Wow, is mankind ever playing with fire. First there was the Skynet thing. Now we’re messing around with Europa despite explicit instructions from omnipotent aliens to the contrary. At this point the natural next step is to create a race of slave robots (that are stronger and smarter than us) to serve humanity; or possibly [...]
The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and [...]
I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move. –Robert Louis Stevenson
Michele and I have a road trip coming up soon. It’ll take us through what many people would consider the “boring flyover” states (Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas), but it’s a route we [...]
I am sure that those of you who follow politics have heard about Mitt Romney’s incredibly significant and newsworthy gaffe. When asked to name his favorite book, he cited Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard.
Cue a whole lot of snickering and mocking overanalysis by every blogger and pundit in the universe–all of whom no doubt [...]
Why am I content to sit here, blogging in our west Michigan apartment, when I could be writing books like this?
If this were the late 1970s, there would also be a boxed wargame (with 1500 playing chits) detailing this exact scenario. I’m halfway tempted to create it myself.
(Spotted at the Judge a Book by its [...]
Reason Magazine (which I’m finding to be an increasingly good online read lately) has an interesting interview with Vernor Vinge about the Singularity and related topics. Very thought-provoking stuff. The whole concept of the Singularity is, my wife assures me, crazy; but it’s a fascinating idea nonetheless. Anyway, if you, like me, eagerly anticipate the [...]
Since I subjected you to my thoughts on vampires in my last post, I figured that I might as well share my specific thoughts on one of the two vampire-themed novels I mentioned: Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian. Note: mild spoilers follow.
This is quite the ambitious novel: it’s a loose modern retelling of Dracula from the [...]
Note: I don’t know where I’m going with this, but I feel like talking about vampires. You’ve been warned.
Call it the Year of the Undead, if you will. Thus far in 2007 I’ve read exactly two novels, and both of them were about vampires: Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian, which was quite good, and Tim Powers’ [...]
How can you not love a book that presents, with a perfectly straight face, the following two lines
The man gaped at her. “Are the apes after Kenny? I knew something like this would happen.” — p. 134
Doyle kept his face impassive, but his mind was racing. God help us, it’s Romany again, he realized. What [...]
I’m having a bit too much fun with LibraryThing’s UnSuggester, which analyzes your book preferences and recommends books that you probably wouldn’t like. From the main page:
Bring on the guilty reading pleasures!
