tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53317496374970751412024-02-07T15:59:43.839-08:0030 BooksBart Lantz reviews booksBart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-3716374895685385682012-09-16T09:12:00.001-07:002012-09-16T09:12:46.843-07:00Review: Dune<br /> <a style='float: left; padding-right: 20px' href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/104'><img alt='Dune' border='0' src='http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156877070m/104.jpg'/></a><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/104'>Dune</a> by <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/58'>Frank Herbert</a><br/><br /> My rating: <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/361316593'>3 of 5 stars</a><br /> <br/><br/><br /> There were parts of this novel that I thought were brilliant. The planet of Arrakis, the ecology, the spice, the worms, the religion of the fremen, the religion of the Bene Geserit. But there were many irritating things as well, starting with Paul and his mother Jessica. Those two characters seemed quite dated. They made this novel feel like a 1950s YA novel and a irritating one at that. But if you ignored the front story and concentrated instead on the amazing backstory this was an amazing novel. <br /> <br/><br/><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/361316593'>View all my reviews</a><br /> Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-77862908652576905552012-09-09T12:56:00.001-07:002012-09-09T13:00:10.031-07:00Review: Homage to Catalonia<br /> <a style='float: left; padding-right: 20px' href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9646'><img alt='Homage to Catalonia' border='0' src='http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1337103046m/9646.jpg'/></a><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9646'>Homage to Catalonia</a> by <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3706'>George Orwell</a><br/><br /> My rating: <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/13237417'>5 of 5 stars</a><br /> <br/><br/><br /> This book was a great and engrossing read, bringing the Spanish Civil War and the Barcelona street fighting between the Anarchists, the Stalinists, the Replublicans and the POUM back to vivid life 80 years later. I highly recognize it for its unromantic description of life in the trenches on the front line but also for its very moving and romantic treatment of the original revolution in Spain and Orwell's description of the people and the changes that the revolution had on daily life and the slow descent back into authoritarianism.<br /><br />Orwell has an interesting technique of first describing how an event (such as the street fighting in Barcelona) directly affected him in a diary like account, and then in the following chapter, he'd fill in the story with a broader brush of what was going on in a political, macroscopic view.<br /><br />The final chapter's were maddening descriptions of the Pogram against the POUM, the trotskyite party and militia which were outlawed and thrown into prison, accused of collaborating with the fascists, even as they were coming off of the front lines that they were holding against the fascist. I had heard stories of the treachery of the Stalist factions in the Spanish Civil War, but had no idea the extent of their back-stabbing. <br /><br />But still Orwell warns that all accounts of the Spanish Civil Was were biased and he warns of taking his own account as objective truth. But through it all the heartbreak, the stupidity, the treachery; he still sees the humanity of the people in the streets and on the front lines:<br /><br /><blockquote><br />This war, in which I played so ineffectual a part, has left me with memories that are mostly evil, and yet I do not wish that I had missed it. When you have had a glimpse of such a disaster as this--and however it ends the Spanish war will turn out to have been an appalling disaster, quite apart from the slaughter and physical suffering — the result is not necessarily disillusionment and cynicism. Curiously enough the whole experience has left me with not less but more belief in the decency of human beings. <br /></blockquote><br /><br /> <br/><br/><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/13237417'>View all my reviews</a><br /> Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-46268764379435861342012-07-29T18:08:00.001-07:002012-07-29T18:08:12.110-07:00Review: A Feast for Crows<br /> <a style='float: left; padding-right: 20px' href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13497'><img alt='A Feast for Crows' border='0' src='http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1333561518m/13497.jpg'/></a><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13497'>A Feast for Crows</a> by <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/346732'>George R.R. Martin</a><br/><br /> My rating: <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/378467055'>5 of 5 stars</a><br /> <br/><br/><br /> <blockquote><br /><br />“Jaime,” she said, tugging on his ear, “sweetling, I have known you since you were a babe at Joanna’s breast. You smile like Gerion, fight like Tyg, and there’s some of Kevan in you, else you would not wear that cloak…but Tyrion is Tywin’s son, not you. I said so once to your father’s face, and he would not speak to me for half a year. Men are such thundering great fools. Even the sort who come along once in a thousand years.”<br /><br /></blockquote><br /><br />This book, concentrated on the action happening around King's Landing. The main narrators where Cercei, Jaime, Brienne, and Samwell, with a couple chapter's for Sansa, Arya and the Dornish. I found Brienne and Samwell's story arc's to be the most interesting. Cercei, finally started getting on my nerves by the end of the book. Jaime, as always, had entertaining wit. Also, it should be added that Sansa's chapters have become much better now that she has been paired with the amazing Littlefinger, the greatest mind in Westeros, with the possible exception of Tyrion.