This is probably the most fascinating sci-fi book that I've read in a long, long time! This is Chinese Sci-Fi - and it is both similar and different than American/European sci-fi (which has become a kind of an unspoken standard, but we often forget it is just one way of doing things). There is no sex in this book. Not even flirting. No hot female characters (the main female character is in her late senior years). The male characters are late-middle aged; not sexy, not even particularly heroic. Did that turn you off? Wait, it is worth it!
This is my first Chinese science fiction, so I have to extrapolate (a code word for "stereotype") the entire local genre from it. There's a lot of science. And I mean - A LOT! This is one of the hardest science fiction novels I've read. And some of the science is not simple (although very well explained in popular terms). It takes some mental effort to follow. And some knowledge of physics, and quantum theory, and 11-dimensional space concepts. But wait, it's worth it!
The book starts with the horrors of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. After she sees her father humiliated and publicly murdered on a stage by being brutally whipped with the clasps of the belts of four red guard high school girls (while her mother goes mad and her sister joins the red guard), Ye Wenjie signs a lifetime contract to join the "Red Coast" secret government base, with a huge satellite dish on top of "Radar Peak" which eventually she finds out is the Chinese SETI program, looking for intelligent aliens.
Since Wenjie is a brilliant physicist, just like her red-guard-murdered father, she finds a way to use a layer within the Sun as a giant amplifier antenna and manages to attract the attention of the planet "Trisolaris" - the only planet in a system with three suns. Although a "pacifist" trisolarian warns Wenjie not to reply to the message, as otherwise the Trisolarian government will not be able to locate the signal, she replies immediately and thus gives the trisolarians the final parameter to precisely pinpoint Earth - distance. She hopes that the trisolarians will 'cleanse' the Earth and fix human society, but although trisolarians try to play into that initially, eventually they make clear that they intend to destroy the human race and claim all of Earth for themselves. They send a message to all humans: "you are bugs."
Trisolarians, who are much ahead of humans in fundamental science and have found a way to unwrap internal matter structure up to the 11th dimensions, send two super-computers as large as the surface of a planet but dimensionally wrapped into single protons - called "Sophons." These Sophons stop all research in fundamental science on Earth by sabotaging experiments and driving top scientists to suicide and thus basically locking the scientific progress of the human race, making it easy pray for the much more developed trisolarians. Human traitors organize themselves in Earth-Trisolaris Organization (ETO) and actively help trisolarians sabotage Earth science, rejoicing in the future destruction of humanity as a punishment for destroying Earth's environment. The ETO also constructs a VR game which simulates some of the environment on Trisolaris and asks the players to solve various historical trisolarian problems in order to advance in the game. ETO is divided into several factions, and one of them even created a religion from the Trisolarian lore, elevating the leader of the invading fleet (to reach earth in 450 years) as their "Lord."
The book has many more complicated aspects, Dr. Wang, a nano-materials scientist, being the main male character, and "Big" Shi Qiang, a hard-boiled policeman, maybe being the most sympathetic one, but it ends in a cliffhanger: Wang accepts that we are bugs and will be met with the fate of bugs, but Big Shi takes Wang and his colleague to a field overrun with locusts and tells them that maybe humans are bugs, but bugs have always fought back and refused to go extinct.
Friday, December 30, 2016
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
"Altered Carbon" by Robert Morgan
Robert Morgan might be an ESL teacher, but he's an amazing cyberpunk writer! And his lack of technical background (hard science background too) make his books even more readable and romantic. Takeshi Kovacs must be one of the best ambivalent heroes created in the last half century. He's not a bad guy, it's the circumstances. He has a good heart, and it is obvious in the end, when he could have made much more damage and not repair anything.
The universe of Altered Carbon is fascinating. No faster than light travel. Colony ships that take centuries to reach their destination. But there's 'needlecasting' - similar to the 'ansible' device in other universes, notably Hyperion. However needlecasting apparently can transfer enormous amounts of data, unlike the ansibles that are limited to typed text. Humans get 'downloaded' from their brains and 'needlecast' to anywhere in the Universe, where they are 'uploaded' in a 'sleeve' - a human body without a 'tenant.' Pretty naive, but effective. From scientific point of view there are so many problems with this kind of concept, it doesn't even start to approach reality (i.e. if humans can be downloaded on a 'spinning disk' [oh, Morgan, you should have read some basic Computer Science book, at the least] then the data is 'quantified' and as such it can be 'list'-ed and different lines of code erased or added. Where does the 'human' end then?).
Takeshi is an "Envoy" - special corps of psychologically conditioned murderers that do the dirty jobs for the UN Protectorate which rules Earth, and largely the Universe. Envoys can enter multiple bodies ("sleeving") and still keep their sanity and adapt rapidly. Takeshi is hired by a 'meth' (Methusalah) on Earth who has lived more than 3 centuries in various sleeves. Then there's the sexy future-cop Ortega, with her long limbs and psychological stuck ups. But the book is too complex to be summarized in a few paragraphs.
Suffice to say it is one hell of a rollercoaster ride.
The universe of Altered Carbon is fascinating. No faster than light travel. Colony ships that take centuries to reach their destination. But there's 'needlecasting' - similar to the 'ansible' device in other universes, notably Hyperion. However needlecasting apparently can transfer enormous amounts of data, unlike the ansibles that are limited to typed text. Humans get 'downloaded' from their brains and 'needlecast' to anywhere in the Universe, where they are 'uploaded' in a 'sleeve' - a human body without a 'tenant.' Pretty naive, but effective. From scientific point of view there are so many problems with this kind of concept, it doesn't even start to approach reality (i.e. if humans can be downloaded on a 'spinning disk' [oh, Morgan, you should have read some basic Computer Science book, at the least] then the data is 'quantified' and as such it can be 'list'-ed and different lines of code erased or added. Where does the 'human' end then?).
Takeshi is an "Envoy" - special corps of psychologically conditioned murderers that do the dirty jobs for the UN Protectorate which rules Earth, and largely the Universe. Envoys can enter multiple bodies ("sleeving") and still keep their sanity and adapt rapidly. Takeshi is hired by a 'meth' (Methusalah) on Earth who has lived more than 3 centuries in various sleeves. Then there's the sexy future-cop Ortega, with her long limbs and psychological stuck ups. But the book is too complex to be summarized in a few paragraphs.
Suffice to say it is one hell of a rollercoaster ride.
Thursday, December 15, 2016
"The Day of the Triffids" by John Wyndham
This is an all-time classic Sci-Fi or Speculative Fiction, to be more exact. Written in the 50s, it describes taking over the world by a species of intelligent, mobile, carnivorous plants, called "Triffids" and probably developed through genetic experiments by the Soviets, in order to grow them for their precious oil they produce. However, after one night of apparent meteor showers, the entire population of Earth, humans and animals, become blind and also infected by a sort of plague. This causes much of the planet's population, over 99%, to die in the first couple of weeks after the meteor shower, which might have been caused by the intelligent Triffid overmind in order to eliminate the main evolutionary advantage humans have over intelligent plants.
The Triffids hunt the remaining humans, killing them with their sting and poison, and then feeding off their decomposing bodies, using the nutrients to grow and propagate. However, many of the surviving human groups are busy fighting each other, and being animals to each other, rather than deal with the common threat in the beginning.
Bill Mason, the protagonist of the novel, a biologist specializing in Triffids, survives with his sight intact because he is in a hospital, after a Triffid atack, with his eyes bound, when the 'meteor' shower occurs. He walks around post-apocaliptic London, trying to figure out what to do, while alternately attracted, rejected or imprisoned by various roaming groups, each of which thinks they have the solution to survival.
