This book is the long-awaited sequel to Ancillary Justice, and it did not disappoint. I read the first book and then the newly released sequel, so that I could keep everything in my head straight. It was wonderful. So wonderful that I didn’t want the story to stop and when it did, and I realized that I would have to wait a year or so for the third book of the trilogy, a small part of me died.
I’m hopeful that Doug will do a better review of both books at some point, because I simply can’t do them justice. BUY THEM, READ THEM, LOVE THEM. That’s an order.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/10/25/ancillary-sword-imperial-radch-book-2-by-ann-leckie/
This trilogy consists of the following three books (shocking, I know): Bitter Seeds, The Coldest War, and Necessary Evil. I enjoyed the books well enough, although it was yet another alternate history of World War II, with warlocks on the British side and German supermen with powers, and a dollop of time travel just to make things that much more interesting. I liked them, but they reminded slightly of another book I had read with a vaguely similar premise, mainly the alternate history WWII and Britain with warlocks bit. I got a bit tired of all the running around and time travel – it was frenetic, and the sorcery didn’t appeal to me for some reason. Don’t get me wrong, I love sorcery, just not has this was done.
So, that’s a lukewarm review for you, but really, it’s worth giving a shot because overall it is very interesting.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/10/25/the-milkweed-trilogy-by-ian-tregillis/
Yes, another dystopian novel (trilogy) by the intelligent and tricksy Margaret Atwood. The three books, in order, are Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood, and MaddAddam. I read good reviews about it, and bad reviews about it, and lukewarm reviews about it, but in the end all that matters is that I enjoyed it tremendously. The author managed to weave in an impressive number of elements that are familiar to this day and age, so that you’d stumble across something and go “I’ve seen that!” or “That’s not too different from this; I wonder if they’ll actually be able to do that in the future!” Of course, given that this is Atwood, the book did not go without the obligatory political-ish commentary about corporations, and the never-ending propensity of Man to choose the evil route. None of this is especially different from other apocalypse stories, at least in message, but the way she did the message I found to be interesting and very worth the time to read. I truly did enjoy all three books enormously. Atwood excels at world-building and making things believable even as you wince and wish it weren’t quite so believable.
I need to take a class in writing book reviews.
Aloha!
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/10/25/the-maddaddam-trilogy-by-margaret-atwood/
It seems to me there is something flawed in the Socratic question and answer approach to discerning truth. A person may know what something is and even be an expert on it even if he does not know how to precisely define it. An ophthalmologist, for instance, knows what sight is and is competent to treat matters relating to sight even though he may not have the semantic skill to define it in words. Similarly, most people know what blue is, but I challenge anyone to define blue. I am partly persuaded that Socrates employs this method simply to make himself look clever and make others look foolish, rather than from any disinterested desire to discover the truth. Moreover, the editors point out several logical fallacies in his arguments; he was not himself immune to the kinds of errors he exposed in others. Socrates is considered the father of Western philosophy, but these dialogues leave me with the impression that he is vastly overrated.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/10/25/early-socratic-dialogues-by-plato/
I took a correspondence course in developmental psychology many years ago, and I managed to hang on to the textbook in case I should ever get a desire to reread it. Very good decision. This book provides a wealth of information on the human stages of development based on current and historical research. Particularly interesting, and particularly encouraging, were the chapters on late adulthood and aging, which suggest that this time of life need not be a time of inevitable decline. This was definitely one of the better psych courses I have taken, both for its usefulness and its intrinsic interest.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/10/19/life-span-development-by-john-santrock/
I read this book from beginning to end, and I have almost nothing to say about it, except that French history after Napoleon is pretty boring.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/10/18/twentieth-century-france-by-james-mcmillan/
This is a tactical and strategic analysis of World War II, a purely military history without much in the way of human dimension. It makes some interesting arguments. Fuller believes air power is wasteful, immoral, and ineffective at deciding military conflict, and that the best use of it is in cargo transport rather than aerial bombing. He also believes that the Allies made a costly mistake in demanding unconditional surrender of both Germany and Japan, which ensured that the war would be ferociously fought to the finish when it could have been ended sooner with a negotiated peace. He makes some good points, but elsewhere he comes across as the pompous ass he obviously is. He clearly believes war is a game for gentlemen, and what he deplores most about World War II is that it was clearly not a gentleman’s war. He seems to believe that such wars occur when the little people are allowed to rise up instead of being kept in their proper place. Obviously a book from an older era.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/10/18/the-second-world-war-by-j-f-c-fuller/
This was the immensely satisfying end to a very good trilogy, although I will have to think about it a little longer to say just why.
The author thanks her English translator in the acknowledgements to German edition, so she is presumably very happy with its rendering as Inkdeath.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/10/14/tintentod-by-cornelia-funke/
This book only covers the first five months of World War I, but those five months were certainly horrendous enough to be worth remembering. The author does not buy into the the subsequent consensus that the war was pointless and not worth the cost; perhaps it never should have been fought, but in his view Germany was certainly to blame for starting it, and once it started it was necessary to resist the German onslaught in order to prevent a German hegemony of Europe. As an Englishman he does not think Britain’s sacrifice was in vain, although many of his compatriots did and do not agree with him. A good book that makes some good arguments, although much of it is a catalogue of horrors that undermines the author’s thesis.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/10/12/catastrophe-1914-europe-goes-to-war-by-max-hastings/
This is probably the best book on ancient Egypt I have read so far. The author is clearly passionate about Egyptian civilization, but he acknowledges its dark side; for all its artistic and architectural achievements, it was a repressive autocracy that cannot have been pleasant for ordinary people to live under. The continuity of this civilization is extraordinary and makes the history of the United States seem like a mere blip in world history by comparison. This book is entirely history and fortunately leaves out any discussion of archaeology, which makes it much more readable and interesting than most works on egyptology. The historical record of ancient Egypt is quite sparse, but what survives is an incredible story. This book did a better job of bringing an often dry and dusty subject to life than any comparable book I have read.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/10/11/the-rise-and-fall-of-ancient-egypt-by-toby-wilkinson/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire