Mathew Swain: When Trouble Beckons - Book Review 333

 

Normally I don't review books I don't enjoy.  Because I usually don't finish them anyway.

But I had a conversation with my daughter, asking her when she gives up on books?  After a certain page count?  When the story jumps the shark in some way?

"I finish all my books.  Even the ones I don't like."

"Why?"

"For two reasons; one - what if it gets better?  And two - if it doesn't then at least I know that much."

Huh.

I asked her because I was reading this book and was considering stopping and donating it to our Little Free Library.

So I kept on.  You know what?  I still didn't like it.  Now I know.

And it held so much promise too.  Just look at that cover!  A Han Solo wannabe lighting up a cig on the moon!  A private eye no less.  This could be campy fun.

I tried to be kind.  It was published in 1981 after all.  The Space Shuttle was still being tested in those days.  There was very little common knowledge about orbital mechanics and the limits of the lifting capacity of rockets.  Heck, dune buggies on the moon were the most advanced notions in those days.

And that's what got me.  The fact that I was reading a 41 year old book.  It had all the hard boiled detective stuff that I wanted but life in orbital space stations, the size of them, the materials lifted to create them AND how the author would often forget that he set a foot chase in zero G was too much for me.

It was a strange, strange read.  There were other highly implausible plot points that just went beyond reason.

So was there value in reading beyond the point of giving up on a book?  I must admit there is, now that it's over.  

I kept asking myself, "Why am I still reading this?"  Now that I've turned the last page, I can really appreciate it as a bad book.  I know it is, because I read the whole thing.

Thank goodness it was only 216 pages.

Artemis by Andy Weir - A Reread - See Post #227

 

As mentioned in my last post, my good friend sent me a care package of books.

I didn't mention to him that I had already read Artemis.  Sorry Steve. 

But since I respect him so much, I reread the book.  This is something I very, very rarely do.  Life is too short.  There are so many stories to discover.

I was curious.  Would I like it as much as I did the first time around?

Yes.  More so even.

I found Jazz Bashara more well-rounded than I did the first time I read the book.

Near space is something I like very much in my science fiction.  By that I mean our solar system.  Sure light speed is cool but come on!  We haven't even been back to the moon yet.  

We need more science fiction like this, to inspire us to explore the Moon, Mars, the asteroid belt, Jupiter's moons.  Interstellar travel will come, but we need to get out there first.  We need to explore, fail and learn before we can ever take a trip on the Enterprise. 

The Expanse is a series that is also fulfilling that need in our SF.  More on that later. 

Yes.  I enjoyed my second time in this book.  I am happy to say that my previous post about it stands.  Feel free to read Post #227 to hear what I thought about it. 

Thank you Steve.  I had a lot of fun.  Hope you enjoy the book I sent you in return.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir - Book Review 332

 

A good friend of mine sent me this book in the mail. And I am so glad he did.

Andy Weir is a terrific voice in Science Fiction.  He makes being smart, industrious and creative the hallmarks of his stories.  They are just as inspiring as they are entertaining. 

Learn all you can.  Follow your passions and interests.  You just never know when what you know can solve the problem.

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor of a deep space mission sent to save all life on Earth from an environmental catastrophe.  Don't worry, it's not what you think. 

Trouble is he has no memory of his mission or who he is.  Never mind the two dead bodies that are in the ship with him.

Then he is faced with a first contact situation with another race from another star system. 

It's a terrific story of survival, solving the mystery of why Grace is on this mission, finding a way to communicate with the alien in the ship next door, and cooperation between them.

At 476 pages, I found myself going back to it for just a few more pages just to see what happens next.  The pace was quick without being frantic.  Kind of like space.  Things are so far away that time takes on a whole new scale.

Problem solving is still at the heart of Weir's writing, but this is different from his previous two books. It's his first interstellar story and I was glad his aliens were not humanoid.  Why would they be?  This presented a whole new set of mysteries to solve.  Communication. Environment. Technology.  But they had physics and mathematics in common. 

I look forward to the next adventure Mr. Weir takes me on.

Tracks by Robyn Davidson - Book Review 331

 

This book won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award in 1980.  It was the first such award which lasted until 2004.

I loved learning about the feral camels of Australia, the history and fringe industry around them.

I've always been fascinated by Australia.  It seems an invert of Canada to me.  In 1977 Davidson went on a cross-country walk with a dog and four camels across the Northern Territory and Western Australian deserts.  From Alice Springs to Woodleigh and Hamelin Pool on the western shore of the continent. 

She wrote about the deplorable treatment of the Australian Aborigines.  The rampant sexism. The subsistence living of cattle stations and their impact on the land. The craziness of tourism. 

Through it all she had to deal with the desire to complete the trek on her own terms and dealing with circumstances that changed how she approached the journey. 

Wild camels and her growing fame while on the trip were circumstances difficult to deal with.  But she did. 

It is a story of perseverance and adaptation to the land.

The narrative was not at all what I expected and that was a good thing.  Being challenged to see the world through another person's eyes and mind can be altering.  

This is why I read.