Eventually the survivors retreat to the Isle of Wigh, where Triffids are kept at bay by constant culling and destruction of seeds. A gem, and originator, of the post-end-of-the-world genre which has become extremely popular lately. Many movies, comics, graphic novels etc. were made after this book, but reading it is still a singular experience, especially since it was written before the travesties of reality television and social media and is thus slow and even paced.
The Triffids hunt the remaining humans, killing them with their sting and poison, and then feeding off their decomposing bodies, using the nutrients to grow and propagate. However, many of the surviving human groups are busy fighting each other, and being animals to each other, rather than deal with the common threat in the beginning.
Bill Mason, the protagonist of the novel, a biologist specializing in Triffids, survives with his sight intact because he is in a hospital, after a Triffid atack, with his eyes bound, when the 'meteor' shower occurs. He walks around post-apocaliptic London, trying to figure out what to do, while alternately attracted, rejected or imprisoned by various roaming groups, each of which thinks they have the solution to survival.
Eventually the survivors retreat to the Isle of Wigh, where Triffids are kept at bay by constant culling and destruction of seeds. A gem, and originator, of the post-end-of-the-world genre which has become extremely popular lately. Many movies, comics, graphic novels etc. were made after this book, but reading it is still a singular experience, especially since it was written before the travesties of reality television and social media and is thus slow and even paced.
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
"Footfall" by Niven/Pournelle
This book is touted as the best 'alien invasion' book ever written (apparently NYT says so), and is also one of the best books the dynamic duo Niven/Pournelle have written. That doesn't make it an amazing book. It is a good book, but not amazing. "Contact" is amazing, "Footfall" is merely good.
The book is definitely too big. I dabble in writing myself and was caught off guard when one publisher stated that he would not publish a novel under 60,000 words. Another said 100,000 words is the minimum. Why? Why pad the book with 'words' and 'pages' if it doesn't make sense for the story. If a story can be told in 40,000 words, why add more as a filler just to satisfy some imaginary (and unfounded) artificial 'lower limits'. ? For "Footfall", the first 100 pages can be comfortable skipped - they add nothing to the story. Further, most of the chapter where there's no Fithp can be skipped without missing anything of the main story. All those pages (dozens and dozens) where the authors tried to be 'modern' by exploring adulteries, cheating, sex thoughts and motivations are completely useless for the main story. I got this book to see baby elephant aliens and that's all I want!
So, yes, the Fithp are baby elephant-looking aliens from Alpha Centauri, who used to be pets to an older race, the "Predecessors", who destroyed themselves and most of the environment aeons ago. Since, the Fithp have discovered 'knowledge cubes' which taught them science, from basic fire and tools, to Bussard Ramjets and orbital transport spaceships. The Fithp are always at war on their home planet, so the "Traveller Herd" left for our Solar System, to conquer it and settle there, calling it "Winterhome".
In the beginning the Fithp are winning because of their advanced technology. They bomb most of the developed nations, especially the USA and the Soviet Union, and later drop an asteroid, "The Foot", into the Indian Ocean and kill all of India and most of the coastal cities around. However the Fithp are herd animals, and cannot understand individualism, which they consider 'roguishness' to be cleansed out of the DNA pool.
Eventually, the humans get viscious and inventive and nuke or otherwise destroy all Fithp installations on Earth and go after the Fithp mother ship "The Message Bearer" almost destroying it before the Fithp offer complete surrender to the humans and seal their fate as the dominant race. The book is well done, especially the habits of the herd-bound Fithp and the resulting psychology, but the length is really a problem. The most interesting part of the book are the last 30 pages.
The book is definitely too big. I dabble in writing myself and was caught off guard when one publisher stated that he would not publish a novel under 60,000 words. Another said 100,000 words is the minimum. Why? Why pad the book with 'words' and 'pages' if it doesn't make sense for the story. If a story can be told in 40,000 words, why add more as a filler just to satisfy some imaginary (and unfounded) artificial 'lower limits'. ? For "Footfall", the first 100 pages can be comfortable skipped - they add nothing to the story. Further, most of the chapter where there's no Fithp can be skipped without missing anything of the main story. All those pages (dozens and dozens) where the authors tried to be 'modern' by exploring adulteries, cheating, sex thoughts and motivations are completely useless for the main story. I got this book to see baby elephant aliens and that's all I want!
So, yes, the Fithp are baby elephant-looking aliens from Alpha Centauri, who used to be pets to an older race, the "Predecessors", who destroyed themselves and most of the environment aeons ago. Since, the Fithp have discovered 'knowledge cubes' which taught them science, from basic fire and tools, to Bussard Ramjets and orbital transport spaceships. The Fithp are always at war on their home planet, so the "Traveller Herd" left for our Solar System, to conquer it and settle there, calling it "Winterhome".
In the beginning the Fithp are winning because of their advanced technology. They bomb most of the developed nations, especially the USA and the Soviet Union, and later drop an asteroid, "The Foot", into the Indian Ocean and kill all of India and most of the coastal cities around. However the Fithp are herd animals, and cannot understand individualism, which they consider 'roguishness' to be cleansed out of the DNA pool.
Eventually, the humans get viscious and inventive and nuke or otherwise destroy all Fithp installations on Earth and go after the Fithp mother ship "The Message Bearer" almost destroying it before the Fithp offer complete surrender to the humans and seal their fate as the dominant race. The book is well done, especially the habits of the herd-bound Fithp and the resulting psychology, but the length is really a problem. The most interesting part of the book are the last 30 pages.
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
"The Gripping Hand" by Niven/Pournelle
Since I feel obliged to read at least the next-following sequel of books I read (same with Ringworld and Gateway) and usually don't go further than the next sequel, as it is disappointing enough not to want to read the next-next one, I went on to "The Gripping Hand" although it was not in my original read list for this year. The sequel is written in the early 90s (first book was in early 70s), and the two decades added some technical detail to flesh out the 2 decades of technology development, so it sounds a bit more convincing. The emphasis is not on technology though, which was extensively explained in the first tome, but on interactions with the moties and the developments in the Motie system that happened in 3 decades (things with moties change very fast).
Although an overall weaker book than the first tome, it does get into the action with Moties much quicker. I am not sure what's the purpose of the New Utah plot in the beginning. Renner gets roughed up a bit, but nothing serious. Then he just 'forgives' the perps and is off to Sparta with Bury. Really? The mormons of the True Church (all of them claim to be 'true' :) kidnap a Navy Intelligence Captain and nothing happens to them? Not even court marshal? Wow. Weak.
Anyway, the second Alderson point opens and Kevin and Horace scramble a few ships and are off to guard it, but too late. Seven Motie ships enter and scatter, only 3 captured. The fleet goes into the Mote system and learns that the Mote Prime has been destroyed by its inhabitants and whomever survived was back to stone age technology. The real Moties are now the asteroid and moon (and Oort cloud) 'civilizations' or better 'families.' The one that made contact with Renner and Bury is called the "Medina Trading Company" and most of the space moties take Arabic names in respect of Bury, as his Fyunch(click) has gone rogue and started selling her services to the highest bidder (making Bury proud).
Follow lots of flash-made and flash-broken space alliances, double-playing and even a threat of complete annihilation by the "Khanate" family, which are eventually defeated by the nuclear weapons Bury brought and the timely arrival of the cavalry (Imperial Space Navy). Much more sex in this book, though it's all PG-13. Good follow up read, but I won't be reading further into this series.