<br /><br />I greatly enjoyed this book, the wild intricate plots and characters keep you still turning the pages, through the entirety of book 4. There were no weaknesses like the Daenerys chapters in the first couple of books. <br /><br />This book also added a few new characters and kingdoms. The deserts of Dorne and its sly and sexy characters were filled in. <br /><br />The star of this book was without doubt Brienne and her quest, she was the true knight, dashing, formidable, true to her word, endlessly loyal. She was the knight that Sansa was always looking for and pining over. [<br /><br /> <br/><br/><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/378467055'>View all my reviews</a><br /> Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-55710586154029977772012-07-03T10:29:00.001-07:002012-07-03T10:29:00.836-07:00Review: Software<br /> <a style='float: left; padding-right: 20px' href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/274043'><img alt='Software' border='0' src='http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173324939m/274043.jpg'/></a><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/274043'>Software</a> by <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/130704'>Rudy Rucker</a><br/><br /> My rating: <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/360456880'>4 of 5 stars</a><br /> <br/><br/><br /> Cobb Anderson is the creator of the boppers: anarchic robots that have rebelled against the humans and now live autonomously on the moon. He built a simple directive into their code: each robot or bopper must rebuild bodies for themselves every 10 months. This directive cause rapid evolution among the boppers, the idea was "we couldn't build intelligient robots, but we could cause them to evolve."<br /><br />At the beginning of the novel Cobb Anderson is retired and living in the "gimme retirement state" of Florida. He is worrying about how he can afford a new artificial heart, when a robot duplicate of himself, built by the boppers, offers him a ticket to the moon and the chance for immortality. <br /><br />This novel is a classic and a major influence of the early cyberpunks. Although it was written in the 70s it doesn't feel dated, unlike some of the early cyberpunk novels from the 80s. It was a joy to read, and the bopper society, as well as Rucker's vision of Florida and the Gimme State and Baby boomer retirees is hilarious and not to be missed. This is the second time I have read this novel and I liked it even better the on the second reading. Highly recommended.<br /> <br/><br/><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/360456880'>View all my reviews</a><br /> Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-23313432900489441122012-05-13T23:20:00.001-07:002012-05-13T23:20:09.406-07:00Review: Halting State<br /> <a style='float: left; padding-right: 20px' href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222472'><img alt='Halting State' border='0' src='http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1232769480m/222472.jpg'/></a><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222472'>Halting State</a> by <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8794'>Charles Stross</a><br/><br /> My rating: <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/255066953'>4 of 5 stars</a><br /> <br/><br/><br /> This story started slow, really slow, but I finally got into the story about half way through. I stuck with it because of the interesting look into the very near future. <br /><br />The peak into the future world that Stross has created is the star of this story. Copspace, the augmented reality of the police, the virtual LARP's that the main character's are involved with, drone taxis, the virtual realities, the blacknets. Very cool stuff. <br /><br /><br /> <br/><br/><br /> <a href='http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/255066953'>View all my reviews</a><br /> Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-68402260415194604612010-01-30T08:43:00.000-08:002010-01-30T09:28:37.110-08:00My NookI received a Nook for Christmas and I really like it. I like it so much I even sewed a sleeve for it. Mushrooms:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/redbike/4307616414/" title="Mushroom Nook Sleeve and Vonnegut by denverfiddler, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4061/4307616414_75cc52a7ce_m.jpg" width="180" height="240" alt="Mushroom Nook Sleeve and Vonnegut" /></a><br /><br />I'm developing my thoughts on the difference between reading the nook and physical books. Once the bright touch screen dims (the touch screen timeout is configurable from 10 to 60 seconds), the reading experience is similar to that of a book. The e-ink display is very nice on the eyes--much nicer than a computer screen or I dare-say iPad display.<br /><br />I've read a couple books on the Nook now, and while my eyes tire quickly when I read on my laptop, I can read all day without them tiring of the e-ink display. <br /><br />Also as yet there is no email client or weather app for the Nook and so I can read in peace without feeling the need to check email or my facebook feed. I mean I get email, FB, pandora, google maps etc on a laptop and on my phone already, do I really need them on an ebook-reader too?Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-39634125767047902142009-10-02T12:27:00.000-07:002009-10-02T12:29:34.917-07:0010. Dead Until Dark<span style="font-weight:bold;">Dead Until Dark</span> by <span style="font-weight:bold;">Charlaine Harris</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://pics.librarything.com/picsizes/94/6e/946e07f2126c0b8597877305651434d414f4541.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 140px; height: 225px;" src="http://pics.librarything.com/picsizes/94/6e/946e07f2126c0b8597877305651434d414f4541.