Monday, October 31, 2011

Geek Reading List

Well, it looks like I'm not actually a geek. I've only read one of these books. And, yes, it's the Tolkein. Hell, I read the Silmarillion!

Bourgeois Book Club

1493 by Charles Mann

In 1491, Charles Mann presented a new conception of Pre-Columbian America, one whose environment was intensively shaped and tended by its inhabitants. In 1493, he tells the story of the Post-Columbian world, a New World Columbus didn't discover, but created. Indeed, Mann argues that he inaugurated a whole new geological era: the Homogenocene.

Globalization is economically, culturally, and biologically enriching; it is also ecologically, socially, and economically disruptive, destructive, and even devastating. But though it has only been a buzzword for a decade or two, it is not a new phenomenon. Columbus' voyages set off the first wave of globalization, with plants from Mexico, silver from Bolivia, potatoes from Peru, slaves from Africa, diseases from Europe, and silk from China knitting together the world into one economically and biologically unified whole for the first time since the days of Pangaea. (Of course, humans have been trading goods, mixing ideas, trading *ahem* genes, and shaping ecosystems since they first spread out of Africa, but things like the Silk Road were confined to connected continents, especially Eurasia/Africa. That was more (to coin a very, very ugly phrase) "hemisphericalism," and massively important and influential to the shape of history, but it was not the true globalism of the post-Columbus world.)

Mann's aim is to provide the story (or a story, and, by Mann's own admission, an admittedly incomplete and in some points controversial description) of how the world we live in today came to be. As he states on page 79, "In sum: ecological introductions shaped an economic exchange, which in turn had political consequences that have endured to the present." The malaria introduced to Virginia gave African slavery an advantage over the indentured servitude of Europeans, because Africans were mostly immune, Europeans were partially immune, and Native Americans not immune at all. This contributed to the Southern slave society, and it's continued effects on American history. The over-planting of mulberry trees for silk production for the silver trade in China, along with the introduction of maize, tobacco, and sweet potatoes that allowed population growth and the cultivation of hitherto unarable land, led to mountain deforestation, which increased flooding and destabilized the Qing Dynasty. As part of the broader Agricultural Revolution, the introduction of the potatoes to Northern Europe decreased famine and supported larger populations, upon which was built the Industrial Revolution. It also led to the modern agro-industrial complex, complete with monocultures and pesticides, with all of the successes and disasters therein. The transplant of Amazonian rubber trees to Asian plantations also supported the Industrial Revolution, which was built on steam, steel, and rubber.

The Columbian Exchange did not just involve microbes and plants, of course, but also people. Before Columbus, for the most part Asians lived in Asia, Africans in Africa, Europeans in Europe, and Native Americans in America. After Columbus, the world became (and is still becoming) increasingly mixed. Millions of Europeans, Africans, Asians, and Native Americans flocked to and mingled in cosmopolitan cities like Mexico City, Manila, and Yuegang. Fueled by sugarcane and the labor necessary to work its plantations, African slavery exploded. For centuries, African "immigration" outpaced European settlers two or three to one. But, in one of the most interesting, to my mind, sections of the book, Mann shows that, far from being the passive victims of slavery so often portrayed, African slaves and Indian natives created"maroon" communities that directly challenged European hegemony and tyranny. Throughout the history of slavery in the Americas, runaway slaves militarily vexed European empires, and maintained their own autonomy, politically and culturally.

Mann's story isn't just history. We're still grappling with the tensions, contradictions, and opportunities of globalization today. What began within just a few years of Columbus has only accelerated since, and we're still ambivalent about its visible effects, and ignorant of its invisible ones. Never has it been more enriching, more disruptive, more destructive. Looking at its origins and historical effects could help us grapple with more effectively, emphasizing its positives and ameliorating its negatives.

I continue to stand in awe of Mann's powers of synthesis, as well as his ability to translate his wide-ranging research into a coherent and unlugubrious whole, written with style, clarity, and humor. Particularly enjoyable are vignettes of his wide-ranging travels, which provide concrete and engaging illustration of his arguments without falling into the trap of "Oh, look at these absolutely fascinating natives I've found!" or "I'm a better, more enlightened person than you because I backpacked through Angola on a giraffe's back!" that some travel writing about non-Western places falls into.

