Iceberg by Clive Cussler - Book Report #312

I grew up reading the Dirk Pitt adventures.  At the time, they were a great romp and I loved them.  As I kept reading these summer books, I got a bit tired of how Cussler would wrap Dirk Pitt in the American flag and just how invincible he was.

But I had missed the point; the author was writing camp, fun, over-the-top adventures in the style of the pulps.  I didn't find them believable.  

I wasn't supposed to.

Now I'm in my mid-50's and trying to read them again.  Perspective helps and I can certainly turn the pages for the sheer fun of a story well told.

Iceberg was first published in 1975 and it certainly feels a bit dated, but not by much.  There is some light misogyny and heavy smoking which was typical of the time.

I remember how I always liked the first two thirds of his books.  Iceberg was before his formula was set (much like a James Bond movie) so it lacked the historical reference and his good old buddy,  Al Giordino.  Which I missed.  Yes, the last third was over-the-top to the point of eye-rolling.

It was a fun read - but it was fluff.  It may be awhile before I read Raise the Titanic!

Still, if you're missing James Bond, you might enjoy one of these classics.

Recommended, but don't expect much.

Below is the cover of the novel as I read it in the late 70's.

The Adventurer’s Handbook by Mick Conefrey - Book Report #311

 From Surviving an Anaconda Attack

to Finding Your Way Out of the Desert

I loved this book.  The illustrations, the tips & tricks and the history of explorations were all neatly packaged in this small hardcover book.  It was a joy to read.

It is also a terrific guide into the subject of adventure, travel, discovery, endurance, glory and tragedy.  If you are curious about the past and how the world was discovered, mapped and understood, this is the book to reach for.

It is chock-full of brief descriptions of countless expeditions.  You will easily find subjects you are interested in and it will point you in the direction to discover more.  From mountain climbing, desert explorations, ocean sailings of discovery it's all there.  Names, dates, expedition titles all are jumping off points to discover more books or websites that will expand on what is presented by Conefrey.

While reading this book, I often put it down and went outside for some fresh air.

Highly recommended.

Mick Conefrey's website - https://www.mickconefrey.co.uk/

Mick Conefrey

Himalya by Michael Palin - Book Report #310

Once again, with charm, respect and genuine curiosity Palin travels into lands filled with mystery and legend, at least to this Canadian reader.

  

I personally did not engage with this adventure as I had his other travels.  There was a more religion, spirituality and superstition in the groups of people he met than I had interest in.  That says more about me than it does about the people or the narrative.  Spiritualism is just not for me.

That said, there was plenty to be learned at the border crossings and the history of previous occupations, wars and political influence.

My favourite passage of the book summed up the entire experience and perhaps all of his explorations.

 

"The enjoyment of the world is immeasurably enhanced not just by meeting people who think, look, talk and dress differently from yourself, but by having to depend on them. The trio of Bangladeshi fishermen who learnt the arcane art of television filming in a little less than half an hour are only the last of a long list of those who had every reason to think that we were completely mad, but who decided, against all the odds, to be our friends instead."

Michael Palin's website - https://www.themichaelpalin.com/

Michael Palin's travel website - https://www.palinstravels.co.uk/

Michael Palin

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers - Book Report #310

AHWOSG has been on my TBR for as long as I can remember.

It was a wild ride through the mind of a young man going through a wild time in his life.

Heartbreaking to be sure.  The opening sequences of Dave coping with the illnesses of his parents was difficult to take.

Eggers captured perfectly the voice of the North American human male in his early 20's.  The scattered thoughts, the manic flood of conscious thinking, the wild, world-changing ideas of youth and the resilience of human spirit are all here.

It took me some time adapt and accept the flow of the book.  It is not a linear thing.  Is it memoir?  Sure, kind of.  Is it fiction?  It often felt that way.  Is it true to life?  Absolutely.

True to American life, which is not universal.  And manic in its own way.

Many times, the narrative made me feel embarrassed to be male, white, and lucky to live in a country like Canada.  But it is nonetheless a valid experience.

Eggers has an inspiring grasp on honesty.  He, as the character in the book, is not easy to like, but I came to understand him.

The book is a roller coaster ride in the dark.  I could not predict where even one sentence was going to go, never mind a chapter.

But it was worth the ride.

Recommended. 

