Book Reviews by Zach

• Now Reading: A Widow for One Year by John Irving
• [10/31/98] Loved Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson!! Europe that disappears in 1914 and is replaced by a people-less version of Europe, with different foliage and animal life. Actually happened due to an intergalactic struggle between sapient life and a virus lifeform evolved from AI software!! Better than it sounds!!
• [10/31/98] Resurrection Man by Sean Stewart - Pretty good - an America where magic is real, (it started to appear after WWII?!). Dante discovers his own "angel" powers to bring back the dead and deals with a difficult relationship with his father.
• [7/21/98]Reading Slant by Greg Bear. So far, so good - nanotechnology, wide-spread psycho-engineering high tech police work, "Yox" virtual reality experiences and the murder or suicide of an ultra rich "high comb, high natural".
• [7/21/98]Undaunted Courage, by Steven Ambrose, is a wonderful biography of Merriwether Lewis.  Although thorough and well footnoted Ambrose makes this narrative easy to read and highly enjoyable.  Covering the Lewis and Clark expedition, American political frontier life at the end of the 18th century, Thomas Jefferson and Washington politics - the book is filled with new (to me) ideas and images.  Of most interest was the extremely personal view of both Jefferson and Lewis that became evident through reading their letters, both public and private.  Ambrose's non-judgemental description of Lewis' tragic final days and suicide provide a fascinating image of this very real man.
• D-Day by Steven Ambrose is a detailed inspection of the personalities, planning, and execution of the "Climactic Battle of World War II."  This book was is easy to finish quickly, and made me want to read more - right away - by Stephen Ambrose.  His style is almost conversational, yet the content seems thoroughly researched and complete.  My only gripe is that there were not enough pictures.
• REVIEWLESS RECENT READS!:  Nebula Awards 32, White Queen, Mississippi Blues by Kathleen Ann Goonan, Distress by Greg Egan, Idoru by William Gibson, Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom, Desolation Island by Patrick O'Brian, Forever Peace
• Family Trade by James Carroll was good summer reading.  Boy grows up in a spy family, full of secrets.  Unraveling takes him into his father's past and to Hitler's Berlin, near the end of the war.
• Just started Grisham's Runaway Jury...so far so good, but I'm not sure who to root for!  OK I finished it - still didn't know who to root for...typical Grisham ending - they get away with the loot and go to a tropical island.  Ho hum.
• Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson was terrific!  Extremely well crafted story about how people deal with losses, taking place against the backdrop of a murder trial in a fishing village on an island in the Pacific northwest.  Items lost include life, limb and love - and though it sounds bleak, the ultimate message is uplifting and positive.  Highly recommended.
• The Rise of Endymion, Dan Simmons.  More of the same, but finally it's over.  The first of the series, Hyperion, really is fantastic, however.
• Days of Cain by J.R. Dunn is my new favorite time travel novel!!  Like Time and Again by Jack Finney (previously my favorite time travel novel), time travel itself is less important than the plot it enables - in this case about a woman who tries to prevent or at least mitigate the nazi holocaust.  The time travel aspects are typical...she faces the "moeity" which is the gestalt human consciousness in the far distant future or "far upline" which has established a kind of time police ("the extention") led by hero timecop extraordinaire, Gaspar James.  Gaspar, initially cold to the tragedy of the holocaust, struggles with moral issues as he experiences (in graphic painful detail) the horrors first hand.  The end is a little bleak but appropriate.
• Kiss the Girls by James Patterson:  Good popular murder fiction.  [serial killer on east coast and serial killer on west coast are old friends]  Good twists, good hero, real nasty bad guys.  Author was a good guest on Derek McGinty's show.  All around good.
• Couldn't finish Jack Faust by Michael Swanwick.  Interesting premise (Faust sells his soul to an extraterrestrial, not the devil), but the characters were shallow and unconvincing.
• Breezed through The Ship Who Won by Anne McCafferey.  Light, naive, sci-fi fluff.  Good on an airplane or a sick day.
• The Third Twin by Ken Follet was a great read - a man is accused of rape, and all the evidence, including DNA proof, indicates he did it.  I won't give the ending away, but there's clones in them thar hills.
• Loved Executive Orders by Tom Clancy.  I think it's his best after Red October.  For Jack Ryan lover's this is a must - Jack finally gets the popular acclaim he deserves!  As the prez, he stops the evil Iranians from taking over the mid-east while the U.S. is distracted by a killer virus.  I thought the bad guy should have been intentionally infected with ebola for a better revenge ending, however.
