normally books written in an artificial gibberish invented by the author are tiresome and strain my interest. not so with this novel. anthony burgess is a superior stylist and his narrator's voice is compelling.
so much has already been said about this book that i won't attempt to review it. on a personal note, however, i will say that very few non-fiction books make me hopeful about the future. can you imagine if people the world over were to read this book in droves - and listen to dawkins' lucid arguments? it's awe-inspiring to think the change that might be wrought. the world needs a revolution in thinking on this subject. i hope history will show this book helped start that change. somebody pin a medal on richard dawkins' chest.
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(5 of 8 readers found this comment helpful)
certainly the most impressive book i've read which tackles the concept of the singularity. in a world characterized by progress accelerated to the nth degree, how do you describe a culture that's evolved beyond human comprehension? with incandescent prose - that's how. even if you don't buy stross's premise of hyper-intelligent machines deconstructing the mass of the solar system into computronium, it sure is fun to watch him describe it. his use of language is jaw-dropping. and while the far future he depicts is terrifying in its weirdness, he also manages to make it seem like a fun place to live. bring on the utility fog!
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(3 of 3 readers found this comment helpful)
since first discovering haruki murakami almost 10 years ago with his fabulous wind-up bird chronicle, i've been waiting for this book to come along. his shorter, quieter novels in the interim like sputnik sweetheart and south of the border, west of the sun have been great too, but kafka on the shore is the kind of titanic, philosophy-infused epic that made me fall in love with murakami in the first place.
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(5 of 10 readers found this comment helpful)
Geoff Ryman's Air won the Arthur C Clarke Award last year and so my sf book club recently chose it. The story centres around the impending arrival of Air, a system about to go live that will give everyone, everywhere access to the web directly through their thoughts. (Sound familiar? I know kung-fu). But what sets this book apart from that popular trope is that Ryman sets the scene in a remote Asian village that has never had access to the web before. That contrast, between the last place on earth to go online and the new global culture about to overwhelm their thoughts, gives the story a vitality and a great new slant on a popular sf notion.
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(3 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)
Read the INK Q&A with Nikolai Grozni and save 30% on Turtle Feet: The Making and Unmaking of a Buddhist Monk.
Richard Alsen has commented on (5) products.
Clockwork Orange (UK Edition) by Anthony Burgess
Richard Alsen, March 20, 2008
normally books written in an artificial gibberish invented by the author are tiresome and strain my interest. not so with this novel. anthony burgess is a superior stylist and his narrator's voice is compelling.The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
Richard Alsen, March 5, 2008
so much has already been said about this book that i won't attempt to review it. on a personal note, however, i will say that very few non-fiction books make me hopeful about the future. can you imagine if people the world over were to read this book in droves - and listen to dawkins' lucid arguments? it's awe-inspiring to think the change that might be wrought. the world needs a revolution in thinking on this subject. i hope history will show this book helped start that change. somebody pin a medal on richard dawkins' chest.(5 of 8 readers found this comment helpful)
Accelerando by Charles Stross
Richard Alsen, January 18, 2008
certainly the most impressive book i've read which tackles the concept of the singularity. in a world characterized by progress accelerated to the nth degree, how do you describe a culture that's evolved beyond human comprehension? with incandescent prose - that's how. even if you don't buy stross's premise of hyper-intelligent machines deconstructing the mass of the solar system into computronium, it sure is fun to watch him describe it. his use of language is jaw-dropping. and while the far future he depicts is terrifying in its weirdness, he also manages to make it seem like a fun place to live. bring on the utility fog!(3 of 3 readers found this comment helpful)
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
Richard Alsen, April 8, 2007
since first discovering haruki murakami almost 10 years ago with his fabulous wind-up bird chronicle, i've been waiting for this book to come along. his shorter, quieter novels in the interim like sputnik sweetheart and south of the border, west of the sun have been great too, but kafka on the shore is the kind of titanic, philosophy-infused epic that made me fall in love with murakami in the first place.(5 of 10 readers found this comment helpful)
Air: Or, Have Not Have by Geoff Ryman
Richard Alsen, March 25, 2007
Geoff Ryman's Air won the Arthur C Clarke Award last year and so my sf book club recently chose it. The story centres around the impending arrival of Air, a system about to go live that will give everyone, everywhere access to the web directly through their thoughts. (Sound familiar? I know kung-fu). But what sets this book apart from that popular trope is that Ryman sets the scene in a remote Asian village that has never had access to the web before. That contrast, between the last place on earth to go online and the new global culture about to overwhelm their thoughts, gives the story a vitality and a great new slant on a popular sf notion.(3 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)