The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming

Though “reality” did even “better”, considering how recent and yet already outdated the data is, it does a good job of pointing out how bad things are and how much worse they’re going to get, explaining thoroughly, spelling out both the urgency and the complexity of the situation. It also stresses that the disaster is of our own making and we can avoid it if only we’d make the effort, and also that the important changes are the large scale ones, laws, regulations, government intervention, while the pressure for individual lifestyle changes is more of a way for society as a whole to feel that it’s doing something while continuing to avoid the drastic and sometimes painful changes that are desperately necessary. And the inequality aspect is also pointed out, the less guilty and powerless suffering more while the more guilty and powerful can avoid the negative consequences for much longer and may even benefit.
I’m not sure what the target audience is, however. Maybe it’s an attempt to avoid the usual problem with any such work, only being picked up by those already interested and involved, but the author disqualifies himself in my eyes when he says he’s not an environmentalist, even showing disdain for environmentalists and activists in general, and continues along those lines, even stating that he’d choose economic growth despite knowing that nature pays the price and spelling out his single-mindedly, unapologetically anthropocentric stance, saying he’d agree with the loss of most of what’s generally considered nature if only humans could live well in such a world, only acting because that can’t happen. He even sees caring for other species as an excuse for not acting, or at least not in what he’d consider an efficient manner.
Otherwise, there are awfully many notes, and towards the end they also become descriptions and comments, which might have been better placed in the text itself. And, at least in this edition, the numbers for notes are oddly placed, and the months were clearly automatically translated in the notes, including in English titles and URLs and the word “may”.

Rating: 3/5

Geoffrey Parker, Global crisis. War, climate change and catastrophe in the seventeenth century.


A book about the "global crisis" of the (mid-)seventeenth century, when many states throughout Eurasia suffered from the consequences of climate change (the "Little ice age", which saw average temperatures drop by 1° Celsius), war and massive rebellions and state breakdown. First fourth or so lays out the general environmental and political conditions, then a very long middle section details the history of the major states from Western Europe to China and Japan, which is pretty good as a survey and definitely recommended. Final fourth or so summed up the common elements of the previous case studies and was somewhat tedious, but still had interesting parts.
The book is long, but if you don't want to read all of it, just read the introduction and the central sections that interest you.
My rating: 4/5.

Trouble with Lichen (1960) by John Wyndham: 2/5


This book surprised me. I thought it was going be a "cosy catastrophe" with lichen threatening the human race; something a la David H. Keller's The Ivy War, his own Day of the Triffids, or even the song The Return of the Giant Hogweed by Genesis.

Instead it's about feminism, longevity and politics, with the lichen being discovered and cultivated by a female chemist and distributed mainly to women because aging has more negative consequences for them.
So it was Wyndham's least derivative and most original novel so far. Unfortunately despite a promising premise it's rather dull, especially the last third, and the feminism and politics parts are very outdated, making this (I think) his most obscure and least popular of his first four novels.

It's funny Wyndham should be so interested in feminism; according to Jo Walton and Of course, Wyndham was also a person who lived from 1903 to 1969; he didn't live in 2021.

He seems to have become more progressive since Day of the Triffids, with female protagonists in both Consider Her Ways (very intresting novella) and Trouble with Lichen. So while most of his plots were not very original, he was in at least this aspect probably the most "progressive" SF writer of his generation.

Anyway, I think this novel is mostly of academic interest nowadays. It's not very entertaining, and the themes aren't very relevant any longer.

none

I cannot believe it took 27 days to read THE SHEPHERD'S CROWN by TERRY PRATCHETT.

Of course I wasn't reading it most of the time, and did enjoy it when I was reading it.

I knew I was taking a while, still I am surprised to see it was 27 days all up. I normally read at least 5 books in the same time period. My reading mojo certainly took a hit.

Anyway, being the last novel written by Terry and the last Discworld one, it was bitter sweet.

A good ending to end on I guess, but not as fleshed out, by all accounts, as it would have been had he lived longer. Very sad reading the notes at the end, and ruminating on what he had planned for further stories. Gone too soon for sure. Life really is a bugger sometimes.

Quite a remarkable book when one considers he was battling Alzheimers, since 2008 when it was diagnosed, and he thought he may only have two more years to live back then, but then living on until 2015. Of course he had great help along the way, and it felt like I was reading a Terry Pratchett novel, so it definitely had a big enough dose of him in it.

I guess I can say I savored the last Discworld novel.

I've still got some of his non Discworld stories to read, including the 5 book series he co-authored with Stephen Baxter.

