Return To Mars by Ben Bova - Book Report #201

As a sequel this worked very well indeed.

We are back on Mars ready to explore new regions and to go back to a tantalizing feature that was only glimpsed on the last mission.

I felt that Bova did a much better job at characterization than in his previous effort.  Some of the emotional sides of the story were still a bit clunky but much less so than before.

This time, instead of being threatened by some disease the treat comes from within the program.  There will come a time when decisions will have to be made on how much of Mars will need to be preserved and how much will be exploited.

The needs of science versus the need to make money (to fund missions for science) come to a head and I was quite pleased with the twist from one of the antagonists.

The ultimate resolution to the conflict was, once again, solved in an interesting and surprising way.

I liked this one even better than the last.

Ben Bova's website - http://benbova.com/

Ben Bova

Hello, Hello by Seanan McGuire

This was a charming and warm story about a mother of young children who is a computer scientist specializing in language translation AI programming.

She has a sister who is deaf and uses an AI that is programmed to translate American sign language.

Communication is done primarily over Skype and the use of avatars is commonplace.  One day she gets a call, from her sister's number, but instead of her sister's avatar there is an image of a default face which is having trouble communicating.

The kids are taken by this stranger, finding he or she funny, and they enjoy trying to talk with it.  This makes the mother very nervous.

With a bit of digging the truth is discovered which, in turn, may create a new market for translation AIs.

Like I said, charming, even though the twist was easy to figure out, I did like how the story moved beyond the telling of the mystery.

Seanan McGuire's website - http://www.seananmcguire.com/

Seanan McGuire

Becoming Canada by Ken Dryden - Book Report #200!

My goodness this was an illuminating book.

Ken Dryden, one of this country's towering members, wrote a book to explain Canada to Canadians.  And I thank him for it.

In it he tells a bit about our history, our collective personality and our relationship to America.

The bulk of the book explains the Harper years.  Which was fascinating, not being a politically engaged person, I always "felt" that something was off about his terms as Prime Minister, now I understand why.

The last few chapters explores how our collective sense of self is evolving and becoming something quite unique.

Having been published in 2010 I think a new edition would be a welcomed thing.  Many of his observations have proven true and have evolved since then.

This was the first book of Dryden's that I've read and I was very impressed by it.

Ken Dryden

The Watcher from the Man Descending collection by Guy Vanderhaeghe

I came across Vanderhaeghe's name from reading Roy MacGregor's book.

My awakening of all things Canadian has begun to spin into the fiction I'm reading.  Up until now I have always read some kind of genre story.  My chief frustration with science fiction is the amount of exposition most stories require. There always has to be an explanation of the situation we are in and the rules of this new universe.

With literary fiction there is none of that.  We just need to know when and where the story takes place, we already know the rules of planet Earth.

But I have never read literary fiction.  I have always assumed there is a fundamental lack of plot and why would I want to read about nothing really happening?

But, I decided, if I am going to read Canadian stories, I will have to read literature.

In this first story, Charlie, a boy of eleven years, is sent to spend the summer of 1959 at his grandmother's farm.

Charlie's family is a bit of a mess.  One day his aunt Evelyn arrives with her slick and unlikable boyfriend.  What transpires is a battle of wills between the grandmother and the boyfriend.

I was rather surprised by how raw the story was.  I found myself completely immersed in it with five pages.

This is a rather good start to something new for me.

Guy Vanderhaeghe

Star Trek: The Kobayashi Maru by Julia Ecklar - Book Report #199

I loved this book.

It was one of those "stuck in an elevator" kind of stories, where the crew, Kirk, Bones, Scotty, Sulu and Chekov are in a shuttle craft, adrift in space, trying to get themselves rescued.

While they are waiting for Spock to find them they each tell their own story of how they coped with the Kobayashi Maru test.

This simulation is legendary in the worlds of Star Trek and I found the author played each story very well to the character's personality.

It read like a collection of short sorties making it a perfect book for my commute to and from work.

The best of the books expand our knowledge and understanding of the characters while delivering us a good adventure.

Julia Ecklar - http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?2538

Julia Ecklar

Destination: Prince George by David Webb in British Columbia Magazine

I've decided that magazine articles should be included.  I am on a bit of a non-fiction kick these days and want to include periodicals.

Prince George is a city that I only have a fleeting knowledge of.  I usually pass the distance marker for it at the junction of highways Trans Canada 16 and BC 5, at Tête Jaune Cache, about 275 kms east of there.  That is the extent of my experience with the place.  It is, sadly, only a name on a highway street sign to me.

After reading the article I find myself intrigued.  Thinking it was only a mill town I had no interest in it all.  But now I see there is much, much more going on.  There is a fresh food and craft beer scene emerging along with well-established back country adventures opportunities.

I tried to find a link to the article but it is only available in the current print edition of British Columbia Magazine.  Get out in the world and find a copy of the physical copy.  The magazine is a beautiful read, from cover to cover, and is well worth the effort to find.

David Webb - http://theworldwidewebb.ca/

British Columbia magazine - https://bcmag.ca/

David Webb

Mission to Mars by Buzz Aldrin - Book Report #198

Buzz Aldrin, of Apollo 11, has been an advocate for continued and ambitious exploration of space ever since he returned to Earth.

Here he makes the case for Mars and describes a method to accomplish the permanent settlement of the planet.

I have always been a fan of space exploration.  My greatest disappointment was how it was put on the back burner and the American capability has atrophied to the point that they no longer have a domestic ability to put humans in orbit.

There are many mission plans to take humans to the red planet but this one has an elegant transportation system of continual cycling to and from Mars that I find compelling.

Part of the genius of the Aldrin cycler is how it puts hardware into space that offers free return trips back and forth between Earth and Mars in perpetuity.

Political will is necessary to make any push into space, the battle is to find that will and leverage it.

I found the book well written and inspiring.

Buzz Aldrin - https://buzzaldrin.com/

Buzz Aldrin