Dave Eggers' website - https://daveeggers.net/

Dave Eggers

The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert - Book Report #309

An Unnatural History

Hold on to your optimism because this book will damage much of the hope for the future you may have.

What I enjoyed most was learning of the history of the sciences we take for granted today.  The very concept of extinction got supporters of the idea laughed out of the room.  To many scientists in the 17th century, every known creature was thought to have always been there.

When a mastodon's skeleton was discovered in the United States, it just proved that a living herd had not yet been found in the wild.  Not that it was evidence of a long-lost species.

Peter Diamandis once said, "The day before something is a breakthrough, it's a crazy idea."

The book is a long list of crazy ideas that have become accepted fact.

By page 19 it is no surprise to learn that the rapid extinction event amphibians are being accelerated by our own human activity and systems.

My constant complaint in these kinds of books is that they are full of destruction & doom and short of constructive hope & solutions.

That said, it's a terrific read.  The history of scientific discovery is especially telling.  Just think about how the very notion of climate change was universally laughed at only 20 years ago.  Not as much now.

The book does not touch on this but, I feel this is the biggest scientific, economic and social opportunity humanity has ever had.  We have the chance to reinvent everything!  

So far, our world has stumbled into the future, today we can plan it.  Reimagine it.  Improve it.  Best of all, the world is full of those crazy ideas that just might work.  Oh, my!  We could be at the inflection point where humanity realizes it's true potential.

Elizabeth Kolbert's website - http://elizabethkolbert.com/

Elizabeth Kolbert

Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton - Book Report #308

Oh my goodness.  What fun!

This book was given to me by a friend at a time when I needed an easy distraction.

The story, set in the American west of 1876, felt cinematic.  I could envision in my mind all the standard western movie scenes, from the train ride, to the saloons and the frontier towns.

There were wonderful characters, leading separate expeditions to the badlands of the Montana Territory, searching for dinosaur bones.  

I found it interesting how the science of the day was so controversial in the context of Charles Darwin's revelations from his book On the Origins of the Species 

Paleontology was a very new branch of science and the search for discovery was a "wild west" of it's own.

The book as an easy read, felt fresh and was well worth reading.

Michael Crichton's website - http://www.michaelcrichton.com/

Michael Crichton

Thrive by Dan Buettner - Book Report #307

Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way

Dan Buettner originally set out on a National Geographic research project to discover the commonalities of pockets of human population that has historically lived longer than the average.

He discovered many things; people generally are physically active, they eat primarily veggies & fruit, they have close personal connections with family and friends.

One of the byproducts of his investigations was general happiness.

It makes sense that if you are healthy, active and are surrounded by people you like, you'd feel pretty happy.

That is what this book explores.

I like the premise.  Sure, we are all looking for a diet to improve our health and to lose weight.  Wouldn't it also be terrific if you would somehow become happier too?

I'd buy that book.

Check out Dan Buettner's TED talk, if you find it interesting you will find all of his book are too. - https://www.ted.com/speakers/dan_buettner

Dan Buettner's Blue Zones website - https://www.bluezones.com/

The Year of Less by Cait Flanders - Book Report #306

How I stopped shopping, gave away

 my belongings, and discovered life is worth more

 than anything you can buy in a store.

It's a common problem in our cozy First World:  we have too much.

Too much stuff, too much clutter, too many calories and, too many demands on our time.

There are loads of self-help books out there help us to simplify our lives.

This one was a little different.  I was expecting the nuts and bolts of simplifying, hoping to find a few tips and inspiration.  What I got was the struggle the author went through to achieve her goals, not how she did them.  It showed the strategies she employed to keep herself on track and it explored how she motivated herself to continue even when events in her personal life could easily have derailed her.

This was very helpful.  To be shown how the conversations you have with others, how challenges in life, be it professional or personal, have the ability to make your well laid out plans more difficult, was refreshing and familiar.  I did like how she tracked her progress on a calendar, it's something I use everyday; seeing the successful days pile up as I cross them off in bold, black Sharpie is satisfying.

I like to think of the book as a personal growth memoir rather than a self-help book.  Cait Flanders offered plenty of inspiration but she also gave lots of room to make her experience something I could modify and make my own.

It was a warm and charming book.  I was rooting for her the whole time.

