Return of the Book Thread

[murdoc]

Just started in on 'The Bonehunters' by Steven Erikson. I wasn't too sure about 'Midnight Tides' since it seemed to be going waaay back in time, but I ended up really enjoying it. I find that almost all of Erikson's books start off way too slow, and I don't really get into them until about 1/3 of the way in. After that, I can't put them down, but he does seem to rush each conclusion. I found that especially true of 'Memories of Ice' and the whole war with the Pannion Domin.

[Murgos]

Meh, undead archmage velociraptors with sword arms kind of killed the series for me.

[Johny Cee]

In contrast to Quicksilver,  which I'm finishing now and find it difficult to get into.  Once I get past 5 or 10 pages,  it's good.  But kind of have to psych myself up to start again after I put it down.  I find the POV jumps to be kind of jarring,  since the 3 main viewpoints have such a different style and plot progression.  It's enjoyable,  but I'm not devouring it.

I had the same problem. I didn't have that problem with The Confusion or The System of the World. Then again, I struggled to get into Cryptonomicon -- although once I did, it was worth it. (Except the ending. Man can't write an ending for shit).

That's good to hear.  I found the change in narrative structure to be particularly jarring, and took me out of the flow of the book.  For example,  switching to Eliza's letters as a narrative device right after the more action-y Jack narrative,  or any of Waterhouse's surreal bits.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it.  But it does interfere with the flow of the book.

The Sherlock Holmes/Lovecraft thing is a Neil Gaiman short story. Good, but not his best. :)

The book is Shadows Over Baker Street: New Tales of Terror!.  The Gaiman story is probably the best one there, but there are a couple of others that are decent.  Quite a few were middling or totally meh.

Linky to the Gaiman story "A Study in Emerald" here.

I am a Gaiman fanboy,  but I do think his various hybrid short stories where he combines two or more genres are worth a looksee for the casual reader.  "A Study in Emerald" is (obviously) Lovecraft and Holmes.  There's another that combines hard-boiled detective noir and nursery rhymes,  which I think can be found online as well.

Link for a few Gaiman short stories available from his website.

[Johny Cee]

Meh, undead archmage velociraptors with sword arms kind of killed the series for me.

Bah.  The undead eskimos and undead Siberian Huskies took care of the undead velociraptors easily....

(No, we aren't making this up.)

[Morat20]

The book is Shadows Over Baker Street: New Tales of Terror!.  The Gaiman story is probably the best one there, but there are a couple of others that are decent.  Quite a few were middling or totally meh.

Linky to the Gaiman story "A Study in Emerald" here.

I am a Gaiman fanboy,  but I do think his various hybrid short stories where he combines two or more genres are worth a looksee for the casual reader.  "A Study in Emerald" is (obviously) Lovecraft and Holmes.  There's another that combines hard-boiled detective noir and nursery rhymes,  which I think can be found online as well.

Link for a few Gaiman short stories available from his website.

Oh, it's a book? I read "A Study in Emerald" in his latest short story collection. Gaiman is magic, end of story.

[Johny Cee]

The book is Shadows Over Baker Street: New Tales of Terror!.  The Gaiman story is probably the best one there, but there are a couple of others that are decent.  Quite a few were middling or totally meh.

Linky to the Gaiman story "A Study in Emerald" here.

I am a Gaiman fanboy,  but I do think his various hybrid short stories where he combines two or more genres are worth a looksee for the casual reader.  "A Study in Emerald" is (obviously) Lovecraft and Holmes.  There's another that combines hard-boiled detective noir and nursery rhymes,  which I think can be found online as well.

Link for a few Gaiman short stories available from his website.

Oh, it's a book? I read "A Study in Emerald" in his latest short story collection. Gaiman is magic, end of story.

Yah, the bitching about the state of current Horror a few pages back led me to go looking for something decent in the genre.  Unfortunately,  it seems like 90% of current Horror is godawful vampire erotica. 

[Morat20]

Yah, the bitching about the state of current Horror a few pages back led me to go looking for something decent in the genre.  Unfortunately,  it seems like 90% of current Horror is godawful vampire erotica. 

Yeah. I admit -- to my utter humiliation -- to have read that "Dead Witch Walking" series (although not the last one). In my defense, I was at a beach for a week and that series was the only books around. And I am a reader.

I got done with them in about two days. They're better than Anne Rice, but that's about it.

[Lt.Dan]

I just finished The Making of Star Wars.

It's a history of the making of Ep4, with many interviews and notes taken during the 70s through and post production.

Say what you want about George Lucas, but that guy poured his soul into that movie.  I've got a new found respect for the guy (ignoring anything to do with Ep1-3, and 6 of course).

