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Review Date: 11/20/2009
Helpful Score: 6
This book falls flat. I will not say life was perfect in the HHGG, but I enjoy reading them, over and over. This, I didn't like reading even once. Oh, I finished it. It was not charming. That's the best thing about even the dark Mostly Harmless. I think I got one small laugh out of Colfer's work. I don't hate it. I just don't count it as one of the books in the set. Like a stranger cannot be an enemy or a friend, this is not hate-able. It is not lovable. It is Colfer's book with identically-named characters who are I guess vaguely familiar in a setting one might call the same universe. I don't. I'd like to see other writers start from the same leaping-off point, the ending of earth from Mostly Harmless, much like the multiverse concept of several earths. I'd like to see the insanity of all these different earths and Arthurs and Co. trying to survive the Grebulons with different authorial homages. Perhaps the inimitable but clearly witty Jasper Fforde? I wonder if Neil Gaiman would take a crack at it? Or even someone like Neal Stephenson? Someone who has FUN with writing, not makes fun of it. This was a D- in my gradebook. Not a fan. I miss Adams. The lightest-hearted atheist I ever read.
The Death of Truth: Responding to Multiculturalism, the Rejection of Reason and the New Postmodern Diversity
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
3
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
3
Review Date: 11/20/2009
Perfect for anyone who has ever heard, and been puzzled by, the plural form of the word "truth." This book was published before the ideas outlined and criticized in it came into wide circulation. Most people had not much heard of these ideas, such as "deconstruction" and "postmodernism" at the time outside of college classrooms, and it might be quite instructive to see how almost prophetic this book had been in showing what was coming. It is the overturning of an intellectual foundation. It is the ability to determine what is a good way of thinking and what is not, that was and is under attack. It has become a battle largely lost in this day, at least in our public discourse, and a look at the underpinnings of the opposition to absolute truth might help one in the fray to see how it was done, or should I say undone. McCallum is a clear and concise writer, and presents the odd philosophies of the deconstructionists and postmodernists in an easy-to-grasp way. A worthy read for anyone interested in the concept of actual truth, and a look a the playbook of those who do not hold such a concept as possible. (Caveat: I am a Christian and this is a book written from a Christian perspective, an all-too-necessary distinction in these days.)
Gardenwalks: 101 of the Best Gardens from Maine to Virginia and Gardens Throughout the Country
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
?
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
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Review Date: 3/3/2009
It is a book describing gardens far and wide, but without photos.
Review Date: 2/2/2009
Helpful Score: 6
Interesting, intriguing, well-imagined, but somehow it left me wanting. The characters were little more than sketches, sometimes motives were missing for actions taken, and the author telegraphed his surprises all too often. Plot was predictable even though it was so original. I would read another try at this world, and the characters are not unredeemable, but this was more like a draft than a finished work. Worth a lazy Saturday read, but paying good money for it was a disappointment. Well, now here's a chance to try it out free! It may be a favorite for many. Just not in my bookshelf, not to stay.
Review Date: 2/2/2009
Helpful Score: 2
I found this to be amazingly detailed and well-composed, very descriptive and easy to get lost in. In fact, I would risk another book by this author. That said, there were some deeply disturbing aspects to the book, one might say sick, that had to be endured to reach the end which lured so compellingly, a lamprey lure in the dark. Much like the sharp-toothed fish of the deeps, the ending bites.
Review Date: 3/3/2009
Helpful Score: 4
This was one of the mos well-written, interesting, yet simple books concerning magic that I have ever read. I strongly recommend it. Deeply intriguing, avoids cliches most fantasy books fall into, and hints at a deeper world and a richer tapestry of stories to come. I will most definitely be seeking more by this author, and am very surprised I hadn't heard the name before. Why is she not more well-known?
Review Date: 2/2/2009
Helpful Score: 2
I felt that, while this is better even than much of what had made Gibson famous, it fell short of expectations. I adored Pattern Recognition, and expected this to stand up as well. It was not bad by any means, but I felt Gibson lost in this title his customary edginess and velocity. Hope to see it return, and I most definitely will not wait for paperback for whatever he next writes!
Review Date: 2/2/2009
Helpful Score: 3
Takeshi Kovacs is tough as nails, hard as they come, and this book is no exception. I doubt Hollywood could make movies from these books without risking losing the cinema-worthy R. Not necessarily for the sexual content, though it is there, but the sheer violence. This book may indeed provide rich compost for vivid nightmares, but it picks up where many of our beloved cyberpunk writers left off. Worth a read and the risk of a sleepless night. For myself, the reason I lost sleep was not being able to stop. I've read everything I've found so far by Morgan, and he does not disappoint. (I do sometimes need to retreat to my "happy place" though.)
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