• Finished The Day After Tomorrow, by Robert Fulsom.  Suspense, murder and intrigue, with evil Aryans, inept but charming French police, a dour but brilliant American cop, the French Prime Minister's lover, and a troubled, explosive surgeon who witnessed the murder of his father, as a child.  Ending is pretty predictable, however.
• Picked up and put down Black Sun, by Jack Williamson.  Terrible - don't bother.  Unconvincing characters buy a one-way interstellar expedition ticket to a planet inhabited with, surprise, deadly alien "lifeforms".
• Started Richard Dawkins The Blind Watchmaker.  So far the book seems to be filled with anecdotal examples that are engaging and thought provoking - but do not present real scientific evidence.  Probably, I should not think of this book as a counter-point to Behe's, which really was a scientific examination of the issues.  It does highlight, however, that Behe should expanded upon and been more precise about which aspects of evolution he finds acceptable...I remember him agreeing with common descent, but disagreeing with evolution as original life creation mechanism - I do not think Dawkins makes any distinction between these issues at all. It seems like he sees evolution as a tool that can be applied to every historical question about life; including the differentiation of the species AND the origin of life.
• Just finished Darwin's Black Box by Michael Behe.  An extremely well written and convincing refutation of Darwinian evolution as an explanation for the origin of life.  Behe is a professor of biochemistry and builds his "life by design" arguments around the irreducible complexity of some biochemical systems.  Since these systems are composed of several interrelated components, all of which must perform exactly as they do for the system to function at all, it could not have been possible for these systems to develop gradually, claims Behe, because system predecessors with a partially functioning element or elements would not function as a system at all.  Behe sticks to the science and does not indulge in speculation about life's "designer"; he simply presents his arguments and challenges other scientists to respond to his thesis, or to offer specific detailed counter scenarios for the evolution of biochemical systems.  I loved it, but now I'm going to explore the book of his theoretical rival who advocates the Darwinian view.  Its Richard Dawkins and his book is called The Blind Watchmaker.
• Enjoyed Ancient Shores by Jack McDevitt.  Mid-west farmer digs up an apparently brand new sailboat buried in the north forty - turns out the boat is at least 10,000 years old AND was made by an advanced culture.  Next, investigators discover the boat house - and it has a working "transporter" to 5 other planets, and each of those link to several more and so on.  McDevitt is able to capitalize on this interesting theme and set the stage with some believable characters and a few real dignitaries without letting them get in the way of a fun sci-fi storyline.
• Gave up on Independence Day, by Richard Ford.  Its just real depressing.  The writing is well done and accurately observes a great deal about human nature through the eyes of the protagonist - however - he is a pitiful, morose, divorced, real estate agent living through an "existence" only state of mind, none of which is endearing or makes one wish to identify with him.
• Finished Blameless in Abaddon, by James Morrow.  Great premise - the 2 mile long inert body of God is discovered, under the frozen surface of the Antarctic!  Now in a comatose state God is the object of a law suit brought by a suffering cancer victim and modern day Job, Martin Candle.  The book is really a lay investigation of "theodicy" or the intellectual explanation and study of God's role in and responsibility for "evil", and so far is light, interesting and entertaining.
• Finished A Country Year: Living the Questions, by Susan Hubbell.  Hubbell lives alone in the Ozarks, running her own honey farm business, and is a thoughtful commenter on nature and people.  This collection of essays spans 5 months of her solitary but not empty life and was a very enjoyable and quick read.
• Finished The Kommandant's Mistress, about the wartime experience of a Nazi concentration camp internee and the Kommandant who kept her as a mistress.  Interesting first person writing style - like a movie script - that continually bounces from scene to scene, as if the narrator is so confused and distraught that all recollection leads to related recollections without pause.  First half of book he narrates, second half she narrates.  His guilt is obvious, but the guilt she lays on herself is less understandable.
• Crime and Punishment was just too punishing for me this month - and I'm afraid I inflicted it upon the entire reading group!  arghhh!  Anyway the first few chapters are really great :>
• Finished Endymion.  That's all I can say about it - nothing like Hyperion.
• Enjoyed The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell about a Jesuit lead mission to make first contact with an extrasolarsystem alien race.
• Hooray for the (:The Reading Fools:)! my favorite reading club.  Check out our activities.
• Coming soon:   Angela's Ashes

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