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-8244308912896891752009-10-02T12:23:00.000-07:002009-10-02T12:26:58.250-07:009. The Electric Universe<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Electric Universe</span> by <span style="font-weight: bold;">David Bodanis<br /></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1400045509.01._SX140_SY225_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 140px; height: 196px;" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1400045509.01._SX140_SY225_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-70050236297321600402009-09-18T14:18:00.001-07:002009-09-18T14:21:01.678-07:008. Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire<img float="left" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0439139597.01._SX140_SY225_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /><br /><br />I'm re-reading the Harry Potter series. Love this book. I was up till 3 am last night finishing.Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-55043291917737132472009-09-18T14:15:00.000-07:002009-09-18T14:18:44.866-07:007. Holy Fire<img float="left" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/055357549X.01._SX140_SY225_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" />Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-85094572228953765412009-08-19T19:03:00.000-07:002009-08-19T19:09:51.880-07:006. Wetware<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0380701782.01._SX140_SY225_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 140px; height: 225px;" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0380701782.01._SX140_SY225_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Wetware by Rudy Rucker<br /><br />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.Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-50890288791688198512009-08-19T18:55:00.000-07:002009-08-19T19:02:22.714-07:005. the Color of Magic<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBQCyi8JUdmfR_4Ea_mumSArvUFCZMIDujeZ20yamSPCZyxxi9YTcXexdhf7n6IL73yS4GyU0_x1Ij8q2etEmG9Esuq73ZuPnvTUpbYwqkoDaqD7NtMEc_jISoiGOfo1pruKKD8EkFdZM/s1600-h/color_of_money.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 138px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBQCyi8JUdmfR_4Ea_mumSArvUFCZMIDujeZ20yamSPCZyxxi9YTcXexdhf7n6IL73yS4GyU0_x1Ij8q2etEmG9Esuq73ZuPnvTUpbYwqkoDaqD7NtMEc_jISoiGOfo1pruKKD8EkFdZM/s320/color_of_money.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371859340039088802" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett</span><br /><br />This is the second Pratchett book I've read. It was fun and an enjoyable read but I did set it aside on several <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">occasions</span> 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.Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-85805926203753832212009-08-19T13:13:00.001-07:002009-08-19T13:24:01.490-07:004. Parable of the Sower<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0446675784.01._SX140_SY225_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 140px; height: 212px;" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0446675784.01._SX140_SY225_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;">Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler<br /><br /></span>This 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.<br /><br />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.Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-2851899451884753212009-08-19T13:05:00.000-07:002009-08-19T13:10:48.104-07:003. The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21avRk%2Bvp5L._SL500_AA160_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 160px; height: 160px;" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21avRk%2Bvp5L._SL500_AA160_.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;">The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science<br /></span><br />The 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.Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-48668061216795314932009-08-19T12:54:00.000-07:002009-08-19T13:05:08.767-07:002. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51T5WMKE92L._SL500_AA240_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 240px;" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51T5WMKE92L._SL500_AA240_.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;">Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban</span><br /><br />Book 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.<br /><br />In it Harry first meets his godfather Sirius Black,<br />his favorite defense against the dark arts teacher Professor Lupin and the dread Dementors.Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-2269333759913925912009-08-19T12:18:00.000-07:002009-08-19T12:51:38.969-07:001. Dr Bloodmoney<span style="font-size:130%;">Dr Bloodmoney by Philip K Dic</span>k<br /><br />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<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0375719296.01._SX140_SY225_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 140px; height: 216px;" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0375719296.01._SX140_SY225_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>ne into every night when the satellite he is stranded on is within range.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />I quite enjoyed Dr Bloodmoney, is satisfied my thirst for paranoid Dickian stories and post-apocalyptic tales. Highly recommended.Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-10421352749283714212009-08-19T10:00:00.000-07:002009-08-19T12:53:48.892-07:00starting 30 books again in 2009I'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!Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-84893115089270757452008-12-26T13:15:00.000-08:002009-01-07T13:29:20.169-08:0017. Twilight<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41865.Twilight?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)" border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41aj8QkUoiL._SL160_.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41865.Twilight?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Twilight</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/941441.Stephenie_Meyer">Stephenie Meyer</a><br/><br/><br /> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/42247684?