1491 was one of my favorite reads of the last several years (and I can't believe I didn't write about it, but all investigations say I didn't, apparently), and 1493 is a worthy successor: entertaining, thought-provoking, and challenging. It presents an entirely different way of thinking about both history and the modern world that many, including me, have never really considered. I can't recommend it enough.

Reality 36 by Guy Haley

2129. The world sucks. Climate change, war, disease, refugees: you know, the usual. Artificial intelligences, cyborgs, uplifted simians and whales, and virtual people are citizens.

Zhang Qifang, a prominent synthetic civil rights activist, is murdered. Three times. His lab assistant goes on the run. Human replicant androids, decades ahead of their projected development, are performing assassinations. In one of the protected Realms, virtual worlds created as immersive cyber-playgrounds turned into nature preserve of a sort, something is fraying the very integrity of its simulated universe. Dodging killer code and killer gunmen, German cyborg ex-solider Klein and super-AI Richards, the world's top private detective, have to unravel the increasingly deadly mystery of how these events are connected, what, exactly, is going on, and who is behind it. The fate of more than one world depends on it.

A gripping science fiction thriller, Reality 36 is aggressively readable. At first I was a bit miffed at the dystopic element. I'm just a little burned out with science fiction dystopia. The world sucks enough as it is; reading about it being even worse in the future is depressing. As someone raised on a steady diet of Star Trek, I want some bold, optimistic futures, damnit! But as Reality 36 progressed, I was pleased that, while it definitely sucked, its world was also "normal" in a lot of ways. Just people going along, living their lives. And there's good stuff happening in this future, too, like space elevators and Mars colonization and civil rights struggles, to go along with the wars and ecological devastation.

Intrigue, violence, and technology make this thrilling read. The rather abrupt and inconclusive ending sets up perfectly for the next book in the series, which will be out in March, though perhaps a little more resolution and a little less set-up, would have made for a better ending. But that is a mere quibble.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Monday, October 24, 2011

Wikipedia Serendipity

I've long had vague memories of this cartoon I used to always rent from the video store when I was little. It was about a teddy bear superhero who lived in a treehouse, and one of his adversaries was a skeleton, but I didn't really remember much more than that. Well, thanks to the power of luck and Wikipedia's Random Article link, I just found it! Thank you, Wikipedia!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Friday, October 21, 2011

Down With Sexy!

Tired of the "Sexy Nurse" or "Sexy Witch" or "Sexy Prostitute" costumes, ladies? Well, here are some ideas for you to take Halloween back from the tyranny of Sexy!

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Old As The Pyramids

It wasn't all obelisks and mummies; the ancient Egyptians weren't above a cheap fat joke.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Monday, October 10, 2011

This Has SyFy Movie Written All Over It

Run, people! Ruuuuuuuuuuuun! It's Megavirus! Get Frankenstein, Godzilla, the Power Rangers, Team America, and Batman on this before it strikes!

Sunday, October 09, 2011

Bourgeois Book Club

The New Confessions by William Boyd

I'm not really one much for non-genre literary fiction. Just not my bag, you know? But the works of William Boyd, specifically this book, came up in a thread on Crasstalk, and I found myself intrigued.

The New Confessions is the "memoir" of fictional film director John James Todd. Born in Edinburgh at the dawn at the dawn of the twentieth century, Todd's life captures the great upheavals and tragedies of the early twentieth century: World Wars I and II, Weimar Germany, Depression Hollywood, and the Red Scare. From Edinburgh to Belgium, from Berlin to Switzerland, from Hollywood to Tijuana, Todd's eventful life as a filmmaker whose futile struggle to complete a film version of Rousseau's The Confessions (from which, of course, the title derives) over the course of forty years is one of tragedy, triumph, and banality.