Cait Flanders' Website - https://caitflanders.com/

Cait Flanders

Peak Everything by Richard Heinberg - Book Review #305

Narrated by Edward Dalmas

To be honest I felt like there was no hope for humanity after hearing this book.

The world is a big giant mess, I already knew this.  It's why I picked it up.

I've said it before, with a lot of these books they are heavy on problems and light on solutions.  Heinberg simply made me feel like everything was hopeless and I just wanted to give up.

But as the eternal optimist, Peter Diamandis, often says - "The world's biggest problems are the world's biggest market opportunities."  Keep that in mind.

A book like Peak Everything will shine the light on the problems.  It will be up to you to decide which ones you'd like to tackle and to go out to find the solutions yourself.

To be fair, Heinberg does have some solutions, but they mostly revolve about returning to an agrarian life.  Who knows, maybe he's right.

Do I recommend it?  Sure.  Why not?  Just be warned that it's a very one-sided read.

Richard Heinberg's website - https://richardheinberg.com/

Richard Heinberg

Sea Sick by Alanna Mitchell - Book Review #304

I found this book most illuminating and upsetting.

Being landlocked in Alberta I seldom think about the oceans.  I had never considered how our local agriculture can damage the oceans.  But fertilizer, pesticide, and herbicide runoff make it from the rivers to the oceans creating lasting damage to the ocean environment.  Just Google Gulf of Mexico dead zone to get an understanding of how everybody touches the oceans.

Overfishing is nothing new, we've heard about it for decades.  Just think of the shutting of the Atlantic cod fishery in eastern Canada.

The die-off of coral is much more serious than I knew about.

Most alarming is learning how the oceans play their part in the problem of CO2 rise.  I had no idea that the waters of the world absorb the gas, which sounds like a good thing, right?  But once carbon dioxide is dissolved in water it reacts with it, lowering the pH levels and making the water more acidic which has dire consequences on marine life, from the bottom of the food chain all the way to the top and to humans on the land.

I am so thankful I found the book.  It reinforced my desire to reduce my impact on the world.

Every little thing we do as individuals may seem inconsequential but others see what we do.  Somebody may see you picking up a bit of litter and it may inspire that person to do the same or to switch from a single-use item to a reusable one.

Like many of these kinds of books, I found it rather one-sided; there was so much gloom and doom that I kept wanting to just throw my hands up.

On the tenth anniversary of publication, Alanna Mitchell wrote a piece for Canadian Geographic updating readers as to how things have changed in that time.  Both the horror and the hope have expanded.  Read it here:

https://www.canadiangeographic.ca/article/theres-no-coming-back-why-global-ocean-crisis-threatens-us-all

There were two lines in the book that stood out for me:

Near the end, he leaves me with this, "The scale of the solution has to be to the scale of the problem."

And.

“The problem of the atmosphere and the ocean is a problem of human behaviour.” - Monica Sharma, a physician who works for the United Nations.

Alanna Mitchell's website - https://alannamitchell.com/

Alanna Mitchell

Dissapointment River By Brian Castner - Book Report #303

Finding and Losing the Northwest Passage

I love stories like these.  

This is a real-life, modern-day, canoe journey of the Mackenzie River.  The author decided to follow in the footsteps of Alexander Mackenzie who paddled the river in the hopes of finding an inland Northwest Passage.  "The Mackenzie river is the longest river system in Canada, and includes the second largest drainage basin of any North American river after the Mississippi." (Passage from Wikipedia)

From his starting point at Great Slave Lake all the way to the Arctic Ocean Brian Castner weaves his voyage to that of Mackenzie's.  At certain points in the trip Castner and Mackenzie stood on the same spots, on the same dates, 227 yeas apart.   

Blending history to the modern day by replicating an event, is an effective way to bring history alive and to compare the two worlds.  At times, the author is vividly imagining what Mackenzie and his party went through only to be knocked back into the present by the passing of a speedboat or a container ferry.

In many ways, life has not changed at all in the Canadian north in 1779 Mackenzie was trying to find his fortune, the industry of the day were furs.  Today, oil, gas and mining dominate.

I was thankful for the trip Brian Castner took and glad he chose to write about it.  I was thrilled to shoot the rapids with him from the safety of my couch.  I was happy to learn a bit more about Canadian history and to simply answer the question as to how the river got its modern name.  It is traditionally known as the Deh-Cho by the way.  I was also very happy to learn that no way in hell would I want to take a similar trip.