Although an overall weaker book than the first tome, it does get into the action with Moties much quicker. I am not sure what's the purpose of the New Utah plot in the beginning. Renner gets roughed up a bit, but nothing serious. Then he just 'forgives' the perps and is off to Sparta with Bury. Really? The mormons of the True Church (all of them claim to be 'true' :) kidnap a Navy Intelligence Captain and nothing happens to them? Not even court marshal? Wow. Weak.
Anyway, the second Alderson point opens and Kevin and Horace scramble a few ships and are off to guard it, but too late. Seven Motie ships enter and scatter, only 3 captured. The fleet goes into the Mote system and learns that the Mote Prime has been destroyed by its inhabitants and whomever survived was back to stone age technology. The real Moties are now the asteroid and moon (and Oort cloud) 'civilizations' or better 'families.' The one that made contact with Renner and Bury is called the "Medina Trading Company" and most of the space moties take Arabic names in respect of Bury, as his Fyunch(click) has gone rogue and started selling her services to the highest bidder (making Bury proud).
Follow lots of flash-made and flash-broken space alliances, double-playing and even a threat of complete annihilation by the "Khanate" family, which are eventually defeated by the nuclear weapons Bury brought and the timely arrival of the cavalry (Imperial Space Navy). Much more sex in this book, though it's all PG-13. Good follow up read, but I won't be reading further into this series.
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
"The Mote in God's Eye" by Niven/Pournelle
This is a good book. A cornerstone Sci Fi classic. However the first 2/3ds are reaaaaly stretched out and borderline boring. Yes, I get it. The CoDominium future history that Pournelle worked so hard to create had to be properly explained and put in context, however I got this book for the Moties! Get to the Moties already!
Niven is notorious for inventing interesting aliens (although they are not very science-based, apart from a few broad strokes) and the Moties do not disappoint. The physical caste adaptations are a bit much when looking from a perspective of a human culture, but not that out there when comparing them to ant culture. The 'secret' revealed by the Moties at the end of the book was obvious already in the first dozen pages after encountering Mote Prime, but it is still entertaining to read.
The Motie characters are very well presented (maybe because there's nothing to compare them with?), but the human characters are just paper figures. Except Sally/Sandra, who is the only female character in the entire book, and does not get that much screen time, all the other characters sound and talk like they are the same character. Very little differentiation. Everyone walks around speaking their thoughts, which in themselves are very similar.
There have been some complaints online that Pournelle made his CoDominium very sexist and misogynistic, but, ultimately, it is his prerogative. In a nutshell: human of the Second Empire in the early 3000s discover the first non-human intelligent species, bottled up in an isolated star system and organize an expedition to meet the Moties. And get more than they've bargained for. Better than 99% of the shows on SyFy.
Niven is notorious for inventing interesting aliens (although they are not very science-based, apart from a few broad strokes) and the Moties do not disappoint. The physical caste adaptations are a bit much when looking from a perspective of a human culture, but not that out there when comparing them to ant culture. The 'secret' revealed by the Moties at the end of the book was obvious already in the first dozen pages after encountering Mote Prime, but it is still entertaining to read.
The Motie characters are very well presented (maybe because there's nothing to compare them with?), but the human characters are just paper figures. Except Sally/Sandra, who is the only female character in the entire book, and does not get that much screen time, all the other characters sound and talk like they are the same character. Very little differentiation. Everyone walks around speaking their thoughts, which in themselves are very similar.
There have been some complaints online that Pournelle made his CoDominium very sexist and misogynistic, but, ultimately, it is his prerogative. In a nutshell: human of the Second Empire in the early 3000s discover the first non-human intelligent species, bottled up in an isolated star system and organize an expedition to meet the Moties. And get more than they've bargained for. Better than 99% of the shows on SyFy.
Friday, October 21, 2016
"The Gods Themselves" by Isaac Asimov
Asimov doesn't usually write about aliens. Also, Asimov doesn't usually write about sex. Well, this book, Asimov's favorite and Hugo and Nebula winner for 1972 is mostly about aliens with quite a bit of sex thrown into. It is mostly the aliens that have sex, though. Humans have a go at it, in the last line of the novel, but we're left out of the details.
The novel consist of three parts; part 1 happening on Earth, part 2 in the ParaWorld, and part 3 on the Moon. In Part 1 a mediocre scientist, Hallan, discovers that a certain material in his lab is getting exchanged with a radioactive isotope that cannot exist in our universe, with its strong and weak nuclear forces as they are. He soon discovers that aliens from a parallel universe (ParaWorld) are exchanging the materials, each of which becomes radioactive in the other universe and emits free energy until it stabilizes. This is used by Earth people to construct "Electron Pump" stations which provide free, clean, unlimited energy, obfuscating all other sources of energy. Hallan becomes the most famous scientist on Earth and grows into vindictive, vicious fellow who destroys anyone who questions his authority, as is the case with a scientist historian who claims that it was actually the ParaMen who invented the pump, and Hallan has only been their puppet. The historian also claims that the pump can destroy our universe (or at least our part of the Galaxy) because it is subtly changing the natural laws.
In the second part we learn about the ParaMen who exist in a universe where matter is not as tightly woven together and the creatures on the ParaWorld can 'meld' with each other, which is how they propagate, and some can also 'meld' into solid rock, being able to turn themselves into almost a mist. The ParaMen have three sexes, left, right and middle, and a child can only be produced if all three sexes meld. The ParaMen are worried because the sources of energy in their universe are disapearing, since all their suns are getting smaller, which is why they invented the "Positron Pump", but some of them have actually discovered the dangers of changing the natural laws, and the destruction that could follow. One 'Middle' alien, Dua, tries to communicate the danger to the humans in the other universe, and even manages to spell FEER (fear) figuring out the language of the humans.
The third part is the weakest. Happens on the moon, where Loonies and Immis live, and dislike the Earthies from the home planet. Halans assistant from the original discovery moves to the moon to experiment on his theories that the Pump can destroy the universe, but doesn't have to, if he can construct a 'safety valve' of sorts. The assistant meets a Loonie tour guide, who is actually an "Intuitionist" (coined by Asimov, intuitive scientist) who joins him in his research, despite being a member of an underground Loonie movement that seeks to remove the Moon from the Earth's orbit and leave the Solar system. Eventually the experiment is successful, the universe is saved, Hallan's reputation destroyed, and the assistant and the tour guide are just about to have sex when the book ends.
Like most Asimov's books, it can be read as a scientific treatise and the science insights are stunning, however the characters and plot are paper-thin, and only serve to explain the amazing scientific conjectures.
The novel consist of three parts; part 1 happening on Earth, part 2 in the ParaWorld, and part 3 on the Moon. In Part 1 a mediocre scientist, Hallan, discovers that a certain material in his lab is getting exchanged with a radioactive isotope that cannot exist in our universe, with its strong and weak nuclear forces as they are. He soon discovers that aliens from a parallel universe (ParaWorld) are exchanging the materials, each of which becomes radioactive in the other universe and emits free energy until it stabilizes. This is used by Earth people to construct "Electron Pump" stations which provide free, clean, unlimited energy, obfuscating all other sources of energy. Hallan becomes the most famous scientist on Earth and grows into vindictive, vicious fellow who destroys anyone who questions his authority, as is the case with a scientist historian who claims that it was actually the ParaMen who invented the pump, and Hallan has only been their puppet. The historian also claims that the pump can destroy our universe (or at least our part of the Galaxy) because it is subtly changing the natural laws.