In a (fake) memoir such as this, the narrator is, of course, absolutely central. And Boyd's Todd is a very interesting narrator. Like his beloved Rousseau, he is uncompromisingly, unflinchingly honest about himself. Indeed, one of Boyd's triumphs is not to give into sentiment about Todd. He has a hard life, and a particularly sob-story childhood, but really not terribly sympathetic. He's compelling, but not, perhaps, likeable and certainly not admirable. He's impulsive, inconsiderate, a terrible father and husband, flighty, obsessive, and really kinda creepy a lot of times. And, yet, he has charm enough, and "his" writing is funny enough, that though one does not end up particularly liking him, one is still enthralled by his story.

Todd life is one of constant and sweeping changes in fortune, rather dramatically showing that all things, from interwar Berlin to Hollywood careers, are adrift on the winds of chance. Ultimately, life is random and meaningless. Hamish, Todd's school friend who is a prodigy and becomes a mathematician genius, tells him right before the end of WWII that the era they are living in is the Age of Uncertainty, the Age of Incompleteness. Heisenberg and Goedel have demolished all expectation of ultimate truth, leaving the universe to chance. As Todd's movie is incomplete, so is his life; as Todd's career is fraught with uncertainty, so is his life. So are all of our lives. We are always living in the Age of Uncertainty and Incompleteness. We just sometimes manage to convince ourselves that we're not. Perhaps, in a subconscious way, we're so used to uncertainty and incompleteness that we don't even notice it until and unless it becomes particularly blatant and extreme; or, perhaps, deep down we know we live lives of uncertainty and incompleteness, but ignore it; most people don't want to live in a world with no meaning, where randomness is the only constant.

There are rather gross parts of the book, particularly with regards to sex. But I suppose that's part of the brutal honesty. I mean, sex is rather gross.

A funny book with a melancholy heart, it's gotten me interested in Boyd's other work.

The Onyx Hall Series (Midnight Never Come, In Ashes Lie, A Star Shall Fall, With Fate Conspire) by Marie Brennan

Below and to the side of London stands the Onyx Hall, darkly glittering domain of the English fae, where a faerie Queen rules with her mortal Prince. This is the secret history of London, from the Elizabethan to the Victorian Age, a London where humans are not alone, and where actions in one world can have devastating consequences in another.

This has been one of my favorite urban fantasy (and never has that genre title been more apt; this is a book about London as much as it is about magic) series for the past several years. Brennan is a masterful writer, weaving together meticulous research with strong characters, all while juggling centuries-long timelines and complicated historical events with aplomb. The London Fire, Halley's Comet, and the construction of the London Underground all come to life with a magical twist.

One of the wonderful luxuries of a series like this is watching the evolution of London, its changing and never-changing character, and the diversity of its inhabitants, both mortal and immortal. This isn't just a world of fairy royalty and rich humans, but one where elf knights and provincial goblins rub shoulders with courtly poets and tavern keepers. Brennan's fae are neither cutesy sprites, D&D elves, nor demons but complex, diverse, and appropriately alien creatures with a variety of personalities and agendas, as well as complicated relationships among themselves and with humans. Another interesting aspect is that Brennan, who studied anthropology and folk lore, intentionally made them English, natives of a country whose fairy lore is much intact or studied than that of Ireland, say. But Brennan also reflects London's cosmopolitan character with supernatural creatures from other cultures, including fauns, nymphs, dwarves, and genies.

A super, super series for any fan of historical or paranormal fiction. With Fate Conspire is, sadly, the last book in the series for now, but depending on sales, there are at least tentative plans for future books chronicling the London Blitz and our present day. Keep up with Brennan's blog for news, and also just because it's a great blog, with interesting, regular content about writing and the fantasy genre in general.

This Shared Dream by Kathleen Ann Goonan

Sequel to In War Times, this is the story of the Dance children, offspring of the previous book's protagonist couple, who were abandoned by their parents and left adrift in an alternate timeline. They live in a "better" world, where the Cold War went very differently and Kennedy was never assassinated. But the nagging memories and dreamscapes of that other world, the one more-or-less ours, haunt them. Jill, the eldest, is experiencing a temporal nervous breakdown. Brian is tortured by the memory of dying in a Vietnam War that never happened. The youngest, Megan, is a researcher obsessed with memory and consciousness, but of all of them the most happy.

