Wetware by Rudy Rucker
The anarchic robots, the boppers, are back in Wetware, the second novel in Rucker's groundbreaking cyberpunk series. I enjoyed this novel as much as the first.
Biking to Red Rocks, beautiful hike
14 years ago
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
6. Wetware
Wetware by Rudy Rucker
The anarchic robots, the boppers, are back in Wetware, the second novel in Rucker's groundbreaking cyberpunk series. I enjoyed this novel as much as the first.
5. the Color of Magic
The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
This is the second Pratchett book I've read. It was fun and an enjoyable read but I did set it aside on several occasions for other books. It was Pratchett's first Diskworld novel and served as a tour of Diskworld. A tourist, the forst tourist to ever set foot on Diskworld arrives and chooses the incompetent and cowardly near-wizard Rincewind as his guide. The evade Death and take many snapshots as the hop from one continent to the next.
4. Parable of the Sower
Parable of the Sower by Octavia ButlerThis was a brutal second installment of this brilliant series by Octavia Butler. It continues the epic tale of Lauren Oya Olamina and Earthseed, her burgeoning religion and community Acorn. At the end of the first novel Olamina, her husband Bankole and their fellow survivors had just arrived at Bankole's sisters land only to find it burnt to ground and Bankole's relatives murdered. This novel picks a couple years later after the survivors had rebuilt the land into the community Acorn.
After a hopeful, but difficult few years of growth, the community is attacked by Christian Extremists and the tale turns brutal. During the ensuing struggle Olamina never gives up her vision of the Earthseed Destiny.
3. The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science
The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of ScienceThe content of this book was interesting, unofortunately all of the jocular asides of the author began wearing on me real fast, and they just kept coming one per paragraph. Eventually I began skimming the book and later set it aside and found other sources for basic physics, chemistry and science literacy.
2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of AzkabanBook 3 of the Harry Potter series, sees the slow transformation of the series from Children's literature to full blown kids-and-adults fantasy. I decided it was time to re-read the series and this book was a great treat. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed this book.
In it Harry first meets his godfather Sirius Black,
his favorite defense against the dark arts teacher Professor Lupin and the dread Dementors.
1. Dr Bloodmoney
Dr Bloodmoney by Philip K Dick
This novel by P K Dick is a bit of a change of pace for the author. The setting for the story is just before and after a Nuclear Apocalypse. There are some familiar Dickian elements: the Gnostic vision of a world ruled over by a false demiurge with a distant, helpless Deity looking on from beyond the planet. In this case the demiurge is the phocomelus Hoppy Harrington and the deity is an orbitting astronaut, the witty radio voice of Dangerfield that people all over the world tu
ne into every night when the satellite he is stranded on is within range.
After the Nuclear anihilation, the novel follows the survivors as they first escape the city of Berkeley and then head into the countryside of Northen California. All of the small towns have a doctor and a handy. A handy is someone who can fix the old technologies that still remain, such as the refrigerators or the radios the towns use to tune in the orbitting Dangerfield. One such handy is Hoppy Harrington, a man without arms or legs who can fix technology with his mind. He is also a brilliant impersonator who often entertains the town by imitating dangerfield and others.
The title character Dr Bloodmoney, or Bluthgeld, is the nuclear physicist responsible for the nuclear armageddon. Afterwards he escapes from Berkely and becomes a sheep farmer in the town of West Marin, a town he shares with Hoppy. Bluthgeld suffers from paranoia and in West Marin believes he is able to fire off another volley of nuclear weapons. Before he is able to finish this task he has a confrontation with Hoppy whose powers of telekinesis are increasing, he and this leads towards the end of the novel.
I quite enjoyed Dr Bloodmoney, is satisfied my thirst for paranoid Dickian stories and post-apocalyptic tales. Highly recommended.
This novel by P K Dick is a bit of a change of pace for the author. The setting for the story is just before and after a Nuclear Apocalypse. There are some familiar Dickian elements: the Gnostic vision of a world ruled over by a false demiurge with a distant, helpless Deity looking on from beyond the planet. In this case the demiurge is the phocomelus Hoppy Harrington and the deity is an orbitting astronaut, the witty radio voice of Dangerfield that people all over the world tu
ne into every night when the satellite he is stranded on is within range.After the Nuclear anihilation, the novel follows the survivors as they first escape the city of Berkeley and then head into the countryside of Northen California. All of the small towns have a doctor and a handy. A handy is someone who can fix the old technologies that still remain, such as the refrigerators or the radios the towns use to tune in the orbitting Dangerfield. One such handy is Hoppy Harrington, a man without arms or legs who can fix technology with his mind. He is also a brilliant impersonator who often entertains the town by imitating dangerfield and others.
The title character Dr Bloodmoney, or Bluthgeld, is the nuclear physicist responsible for the nuclear armageddon. Afterwards he escapes from Berkely and becomes a sheep farmer in the town of West Marin, a town he shares with Hoppy. Bluthgeld suffers from paranoia and in West Marin believes he is able to fire off another volley of nuclear weapons. Before he is able to finish this task he has a confrontation with Hoppy whose powers of telekinesis are increasing, he and this leads towards the end of the novel.
I quite enjoyed Dr Bloodmoney, is satisfied my thirst for paranoid Dickian stories and post-apocalyptic tales. Highly recommended.
starting 30 books again in 2009
I've decided to start the count over again for 2009. I didn't quite make 30 books in 2008, but I've got a bit more time now in 2009. Bring on the Sci-Fi!
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