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a><br /> rating: 3 of 5 stars<br/>The last 150 pages of this novel earned 4.5 stars, the first 300 pages were pretty 2 stars.<br /><br/><br /><br/>Every time the main character describes the MV, (main vamp) its some trite description of his beautiful alabaster face. Makes you want to hurl after the 113th time. <br /><br/><br /><br/>I wouldn't have gotten to the good part, but I was stuck in an airport.<br /> <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/137828?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-19840014127106330382008-12-23T13:11:00.000-08:002009-01-07T13:28:49.991-08:0016. Parable of the Sower<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52397.Parable_of_the_Sower?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Parable of the Sower" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170387743m/52397.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52397.Parable_of_the_Sower?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Parable of the Sower</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/29535.Octavia_E_Butler">Octavia E. Butler</a><br/><br/><br /> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/42248233?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a><br /> rating: 5 of 5 stars<br/>Wow, this novel gave me nightmares for a week. Bleak future. Should be required reading for anyone who fantasizes about the post-industrial collapse.<br /> <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/137828?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-40478272655962803532008-09-30T10:16:00.000-07:002008-09-30T10:24:39.519-07:0015. Adventure Cycle-Touring Handbook: A Worldwide Cycling Route & Planning Guide<img src=http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51SHK4JWXFL._SL500_AA240_.jpg align=right><br /><br />This was a fun and partially useful book, although it concentrates more on bicycle touring in remote places. The first half of the book concentrates on finding a good bike for riding around the world and also getting the gear for camping out anywhere from the Himalayas to the Sonora Desert. And of course everywhere in between. The second half of the book is filled with brief report backs from different bicycle adventurers. This section is both filled with practical advice and inspiring stories as well as a few scary stories as well such as the traveller who had just been dropped off by a truck that had given him a lift and was waving goodbye to them when to his horror they unknowing waved back and ran over his bike. Ouch. Watch for that. Fun good, but there may be more practical books for cyclists who plan to stay in the US.Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-56102845097697107242008-09-15T09:50:00.000-07:002008-09-15T10:09:02.937-07:0014: The Essential Touring Cyclist: A Complete Guide for the Bicycle Traveler<img src=http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0071360190.01._SY190_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg ALIGN=RIGHT><br /><br />This is a good book to introduce you to Bicycle Touring. It has a really good chapter on training, with advice on building up enough weekly miles to comfortably bike a century (100 miles in a day) or start off on tour. <br /><br />Also another chapter discussed the different types of touring. The simplest type is supported tours: where all you have to carry is a few bottles of water, your bike tools and a rain coat, and the rest of your luggage (usually a extra large duffel bag) is carted ahead on a van. The next step up is "credit card" touring where you bike from one motel or B&B to the next, carrying all of your clothes with you, but do not need to carry a tent or food or cooking equipment. Then the big one: fully supported touring where you carry everything on your bike: tent, sleeping bag, water, extra clothes, food, camp stove and pots. The author points out its not as rigorous as backpacking however, because you really only need to carry a days supply of food at a time and since your on the road its easy to resupply water and food a few times a day.<br /><br />Another chapter covers the dangers and pitfalls of touring: weather, auto traffic, flat tires, broken spokes. And the final chapter covers travelling to your tour starting point via plane, train, or bus. And there is even a handy appendix with supported week long tours in different states. I found three intense week-long tours here in colorado.<br /><br />A good resource for bicyclists who want to try out touring.Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-6061024385580300952008-08-16T15:07:00.001-07:002008-08-16T15:11:48.527-07:0013. Ishmael<img src=http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0553375407.01._SX140_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg align=right><br /><br />a person answers a personal in a newspaper: <br />Teacher seeks pupil <br />must earnestly want to save the world<br />apply in person<br /><br />When he arrives at the office, he finds an overstuffed chair, a bookshelf full of books and a lowland gorilla behind a wall of glass. That can communicate telepathically.