Sourcery by Terry Pratchett Quite a happy accident as Bob Ross would say while painting on PBS. :)
I quite enjoyed this book. But I'm not very familiar with Discworld but I've heard of it. I think I have another discworld book somewhere in my library from long ago.

Rogue Moon (1960) by Algis Budrys: 3/5+

According to ISFSB "This is a substantially cut version of the novel" which was published shortly after.
I've learnt that an original shorter story is nearly always superior to an expanded novel, but novels being cut is not as clear uh...cut.

The premise of the story is an exciting one. An alien artifact (about 100 meters in diameter) is discovered on the far side of the Moon (the novel was published shortly after the first (Russian) pictures taken of the far side). Rather unrealistically for a story set in 1959 a private corporation called Continental Electronics, being contracted by the US Navy, is able to make a matter transmitter and send people and equipment to the moon to investigate the alien artifact (before the Russians do it, of course).
But the alien artifact is a death trap which far surpasses human logic to understand. In order to "brute force" their way through the artifact, duplicates are made of the men who explore the artifact, with the M version being sent to the moon and an L version being kept as back-up on Earth. Since there is a limited form of telepathy (I wish Budrys would have use quantum entanglement or something instead) the L version retains M's memories of his exploring the artifact, but remembering M's death drives L insane.
So Dr. Edward Hawks who designed the matter transmitter must find a special man who is not afraid of dying again and again until he has mapped the alien artifact.

The story is very much a character driven story, with the alien artifact being more of a backdrop, and it's more about what makes a person unique, and how when a person dies it's not only their unique physical form that is gone, but also all their unique thoughts and experiences are lost (or are they?). It gets quite philosophical at times when what at first seems like a tacked on man-meets-girl story becomes man-meets-girl-who-will-listen-to-him-and-understands.

Unfortunately I found the interplay between the four main characters (Hawkes, Al Barker the Lunar candidate, Barker's girlfriend Claire, and Connington the personnel manager who already has a history with the pair) rather contrived, and except for Hawkes I found it hard to understand their motivations. But at least they are more adult and complex characters than is usual in SF.

So a story that is not especially enjoyable (but enjoyable enough), but makes me think.

I found the other Discworld novel.
Men At Arms by Terry Prachett
It pokes fun at affirmative action in the City Watch in Ankh-Morpock. I was entertained. I'll keep an eye out for more Terry Prachett books.

Europe: A Natural History

The book is written well, at times even humorous, and definitely engaging and enjoyable throughout, which in itself is quite an achievement when you consider the topic. However, while it usually does a pretty good job of painting a picture in the reader’s mind, it does feel like it’d have been better as a documentary to watch than a book to read and there are times when the information’s too compressed, the overwhelming amount packed in a page or a single paragraph being hard to keep up with.
Otherwise, from the beginning it’s taken as a given that, ever since they evolved, humans have been wiping out other species as soon as they met them, and part four, its first half in particular, is a disheartening tale of environmental destruction and species’ extinction. Also, the event at the start of the Eocene may be the most striking example, but whenever the devastating effects of past climate change events are described, it’s mentioned almost in passing how much slower the change took place and how much lower the level of emissions which caused it was, compared to the current situation. So, while that final trip with the time machine, for the view of Europe 180 years in the future, paints a far better picture than supposedly optimistic views of the future generally do, it’s barely a quick glimpse, with no details, which may easily make it just as bad, and either way it seems utterly impossible, judging by both the present and the past. And… Referring to the matter in general, not for the purpose of bringing back Neanderthals, why would selective breeding of people be profoundly immoral, but just fine and even desired when it comes to any other species?

Rating: 4/5

The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J. D. Salinger: 3/5+
aka Two Days in the Life of Holden Caulfield.

Trying to catch up on the classics, I decided to read this relatively modern classic.
I didn't know much about it, except it's a classic and it was considered "problematic" (or controversial) by the virtue signalers of the time.

Holding the book in my hand it's very light, and opening it the fonts are quite big and the chapters not too long, so it was like going 30-40 years back in time to the books I read then. Being about a 16 year old boy it could be considered a Juvenile (or Young Adult as it's called today), but unlike most other Juveniles I don't think I would have enjoyed it when I was 16 myself. Holden is in most ways the opposite of myself when I was 16, so not a person I could relate to.

I've heard the book described as a coming-of-age book, but the whole book only takes place during two days. It feels more like some kiddie version of Ulysses (based on what I've read about that book), with no plot as such, but instead a large number of character studies, as Holden interacts with a number of people during the two days, but except for his kid sister, he never meets any of them again (in the story).
Holden himself is an interesting character; a school serial drop-out with mostly negative thoughts about other people, but his words and actions are friendlier than his thoughts.