This was a terrific story.

Brian Castner's website - https://briancastner.com/

New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson - Book Report #302

If you look back to my previous reviews of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy I raked him over the coals.

But, as time went on, I kept thinking about those books and what became obvious, is the unbelievable amount of research Robinson put into them.  This is a hallmark of his writing.  He researches his topics to death, to the point of probably being an expert himself.  And this becomes the gift of his novels.  When I reach for something by KSR I am usually interested in the subject, be it climate change or Mars or deep space travel and I know I will get a factual education along with a narrative to hang the details onto.

New York 2140 places a cast of characters in the city after the global oceans have risen by disastrous amounts.  It is a story of survival, adaptation and how the current financial systems and the machinations of globalism, consumerism and capitalism persist.


It was a stunning look at how things could drastically change and some not at all.  It's a well-researched warning as to what could happen if we don't change everything quickly.  Climate change does not necessarily mean the end of humanity, but it could.  Robinson only looked at the effects of sea level rise and not the consequences of pollution, temperature increase and acidification of the waters.

I see it as a call to action to get things right - today.  The decisions we have made to stem the wreckage of the global financial crisis have lasting effects into the future.  In the future of the novel decisions are viewed as short-sighted and lacking.

I loved this story as it helps to crystallize a view of the world as it could be.  Visions of the future are very difficult to imagine and we only try to correct things with images of the present.  This is a trap.

Robinson takes on gigantic topics and did a tremendous job of not spinning this into a trilogy too.  By keeping the subject to one book he has made a strong and potent case for solving our problems now and into a future we can barley grasp.

Well done sir.

Kim Stanley Robinson's Wikipedia page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Stanley_Robinson

The audio book was narrated by - Jay Snyder, Robin Miles, Suzanne Toren, Peter Ganim, Ryan Vincent Anderson, Christopher Ryan Grant, Caitlin Kelly, Michael Crouch, Robert Blumenfeld

Kim Stanley Robinson

Tribute by Jack Skillingstead - A Short Story Review

A mission to Mars goes badly.  NASA is defunded.  Corporations are nearly the only players left in space.

But what of science?  What of exploration?

How can these higher pursuits be served when the profit motive is the only thing left in space?

It's an interesting story, especially for those voices who do not see the value of a government funded space agency. 

I found this last story of the collection very thought provoking.  The missions to Mars are terrific storytelling but the bigger questions of corporate priorities in space lingered in my mind.

There is room enough in outer space for all the players, if you ask me.




Jack Skillingstead's web site - https://www.jackskillingstead.com/

Jack Skillingstead

The Canal Builders by Julie Greene - Book Review #301

Making America's Empire at the Panama Canal

I enjoyed the angle the author took on this legendary infrastructure project, that of the people who built it and manged the endeavour.

People from all over the world came to work on it but it was also a product of its time - systemic racism, brutal working conditions, undervalued human needs and American hegemony made the reality of the construction an ugly thing.

But this was the reality of the times, it was normal.  It would never stand today.  Which made me wonder, could it even be achieved today?

The book illustrates just how far we've come in our respective societies from that day and how far we still have to go.  Throughout our history there has always been an "us" and a "them."  Nothing has really changed in that respect just the definition of us and them.

Still, this is an important document to the history of the Panama Canal and it's construction.  It focused on people instead of the engineering and I appreciated that.

Julie Green's website - https://history.umd.edu/users/jmg

Audio book narrated by Karen White

Julie Greene

Rare (Off) Earth Elements - A Sam Gunn Tale by Ben Bova - A Short Story Review

I've been a long-time fan of Bova's.  I consider him the Clive Cussler of space.  His writing, although much more nuanced are still firmly "pulpy."  Bova's villains are often psychologically damaged, greedy or
mustache-twirlingly evil.

But there is a special place for Sam Gunn, who is a comical rogue that flitters in and out Bova's novels but more often lives in stand-alone short stories.  He is an opportunist who is constantly seeking, and losing, his fortunes.

This story hinges on asteroid mining and the limitations placed upon the activity by the Outer Space Treaty.  In order for an individual or a country to have a legal claim to the minerals of a body in space the claim must be made from the object itself.  A "flag" must be planted.

