This was primarily a tribute to the author's father, who did have an amazing life. Having started as an aA mostly wonderful book, but somewhat uneven.
This was primarily a tribute to the author's father, who did have an amazing life. Having started as an aristocrat in pre-war eastern Germany, he was one of the daring pilots (on the losing German side) in World War One. Because Germany lost, his estate ended up in Poland鈥� and then back in Germany during World War II, only to end up on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain after WWII.
That stripped away the wealth of his aristocracy, and he became a scientists鈥� of sorts. That is one of the themes of the book, ultimately. What he did was science when he started, but as more was learned, science itself evolved, and his passion became sidelined and lost a lot of respect. And he spent his last decades as an embittered and somewhat impoverished loner.
Our author struggles with that, since he still saw the value in what his father had pursued, but at the same time was quite the modern scientist himself. The last chapters of the book delve into his sometimes tortured thinking about that. I think that was a weak way of ending the book; ideally, this should have been worked into the meat of the story, not left to become a rather pedantic and long postscript.
The author鈥檚 own life is an entwined albeit secondary, story. His adventures as a child and a teenager were magical, and are amazing to read. (The closest book to this I've read is William O. Douglas鈥� autobiographical Of Men and Mountains.)
Incredibly inventive and fun. I like it a tiny, tiny bit more than his Mr. Penumbra鈥檚 24-Hour Bookstore. The extravagance here is more coherent 鈥� Incredibly inventive and fun. I like it a tiny, tiny bit more than his Mr. Penumbra鈥檚 24-Hour Bookstore. The extravagance here is more coherent 鈥� at least as magical, but it doesn鈥檛 scribble outside the lines quite as鈥� er, non-linearly, if that鈥檚 a word. I guess I mean that Penumbra could more easily be described as scifi-fantasy. Sloan sticks to scifi-fantastical here, which pleases perhaps-too-rational brain....more
I was somewhat surprised that this wasn't an espionage novel, but a detective novel. A very good one, though 鈥斅爓e don't have a magically instinctive sI was somewhat surprised that this wasn't an espionage novel, but a detective novel. A very good one, though 鈥斅爓e don't have a magically instinctive savant who instantly recognizes the significance of every unexplained detail. Refreshing after gritting my teeth through a Hercule Poirot story....more
I apparently read several of le Carr茅鈥檚 other Smiley books back in 2008, but missed this one.
Five stars for quality; but it loses one because it progrI apparently read several of le Carr茅鈥檚 other Smiley books back in 2008, but missed this one.
Five stars for quality; but it loses one because it progresses soooo slowly. Of course, that鈥檚 a good deal of the story: it takes a staggering amount of quiet pondering for Smiley to do his thing, and our author demands that we be patient while he elliptically dabs in those details....more
1296 pages and no ebook version available? Wow, gonna have to go old-school for this one. Hefting a 3陆 pound book is soooo 1970s.
I鈥檓 catching up on on1296 pages and no ebook version available? Wow, gonna have to go old-school for this one. Hefting a 3陆 pound book is soooo 1970s.
I鈥檓 catching up on one of my favorite podcasts (hosted by one of the best voices ever), and an celebrating this book had the always-amusing (and increasingly amazing) Conan O鈥橞rien as a fan, and the hosts are even doing a 鈥榗lub鈥� series of podcasts to delve in deeper: .
In my failed attempted to find that ebook version, my wanderings stumbled upon these two links I want to memorialize:
鉃� Even though the book was published in 1974, in 2015 The Guardian was still so impressed they decided it needed a review:
鉃� Back in the day, the New Yorker had a four-part response to Caro鈥檚 book, and it offended the subject, who wrote a 23-page response. The four-parter is behind the New Yorker鈥檚 paywall, but at least Moses鈥� response is (I suspect it will read as rather petulant, but I鈥檒l read it after reading the book itself.) More on the brou路ha路ha ....more
I feel a little bad about the four stars, instead of five.
I mostly blame myself: I鈥檝e blasted through all of these so quickly that details don鈥檛 stickI feel a little bad about the four stars, instead of five.
I mostly blame myself: I鈥檝e blasted through all of these so quickly that details don鈥檛 stick too well. If I鈥檇 read this one just after binging all the previous books in the series, I suspect I鈥檇 have rated it five?
But it has been a few years, and only gradually did some of the character names start to click in. Some plot details left me somewhere between bewildered and annoyed. I remembered who ART was, but not what those letters stood for. And I鈥檇 more or less forgotten the existence of 鈥淭hree鈥� and 鈥淢urderbot 2.0鈥�. Darn it, me? Should I just go back and re-read the whole series?
If you end up in circumstances akin to mine, there is a resource beyond Wikipedia. Check out the fan wiki at and poke around.
I鈥檒l also say I can鈥檛 give this an enthusiastic five stars because my brain keeps asking questions about plausibility. A big one in a lot of science fiction stories is how easily they all go from point A to point B, with effectively no time passing and without any concern for fuel. Another is just 鈥榝uel鈥� in general. Murderbot gets run down to the point that an involuntary shutdown is a worry, but apparently a reboot will magically recharge all those batteries? And also size?鈥� ART-Drone is depicted as big enough a human in an environmental suit could 鈥榬ide鈥� it from the ground up to a shuttle, but later is small enough can be carried by two injured humans and strapped into a chair? Er, what?
Anyway, the series is still a magnificent hoot. Read it....more
I鈥檝e restarted reading this from one a year ago, after stalling out at doing much of any reading for some time. I鈥檝e done a little scifi/faDelightful!
