Review and recommendations
DVDs, Books and Graphic novels
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Graphic novel review: Infinite Kung Fu by Kagan Mcleod
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Book review: The Great Railroad Revolution: The History of Trains in America by Christian Wolmar
The Great Railroad Revolution: The History of Trains in America, takes us throught the initial birth of rail travel in the U.S, to the present times.
A large portion of the book focuses on the 18th and 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. The current state of railroads gets a perfunctory treatment.
The subject matter the book tackles, is quite interesting. The history of railroad is full of colorful characters and interesting events. The book however never hit its stride and the pace of the book is plodding. The end result is a book that will only appeal to folks who already have a interest in the railroads.
Rating: 3 / 5, recommended if you have a interest in railroads.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Book review: Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk
Book review: Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi
Fuzzy nation by John Scalzi is a rewrite/reboot of the novel, Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper. While Little Fuzzy is in the public domain, Scalzi released Fuzzy Nation with the permission of the Piper estate. I have not read Little Fuzzy, so I do not know how it compares to the original.
The hero in Fuzzy nation is Jack Holloway, a independent prospector, working on a world being mined by ZaraCorp. ZaraCorp's modus operandi is to find a planet worth exploiting and to then strip it bare of its resources. On this particular planet, Zarathustra, Jack Holloway encounters some cat like creatures, that he names Fuzzies. He starts to discover that these creatures are pretty intelligent, and the possibility is raised that these creatures might be sentient. Sentient creatures on Zarathustra would mean that ZaraCorp would no longer be allowed to exploit the planet. This is the premise around which Scalzi develops his story.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Book review: Four fish: The future of the last wild food by Paul Greenberg
For each of the fish Greenberg looks at - how they were fished throughout human history, how we over fished them, what efforts have been made to keep the wild catches sustainable, what efforts are being made to farm these fishes, whether this farming is sustainable or better then catching them in the wild. For each of these fishes he also looks at other fishes, with similar flavor and texture profile that may be used to replaces these.
One of the strong points he make is that none of these fishes are suited for being cattle. It would be better to select species of fish more suited to that role, before we attempt to domesticate and farm them.
All in all the book flows well, and is a brisk read.
Rating: 5 / 5; Great. Get it.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie
Genre: Fantasy
Joe Abercrombie's The Heroes, would like you to know that it is full of - misfits, flawed characters, anti heroes; everything but heroes.
It hammers this lack of heroes and that war is hell incessantly. In the book, we find ourselves in midst of a war between the barbarian northerners and the civilized union. The narratives alternates between description of various battle/skirmishes and some character building. The description of the battles is suitably gory and gritty, leaving you with little doubt that war is hell. The character buildup, done via reaction of the characters to current events and some flashbacks, is nicely done. The pace of the book is brisk and it flows well.
While there is a little twist at the end, the book really is, a bit surprisingly - All the smaller battles/skirmishes leading to a final climatic battle. The book is not pulpy enough to carry such a simple plot. All this focus on creating anti-heroes means that despite the good character buildup, you don't really care for the characters that much. A better plot would have elevated this book over average territory.
Rating: 2.5 / 5. Average
Atlantic by Simon Winchester
Atlantic ( with a long subtitle - Great sea battles, heroic discoveries, titanic storms, and a vast ocean of a million stories) is a biography of this vast ocean.
Writing a biography of the Atlantic ocean is a ambitious undertaking. How do you weave a common thread through extremely diverse fields, that may have a passing link to the Atlantic ocean ? This book does not manage to find that common thread.
What we get instead is chapters, and sub-chapters that tackle diverse topics like the geological history of the ocean, ancient and modern battles on this ocean, cities along the coast, how the west explored this ocean and found the American continents, fishing, pollution, ocean conservation etc.
The writing in the book is good, and the authors personal experiences with the ocean give it some character. Sadly, none of this is able to overcome the lack of coherence in this book.
Rating: 2 / 5, Meh, skip it.