In the second part we learn about the ParaMen who exist in a universe where matter is not as tightly woven together and the creatures on the ParaWorld can 'meld' with each other, which is how they propagate, and some can also 'meld' into solid rock, being able to turn themselves into almost a mist. The ParaMen have three sexes, left, right and middle, and a child can only be produced if all three sexes meld. The ParaMen are worried because the sources of energy in their universe are disapearing, since all their suns are getting smaller, which is why they invented the "Positron Pump", but some of them have actually discovered the dangers of changing the natural laws, and the destruction that could follow. One 'Middle' alien, Dua, tries to communicate the danger to the humans in the other universe, and even manages to spell FEER (fear) figuring out the language of the humans.
The third part is the weakest. Happens on the moon, where Loonies and Immis live, and dislike the Earthies from the home planet. Halans assistant from the original discovery moves to the moon to experiment on his theories that the Pump can destroy the universe, but doesn't have to, if he can construct a 'safety valve' of sorts. The assistant meets a Loonie tour guide, who is actually an "Intuitionist" (coined by Asimov, intuitive scientist) who joins him in his research, despite being a member of an underground Loonie movement that seeks to remove the Moon from the Earth's orbit and leave the Solar system. Eventually the experiment is successful, the universe is saved, Hallan's reputation destroyed, and the assistant and the tour guide are just about to have sex when the book ends.
Like most Asimov's books, it can be read as a scientific treatise and the science insights are stunning, however the characters and plot are paper-thin, and only serve to explain the amazing scientific conjectures.
Friday, October 7, 2016
"Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes
This book is called science (or speculative) fiction, but that's far from the central theme which is about human relations, compassion, meaning of life and the justness of the world.
A developmentally challenged individual, Charlie Gordon, 32, has an IQ of 68 and works as a janitor in a bakery, but has an enormous wish to learn and become 'smart.' He is recommended by his teacher at Beekman College school for retarded individuals, Alice McKinney, for an experimental surgical enhancement of his intelligence. The researchers at Beekman College already performed the surgery and enzyme therapy on a mouse named Algernon, and he outperformed any mouse in the lab.
After the experiment, eventually, Charlie gets a genius IQ of 185 and even starts doing research on the topic himself (and writes a piano concerto), but is abandoned by his old friends and circles, as they only used him to make fun of him and feel themselves smarter in comparison. His memories from childhood traumas come back and he has problems emotionally integrating them, as well as starting romantic relationships.
Eventually he discovers that his condition will revert and he will go back to IQ 68 or even lower - and writes a scientific paper to prove this. His attempts to start a relationship with Alice eventually works, but when he sees his IQ dropping precipitously, he sends her away. Eventually he reverts ack to his old IQ, but now finds that he cannot resume his previous life and job, so he commits himself to the Warden Institute for retarded individuals. The mouse Algernon dies, in a harbinger of the reversal of the condition that later happens to Charlie, and Charlies last words are not to forget to put fresh flowers on Algernon's grave.
A touching and powerful book about choices, ethics and the human condition. Several publishers tried to force a happy ending on the author, but the sad ending makes the story much more powerful.
A developmentally challenged individual, Charlie Gordon, 32, has an IQ of 68 and works as a janitor in a bakery, but has an enormous wish to learn and become 'smart.' He is recommended by his teacher at Beekman College school for retarded individuals, Alice McKinney, for an experimental surgical enhancement of his intelligence. The researchers at Beekman College already performed the surgery and enzyme therapy on a mouse named Algernon, and he outperformed any mouse in the lab.
After the experiment, eventually, Charlie gets a genius IQ of 185 and even starts doing research on the topic himself (and writes a piano concerto), but is abandoned by his old friends and circles, as they only used him to make fun of him and feel themselves smarter in comparison. His memories from childhood traumas come back and he has problems emotionally integrating them, as well as starting romantic relationships.
Eventually he discovers that his condition will revert and he will go back to IQ 68 or even lower - and writes a scientific paper to prove this. His attempts to start a relationship with Alice eventually works, but when he sees his IQ dropping precipitously, he sends her away. Eventually he reverts ack to his old IQ, but now finds that he cannot resume his previous life and job, so he commits himself to the Warden Institute for retarded individuals. The mouse Algernon dies, in a harbinger of the reversal of the condition that later happens to Charlie, and Charlies last words are not to forget to put fresh flowers on Algernon's grave.
A touching and powerful book about choices, ethics and the human condition. Several publishers tried to force a happy ending on the author, but the sad ending makes the story much more powerful.
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
"A Canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter Miller
The only novel published by Miller during his lifetime consists for three novellas previously published in SciFi magazines, but significantly modified to fit the novel form. The three parts depict a post-apocaliptic world, after an all-out nuclear war has wiped most of humanity in the 1960s. The first part happens around 2700s, the second part happens around 3100s, and the last part around 3800s when humans have developed space flight, extra-solar colonies, and (unfortunately) nuclear weapons again. The idea promulgated is that the time between bronze age and nuclear age is around 3-4,000 years, and will always follow that pattern.
In the first part, about 6 centuries after a moronic nuclear war among moronic nations has devastated the Earth and killed off most of the humans. The remaining humans called themselves "Simpletons' and started killing off all scientists by burning them alive, and when they killed all of them - they started killing anyone literate, moronism and illiteracy being haled up as the highest virtues among the human-animals populating the planet. Only the Catholic order of Leibowitz has dedicated itself to preserving the remaining knowledge of the human race, be it scraps of written paper or half-burned page of a physics textbook.
Brother Francis from the wild wastes of Utah is doing his Lent fasting while discovering a fallout shelter with important artifacts inside while the canonization of the Blessed Leibowitz proceeds in the Abbey (within the borders of the Empire of Denver) and in New Rome (somewhere in West Virginia). The roads between the few populated cities are populated by mutated half-humans half-animals who kill everything that moves for loot and food, and that befell brother Francis as well.
In the second part, another six centuries later, human civilization has achieved around medieval scientific development, the first electrical light experiment is successful and the primitive empires on the North American continent are vying for supremacy, most people still being illiterate; living in squalor and primitivism, both in social customs and in overall development. The Abbey of St. Leibowitz is now a center of learning, having preserved many books from the last nuclear age of humanity, which are essential for re-discovery of science.
In the third part humanity has surpassed the current scientific age and has not only Solar but also colonies on other star systems (Miller mistakenly hoping that atomic drives would take us to the stars). However the moronism of human politicians and their artificial creations called 'nations' - 'patriotism' 'us vs them' and similar money drivel causes another nuclear war that devastates the planet yet again, despite the politician snakes and reptillian disgustoids who run the society blaming the 'other' side. Crazed monkeys be crazed monkeys.
I've read some complaints about the "Catholic-ness" of the novel online. I guess there's a streak of Catholic-haters out there. I am not Catholic, but have nothing against Catholicism and Miller has converted from Judaism to Catholicism, so it is only expected Catholic themes to have a prominent place in his work. The theme of Catholicism is appropriate and justified in the book and not out of step with many historical parallels (after all, many of the great scientists of the past have been catholic monks and priests).
In the first part, about 6 centuries after a moronic nuclear war among moronic nations has devastated the Earth and killed off most of the humans. The remaining humans called themselves "Simpletons' and started killing off all scientists by burning them alive, and when they killed all of them - they started killing anyone literate, moronism and illiteracy being haled up as the highest virtues among the human-animals populating the planet. Only the Catholic order of Leibowitz has dedicated itself to preserving the remaining knowledge of the human race, be it scraps of written paper or half-burned page of a physics textbook.
