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Book Log, 2009-06-07 through 2009-06-16
(Currently in progress: Charles Stross's Saturn's Children: A Space Opera, since it's inspired by Friday which I recently re-read.)
24. The Survivors Club: The Secrets and Science That Could Save Your Life, Ben Sherwood
This seemed to be mostly about having a Survival Attitude (complete with an online quiz that lets you determine your Survival Style, though since this was a library copy I didn't dig the code out from under the dust cover to try it out). Sherwood refers to a few scientific papers on things like the "anniversary effect" (death rates going down before birthdays/holidays/etc and up afterwards), and it seemed like in every case there was also a throw-in of "and then this other group tried to replicate the results and couldn't". This doesn't inspire confidence in the rest of his conclusions. His focus on attitude and faith also seems to invite the failure mode of blaming victims for being insufficiently determined, which bugs me.
There were a few practical tips, though some of them are things I already do (air travel: count rows to the exits, wear pants and long-sleeved shirts made of natural fibers, and make sure your life vest really is under your seat) or knew (the rule of threes, though even there the formulation used adds "3 seconds without spirit and hope" and "3 months without companionship or love" to the usual air/shelter/water/food lines).
Not quite disrecommended, but I suggest a library pick-up rather than a purchase.
RR38. Zoe's Tale, John Scalzi (mmpb)
The fourth[1] "Old Man's War" book, this runs in parallel with The Last Colony but switches viewpoints to Zoë Boutin-Perry and brings in some new events that weren't seen in TLC. Despite the large amount of overlap in the events, the combination of the change in viewpoint, the newly seen events, and Scalzi's ability to create an emotionally engaging narrative makes it a very fine read. (It's good enough that I still teared up during my first reading, even though I already knew what was going to happen to one character...it being expected didn't diminish the impact.)
It's much more YA-ish than the others in the series, which I don't consider a criticism; just as Old Man's War will remind the reader of Starship Troopers, this has the flavor of an updated/modernized take on the Heinlein juveniles. I don't know how it reads as an entry into the OMWverse, but it works very well within the larger context. Recommended.
[1] Leaving aside the chapbook "Questions for a Soldier" and the novelette "The Sagan Diary", both of which I also enjoyed (and which also take on different viewpoints).
RR39. Wizard's Bane, Rick Cook (mmpb)
RR40. The Wizardry Compiled, Rick Cook (mmpb)
(read as the omnibus The Wiz Biz)
Humorous "computer programmer pulled into a world of magic" fantasies, with the protagonist using algorithms and the ability to combine primitives to build spells that work like code. Light and fluffy, but fun. In the first, he arrives and defeats the Dark League; in the second, what's left of it goes after him and he gets some help from home. Later books in the series weren't as good, IMO. Both books are in the Baen Free Library, so if they sound interesting give 'em a look.
24. The Survivors Club: The Secrets and Science That Could Save Your Life, Ben Sherwood
This seemed to be mostly about having a Survival Attitude (complete with an online quiz that lets you determine your Survival Style, though since this was a library copy I didn't dig the code out from under the dust cover to try it out). Sherwood refers to a few scientific papers on things like the "anniversary effect" (death rates going down before birthdays/holidays/etc and up afterwards), and it seemed like in every case there was also a throw-in of "and then this other group tried to replicate the results and couldn't". This doesn't inspire confidence in the rest of his conclusions. His focus on attitude and faith also seems to invite the failure mode of blaming victims for being insufficiently determined, which bugs me.
There were a few practical tips, though some of them are things I already do (air travel: count rows to the exits, wear pants and long-sleeved shirts made of natural fibers, and make sure your life vest really is under your seat) or knew (the rule of threes, though even there the formulation used adds "3 seconds without spirit and hope" and "3 months without companionship or love" to the usual air/shelter/water/food lines).
Not quite disrecommended, but I suggest a library pick-up rather than a purchase.
RR38. Zoe's Tale, John Scalzi (mmpb)
The fourth[1] "Old Man's War" book, this runs in parallel with The Last Colony but switches viewpoints to Zoë Boutin-Perry and brings in some new events that weren't seen in TLC. Despite the large amount of overlap in the events, the combination of the change in viewpoint, the newly seen events, and Scalzi's ability to create an emotionally engaging narrative makes it a very fine read. (It's good enough that I still teared up during my first reading, even though I already knew what was going to happen to one character...it being expected didn't diminish the impact.)
It's much more YA-ish than the others in the series, which I don't consider a criticism; just as Old Man's War will remind the reader of Starship Troopers, this has the flavor of an updated/modernized take on the Heinlein juveniles. I don't know how it reads as an entry into the OMWverse, but it works very well within the larger context. Recommended.
[1] Leaving aside the chapbook "Questions for a Soldier" and the novelette "The Sagan Diary", both of which I also enjoyed (and which also take on different viewpoints).
RR39. Wizard's Bane, Rick Cook (mmpb)
RR40. The Wizardry Compiled, Rick Cook (mmpb)
(read as the omnibus The Wiz Biz)
Humorous "computer programmer pulled into a world of magic" fantasies, with the protagonist using algorithms and the ability to combine primitives to build spells that work like code. Light and fluffy, but fun. In the first, he arrives and defeats the Dark League; in the second, what's left of it goes after him and he gets some help from home. Later books in the series weren't as good, IMO. Both books are in the Baen Free Library, so if they sound interesting give 'em a look.
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I should really go and read Friday now for a compare and contrast, since I've not read it in *years*. Unfortunately I'm not sure if my copy-in-storage is the boxes which have just come out of the storage unit where they've been for the last two years, or the boxes which are still in the family attic where they've been for the last ten years...