[cmlancas]

If it were those movies instead of that movie, more people would still see him as the god he could have been.

Unfortunately, he can't write for shit.

[Sky]

Finished Snow Crash while in VT. Decent read, though he cobbled the ending. Would've been great if it just ended with Hiro's antivirus advertisement, but it puttered around for a couple more chapters in anticlimax just to wrap up loose ends.

So...I forgot to pack more books. Since my fiancee is a librarian and we hit lots of bookstores when we travel, no biggie.

Bought  Guns, Germs and Steel for a wicked discount, so I'll be ploughing through that one at some point. But the one I'm reading now was a pleasant surprise, The Anubis Gates. Modern professor time travels back to the 1800s (and a short jaunt in the 1600s). Not real deep, good action in a great setting (London). It gets a little bit wacky, but in a good way, I found the more outre elements very interesting and well-done.

[bhodi]

I caught William Gibson on my local NPR station talking about this and that, including his latest, Spook Country. Anyone pick that up?

[Murgos]

Bought  Guns, Germs and Steel for a wicked discount, so I'll be ploughing through that one at some point.

It's worth more than you paid for it.  I read GG&S in the mid-90's it's one of those books that rates a one word review.  Insightful.

Actually, it's insights are so widely accepted and repeated now that you will probably read most of it thinking, "Yeah, yeah I know this already".

I'm currently reading through one of Diamonds other books called Collapse, which is about the factors causing societal collapse historically, and it's also pretty good.

[Johny Cee]

But the one I'm reading now was a pleasant surprise, The Anubis Gates. Modern professor time travels back to the 1800s (and a short jaunt in the 1600s). Not real deep, good action in a great setting (London). It gets a little bit wacky, but in a good way, I found the more outre elements very interesting and well-done.

Tim Powers is generally pretty good,  and always pretty quirky.  I liked Anubis Gates.  It somehow mixed loss of a loved one, Egyptian mysticism, 21st century timetravel, historical England, and a touch of identity issues together,  and made it interesting.

He's done a few other books that are pretty good that I've read: Last Call mixes Vegas, tarot, poker, crossdressing, and bizarre familial relations; and Three Days to Never is time travel, secret societies, Einstein's secret family, Nazis, and Israeli spy agencies.  A bunch of other stuff is out of print, or hard to find.

Edit: spelling

[Johny Cee]

Bought  Guns, Germs and Steel for a wicked discount, so I'll be ploughing through that one at some point.

It's worth more than you paid for it.  I read GG&S in the mid-90's it's one of those books that rates a one word review.  Insightful.

Actually, it's insights are so widely accepted and repeated now that you will probably read most of it thinking, "Yeah, yeah I know this already".

I'm currently reading through one of Diamonds other books called Collapse, which is about the factors causing societal collapse historically, and it's also pretty good.

The analysis of geography and plant/animal distribution is very interesting.  Some of his other assertions were a little questionable, though.  He tended to underrate or marginalize societal and cultural factors,  and I think tried to hang too much on the "natural resources=economic success" assertion,  but it's been a while.  The anectdotal nature of a great deal of the book made it a better read,  but I don't think it really helped his general points.

Been a while since I read it, though.

The Wealth and Poverty of Nations by David Landes is really interesting in the same vein.  More of an Institutionalists take on things.

[Furiously]

I'm too blind to see stuff... Never mind.

[Murgos]

Some of his other assertions were a little questionable, though. He tended to underrate or marginalize societal and cultural factors,  and I think tried to hang too much on the "natural resources=economic success" assertion,  but it's been a while.

He measured the stuff that was measurable, found a correlation and hypothesized a causation.  Is it arguable?  Sure.  The book is vetted, all the claims made in it have a rational basis if you want to take the effort to look at his sources, not sure what else you would expect.

[Hoax]

I missed like 7 pages of this thread.  Finally back in a reading swing of things here's what I've read.

Gibson - Count Zero:  Good times, but the ending was "bleh" I'm going to pick up Mona Lisa Overdrive though because I do love the setting.

Asimov - Foundation Series 1st Book:  I need to know if this is worth getting into.  I sort of enjoyed it but it didn't really stir me.  I could imagine the whole series getting good or staying bland.  Anyone advise?

Mailer - The Gospel According to the Son:  I'm not sure what the point was, it was interesting in a way.  But overall just an easy refresher course on the Jesus story.  Sort of like Bible Lite or something.

Vonnegut - Breakfast of Champions:  Kilgore Trout gets a starring role, the book was hardly his best but still a solid read and made me laugh several times.

