Not just another day in search mode
Got laundry done, filed some applications and sent off some resumes, and ~1900 stirred forth to do some shopping. Hit the Walmart for razors and Oxiclean (that stuff is the bomb for getting white things like underwear & Ace bandages clean) then did Five Guys for dinner and hit the library on the way home.
Just about the only bone I have to pick with the city library system is that they're not really consistent about filing SF books. For example, David Weber's Off Armageddon Reef can be found on the SF shelves, but its sequel By Schism Rent Asunder is with the regular fiction. Same with William Gibson: Spook Country is with the mainstream fiction, as it should be, but so are The Difference Engine and Pattern Recognition. WTF, people?
Anyway...this week I picked up By Schism Rent Asunder, Spook Country, and the ox-stunning His Share of Glory, which is the definitive anthology of C.M. Kornbluth's short fiction. I was appalled to learn from Fred Pohl's introduction that Kornbluth died at 34 from health problems incurred when Kornbluth served as a machine-gunner in the Battle of the Bulge.
In addition to the SF, I picked up Amy Chua's World On Fire, whose thesis is that exporting democracy and free markets leads to ethnic hatred and global instability. I'm pretty cynical about that assertion, since both existed long before anyone got into the business of spreading the Friedmanite gospel, but we shall see. Just to complete the set, I also sought out Chua's Day of Empire, which purports to demonstrate how hyperpowers rise and fall. I may be taking notes as I read that one for future use. ;)
Just about the only bone I have to pick with the city library system is that they're not really consistent about filing SF books. For example, David Weber's Off Armageddon Reef can be found on the SF shelves, but its sequel By Schism Rent Asunder is with the regular fiction. Same with William Gibson: Spook Country is with the mainstream fiction, as it should be, but so are The Difference Engine and Pattern Recognition. WTF, people?
Anyway...this week I picked up By Schism Rent Asunder, Spook Country, and the ox-stunning His Share of Glory, which is the definitive anthology of C.M. Kornbluth's short fiction. I was appalled to learn from Fred Pohl's introduction that Kornbluth died at 34 from health problems incurred when Kornbluth served as a machine-gunner in the Battle of the Bulge.
In addition to the SF, I picked up Amy Chua's World On Fire, whose thesis is that exporting democracy and free markets leads to ethnic hatred and global instability. I'm pretty cynical about that assertion, since both existed long before anyone got into the business of spreading the Friedmanite gospel, but we shall see. Just to complete the set, I also sought out Chua's Day of Empire, which purports to demonstrate how hyperpowers rise and fall. I may be taking notes as I read that one for future use. ;)