Brother Francis from the wild wastes of Utah is doing his Lent fasting while discovering a fallout shelter with important artifacts inside while the canonization of the Blessed Leibowitz proceeds in the Abbey (within the borders of the Empire of Denver) and in New Rome (somewhere in West Virginia). The roads between the few populated cities are populated by mutated half-humans half-animals who kill everything that moves for loot and food, and that befell brother Francis as well.
In the second part, another six centuries later, human civilization has achieved around medieval scientific development, the first electrical light experiment is successful and the primitive empires on the North American continent are vying for supremacy, most people still being illiterate; living in squalor and primitivism, both in social customs and in overall development. The Abbey of St. Leibowitz is now a center of learning, having preserved many books from the last nuclear age of humanity, which are essential for re-discovery of science.
In the third part humanity has surpassed the current scientific age and has not only Solar but also colonies on other star systems (Miller mistakenly hoping that atomic drives would take us to the stars). However the moronism of human politicians and their artificial creations called 'nations' - 'patriotism' 'us vs them' and similar money drivel causes another nuclear war that devastates the planet yet again, despite the politician snakes and reptillian disgustoids who run the society blaming the 'other' side. Crazed monkeys be crazed monkeys.
I've read some complaints about the "Catholic-ness" of the novel online. I guess there's a streak of Catholic-haters out there. I am not Catholic, but have nothing against Catholicism and Miller has converted from Judaism to Catholicism, so it is only expected Catholic themes to have a prominent place in his work. The theme of Catholicism is appropriate and justified in the book and not out of step with many historical parallels (after all, many of the great scientists of the past have been catholic monks and priests).
Saturday, September 17, 2016
"The Time Machine" by Herbert George Wells
This is a relatively short book, though I 'read' it in the audio version, which wasn't the best, as the voice volume would go up and down (bad post-production/equalization) which is pretty sucky for commuting purposes on the train.
H.G. Wells was one of the most prolific authors of all time and in the most varied plethora of subjects. The Time Machine is a classic of world literature, and together with War of the Worlds, it helped define the genre of Science Fiction.
In the novel, the unnamed time traveler builds a time machine (with cogs and levers) and travels 800,000 years in the future. Our planet resembles a garden, with many scattered ruins of previous civilization, but seemingly inhabited by small, blonde, smiling little people who only frolic around all day long, eat fruit, laugh, dance, place, make love and sleep. The time traveler calls these happy creatures Elloi. Only later he discovers that there's another race of post-humans, which he calls Morlocks, who live underground, look like albino vampires, and provide everything for the Elloi above ground until they are fat and ready - wait for it - to be eaten! Apparently all other animal species died out all over the planet, so the Morlocks use the Elloi as their meat source (the Elloi being strictly frutarian).
The obvious social commentary on upper and lower classes in the XIX century English society is obvious, however it does not detract from the enjoyment of the story by itself. The time traveler barely escapes the cannibalistic Morlocks and travels even further in the future when the planet is covered by an infinite ocean and populated only by intelligent crabs.
Eventually the time traveler comes back to London, but his friends do not believe him, and after a few days of depression and frustration he leaves forever in his time machine.
The Time Machine is probably one of the most copied books, both plot and characters, in the history of literature. It has served as a basis of so many other works of art that they are too many to count. In recent years it is the underlying inspiration for the Traditional Humans and the Calibans in Dan Simmons' Ilium and Olympos dilogy.
H.G. Wells was one of the most prolific authors of all time and in the most varied plethora of subjects. The Time Machine is a classic of world literature, and together with War of the Worlds, it helped define the genre of Science Fiction.
In the novel, the unnamed time traveler builds a time machine (with cogs and levers) and travels 800,000 years in the future. Our planet resembles a garden, with many scattered ruins of previous civilization, but seemingly inhabited by small, blonde, smiling little people who only frolic around all day long, eat fruit, laugh, dance, place, make love and sleep. The time traveler calls these happy creatures Elloi. Only later he discovers that there's another race of post-humans, which he calls Morlocks, who live underground, look like albino vampires, and provide everything for the Elloi above ground until they are fat and ready - wait for it - to be eaten! Apparently all other animal species died out all over the planet, so the Morlocks use the Elloi as their meat source (the Elloi being strictly frutarian).
The obvious social commentary on upper and lower classes in the XIX century English society is obvious, however it does not detract from the enjoyment of the story by itself. The time traveler barely escapes the cannibalistic Morlocks and travels even further in the future when the planet is covered by an infinite ocean and populated only by intelligent crabs.
Eventually the time traveler comes back to London, but his friends do not believe him, and after a few days of depression and frustration he leaves forever in his time machine.
The Time Machine is probably one of the most copied books, both plot and characters, in the history of literature. It has served as a basis of so many other works of art that they are too many to count. In recent years it is the underlying inspiration for the Traditional Humans and the Calibans in Dan Simmons' Ilium and Olympos dilogy.
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
"Olympos" by Dan Simmons
Much longer than the first part "Ilium" - "Olympos" is a difficult read, and less rewarding than "Ilium." The stories start to intertwine and unify, but differently from the narratives spun in "Ilium." Firstly, Thomas Hockenberry, PhD, barely appears in the 900+ pages of "Olympos" and when he does, it is mostly non-consequential, simply an observer speaking his thoughts aloud. Mahmut and Orfu, the two most likeable characters in the entire saga, get a bit more screen time, but not that much either, besides saving the day by cutting the submarine "Sword of Allah" into pieces and removing the 768 black hole warheads, while at the same time saving Harmon and Ardas Hall's residents.
And what about Prospero? Noman says towards the end that the entity known as Prospero is completely mad, but does that mean all its actions before were that of a mad entity? And it just disappears after Sycorax/Circe sail away on fusion reactors built into their asteroid with Noman only to appear at the end of the book to play the Shakespearean character in an actual play? Setebus just leaves when Caliban tells it that The Quiet is coming? Just like that? Not even final words (except the ones scratched in the organic blue ice by Caliban)? Why did Caliban not leave with his mother Sycorax and Noman? What was the purpose of the organic blue ice by Setebos? Why did The Quiet never come?
And the 'genius' creation effect is well overused and over-hyped. The idea that the literary/fantasy characters are real and alive in some parallel universes is just as silly and simplistic as the idea of infinite number of "parallel" universes (whatever "parallel" means to you). The logical conclusion of having infinite number of universes where infinite number of possibilities are being played out is chaos and madness. Different 'dimensions' are sometimes substituted for 'parallel' universes, which lead to just about the same result of insanity. For all practical purposes, there's only one universe, and it has 3+1 dimensions.... and that's it. Please work with that material budding sci-fi writers - the quadrillion galaxies with 100 billion stars each is large enough playing field for any purpose.
This dilogy is of a lesser quality than the Hyperion/Endymion quintology, including the literary references used. While Hyperion relied on parallels with Keat's Hyperion and Chaucer's Tales, which the author was apparently very intimately familiar with, and used them tastefully and appropriately, the Ilium/Olympos dilogy uses over a dozen different writers and literary works, often with very dubious connections and relevance, making the references feel weak, artificial and forced. Simmons is very familiar with Shakespeare and Homer, but not as much with the other works and authors he uses. The personification of The Tempest characters as monsters/gods/avatars does not work very well, especially mixed with Homeric characters and references, even though Simmons makes this one of the main pillars of the novel.
