Bester, Alfred<\/b>
The Stars My Destination<\/i> – 1956. I read this once before, at the height of my love of SF, but I don’t think I entirely followed the plot. The concept of jaunting changing so many aspects of society stuck with me, though. I’m glad to have re-read it but probably won’t again. B<\/p>\n
Francis, Dick<\/b>
Decider<\/i> – 1993. One of the few (maybe only?) where the hero has children. Believable relationships, not-great plot with too many crazy\/bad aristocrats. B
<\/b>
King, Stephen<\/b>
The Dead Zone<\/i> – 1979. King’s best ever, I think; much more SF than horror, which is probably a big part of why I like it so much. A
Firestarter<\/i> – 1980. B+
The Stand<\/i> – 1990. Why oh why did a basically smart guy like King decide to “update” a classic book in such a careless way? Can you even update a book set in the present without re-writing it? Why did I get rid of my original edition? It’s better and shorter. I was going to write something about how this is really fantasy because it’s about building something new, whereas horror is about dealing with a threat… or something. Alas, another essay half-written in my head that will probably never see the light of day. Original: A Update: B<\/p>\n
Kipling, Rudyard<\/b>
Just So Stories<\/i> – 1902. B<\/p>\n
Microcosmic Tales: 100 Wondrous Science Fiction Short-Short Stories<\/b><\/i> – selected by Isaac Asimov, Martin Harry Greenberg, and Joseph D. Olander – 1980. I used to love SF short-shorts, but they’ve shrunk on me, plus these are a little sub-par. Gone from the collection! C+<\/p>\n
Pollan, Michael<\/b>
The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals<\/i> – 2006. Brilliant, fascinating, first-person and research reporting at its best. Everyone should read this. Mind-altering and life-changing. A+<\/p>\n
Rivoli, Pietra<\/b>
The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the Markets, Power, and Politics of World Trade<\/i> – 2005. Fascinating and thought-provoking, though the author’s argument is not particularly clear (yay free trade, but sweatshops are still a problem). Most interesting chapter is about the used-clothing trade in Africa. B+<\/p>\n
Sevilla, Charles M.<\/b>
Disorder in the Court: Great Fractured Moments in Courtroom History<\/i> – 1992. Pretty funny and mostly convincingly true (therefore a little depressing as well). B<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bester, AlfredThe Stars My Destination – 1956. I read this once before, at the height of my love of SF, but I don’t think I entirely followed the plot. The concept of jaunting changing so many aspects of society stuck with me, though. I’m glad to have re-read it but probably won’t again. B Francis, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/bookblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/bookblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/bookblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/bookblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/bookblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/bookblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4749,"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/bookblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions\/4749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/bookblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/bookblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salticid.com\/bookblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}