swiftly pivots into the injustices of "Cartographic Colonialism". There are delightfully diverting asides and then we're brought right back into the horrors of a straight line. The problem with history is that…
Continue reading →Book Review NetGalley · 1 comment · 550 words · Viewed ~254 times
This is a decidedly odd book. Was there a "secret" hominid that the world overlooked? While the Neanderthals get all the limelight, perhaps there was another lost species of human lurking in the background. The science seems settled - yes there was - so this book tells us how scientists reached that conclusion. Except, it isn't really clear who this book is aimed at. Part of it is very casually…
Continue reading →Book Review sex · 650 words · Viewed ~288 times
This is a complicated book to review. There are several distinct strands to it, although they intermingle freely creating a confusing and disjointed thesis. Ita O'Brien, it is fair to say, invented the role of "Intimacy Co-ordinator" on film and TV sets. You wouldn't expect an director to just shout "fight" at a pair of actors and expect them to know how to safely perform a complex action…
Continue reading →Book Review · 150 words
After reading the short story A Dead Djinn in Cairo, I decided to grab the first book in the "Dead Djinn" series. It is a delightfully realised universe although reminiscent of both Saladin Ahmed's work - a Middle-East populated with ghuls, djinn, and sword-wielding magicians - and also Annalee Newitz's Terraformers with its sentient trains and unionised robots. Unfortunately, it is rather…
Continue reading →Book Review · 1 comment · 200 words · Viewed ~350 times
I was lounging by the pool while on holiday, desperately hoping that I would never need to use the knowledge contained within this book. "How to Land a Plane" is not a metaphor. This isn't a book which teaches you life-lessons via the exciting world of aeronautics. It is a charming and practical guide to landing plane. What the various instruments say, how the controls work, and the basics of…
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