I鈥檝e restarted reading this from one a year ago, after stalling out at doing much of any reading for some time. I鈥檝e done a little scifi/fantasy trash reading to get back into the habit, but I want to get back into deeper stuff, and ravens have always been fascinating.
I once fantasized about living deep in the mountains where ravens are common, and creating a feeding station that required the cleverness of a covid, but the weight of a raven (no blue jays!). And then gently training them to squawk whenever anyone but me is nearby, thus an avian intruder alarm, albeit a somewhat untrustworthy one.
I could collect discarded raven feathers and sew them into a cloak, and go into town for supplies are that freaky raven guy, ideally with an eye patch and a raven on each shoulder.
Yeah, that ain鈥檛 gonna happen.
But if I ever own property where ravens might come by and no neighbors would object to me feeding them, I hope I get around to playing Amicus corvorum....more
Pretty much just reminds us who Murderbot was, and that it was a moral creature, albeit irritable at that compulsion, even before theVery, very short.
Pretty much just reminds us who Murderbot was, and that it was a moral creature, albeit irritable at that compulsion, even before the action of the first book took place.
Apparently available for free in the archives of Wired magazine, but folks on Reddit concluded that there were slightly significant alterations, so I spent the 99垄 on Amazon to buy the ebook. Hated doing so on Amazon, but the other options weren鈥檛 realistic. In retrospect, I don鈥檛 think those changes were likely to be significant, so maybe go ? I wish I knew how much of the money Martha Wells gets, and how much enriches Ebeneezer Bezos....more
I'm adding this to my 鈥榤aybe鈥� shelf after reading . That included the new-to-me jargon 鈥淏espoke Realities鈥�,I'm adding this to my 鈥榤aybe鈥� shelf after reading . That included the new-to-me jargon 鈥淏espoke Realities鈥�, which I recognized as a tighter neologism that might help folks understand the current and growing crises of social epistemology. So I read , which then led to (by this book鈥檚 author), who uses the phrase 鈥渁 dissensus of bespoke pseudo-realities鈥� before switching to 鈥渂espoke realities鈥� later.
The author tells us this crisis began when, about twenty years ago, the internet allowed the 鈥渃ost to publish鈥� drop towards zero. Personally, I think it began earlier, in 1987, with the repeal of the F.C.C.鈥檚 Fairness Doctrine because it interfered with broadcasters鈥� First Amendment right to spout nonsense.
The world is facing critical problems: the climate crisis is the most obvious, but the creeping growth of the appeal of nationalist authoritarianism is also critical. Both of those could, potentially, be solved. (There are others, of course 鈥斅燼rtificial intelligence, for example.)
But the problem of our multiplying and mutually antagonistic 鈥渂espoke realities鈥� has no apparent solution, and will exacerbate those existential twin crises, with feedback loops between all three of them.
I鈥檓 not optimistic. There鈥檚 a pretty convincing argument that humans are, by nature, not good at logical reasoning. A good introduction to this was presented by Elizabeth Kolbert in the 2017 article . If you aren鈥檛 already familiar with that idea, you probably will be hard to persuade 鈥� that is, of course, part of the problem.
I started following human irrationality when I stumbled on game theory back in the late 1980s. I was thrilled when I found the Wikipedia page for the back in 2004. (It was pretty primitive then; . It got much better in when each item received a short explanation.)
But the scope of human miscognition just kept expanding. I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 much hope....more
Of the short stores Snyder tucked into the series, this was the only one that is potentially integral to the series, since it provides the introductioOf the short stores Snyder tucked into the series, this was the only one that is potentially integral to the series, since it provides the introduction of several major characters, but does so in a way that somewhat provides spoilers if read before finishing the whole series.
According to my notes, this was one of the better books in the series? But I read them all so fast, I really can't differentiate. That makes sense, thAccording to my notes, this was one of the better books in the series? But I read them all so fast, I really can't differentiate. That makes sense, though 鈥� if you鈥檝e just read Shadow Study, the previous book, you hit an abrupt cliffhanger. That is integrated better into the story along with more. So think of books four and five as essentially connected.
p. 38: Annoyance: crossbreeding vs grafting. The author conflates these, assuming that a graft creates a 鈥渘ew type of plant鈥�. Nope nope nope. I'm guessing whatever editor was involved here didn't have much of a science background? In any case, it would have put a big no-go into the developing storyline, except that could have been overcome by having the breeders capable of some 鈥減lant magic鈥� that let them blend the capabilities of plants.
p. 189: Why it鈥檚 good:
He hesitated for a second, then said, 鈥淚 need to tell Ari he was right.鈥� 鈥淚t could be worse.鈥� Valek waited. 鈥淚t could be Janco who was right.鈥� 鈥淎h, yes. That would be worse.鈥�
Once you鈥檝e read this far, you鈥檒l understand why this puts a big grin on your face. The book is full of implausibilities, but the characters are emotionally deep and compelling. Okay, the bad guys aren鈥檛 deep or compelling, but that is one of the big things that differentiates genre fiction from literary fiction. We aren鈥檛 dealing with Booker Prize territory, here....more
The last sentence was actually something I鈥檇 predicted, not imagining that it would be something the author would uEnded abruptly, with a cliffhanger.
The last sentence was actually something I鈥檇 predicted, not imagining that it would be something the author would use to end the with.
A chaotic story, with no theme other than adding more threats and complications. I鈥檇 expected our heroine to spend this book exploring the Shadow domain. After all, in the Fire Study book that domain played a substantial role. But here鈥� nothing. Probably the weakest book in the series; don鈥檛 start it unless you鈥檝e got the next book in the series read to go.
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