May 25 2007

The Wind in the Willows

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 3:56 am

The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame

OK, I’m pretty sure I read this 20 odd years ago, but all I could remember when I thought about it were animations from TV, so I decided to check out the original.
To my surprise, but not dismay, the book does not exclusively focus on Toad’s adventures, unlike the cartoons I remember. The story follows Mole on his adventures, which also involves Ratty, Mr Badger, and of course Mr Toad in the Wild Woods and surrounding countryside.
It is really a childrens book, but there are deeper meanings to the plot, with class divisions and characteristics playing a prominent role.

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May 25 2007

Wizards First Rule

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 3:07 am

Wizard’s First Rule (Sword of Truth, Book 1) – by Terry Goodkind

Once more into the Fantasy realm I delved, and this book was certainly more faithful to the genre than others, though human’s nature and their imperfections also play a large role.
Goodkind sets the scene with two brothers, one (Michael) who is adept at the political intricacies required to take control of the reins of power, the other (Richard) is a forest boy, who has received training as a forest guide and been mentored by a wise man of the woods.
With a similar plot device to Gaiman’s Stardust & the forthcoming A Song of Ice and Fire book reviews, there is a boundary between kingdoms, put in place to protect the people.
Richard discovers a lot of truths about his origins, and struggles to understand why his life has turned out the way it has. Michael soon finds that power corrupts the soul, and is unable to stop himself from travelling down the path to ruin.
As you may have guessed from the title of this book, Richard is taught his first rule, a summary of which is ‘People are stupid, they can rarely tell the difference between a lie and truth, but are falsely sure of their skills therefore are easier to dupe’.
This is the first book in the Sword of Truth series, I’ve not yet read the others, but once I’ve finished my current collection, I’ll be looking into sourcing the others.

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May 25 2007

Idoru

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 12:59 am

Idoru – William Gibson

This is a sequel to Virtual Light, which has left me wanting to get a copy of All Tomorrow’s Parties to finish the trilogy.
One of the main concepts in this book is information analysis; taking a large volume of data from multiple sources, and attempting to ascertain facts not contained within that raw data, on a specified subject, be it a human or a corporation…
Rather than returning to deity worship, this novel has the idol as a pop star, who is intertwined with a semi-sentient being, who was created from computers.
Once again, Gibson has several plotlines weaving in and out, though this time the common factors are a little more obvious. That isn’t intended as a jibe at all, simply that the characters are all set on converging paths a little earlier on than in his previous books.
This book is more plot driven than pure hardcore cyber punk, but I still found it very enjoyable.

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May 25 2007

The Difference Engine

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 12:40 am

The Difference Engine – William Gibson

Instead of the future this time, we have a book set in Victorian times, however Gibson (& co-author Bruce Sterling) has the Victorians achieving a lot more technological advances than happened in ‘our’ reality. As his earlier books are seen as the start of cyber punk genre, this book is similarly seen as one of the starters of the Steam Punk classification.
It took a while to get into (the jumps in narrative viewpoint can spin you out a little), and I felt the ending could have been compressed a great deal, however I’m still glad I read it.
The main split with our history is the acceptance of the multiple uses of analytical engines (though obviously mechanical, as opposed to electrical/silicone based), and therefore mass production of said items. Police (& therefore state) intelligence is compiled and used to curtail the activities of subversives, though those of high class are given a wide margin of error before any attempt to limit their activities.
Fans of American history may well be interested in this alternative playing out of events, which sees Britain strengthen their global position, to the cost of the USA.
The main aim of most of the protagonists within this story is to get their hands on a series of punch cards (that’s like a CD or hard disk drive for those unaware of how data used to be stored & processed) that don’t actually contain the routines that people assume.

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May 25 2007

Count Zero

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 12:31 am

Count Zero – William Gibson

Following on from Neuromancer, this book introduces the concept of deities coming into widely held belief systems via the internet/matrix system. This book, much like the film Pan, has three distinct story lines, that leave you wondering how they will eventually converge.
The idea of god(s) being manufactured for mass consumption, with ulterior motives certainly rang true, as did the idea of corporations delving into the seedier aspects of humanity to achieve their aims. The story eventually leads into a space, where one of the main characters has to work hard to ensure his survival, and the demise of evil plots to control goings on, back down on Earth.
Once again, fans of the Matrix series of films may well notice where its creators received a lot of inspiration from.

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May 17 2007

Virtual Light

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 4:06 am

Virtual Light – William Gibson

Having finished Neuromancer, I was definitely ready for more Gibson. This book is also classed as cyber punk by some, but I found the characters to be more tangible and felt like I actually cared what happened to them more than in Neuromancer.
Virtual Light is the first of three novels set in a not-too distant future, in San Francisco. The famous Golden Gate bridge has been unofficially reassigned as a place for the homeless, rejecters of contemporary society and criminals to live and do their business. Rydell, a policeman, is assigned to stop a burglary in a high class home, but all is not as it seems, as when he arrives on the scene, he catches the gardener and wife (NOT the gardeners) in flagrante delicto!
The role of the media and multi-national corporates are in focus in this book, with ‘Cops In Trouble’ (a somewhat trashy, tabloid reality TV show) wanting Rydell as their beau (of the moment), but once again, events conspire to severely complicate the cop’s life.

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May 16 2007

Neuromancer

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 6:28 pm

Neuromancer – William Gibson

If you’ve not heard of this book before, you WILL have seen films that are influenced by it. You are using the internet, or more specifically the world wide web to read this blog, which was reasonably accurately predicted by Gibson, who named it PAX.
Although often lauded as the first real high quality Cyber Punk novel, don’t let this put you off if you don’t normally enjoy reading computer-orientated sci-fi novels. The book was published in 1984, and reading through the chapters now, you can’t help but tick off all the technologies that have caught up with the predictions.
If you want a crude analogy, imagine Tron, but with sex, drugs & death being the online punishment for hackers who attempt to break through the ICE (beefed up firewalls) at important corporate sectors. That is quite a lazy description though, so please don’t think any less of the book itself, I’m just struggling to describe the book in an apt way.
One of the unyet fulfilled visions of our future in the novel is that instead of keyboards/tactile feedback units, users interface with PAX via a neural interface – forget a 22″ Widescreen monitor with a Dolby Surround sound system, as far your brain is concerned, you are IN PAX itself, not just passively looking at it.
The main character in the book is called case, and we follow him in his trips both in the real world, and online, as he attempts to destroy an Artificial Intelligence. People live their lives with a great deal of assistance from medical and hi-tech implants, and life certainly doesn’t appear to be simpler in the future that Gibson imagines.
If you read this book, and start thinking about the films in the trilogy of The Matrix, or pretty much any immersive techy-based film, don’t forget to remind yourself this book pre-dates most of them by almost 20 years!

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May 16 2007

Rendezvous with Rama

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 4:56 am

Rendezvous with Rama – Arthur C. Clarke

No margarine spread is in anyway involved in this. (For any fellow ??????? shoppers out there 😉 )

Right, this is the last of the Arthur C. Clarke reviews. It was written back in the 70s, and is definitely more the sort of style we expect from him, compared to the Time Odyssey books. The setting is the 22nd century, and Earth scientists have detected a large body passing through our solar system. When a group of astronautical scientists land on the space craft, they are astounded by its sheer scale; cylindrical and 30 miles (or it might have been kilometres – big in either case) long, it generates its own low-strength gravity field by centrifugal force. They mount an expedition to discover its secrets, and those of the civilization that may exist inside. Once more,to reveal anything beyond that would ruin the book I think, but I do like the character portrayals in this book, and some of the more ‘human’ side of the interaction between characters.

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May 16 2007

Sunstorm (A Time Odyssey)

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 1:15 am

Sunstorm (A Time Odyssey) – Arthur C. Clarke

Again also featuring the writing talents of Stephen Baxter, this book carries on with the story from Time’s Eye. It is actually quite difficult to talk about this book without giving away the ending of the first in the series.
Suffice to say, there wouldn’t be a second in the series if the first ended in the death of too many main characters or the end of the world 🙂
This time around, there is a threat to Earth from the Sun, and leaders of all the nations must work hard to come up with a plan to avoid annihilation. Unfortunately, it turns out the Sun’s massive solar flares aren’t natural – someone or something wants Earth to be void of humans, the first strike effects electronics, the next one could mean the downfall of the human race!
Although it makes sense to read Time’s Eye before reading this novel, if you can only find Sunstorm in your local book store, things are explained well enough that you won’t be left feeling like there major unexplained holes in the logic of the plot here.
Again, I liked this novel quite a lot, it was responsible for quite a few late nights.

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May 15 2007

Time’s Eye (A Time Odyssey)

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 10:11 pm

Time’s Eye (A Time Odyssey) – Arthur C. Clarke

Featuring the writing talents of Stephen Baxter. I’m not sure whether this is a true 50/50 partnership, or whether Stephen Baxter does the writing, and Arthur C Clarke provides the idea and plot outline. In either case, I have to admit I slightly preferred this form, compared to Clarke’s more well known classics.

It may just be the style is now more modern, or possibly even dumbed down, but whatever the reason, I actually felt more drawn in by both this and the sequel (Sunstorm). The main theme covered is time travel, though not quite in the normal way it is used in other books. A cataclysmic event takes place on Earth, which results in multiple ‘slices’ of time physically sitting next to each other. I’ve probably not explained that very well, sorry. Imagine a plot of land, pre-disaster, all sitting in the same place, geographically & time wise. Now a few minutes later, you find a strip of land next to you is actually from a hundred, or even thousands of years ago. Weird, but not too scary? Now imagine that whatever was on that land in the past, is now with you in the present! (Though you could probably argue semantics over the use of the word present.)

So, now you have people from a massive span in time all lumped together, with a lot of potential for dischord and even war. However, don’t forget the outside influence as well – humans are not the only life forms involved in this story!

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