The story is told in first person, and is well told and easy to read.
Girls are always "old", like his kid sister is "old Phoebe" and his would-be girlfriend is "old Jane". That killed me.
The most used swear word is "goddam". I kind of mentally read it as "fucking", and then I was surprised when Holden at his kid sister's school gets angry when he sees the graffiti "fuck you" written on a several walls.

So overall an enjoyable enough book, but I don't feel it's very relevant today, and is more of academic interest, I think.

=> Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
This novel unravels the psychological aspects of a diverse range of human beings in an urban Japanese landscape. The use of magic realism as a driving force seemed to have been handled with great nuance and the readers' attention seems to be tethered more to the characters and their journeys rather than the apparent unreal nature of the central pivot. All the chapters organically develop nourished by the complete plot, and the book is, overall, a got read.

=> Headspace: The Psychology of City Living by Dr Paul Keedwell
This book is an illuminating read. The author has carefully organized a host of research on the various aspects of urban existence. The book covers a lot of ground, from sizes of windows to designing hospital wards, and how all these varied aspects of urban design influence our physical and psychological wellbeing.

=> The Hotel at the End of the World by Parismita Singh
This graphic novel (monochrome) attempts to tell stories of journeys, strife, seeking, hope, and loss by narrating tales from the lives of a number of characters whose lives are intertwined by a central interest. The story mixes real and surreal to the effect of exposing not only the struggles and suffering of people living on the periphery (literally, that is in the title itself) but also their attempts at redemption. A really nice book to read and contemplate on.

=> Poison for Breakfast by Lemony Snicket
Actually, this is the first Lemony Snicket book I have read. It was pretty gripping, The enormous amount of allusions sprinkled throughout the narrative was an added bonus. The story was interesting and well paced.

=> The Enormous Crocodile by Roald Dahl
As enjoyable as any Roald Dahl book. The paperback edition was printed on nice glossy paper with full colour illustrations by Quentin Blake. The story is fun, simple and short.

Oath of Fealty by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

A corporate arcology named Todos Santos has been built in Los Angeles. Terrorists set up "fake" bombs on hydrogen pipelines feeding Todos Santos. But it was a dry run for another terrorist attack.
This book could be good reading in the 80s. I found it average, not great nor bad. I thought the plot was flawed.

The Mind Thing (1961) by Fredric Brown: 4/5

Poor little alien. All he wanted was to get home.

But this is no cuddly, fluffy little ET, but a totally ruthless (but not cruel) alien, in exile on Earth, who can can enter his mind into and possess one other entity, but can only exit the host by killing it off, usually by suiciding it. It's a bit like Civilization; to win he must be able to build a space ship and reach his home planet. And he already knows Future Tech. All he needs is a host to build it, but he's currently stuck in the rural setting that one usually finds in Clifford Simak stories.

It reminded me a bit of Needle by Hal Clement. In both stories an alien criminal is loose on Earth, both need their unwilling victims to be asleep, but Clement's physically enters its host's body. Clement's setting (an southern island) is somewhat more interesting, but Brown's alien is more interesting since it's more alien, and not just a weird looking life form thinking just like a human.

And Brown's writing is much better, but then he was a pro, while Clement was a teacher by profession.
He tells quite an exciting story, with a good cast of characters, the main protagonist being Doc Saunders (short and middle aged, he seems to be modeled on Brown himself) and his sidekick Miss Talley, the school teacher who reads Science Fiction and has a good imagination. I kind of pictured her like Zenna Henderson who also was a school teacher who wrote SF.

I kept thinking that the premise would make a good video game.
The rules are quite simple:
You can't move physically unless a host carries you.
You have a limited range, and to enter a host it needs to be asleep.
You can only control one host at a time.
You can only exit the host when it dies. Which means your mind can be trapped if the host is trapped and unable to kill itself.
Your physical body only needs nourishment every few months.
To win you need to find a host that will be able to build a space ship (using alien tech which he will need to understand).
But the more people and animals you have to suicide the more difficult it will get, since people will get suspicious.

The Legacy of Heorot by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes

I think this is the first book with 3 authors I've read.
Colonists settle on an island in Tau Ceti system. A big alien beast manages to sneak into the colony and kill livestock. For some reason, some colonists couldn't believe that big wildlife could have done it. Mistrust grows around the lone soldier.
They manage to find and kill the monster but it only makes things worse, MUCH worse. I enjoyed this book

Finished reading the series of novels by Robert Salvatore dedicated to the Dark Elf. If you have not read it I strongly advise, and if you have read it please share your impressions. I've been drawn into the series and have replayed many games from the Forgotten Realms universe.