The following writers and works are referenced in Ilium/Olympos, divided in 3 groups, primary, secondary and tertiary (the primary ones being requisite to fully understand the dilogy, the secondary adding relatively large amount understanding, but not being essential, while the tertiary works will help the reader understand occasional tangential references):
Primary:
The Iliad, Homer
The Tempest, William Shakespeare
The Time Machine, H. G. Wells
Caliban Upon Setebos, Robert Browning
Secondary:
In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust
Ada: or Ardor, Vladimir Nabokov
Ulysses, Alfred Lord Tennyson
Ulysses, James Joyce
Sonnets, Shakespeare
Tertiary:
A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Henry IV, William Shakespeare
Around the World in Eighty Days, Jules Verne
Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi
Queen Mab, Percy Shelly.
Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare
Works and Days, Hesiod.
The book ending with staging "The Tempest" at Ardas Town with Prospero playing himself was cheeky, very cheeky.
And what about Prospero? Noman says towards the end that the entity known as Prospero is completely mad, but does that mean all its actions before were that of a mad entity? And it just disappears after Sycorax/Circe sail away on fusion reactors built into their asteroid with Noman only to appear at the end of the book to play the Shakespearean character in an actual play? Setebus just leaves when Caliban tells it that The Quiet is coming? Just like that? Not even final words (except the ones scratched in the organic blue ice by Caliban)? Why did Caliban not leave with his mother Sycorax and Noman? What was the purpose of the organic blue ice by Setebos? Why did The Quiet never come?
And the 'genius' creation effect is well overused and over-hyped. The idea that the literary/fantasy characters are real and alive in some parallel universes is just as silly and simplistic as the idea of infinite number of "parallel" universes (whatever "parallel" means to you). The logical conclusion of having infinite number of universes where infinite number of possibilities are being played out is chaos and madness. Different 'dimensions' are sometimes substituted for 'parallel' universes, which lead to just about the same result of insanity. For all practical purposes, there's only one universe, and it has 3+1 dimensions.... and that's it. Please work with that material budding sci-fi writers - the quadrillion galaxies with 100 billion stars each is large enough playing field for any purpose.
This dilogy is of a lesser quality than the Hyperion/Endymion quintology, including the literary references used. While Hyperion relied on parallels with Keat's Hyperion and Chaucer's Tales, which the author was apparently very intimately familiar with, and used them tastefully and appropriately, the Ilium/Olympos dilogy uses over a dozen different writers and literary works, often with very dubious connections and relevance, making the references feel weak, artificial and forced. Simmons is very familiar with Shakespeare and Homer, but not as much with the other works and authors he uses. The personification of The Tempest characters as monsters/gods/avatars does not work very well, especially mixed with Homeric characters and references, even though Simmons makes this one of the main pillars of the novel.
The following writers and works are referenced in Ilium/Olympos, divided in 3 groups, primary, secondary and tertiary (the primary ones being requisite to fully understand the dilogy, the secondary adding relatively large amount understanding, but not being essential, while the tertiary works will help the reader understand occasional tangential references):
Primary:
The Iliad, Homer
The Tempest, William Shakespeare
The Time Machine, H. G. Wells
Caliban Upon Setebos, Robert Browning
Secondary:
In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust
Ada: or Ardor, Vladimir Nabokov
Ulysses, Alfred Lord Tennyson
Ulysses, James Joyce
Sonnets, Shakespeare
Tertiary:
A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Henry IV, William Shakespeare
Around the World in Eighty Days, Jules Verne
Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi
Queen Mab, Percy Shelly.
Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare
Works and Days, Hesiod.
The book ending with staging "The Tempest" at Ardas Town with Prospero playing himself was cheeky, very cheeky.
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
"Ilium" by Dan Simmons
I have to honestly admit that my main motivation for reading Ilium was the fact that I enjoyed immensely his 5-part story of Hyperion and Endymion. Being familiar with the Ancient Greek legends on the matter (but not with the poems by Keats), I found the previous works just the right amount literary-resurectionism and the right amount of science, fiction and interesting characters. I am sorry to say Ilium is not at the same level of craft, although still a good book in it's own merit (hey it won the Locus award!).
Ilium seems to borrow it's main storyline from Homer's "The Illiad" about the besieged city of Troy (or Ilium, or Pergamon, or many other names), starting near the end of the 9th and the beginning of the 10th (and final) year of the Trojan War. All the Achayan/Argive/"Greek" heroes from the Iliad are there, and all their father's names, their shields and armor and oiled, muscled bodies, etc. etc. The 'main' protagonist of the book, Thomas Hockenberry, is a resurected 20/21 century PhD on the Iliad, and the 'new' Olympic gods use him and other "scholics" (maybe from "scholis" - a comentary on the edge of a book) are obesrving the Trojan War and reporting to the gods, who themselves do not know the outcome (except Zeus).
Another line of narration (out of 3 here, considerably less than the near-dozen in Hyperion), is about two "Morovecs" - basically organic-metal cyborgs who are created by 21st century human to explore the dangerous outer Solar System (mostly Jupiter and Saturn moons) and are give self-consciousness and the ability to self-evolve. Mahnmuth from Europa and Orfu of Io are two very different, but also quite similar cyborgs (why "Morovecs" Dan? Do we need more confusing terms when 'cyborg' pretty much covers everything? I respect Dr. Hans Morovec too, but please lighter on the new terminology).
The third line of narration has to do with some of the last remaining 'humans' on earth, after the post-humans have left it as something overgrown, just like they did with their own bodies. Daemon and Harmon and Ada and the rest of the menagerie (Odysseus!) are finding the ugly truth about their overindulgent civilization, or lack thereof. Here is where Simmons borrows from both Wells' "Time Machine" and Nabokov's "Ada, or Ardor" although the borrowing is only on the surface, not going into the deep symbology of the previous two works, especially Nabokov's. Later in the book, and especially in the sequel "Olympos" - pretty much the entire cast and geography from Shakespeare's "The Tempest" will be re-worked in Sci-Fi.
I am not sure the literary-sci-fi works for me in Ilium/Olympos. It definitely worked in Hyperion, both Chaucer and Keats, but here it feels forced and somewhat fake. Rendering Setebus and Caliban as the main bad guys also feels forced, especially if you know The Tempest. It is enough that I need to remember all the hundreds (thousands?) of names from the Iliad, and who killed/raped/maimed whom and in what order - mixing all the other books in just makes a big mess.
And the technology. Oh, the technology in Sci-Fi. The bane of all non-engineers writers (Simmons was an English instructor). While in Hyperion the technology seems very fleshed-out and fitting (even the backward traveling Time Tombs and the cruciform), here it seems amateurish and fake. The 'fax' nodes are just rehashing of the gates from Hyperion. The 'sauni' flying machine is pretty ridiculous. The 'voynix' and the related Voynich manuscript could use waaaay more development, and no, leaving it 'unsaid' does not add to the mystery (especially for the ones who are very familiar with the Voynich manuscript, it just doesn't fly). The orbital rings could use way more background, and so could the 'firmary' technology, healing tanks, blue/green worms, the "healer of the gods", the Rock-vecs/Morovecs culture, motivation, psychology (why?). Even the BS about Quantum Teleportation, Brane Holes, 'parallel' universes and the very concept that consciousness is just a material phenomenon arising from complexity (nope) - are all just amateurishly thrown together.
And don't start me on the length of these two books (700+ and 900+ pages)! They could have been half their current lengths and just as effective (or more). Still, an enjoyable summer/commute read. I wish there was more Proust in the book, but you can see that Simmons is an expert on Keats, and to some extent on Shakespeare, but the rest of his knowledge of authors is at the level of university literature courses, not decades-long independent study.