That's a pretty onerous legal detail but it forces interested parties into space, where adventure awaits.  When you think about it, it's a rather human clause.  We have a long history of exploration and this method of flag planting has long been acknowledged as the correct way to go about things.

In this little gem, the plans of a nation are pitted against the motivations of an individual.

I liked this story very much.

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

Ben Bova

Star Trek: Titan: Fortune of War by David Mack - Book Report #300

I'm always a bit torn when I read, or listen, to Star Trek books.  On the one hand it's terrific to catch up with those characters but on the other, it can be a bit frustrating, because so much has gone on in the books that I feel like I've missed out on a lot.

And that should be okay.  Why shouldn't dedicated readers be rewarded for sticking with the franchise and supporting it?  The Titan series is not a bad one to drop into as the books are pretty much stand-alone adventures but with a narrative arc that spans over all the books.  The authors are usually pretty good about catching a new reader up with details from previous books.

And there's the rub; I'd love to read them all but there are so many that it's daunting.

In any case, this story picks up a thread from an episode of the TNG television series and that is always satisfying.

A superweapon is discovered and the race is on to make sure the bad guys don't get their hands on it.  There are a lot of bad guys, not-so-bad guys, opportunists and the Federation here.

This is a David Mack story so be ready for lots of action, good humour and a high body count.  My only frustration with the Titan series is that I wish they'd get Admiral Riker off the fucking ship.  He is constantly second-guessing Captain Vale's decisions that I am surprised Star Fleet continues to allow the situation.

Other than that quibble, this was a terrific yarn, jammed full of the stuff that makes Star Trek fun.

David Mack's website:  http://davidmack.pro/

David Mack

Frozen in Time by Owen Beattie and John Geiger - Book Report #299

I remember when the news of the U of A's expedition to Beechey Island and the discovery of how lead poisoning played its part in the demise of the Franklin Expedition of 1845-48.

The 19th century expedition is arguably the most famous and disastrous of the era's arctic explorations.  The Northwest Passage obsessed governments and explorers alike.  How many lives have been lost by throwing ill-equipped wood vessels against the ice?

This book chronicles the forensic research done by the University of Alberta in the mid 1980's when they exhumed the three bodies of men from the ill-fated expedition.

What was staggering was how well preserved they were.  It must have been a heart-breaking experience to look into the faces of men who'd been dead for over 130 years.

This was an excellent book and I kept going back to it at every opportunity.


Owen Beattie's Wikipedia page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Beattie

John Geiger's Wikipedia page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_G._Geiger

John Geiger and Owen Beattie 

The Butcher of Anderson Station by James S A Corey - A Short Story Review

Fred Johnson was a very important character in the first Expanse book.

This is the story of how he became known as the The Butcher of Anderson Station.

It was a nice way to enjoy a little bit more of this world without having to dive into another 500+ pages.

It's entirely possible this was edited out of the original manuscript.  If so, it's a nice way to get the story out there.

James S A Corey's website - https://www.jamessacorey.com/

The writing team known as James S A Corey

Leviathan Wakes by James S A Corey - Book Report #298

Book One of The Expanse series

My first taste of the series was of the television show.  I only watched one episode and it did not grab me.  I had the copy of the first book in my basement for years.  After hearing that the TV series has been renewed for a fifth season, and friends telling me how much I would like it, I decided to dust off book one and give it a read.

I was hooked very quickly.  This is the kind of lived-in, day-to-day, blue-collar kind of science fiction that I love.  For those of you as old as me (born in the 60's) think of what you felt when you first saw the Millennium Falcon.

This was an excellent blend of gritty neo-noir detective story and grand political drama set in a solar system that has been dominated by humans.  Mars, the asteroid belt, and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn all have human presence.  And much like humanity of today we are not there for scientific reasons; we are there to make a living.  Water and oxygen are more valuable than gold to the people living and working off Earth.

An ice mining ship answers a distress call, which is a trap that starts a war between Earth, Mars and The Belt.

What I liked most about the story is how it focused only on two characters and the people that surround them.  This kept the larger story from spinning the the whole thing out of control.  It is a gigantic story and it took discipline to contain it in this first book.

This is a big series, with novels, novellas and short stories that bounce around the timeline of the novels.  I've decided to read thing in publication order to experience it the way fans from the beginning would have.

