The TBR Double Dare
Since I have an embarrassing 70 books in my to-read list, and will likely have more after Christmas is over, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to take part in C.B. James’ TBR Double Dare.
The goal is to read only books from your to-read list for the first three months of next year. I could probably read from mine for the entirety of 2012 and be quite happy, so I don’t foresee any issues there. I might stray from this challenge for audio-books, as I don’t have a to-listen list, but I’ll stick to it for the dead-tree books. I may even pick up the audio version for a couple of the long-standing to-reads in an attempt to clear some of that list.
Snow Crash
Snow Crash (audio) by Neal Stephenson
Published: 1992
Narrator: Jonathon Davis
Hiro Protagonist, a sword-wielding hacker, and Y.T., a 15-year-old skateboarding courier, struggle to stop the spread of Snow Crash, a digitally and visually transmitted…ancient herpes…from space.
This book is a staple in geek culture. People just love it, and in a way I can see why. The technology described in Snow Crash was way ahead of its time. It was published before the first graphical web browser was even invented and managed to describe what would eventually become Google Earth. It also features an internationally networked virtual environment accessed through the use of a headset, a trope that is still very prevalent in modern science-fiction (such as Caprica and Ready Player One), and something we’ll likely have in a decade or two. Stephenson apparently also popularized the term ‘avatar’ in this book. It’s impressively forward-looking.
But OH MY GOD EXPOSITION IN MY FACE. I’ve never read this much info-dumping in my life. This puts Dan Brown to shame. At least he only takes a couple of pages to explain something. If you need a third of a book of pure exposition to explain the main conflict, it’s maybe a sign that it’s a bit too convoluted.
I did enjoy some of his writing style, though. Combined with Jonathon Davis’ narration, it moved along brilliantly at times. The opening scene is one of my favourite opening scenes this year. The reader doesn’t know what’s happening at first, but gradually pieces it together throughout the first chapter. It’s hilariously absurd and fast-paced, but still manages to do a great job of introducing the world.
Unfortunately, the rest of the book doesn’t live up to that opening scene. It’s peppered throughout with some fun moments, but as a whole the plot is a bit of a mess and everything to do with the virus is handled so clumsily that it comes off as silly.
Snow Crash has a lot of problems, but overall I still found it entertaining. I’m tempted to read some of Neal Stephenson’s later work, with the hope that his story-telling has gotten better over the years. I’m certainly interested in what his vision of our future might be these days.
Sum: Mary
Here’s one of my favourites from Sum. Not sure if this embedded Google Book will show up in feeds, so you might need to click through.
Sum: 40 Tales From The Afterlives
Sum: 40 Tales From The Afterlives by David Eagleman
Published: 2009
I first heard about this little book when Stephen Fry mentioned it favourably on Twitter, and since I am powerless to his suggestions, I added it to my next Amazon shipment. It’s taken me a long time to get around to it, but I’m glad I did.
The title of the book really says it all. This is a collection of forty vignettes that imagine different afterlife scenarios. They range from comical to heartbreaking, and each one is perfectly sized but could easily inspire longer pieces. The amount of creativity packed into this is astonishing. As someone who used to talk about writing fiction a lot but could never focus on a strong idea, this book makes me want to uninstall my word processor and curl up in the fetal position.
I often struggle with short story collections, as I find it hard to keep interest through the stop and go of so many stories in a row, but I didn’t have that problem with this book. It’s very short, just over a hundred pages, so my mind didn’t really have time to wander. Each story is also only two to three pages long, so I found myself thinking just one more a lot.
Very glad I picked this up. One of the more memorable books I’ve read this year.
Irredeemable Vol. 2
Irredeemable, Volume 2 by Mark Waid
Illustrated By: Peter Krause
Format: Trade Paperback Comic
Published: 2010
Publisher: Boom! Studios
The tale of America’s fallen superhero, The Plutonian, continues in a second volume that’s every bit as strong as the first. The pacing is perfect for me, the art is great – this is quickly becoming my favourite comic series. It’s the one I’m most excited to read, at least, although I am pacing myself and not buying all seven currently-released volumes at once.
See? Willpower, I gots it.
We’re introduced to the last member of The Paradigm, The Plutonian’s old supergroup, and get to see what really pushed him over the edge. That’s the big mystery of the first volume, and it’s promising to see them not drag that out through the entire series. Some horrific things happen in this volume, and there are also Twists. Quite good Twists.
The only thing really bugging me about this series is that each trade only contains four issues, but it costs just as much as regularly-sized trades. This seems to be a Boom! Studios thing. It’s not enough to stop me reading, but it is annoying.
Apparently there’s a spin-off of this called Incorruptable, which follows one of The Plutonian’s villians turned good. That might be worth a look-see eventually, but I plan to carry on with this series first.
Book Beginnings
A Few More Pages has a weekly meme called Book Beginnings, in which you share the first line or two from your current read. I’m finishing up a fun one right now, so I thought I’d share.
In the afterlife you relive all your experiences, but this time with the events reshuffled into a new order: all the moments that share a quality are grouped together.
– Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman
I’ve been spoiled, as this book contains forty great opening lines.
The 2012 TBR Pile Challenge
Another reading challenge for 2012! I might be joining these only for an excuse to make lists. I do love me some lists.
The 2012 TBR Pile Challenge is to read 12 books (allowing two alternatives) that you’ve had in your possession since before January 1st, 2011. I have many more than 12, so it’ll be good to make some progress on the ol’ to-be-read pile. The first four books are crossovers with the Back to the Classics challenge.
- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
- The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
- The Sign of the Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
- Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary by David Sedaris
- Storm Front by Jim Butcher
- The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
- Between the Bridge and the River by Craig Ferguson
- The Fry Chronicles by Stephen Fry
- On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony
- A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
- The Trial and Death of Socrates: Four Dialogues by Plato
Alternatives:
- Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett
- Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk
Blink
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Published: 2005
The basic premise of this book is that we should pay more attention to our initial gut reaction when making decisions, as having more information can often lead to making worse decisions, except if you haven’t spent enough time honing the particular skill and knowledge set you’re basing the decision on, because then it could lead to shooting an innocent dude 41 times. So…be careful with that.
I liked this book a lot. It’s not really going to change how you make decisions, but it does provide chapter after chapter of interesting anecdotes showing both the positive and negative aspects of ‘thin slicing’ – that is, interpreting a small amount of immediate information with preconcieved notions and previous experience. Malcolm Gladwell is a great storyteller, and he’s found some really interesting examples.
It is quite possible for people who have never met us and who have spent only twenty minutes thinking about us to come to a better understanding of who we are than people who have known us for years.
It’s not fair to say it won’t change how you make decisions. He does provide examples where understanding how powerful our initial unconcious biases are have lead us to take steps to negate their effect on our decisions. In one example he writes about how orchestras around the world are now placing a screen up to hide musicians during the audition process, and since doing so the number of women being accepted has skyrocketed. Gladwell believes we should apply this to other scenarios as well, such as in courtrooms where, for instance, a jury may be deciding the fate of an innocent man who happens to wear a black hat and an eye patch and maybe a moustache and also has a hairless cat or maybe a snake. These things can really mess with your judgement.
Recommended for the interesting and well-told anecdotes. I’ve finally read a Malcolm Gladwell book, and I have a feeling I’ll be reading more in the future.