Ilium seems to borrow it's main storyline from Homer's "The Illiad" about the besieged city of Troy (or Ilium, or Pergamon, or many other names), starting near the end of the 9th and the beginning of the 10th (and final) year of the Trojan War. All the Achayan/Argive/"Greek" heroes from the Iliad are there, and all their father's names, their shields and armor and oiled, muscled bodies, etc. etc. The 'main' protagonist of the book, Thomas Hockenberry, is a resurected 20/21 century PhD on the Iliad, and the 'new' Olympic gods use him and other "scholics" (maybe from "scholis" - a comentary on the edge of a book) are obesrving the Trojan War and reporting to the gods, who themselves do not know the outcome (except Zeus).
Another line of narration (out of 3 here, considerably less than the near-dozen in Hyperion), is about two "Morovecs" - basically organic-metal cyborgs who are created by 21st century human to explore the dangerous outer Solar System (mostly Jupiter and Saturn moons) and are give self-consciousness and the ability to self-evolve. Mahnmuth from Europa and Orfu of Io are two very different, but also quite similar cyborgs (why "Morovecs" Dan? Do we need more confusing terms when 'cyborg' pretty much covers everything? I respect Dr. Hans Morovec too, but please lighter on the new terminology).
The third line of narration has to do with some of the last remaining 'humans' on earth, after the post-humans have left it as something overgrown, just like they did with their own bodies. Daemon and Harmon and Ada and the rest of the menagerie (Odysseus!) are finding the ugly truth about their overindulgent civilization, or lack thereof. Here is where Simmons borrows from both Wells' "Time Machine" and Nabokov's "Ada, or Ardor" although the borrowing is only on the surface, not going into the deep symbology of the previous two works, especially Nabokov's. Later in the book, and especially in the sequel "Olympos" - pretty much the entire cast and geography from Shakespeare's "The Tempest" will be re-worked in Sci-Fi.
I am not sure the literary-sci-fi works for me in Ilium/Olympos. It definitely worked in Hyperion, both Chaucer and Keats, but here it feels forced and somewhat fake. Rendering Setebus and Caliban as the main bad guys also feels forced, especially if you know The Tempest. It is enough that I need to remember all the hundreds (thousands?) of names from the Iliad, and who killed/raped/maimed whom and in what order - mixing all the other books in just makes a big mess.
And the technology. Oh, the technology in Sci-Fi. The bane of all non-engineers writers (Simmons was an English instructor). While in Hyperion the technology seems very fleshed-out and fitting (even the backward traveling Time Tombs and the cruciform), here it seems amateurish and fake. The 'fax' nodes are just rehashing of the gates from Hyperion. The 'sauni' flying machine is pretty ridiculous. The 'voynix' and the related Voynich manuscript could use waaaay more development, and no, leaving it 'unsaid' does not add to the mystery (especially for the ones who are very familiar with the Voynich manuscript, it just doesn't fly). The orbital rings could use way more background, and so could the 'firmary' technology, healing tanks, blue/green worms, the "healer of the gods", the Rock-vecs/Morovecs culture, motivation, psychology (why?). Even the BS about Quantum Teleportation, Brane Holes, 'parallel' universes and the very concept that consciousness is just a material phenomenon arising from complexity (nope) - are all just amateurishly thrown together.
And don't start me on the length of these two books (700+ and 900+ pages)! They could have been half their current lengths and just as effective (or more). Still, an enjoyable summer/commute read. I wish there was more Proust in the book, but you can see that Simmons is an expert on Keats, and to some extent on Shakespeare, but the rest of his knowledge of authors is at the level of university literature courses, not decades-long independent study.
"What I talk about when I talk about running" by Haruki Murakami
This is one of the few Murakami books that I have in hardcover, print, not electronic or audio book. It is a short book (less than 200 pages), but I waited a long time to have enough spare time to read it in one or two go's. Finally the time came. I finished it in two days. It consists of 5-6 chapters, each written over a 15 year span, at one place or another on the globe. The book title is borrowed from a short story writer Murakami translated, but that's the least interesting part.
It is much more interesting how Murakami decided to become a writer when he was 32 and already had a successful Jazz bar in Tokyo. With no writing experience, or even time to write, he finished his first book (on baseball) in the little breaks he had around the 24/7 obligations of running a restaurant/bar. He was even more surprised when his first book won a prestigious 'New Writers' award.
At about the same time he started writing - he also started running. Gave up smoking after a little while, then started putting his body in shape, eventually running more than 25 full marathons and even one ultra-marathon (65 miles) where he had a spiritual experience (and almost got permanently injured). For him writing and running go together, and are based on similar principles, discipline and methodology. Many writers around the world (both living and dead) would disagree with him and fall more into the 'classical' write stereotype of heavy drinking, intoxication, vagrancy, loose women and other sins. But it worked for Murakami.
Besides running and writing, the book is also Murakami's meditation on aging and mortality. The book covers his life from his late twenties to late fifties and he's more than noticed the changes in his body, his stamina, his constitution and predominantly in his psyche that come with age. He is not afraid of aging, or raging against it, but finds more of a challenge to continue doing what he was doing, the way he was doing it, as years progress. The book has that subtle, warm coziness that all his novels have, making the reader feel that it is all OK, whatever it is - it's OK.
It is much more interesting how Murakami decided to become a writer when he was 32 and already had a successful Jazz bar in Tokyo. With no writing experience, or even time to write, he finished his first book (on baseball) in the little breaks he had around the 24/7 obligations of running a restaurant/bar. He was even more surprised when his first book won a prestigious 'New Writers' award.
At about the same time he started writing - he also started running. Gave up smoking after a little while, then started putting his body in shape, eventually running more than 25 full marathons and even one ultra-marathon (65 miles) where he had a spiritual experience (and almost got permanently injured). For him writing and running go together, and are based on similar principles, discipline and methodology. Many writers around the world (both living and dead) would disagree with him and fall more into the 'classical' write stereotype of heavy drinking, intoxication, vagrancy, loose women and other sins. But it worked for Murakami.
Besides running and writing, the book is also Murakami's meditation on aging and mortality. The book covers his life from his late twenties to late fifties and he's more than noticed the changes in his body, his stamina, his constitution and predominantly in his psyche that come with age. He is not afraid of aging, or raging against it, but finds more of a challenge to continue doing what he was doing, the way he was doing it, as years progress. The book has that subtle, warm coziness that all his novels have, making the reader feel that it is all OK, whatever it is - it's OK.
Thursday, July 28, 2016
"Tropic of Cancer" by Henry Miller
This book must have been revolutionary when it came out in the 1930s. The language, the style, the unabashed uncaring for literary norms, must have been like a fresh air of rebellion to the stifled people of the 1930s who just few decades ago were under the moral oppression of the Victorian Age.
The book begins with an ode to Tanya's cunt. And it continues in the same manner. The word cunt is probably the most used word in the entire book. Today it would be called just vulgar, but at the time it was unthinkable, revolutionary and brave. Miller describes multiple women he's had sex with while living in Paris, mostly on the money of other people, or as a vagrant and a homeless person on the streets.
Most of the women he sleeps with are prostitutes (and he goes at length discussing the different types of prostitutes), but there is also the Jewish adulteress, the Russian princess with gonorrhea, the strange french woman to whom he gives 100 francs and then takes them out of her purse after having sex with her in her house above the room of her sick mother.
Chapters of lucid description of characters (mostly Miller's friends whose money he uses, at whose houses he sleeps and whose women he has sex with) and some semblance of story lines are alternated with chapters of stream-of-consciousness monologues with prophetic statements and deep insights into life and living that usually come only after a very heavy intoxication with various substances.
