A Modest Construct

¶ Accelerando

Accelerando by Charles Stross: Publisher: Ace; Year: 2006; Pages: 432

I was recommended Charlie Stross after my less-than-exemplary experience with Daniel Suarez’s Daemon. The commenter in question figured that Stross had better bona fides and wrote a better technical piece of fiction. I’m quite pleased to say that he was right.

Accelerando is actually free: you can download it in a variety of formats here. Because I stare at a computer screen long enough as it is, I opted for the paperback after about 15 pages of the PDF. The book is unlike anything I’ve read before; I see ghosts of other writers, but the end result is unique to me. Mostly, it’s like a bullet train barreling past; you reach tentatively out and get yanked out of your shoes and carried, screaming, for several hundred miles.

§3715 · March 28, 2009 · (No comments) · Tags: Book Reviews, books, Charles Stross, fiction, reviews, science fiction, technology

¶ The Mental Floss History of the World

The Mental Floss History of the World by Erik Sass and Steve Wiegard: Publisher: Collins; Year: 2008; Pages: 400

I’m a recent convert to the mental_floss family of products; my brother has been a subscriber to the magazine for several years (or was, at any rate), and has read most or all of the books. I read one last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. When he showed up in town last Christmas toting the new Mental Floss History of the World, I decided to read it it as soon as the local library carried a copy.

I had to constantly remind myself that despite the “irreverent romp” bit in the book’s subtitle, this is not America the Book or something from The Onion and it is not, in fact, full of sneering, jokes, and embellishments. In fact, it’s a rather straightforward compendium of condensed history, with occasional end-of-paragraph zingers to lighten the mood (most of history is rather depressing, as you’ll find).

§3686 · March 26, 2009 · (No comments) · Tags: Book Reviews, books, history, nonfiction, reviews

¶ The City of Brotherly Love

I find myself in downtown Philadelphia, staring at the window of the Cathedral-Basilica of Sts. Peter & Paul. I am a long way from my hometown, a smallish suburb of Chicago, feeling at odds with Philadelphia’s large stature—the sixth most populous city in the entire United States—and my own touristy insignificance.

I took a picture of the Liberty Bell earlier, but it was a mere formality: the bell, in real life, was smaller, duller, and much less impressive than I realized. Congress Hall, too, was neat but tidily boring. I thought of the Nick Cage vehicle filmed in next-door Independence Hall and can’t help but think it’s all been trivialized to the point where it’s impossible to care.

§3702 · March 22, 2009 · 3 comments · Tags: personal, technology, work

¶ Blood, Class and Empire

Blood, Class and Empire by Christopher Hitchens: Publisher: Nation Books; Year: 1990/2004; Pages: 432

Nowadays, Christopher Hitchens is usually known either for his antitheist views or his staunch support for the war in Iraq; it’s often forgotten that The Hitch has been a journalist for a long time, is fiercely intelligent, and his total output spans a variety of topics, not just his most recent polemical choices. I read some of his collected essays, Love, Poverty, and War, which was fabulous (and only switched to Iraq-related topics late in the book).

Blood, Class and Empire was published originally in 1990, though it reads as though written in 1988, at the beginning of George H.W. Bush’s term in office. Though the book in its republished form sports a preface by Hitchens that ties the book into the recent events, it’s important to remember that the book has no knowledge of anything that’s happened in the last 20 years, which somehow strange and unsettling when reading about geopolitics.

§3672 · March 16, 2009 · 2 comments · Tags: America, Book Reviews, books, Christopher Hitchens, nonfiction, politics, reviews

¶ Kornwolf

Kornwolf by Tristan Egolf: Publisher: Grove; Year: 2005; Pages: 384

I last read Kornwolf at the beginning of 2006, when it was a new book, released shortly after the death of its author. While even then I realized that it couldn’t compare to Egolf’s debut work, Lord of the Barnyard, I’m not sure it was clear to me just what a deficit there was until now.

Actually, that’s not entirely fair, since I think the plot and characters of Lord of the Barnyard lent themselves to its style. Kornwolf is a different beast entirely; I’m of the personal opinion that it should have been twice as long, because the story is expansive, with many parallel threads. While Egolf does his usual excellent job of crafting the narrative, I felt somewhat slighted at the way so much seemed to be passed over.

§3663 · March 14, 2009 · (No comments) · Tags: Book Reviews, books, fiction, reviews