<br /><br />Ishmael is a philosophcal novel, in the form of a dialogue, between the teacher-gorilla Ishmael and the protagonist-student. Their topic is human culture. Specifically two opposing cultures. In our cultures parlance these are called primitive and civilized cultures, or hunter-gatherers versus farmers. Or in the more neutral terminology of the novel "takers" and "leavers". These two opposing forces are traced through out our culture, through stories in genesis. The story of Adam's fall and the story of the conflict between Cain and Abel. <br /><br />Abel was a herder, and Cain was the new revolutionary culture, the new culture of Farming. This story is turned on its head to illustrate the conflict between traditional semitic nomadic cultures and the new farming cultures that were beginning to emerge out of the fertile crescent. The farmers grew their own food, were ablo to store it against the risk of drougtht and famine, were able to grow an excess of food with intensive agriculture, this led to an exploding population, as the population grew it pushed at the borders and the caucasian tribes swallowed the lands around them, all of the tribes around them, the Leavers either abandoned their hunter-gatherer/hearder ways and were assimilated by the farmers or they were exterminated, because to the Taker culture there was only one way to live: their way, farming. Any competitor, whether it be hunter-gatherers or predators such as wolves or foxes or competitors to their crops such as other plants, forests, etc must be exterminated. They clear cut the forest and the plains and plowed the soil and planted their crops: wheat, barley, corn, rice. and pulled up any "weeds" that grew on their land. <br /><br />The Taker world-view is: The world was made for man to govern. Before he evolved the world was in chaos, it needed Man to come and order things. The other view, the Leaver view is: Man was made for the world. Just like the birds and the trees and the foxes and the whales. All of life will continue evolving, Man isn't the final end of the world: the reason the world was created.<br /><br />Wow, this novel's affected me alot, I nearly cried at the end, and it wasn't overly sad. The story does an amazing job, turning our cultural stories on their head as a warning about our Taker culture, by the previous Leavers cultures. Higly Recommended!Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-41782570566283300572008-08-05T14:36:00.000-07:002008-08-05T14:38:11.558-07:0012. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep<br clear=all><br /><img src=http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0345404475.01._SX140_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg align=right><br /><br />Book 3 in my 60s Philip K Dick binge.Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-20223381707093945732008-08-05T14:13:00.000-07:002008-08-05T15:14:02.942-07:0011. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch<br clear=all><br /><img src=http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0679736662.01._SX140_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg align=right><br /><br />Book 2 of my Philip K Dick 60s novels binge. I'll have to write the full review of this book later, another mind-bending story involving hallucinogens, shifting realities, religious epiphanies. <br /><br />In the future the United Nations is colonizing distant planets and the moon. Only life in this colonies is lonely and dull, so the colonists spend their time and money taking the hallucinogenic drug Can-D and staring at "Perky Pat" doll-houses until they transform into Perky Pat or her boyfriend, who live back on Earth, go to the beach and have sex. This past time becomes a full-blown religion to the colonists with arguments over transubstantiation of the body into the Perky Pat layout, it also becomes big business and the Perky Pat Layout company hires pre-cogs to predict which fashion accessories will sell well on Mars. This all works well until the mysterious billionaire entrepreneur Palmer Eldritch suddenly returns to Earth from the distant star Proxima Centauri. Does he have a new religion/drug? How will it compete with Can-D?Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331749637497075141.post-30535193008790277152008-07-14T09:56:00.000-07:002008-09-15T10:10:23.954-07:0010. Ubik by Philip K. Dick<img src=http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0679736646.01._SX140_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg align=right ><br /><br />Glen Runciter runs Terra's most successful <span style="font-style: italic;">prudence organization</span>, a category of business designed to prevent <span style="font-style: italic;">pre-cogs</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">telepaths</span> from reading your thoughts and future and gaining a business edge with your secrets. But business is bad: all of Runciter's main adversaries' talents are disappearing somewhere off-world and he has no idea where. So at the beginning of the story Runciter visits his wife Ella, who lives suspended in <span style="font-style: italic;">half-life</span> or cold-pak storage a sort of limited-time limbo between life and death.<br /><br />Philip K Dick has a way of starting his novels off with both wild ideas of the future and bland characters and then after he shifts the reality a couple times the characters suddenly go from poster board cut-outs to characters you care about. At the beginning this novel, with its rich boss and bumbling ever-broke employee, Joe Chip, reminded me of George Jetson and Mr Spacely of The Jetsons. But as the ideas of the novel took hold and the concepts, the crazy possibilities sank in I became entranced and my views about this world and life and death were called into question. The future world (of 1992) that Dick creates is one part Jetsons, with its rocket travel to Zurich and the Moon, chutes that drop you from the roof of your building to your office chair and Mortuaries that keep loved ones in "half-life" or suspended cryonic animation for monthly one hour visits; and on the other hand the future is one part distopia with pre-cogs that can see the future and telepaths that can read your thoughts and the worse of all, everything in the future is coin-operated! Your coffee maker, your refrigerator, and even your front door.<br /><br />This book, first published in 1969, perfectly straddles the early PKDs obsession with the hard core sf ideas and concepts like telepathy, precognition, rocket travel, paranoia, shifting alternative realities with his later themes: life, death, the afterlife, gnosticism, things falling apart. Its a great book to introduce oneself to the amazing, mind-altering substance called Philip K. Dick. Highly Recommended.Bart Lantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04849091997558746294noreply@blogger.com0