Generally I like my SF to be about humans, FTL and aliens tend to make storytelling a bit more lazy.  I like that we are stuck in our own solar system and that people have to be very careful about acceleration, maneuvering and things like the Coriolis effect.  (I had to look up that last one.)

It was well written, fun, fast-paced, believable and had lots of characters that I liked.

Highly recommended.

Website of James S A Corey - https://www.jamessacorey.com/

James S A Corey is the pen name for authors
Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck

Nudge by Richard H Thaler and Cass R Sunstein - Book Report #297

Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness

This was an excellent book about the power of suggestion, default choices and inertia.

The basis for the whole theory of nudging is called Libertarian Paternalism, an oxymoron to me but well enough developed and explained that I bought into it.

Now I see examples of nudges everywhere and it makes me smile.

There is nothing more rewarding to me than reading a book (audiobook in this case) and having it fundamentally change the way I see the world.

Excellent stuff.

Richard H Thaler's Wiki Page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Thaler#External_links

Cass R Sunstein's Wiki Page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cass_Sunstein#External_links

Cass R Sunstein

Richard H Thaler

The Rabbit Hole by James Gunn - A Short Story Review

What are conditions like inside a wormhole?

James Gunn takes a stab at some serious alternate reality in this story.

A message form an alien culture  is decoded and instructions to build a ship capable of entering a wormhole to travel to a distant solar system is discovered.

The ship is built and flown where directed.

Hold on to your brains as life inside is difficult to understand and manipulate.

I thought Gunn did a great job of making such a challenging environment light and fun to read.

It stands apart from the other stories in that it is less blue-collar Hard SF than scientific Hard SF.


I enjoyed it very much and found it quite cinematic in my mind.  I kept seeing Event Horizon blended with Memento.

James Gunn's Wikipedia page -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E._Gunn_(writer)

James Gunn

Ten Days Up by Curtis C. Chen - A Short Story Review

I will say, in this first sentence, the story did not work for me.

It was very well written, I loved the story about two workers on a routine run up and down a space elevator.

Things go wrong on the way up and one of the crew is trapped outside with an oncoming solar storm making things worse.

Man vs environment is a terrific plot construct but sadly there was just too much channeling of MacGyver for me to believe in the plausibility of it.

I think the author tried very hard to amp up the danger when he did not have to.  Being stuck outside, in a hard vacuum, with a solar flare en route was plenty of peril for one person to deal with.  Adding orbital mechanics to it was just a bit too much for me.

Everything else about the story was excellent, I loved the interaction with ground control and the worn-in routine of working on a space elevator. 


Curtis Chen is an author to look for.

Curtis C Chen's website - https://curtiscchen.com/

Curtis C Chen

The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi - Book Report #296

Book 2 of the The Interdependency series

Once again, Scalzi managed to entertain by cutting to the chase expecting his audience to keep up with him and using humor to terrific effect.

I am saddened to know that I have to wait until the spring of 2020 before the third book in the series is published.

In this book we come to learn more about the history of The Flow and of the Interdependency.  On a side mission we get to explore a long-cut-off part of space and human history.  There we meet a new character that I very much enjoyed.

The bigger, political and power-grabbing parts of the story that normally bore me to tears were made much more entertaining by putting Kiva Lagos into the middle of all of it.  Believe me, she is so much fun.

All in all, this was a fun read and I am looking forward to the next one.

~ ~ ~

On a personal note, this book got me through a difficult time in my life.  Our long-lived 16 year old Labrador was terribly sick and we had to put her down while I was reading the final few chapters of the story.  Thank you Mr. Scalzi for providing me with a much needed distraction and for giving me much joy in the story.

John Scalzi

Malf by David D Levine - A Short Story Review

Asteroid mining, automated and on a contract basis.  This is the ultimate gig-economy job.

What if asteroids were mined remotely and brought back to Earth, splashed into the ocean, recovered, and the minerals extracted?

Great idea. But, since it’s for-profit companies that are doing the mining, getting the asteroids ready and guided to Earth is a job best contracted out.

This, of course, opens the process to non-standard methods of operation.

This story reminded me of the recent demonstration of hacking into driver-less cars.  The author poses the question; what would happen if someone hacked into the propulsion systems of an inbound asteroid and changed its course?

This was an excellent story.

David D Levine's website - https://daviddlevine.com/

David D Levine