Category: Fiction
To Obey — Mickey Zucker Reichert
Quite an enjoyable read and, for the most part, a well written follow on from To Protect.
Sadly, this book at one point gets dragged down into the gutter by Mickey’s insistence that she use this story to have a go at vegan diets. This added nothing whatsoever to the story, it’s was very clearly put in to put down vegan diets while promoting the consumption of cooked carrion. Her, as an M.D. declaring very clearly that eating fatty meat is healthy is utterly sickening: how many people have to die from atherosclerosis and its complications (like dementia and Alzheimer’s, heart disease, diabetes, and many more) before doctors stop pushing this agenda? It wouldn’t bother me so much if Mickey actually knew what she was talking about, but she very clearly doesn’t: just another ignorant quack thinking they know everything about nutrition when all they know about nutrition is littered with their own cognitive biases and addictions, and an absolute refusal to acknowledge the very clear scientific evidence. Or maybe it’s not ignorance, maybe quacks promote unhealthy diets because quacks make an absolute fortune promoting bad dietary habits.
Fundamental truth: chronic health care is the biggest scam since organized religion.
Anyway, that dealt with, outside of that, the story itself is really good.
Moving on, it’s the last book in the trilogy, To Preserve.
Mickey’s Page
#scifi #isaacasimov #mickeyzuckerreichert
Lightstorm — Peter F. Hamilton
Navigational Entanglements — Aliette de Bodard
To Protect — Mickey Zucker Reichert
To be asked to write a trilogy about Susan Calvin’s early years as a fledging psychiatrist would, i imagine, have most writers running for the hills. You have to know you’re going to annoy the hell out of the die-hard Asimov fans, as well as many others. But Mickey took it on and, IMHO, didn’t do too bad a job.
Susan’s life and career has to start somewhere, and if you are a die hard Asimov fan who believes that no one should be adding anything to Robots and Foundation then just don’t read it: no one is forcing you to. This book is not necessary to fully enjoy and appreciate the pure Asimov storyline, it’s just a little extra for anyone wanting a little background on one of Asimov’s characters.
That said, i did enjoy reading it. At no point did i feel like giving up and reading something else and i have dived straight into the second book in the trilogy.
Some people have criticised the romance bit in this book, but i think it goes to show how Susan is so naive to the real world outside of her studies, and is totally lacking in a lot of social skills.
Anyway, like i said, i enjoyed it, so you might as well. Just don’t expect Asimov, it isn’t.
And if you do enjoy it, there’s To Obey to read next.
Mickey’s Page
#scifi #isaacasimov #mickeyzuckerreichert
A Little Bit of Kali — R.R. Virdi and Yudhanjaya Wijeratne
Moonbound — Robin Sloan
Chasing Shadows — Anthology
All copyright 2017 except stated.
AD JUSTITIAM PER LUCEM
Mine, Yours, Ours — Jack Skillingstead
Insistence of Vision – 2013 — David Brin
Planetbound — Nancy Fulda
The Right’s Tough – 2004 — Robert J. Sawyer
The Circuit Riders – 1962 — R. C. Fitzpatrick
The Werewolves of Maplewood — James Morrow
The Road to Oceania – 2003 — William Gibson
SURVEILLANCE—SOUSVEILLANCE
I See You – 1976 — Damon Knight
Eyejacked — David Walton
FeastWar — Vylar Kaftan
Your Lying Eyes — Jack McDevitt
The Disaster Stack — Vernor Vinge
LIES AND PRIVATE LIVES
First Presentation — Aliette de Bodard
AfterShift Memories — David Ramirez
Spew – 1994 — Neal Stephenson
Private Life in Cyberspace — John Perry Barlow
BIG BROTHER, LITTLE BROTHER, VILLAGE
Elderjoy — Gregory Benford
Street Life in the Emerald City — Brenda Cooper
The Eyes Have It — Stephen W. Potts
NO PLACE TO HIDE
Preferences — Cat Rambo
Vectors — Stephen Gaskell
Public Domain — Scott Sigler
To See the Invisible Man – 1963 — Robert Silverberg
The Disconnected — Ramez Naam
LOOKING BACK … AND LOOKING UP
Eminence — Karl Schroeder
Sport – 2014 — Kathleen Ann Goonan
Elephant on Table — Bruce Sterling
#scifi #davidbrin #robertjsawyer #jamesmorrow #williamgibson #vernorvinge #aliettedebodard #nealstephenson #gregorybenford #robertsilverberg #brucesterling
Extrasolar — Anthology
All copyright 2017 except stated.
Standalones
Holdfast — Alastair Reynolds
Shadows of Eternity — Gregory Benford
A Game of Three Generals — Aliette de Bodard
The Bartered Planet — Paul Di Filippo
Come Home — Terry Dowling
The Residue of Fire — Robert Reed
Thunderstone — Matthew Hughes
Journey to the Anomaly — Ian Watson
Canoe — Nancy Kress
The Planet Woman By M.V. Crawford — Lavie Tidhar
Arcturean Nocturne — Jack McDevitt
Life Signs — Paul McAuley
The Fall of the House of Kepler — Ian R. MacLeod
The Tale of the Alcubierre Horse — Kathleen Ann Goonan
#scifi #alastairreynolds #gregorybenford #aliettedebodard #ianwatson
Arsene Lupin, Gentleman Burglar — Maurice Leblanc
This is a book that i used for typing practice over at TypeLit.
It’s rather an enjoyable way to read a book, while at the same time being incredibly useful in improving ones typing.
This book is quite a good find. The mysterious Arsene Lupin is the ultimate rascal as he goes about relieving the rich and famous of France of their valuables: a joy to read about.
As to the typing experience, it’s a rather difficult book to type as it is full of French words and names, but a fun challenge and great typing practice. So i present it to you totally recommended, both as a great read and also great typing practice: what’s not to like?