When a mysterious man begins following the children, looking for The Device that will be the catalyst for worldwide peace, it is up to their mother, secret agent Bette, to save them and keep The Device from the hands of those who would misuse it. The story goes back and fills in some details of In War Times from Bette's perspective, which I liked. Bette was a bit of a cipher in the last book.

Still a little too much Kennedy-slobbering, and general kumbaya, for my tastes. Still a lot of woo-woo about quantum consciousness and whatnot. Goonan seems to really, really have a thing about Montessori schools. And, really, far too much, IMHO, of the book is taken over with policy prescriptions and educational theories. Goonan lays out her ideals out the way a long-winded Internet commenter might. Our Shared Dream reads like a manifesto spruced up with some narrative. There were hints of this in the latter part of In War Times, but here it is on full display and it is annoying as all hell.

I still think the central conceit, that it's moral, even imperative, to change human nature to get rid of war, is a bit shaky. An analogy to vaccines is made, but I think the difference is free will. Parents make a choice for their children to get inoculated; no one is asked if they want to have their neurology changed in Goonan's world, it's a handful of people clandestinely enacting it. It's hard to say that ending war and human hatred is a bad thing when you look around you and see the state of the world, but I think it actually is, at least as it is gone about here. Yes, it might make a better world, but what right does anyone have to change history, to constantly tweak timelines and human biology to one's desired end through subterfuge, to rob people of their memories, no matter how bad? Is it worth sacrificing those you love for a better world? If we want to evolve as a species, it should be through chance and choice, not conspiracy. It doesn't mean anything otherwise.

I write my reviews as I read so that I don't forget anything, and I just realized that I'm not even half way through This Shared Dream, and I've written all of this stuff that basically amounts to, "I'm pissed off at this book." Why waste my time with a book that pisses me off? Perhaps some day I'll go back and finish just to see how the story of the Dance family ends, but right now I just have no interest in finishing a book I don't like, and I don't like this book.

Naughty In Nice by Rhys Bowen

The latest in the Her Royal Spyness mystery series finds our intrepid sleuth, Lady Georgiana of Glen Garry and Rennoch, great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, escaping the gloom of a London winter on the Riviera, where a stolen necklace and a murdered tycoon provide ample opportunity for Georgie to put her detective skills to use.

Georgie is a great character, neither too Mary Sue nor annoying, and her supporting cast, from fictionalized historical characters such as Coco Chanel and Wallis Simpson to her fully fictional mother, are delightful. If I have one criticism, it's in the romance. The misunderstandings between Georgie and dashing secret-agent Irishman Darcy have gotten a bit tiresome by this, the fifth in the series, and Darcy himself isn't as well-drawn as most of the other characters. I think his cryptic nature is intentional, since he is a bit of a mystery to Georgie herself, but I think it is a problem for the narrative. Bowen needs to come up with some other manner of providing romantic angst, or put them together finally.

But, really, that is a very minor criticism. This series continues to be a light, utterly enjoyable treat, and Naughty in Nice another frothy bon-bon of mystery, glamour, and just a hint of romance.

Skimpy Sunday

(Via Roids and Rants [NSFW]; Mimziz [NSFW])

Thursday, October 06, 2011

In The Navy...

Don't Ask, Don't Tell was always stupid; the military is just so, so gay. Point taken that these posters would not have elicited the same sort of astonished giggles they might today, but I really, really doubt that no one ever raised an eyebrow at them, even then.

(Via Andrew Sullivan)

Wednesday, October 05, 2011

It's Aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive!

In keeping with the Halloween season, a long-dead blog has clawed its way from the grave to new life! Welcome back, Tristan!

Hakuna Matata!

I'm not convinced that this isn't some sort of stealth marketing for the 3-D Lion King, but whatever. OMG, so cute!

It Ain't Easy Being Khaki

Long-time readers who have had to put up with my nattering on about Star Wars from time to time are well aware of one of my biggest complaints about the prequels: they make the Jedi out to be such dicks! Seriously, the Jedi Order sucks.

Sunday, October 02, 2011