May 2012 readings
I'm still way behind in posting my readings. Here is May
The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power Is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World by Jeremy Rifkin. The book is focused on five pillars - "five pillars:" (1) renewable energy (2) Micro-generation of energy (3) Hydrogen storage (4) smart energy grid (5) Move from fossil fuel to electric and hydrogen cars. Other people in the club liked it more than I did. I liked the first third (but even in that part I thought he could have explained the Third Industrial Revolution more. The middle seemed too much boasting about himself and who he met and who he convinced to adopt the TIR. The last section seemed to be random ideas with little to no connection to the TIR. Yes, Green Schools is a good idea but not sure it's really *industrial.*
Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Greg Mortenson. I liked it but not as much as the first book about building the organization. Much of this was coping with the fame the success of the first book brought.
F & SF March/April issue.
Smoke & Mirrors by Neil Gaiman - Collection of short stories, a few dark.
Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs (Alpha & Omega 1)
Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs (Alpha & Omega 2)
Fair Game by Patricia Briggs (Alpha & Omega 3) -- Werewolfs without her were-Coyote character.
The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov - I had forgotten how much this novel seemed like a collection of three semi-related novellas. The middle part, with some real alien aliens, was by far the best.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline - I really liked this one. It is a real nostalgic look at the 1980s and a lot of fun. In a rather depressing future… the inventor of a virtual immersion game leaves his company and fortune to anyone who can decipher the clues hidden away in his virtual worlds with the answers all based on 1980s trivia. You don’t have to have grown up in the 1980s to enjoy the book, but those who did will get a lot more fun out of it.
Me and You by Niccolo Ammaniti - Not worth the time, not that it took much.
Antagonist by Gordon R Dickson and David W. Wixon - At some point in the series, the focus of the shifted from the Dorsai to their antagonists which causes a problem in trying to make the lead characters, who previously were the bad guys, sympathetic. It’s especially bad that the series ended here.
Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist takes to the Streets by Sudhir Venkatesh
Discount Armageddon (InCryptid #1) by Seanan McGuire
F & SF May/June issue. Like this issue, no real duds.
This month 3 nonfiction, 3 SF (1 re-read), 5 fantasy (including a ss collection), 2 double issues of F&SF, and 1 other fiction. So 14 books this month and 61 year to date.
The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power Is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World by Jeremy Rifkin. The book is focused on five pillars - "five pillars:" (1) renewable energy (2) Micro-generation of energy (3) Hydrogen storage (4) smart energy grid (5) Move from fossil fuel to electric and hydrogen cars. Other people in the club liked it more than I did. I liked the first third (but even in that part I thought he could have explained the Third Industrial Revolution more. The middle seemed too much boasting about himself and who he met and who he convinced to adopt the TIR. The last section seemed to be random ideas with little to no connection to the TIR. Yes, Green Schools is a good idea but not sure it's really *industrial.*
Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Greg Mortenson. I liked it but not as much as the first book about building the organization. Much of this was coping with the fame the success of the first book brought.
F & SF March/April issue.
Smoke & Mirrors by Neil Gaiman - Collection of short stories, a few dark.
Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs (Alpha & Omega 1)
Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs (Alpha & Omega 2)
Fair Game by Patricia Briggs (Alpha & Omega 3) -- Werewolfs without her were-Coyote character.
The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov - I had forgotten how much this novel seemed like a collection of three semi-related novellas. The middle part, with some real alien aliens, was by far the best.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline - I really liked this one. It is a real nostalgic look at the 1980s and a lot of fun. In a rather depressing future… the inventor of a virtual immersion game leaves his company and fortune to anyone who can decipher the clues hidden away in his virtual worlds with the answers all based on 1980s trivia. You don’t have to have grown up in the 1980s to enjoy the book, but those who did will get a lot more fun out of it.
Me and You by Niccolo Ammaniti - Not worth the time, not that it took much.
Antagonist by Gordon R Dickson and David W. Wixon - At some point in the series, the focus of the shifted from the Dorsai to their antagonists which causes a problem in trying to make the lead characters, who previously were the bad guys, sympathetic. It’s especially bad that the series ended here.
Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist takes to the Streets by Sudhir Venkatesh
Discount Armageddon (InCryptid #1) by Seanan McGuire
F & SF May/June issue. Like this issue, no real duds.
This month 3 nonfiction, 3 SF (1 re-read), 5 fantasy (including a ss collection), 2 double issues of F&SF, and 1 other fiction. So 14 books this month and 61 year to date.