The President’s Brain Is Missing by John Scalzi

I use to love watching The West Wing; the dialogue, the intelligence of the characters and the humor all worked so well that I kept coming back to the show.

This story was a lot like that, okay the premise was silly, but all good science fiction plays with the question, "What If?"

So you go with it; a dim-witted president discovers that he cannot keep his head under water when he goes for his morning swim and he's feeling rather light-headed, come to think of it.  The resident doctor does some tests and sends the president to bed for some rest.

A meeting is called for the senior staff in the oval office.  The doctor's discovery is discussed and a plan is set in motion to discover how this could have happened.  And why is the president not dead, you know, by being without a brain?

What follows is a terrific romp with intelligent people trying to unravel a mystery that is utterly impossible but they have to deal with it.

Like The West Wing this story had excellent dialogue and that sharp Scalzi that made it a joy to read.  I actually put it down once just to savour it.

Honestly, this could be filmed.  It would make a terrific episode of The Veep.

Find John Scalzi here:  https://whatever.scalzi.com/

John Scalzi

Infomocracy by Malka Older - Book Report #196

The future of politics and elections have evolved.

The people of Earth are no longer represented by elections within their own countries.  Countries as we know them today no longer exist, instead most of the world is divided into ridings of 100,000 people and an independent government is formed to represent them.

The whole planet has one election day to elect all these tiny districts.  It is a giant mess but it is supposed to be a purer way of working with democracy. 

All if this depends on a working and independent internet.  Tasked with keeping the election fair and legal is the corporation that succeeded Google, called Information.

But since this is a book about political elections shenanigans ensue.

The book was well written and I was thankful the author blended the exposition into the narrative of the story.

Sadly, it did not work for me simply because of the subject - politics.  The very thing that I love in fiction are stories about people being people; flawed and self-serving.  It is exactly that quality in humanity that depressed me in this book.

The new system of elections was created to eliminate corruption.  But guess what?  Somebody always finds a way to game the system.  It's one of these stories that made me feel like there is no hope for the future to be much better than today.

If you've ever wondered if there is a better way to govern this book will serve very well as a thought experiment.

I recommend the book even though it was not MY cup of tea.

Malka Older - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malka_Older

Malka Older