The book finishes in a middle of an action, just like it starts. Nothing really happens throughout and there's no sustained plot or even any novel-length characters (except the author-narrator) but it does give an entertaining and fascinating view into the life of the American emigres in Paris between the two wars in a much different way than Hemingway.
The book begins with an ode to Tanya's cunt. And it continues in the same manner. The word cunt is probably the most used word in the entire book. Today it would be called just vulgar, but at the time it was unthinkable, revolutionary and brave. Miller describes multiple women he's had sex with while living in Paris, mostly on the money of other people, or as a vagrant and a homeless person on the streets.
Most of the women he sleeps with are prostitutes (and he goes at length discussing the different types of prostitutes), but there is also the Jewish adulteress, the Russian princess with gonorrhea, the strange french woman to whom he gives 100 francs and then takes them out of her purse after having sex with her in her house above the room of her sick mother.
Chapters of lucid description of characters (mostly Miller's friends whose money he uses, at whose houses he sleeps and whose women he has sex with) and some semblance of story lines are alternated with chapters of stream-of-consciousness monologues with prophetic statements and deep insights into life and living that usually come only after a very heavy intoxication with various substances.
The book finishes in a middle of an action, just like it starts. Nothing really happens throughout and there's no sustained plot or even any novel-length characters (except the author-narrator) but it does give an entertaining and fascinating view into the life of the American emigres in Paris between the two wars in a much different way than Hemingway.
Thursday, July 7, 2016
"Mount Analogue" by Rene Daumal
It ends in mid-sentence in the fifth chapter. Rene Daumal died days later of tubercolosis. He was in his 36th year of his life. Peradams. Only Father Sogol (Logos, took me a while to figure it out without anyone pointing it out to me) found one and very low, below the mountain where no Peradams are usually found, but he had an epiphany about himself.
The book has an extensive intro section where the future planned chapters by Daumal are explained and it is a real shame that they were not written. Or maybe the book is more effective this way? After all Gurdjieff's "Life is real only when I AM" also stops in a middle of a sentence, and some who have seen the original manuscripts say that the published version is a much smaller selection from what was available.
"Mount Analogue" is a very readable and well written book, to be expected from a writer of Daumal's caliber, and although Gurdjieff's name is never explicitly mentioned - it is based on the ideas and understanding of Gurdjieff's system (not to be called "The Fourth Way", but simply the "Gurdjieff System") and contains the personal thoughts and development of a person working on themselves according to the system.
The explanation on how Mount Analogue would have been physically hidden from anyone for so long is definitely done by the latest science available at that period (1930s), but with today's satellites and space observation does not hold well at all, although it was probably ingenious for the time. Also getting there, getting in and discovering no new technology (based on electricity) works on the mountain is also very interesting, especially connected to Gurdjieff's notion that electricity was discovered before and is not an inexhaustible resource.
Of course, Father Sogol is no one but Alexandre de (von) Saltzmann, one of the foremost Gurdjieff's students, of whom not as much is known, compared to the other students like Alexandre's wife Jeanne, and the de (von) Hartmann's. He must have been a formidable personality to have left such an impression on Daumal.
This book is a gem, even in its unfinished form, or maybe because of it.
The book has an extensive intro section where the future planned chapters by Daumal are explained and it is a real shame that they were not written. Or maybe the book is more effective this way? After all Gurdjieff's "Life is real only when I AM" also stops in a middle of a sentence, and some who have seen the original manuscripts say that the published version is a much smaller selection from what was available.
"Mount Analogue" is a very readable and well written book, to be expected from a writer of Daumal's caliber, and although Gurdjieff's name is never explicitly mentioned - it is based on the ideas and understanding of Gurdjieff's system (not to be called "The Fourth Way", but simply the "Gurdjieff System") and contains the personal thoughts and development of a person working on themselves according to the system.
The explanation on how Mount Analogue would have been physically hidden from anyone for so long is definitely done by the latest science available at that period (1930s), but with today's satellites and space observation does not hold well at all, although it was probably ingenious for the time. Also getting there, getting in and discovering no new technology (based on electricity) works on the mountain is also very interesting, especially connected to Gurdjieff's notion that electricity was discovered before and is not an inexhaustible resource.
Of course, Father Sogol is no one but Alexandre de (von) Saltzmann, one of the foremost Gurdjieff's students, of whom not as much is known, compared to the other students like Alexandre's wife Jeanne, and the de (von) Hartmann's. He must have been a formidable personality to have left such an impression on Daumal.
This book is a gem, even in its unfinished form, or maybe because of it.
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
"The Ocean of Theosophy" by William Quan Judge
The Ocean of Theosophy, published in 1893, is a collection of articles Judge wrote for new and interested Theosophists at the height of the interest in anything Indian-Spirituality-like. Blavatsky founded the Theosophical society, allegedly based on her own medium abilities and spiritual mastership. Her first book was Isis Unveiled, which purports to reveal the secrets of the Egyptian mysteries and mysticism. However, soon after, the ephemeral tastes of the society changed, and now people were fascinated with everything and anything coming out of India - Egypt being forgotten after the Napoleonic age.
Quick to take advantage, Blavatsky wrote yet another long, rambling, confused and utterly useless book called "The Secret Doctrine" purportedly exposing the secrets of the Hindu mysticism. The vast majority of experts on the subject since have rejected the contents as pure fiction, based on a little bit of reading. What Blavatsky had going for her was that at that time the overall public knew next to nothing about Hinduism/Yoga/Vedanta etc.
Judge was one of the co-founders of the Theosophical Society, together with Olcott and Blavatsky. he died in his 40s, but not before leaving a large volume of Theosophical literature. His explanations in this book draw from The Secret Doctrine, and are somewhat in line with Vedanta and Yoga scriptures, but with plenty of personal ramblings, attacks against nay-Sayers, exalting the "Secret Masters" whom Blavatsky made up and in general espousing of a worldview where humans are unworthy playthings of much larger powers.
Judge peppers his sleep-inducing pages with attacks on Darwin, evolution and other, then-new, but today proven beyond doubt, scientific theories which makes him sound like a whiny apologist for superstition and lack of scientific training. Overall, read this book only if you really have a good reason. Otherwise, today we're not limited to the Theosophical muddled interpretation of Vedanta and we can get the same or better knowledge of the concepts from directly translated source works and many modern experts in the field.
Quick to take advantage, Blavatsky wrote yet another long, rambling, confused and utterly useless book called "The Secret Doctrine" purportedly exposing the secrets of the Hindu mysticism. The vast majority of experts on the subject since have rejected the contents as pure fiction, based on a little bit of reading. What Blavatsky had going for her was that at that time the overall public knew next to nothing about Hinduism/Yoga/Vedanta etc.
Judge was one of the co-founders of the Theosophical Society, together with Olcott and Blavatsky. he died in his 40s, but not before leaving a large volume of Theosophical literature. His explanations in this book draw from The Secret Doctrine, and are somewhat in line with Vedanta and Yoga scriptures, but with plenty of personal ramblings, attacks against nay-Sayers, exalting the "Secret Masters" whom Blavatsky made up and in general espousing of a worldview where humans are unworthy playthings of much larger powers.
Judge peppers his sleep-inducing pages with attacks on Darwin, evolution and other, then-new, but today proven beyond doubt, scientific theories which makes him sound like a whiny apologist for superstition and lack of scientific training. Overall, read this book only if you really have a good reason. Otherwise, today we're not limited to the Theosophical muddled interpretation of Vedanta and we can get the same or better knowledge of the concepts from directly translated source works and many modern experts in the field.
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