Thomas Ligotti - The Shadow at the Bottom of the World:  This was good horror, seriously.  I mean I sort of get annoyed with short story horror but these were really well done.  Recommend it to anyone who likes that sort of stuff.

I'm currently flitting between a Book of Italian erotica and a book entitled Psychiatry in American Life printed circa 1966.  Mostly because I haven't been able to bring myself to start up Quicksilver again (I lost my last copy 100-200 pages in on a plane) and because I'm not sure what direction I want to go in.

I'm also almost done with a very lame history of Alexander the Great called Killer of Men.  Terrible book compared to some of the great military stuff I've read in the last couple of years.

I'm also up to the Silver Spike in the Black Company so I'm debating taking that series up again after a few months of break to let the initial campaign settle.  Good books glad I heard about this in this thread.  So yeah someone give me the high points of the last 7 pages or something...   

I dont need good sci-fi as I intend to read the new Horus Heresy book soon and I probably will catch up on my guilty Battletech pleasure reading now that there are 3 or 4 books I haven't read out.

I would go for some good cyberpunk, Gibson has gotten me all jazzed up and wanting to learn to play Shadowrun for the fifth time or something...

I was impressed with how much fun Ligotti was, anyone recommend some quality horror that isn't short story form?  I like to have some more time to savor my characters before they get eaten by the old ones.

Finally I'm also on the lookout for some interesting historical reading.  I'm thinking something about the Three Kingdoms period in China or perhaps an interesting history focusing on Spain-N.Africa or something.

[Abagadro]

Asimov - Foundation Series 1st Book:  I need to know if this is worth getting into.  I sort of enjoyed it but it didn't really stir me.  I could imagine the whole series getting good or staying bland.  Anyone advise?

I was underwhelmed. They are interesting to read in a sort of "let's see what everyone else has been cribbing ever since" but don't particularly stand up as great books in and of themselves. I thought the same thing about Starship Troopers. I know I am likely in the minority on both of those.

[lamaros]

Just finished The Tax Inspector by Peter Carey. Really pretty good. I'm tempted to read a few more of his books now. Reasonably heavy themes and an interesting view of Sydney.

Trying to get through Arabian Sands by Wilfred Thesiger (distracted by the required readings and such) and so far it has been quite interesting. Very straightforward, but the tale is interesting enough that the lack of embellishment only makes it better.

Recently re-read various stories by Akutagawa (Trans. Takashi Kojima) and comparing it to the recent Penguin edition (Trans. Jay Rubin). Good stuff. I recommend him to anyone. The Penguin edtion has 'Spinning Gears' in it, which is possibly his best.

[Johny Cee]

Asimov - Foundation Series 1st Book:  I need to know if this is worth getting into.  I sort of enjoyed it but it didn't really stir me.  I could imagine the whole series getting good or staying bland.  Anyone advise?

I thought the first book was pretty interesting.  Introducting the concept of psychohistory and all that.  I really didn't get into the other books in the original trilogy too much.

The dialogue and plot progression felt stilted,  and dated. 

I think I went a book or two beyond that,  and was still meh, so put it aside.

Vonnegut - Breakfast of Champions:  Kilgore Trout gets a starring role, the book was hardly his best but still a solid read and made me laugh several times.

I started Cat's Cradle a while ago,  set it aside when I moved,  and never got back into it.  There a good place to start with Vonnegut,  or books that make a good transition into his style?

Thomas Ligotti - The Shadow at the Bottom of the World:  This was good horror, seriously.  I mean I sort of get annoyed with short story horror but these were really well done.  Recommend it to anyone who likes that sort of stuff.

Another book I started that I haven't got back into.  Have an Algernon Blackwood collection sitting around as well, when I hit a horror mood.

I'm also up to the Silver Spike in the Black Company so I'm debating taking that series up again after a few months of break to let the initial campaign settle.  Good books glad I heard about this in this thread.  So yeah someone give me the high points of the last 7 pages or something...   

Picked up the omnibus of Cook's "Dread Empire" books a couple weeks ago, called A Cruel Wind.  Hadn't read them in a while,  and only had them in (very) second hand paperback.  I honestly might prefer the Dread Empire books to Black Company,  but I might be one of the few.

As far as the Black Company goes,  after Silver Spike you hit the Books of the South.  Rebuilding and a shift in the way the story is told,  especially with a succession of new narrators, and a new long-term arc.  Many folks prefer the first books,  though I like both about evenly.

[Johny Cee]

Some of his other assertions were a little questionable, though. He tended to underrate or marginalize societal and cultural factors,  and I think tried to hang too much on the "natural resources=economic success" assertion,  but it's been a while.

He measured the stuff that was measurable, found a correlation and hypothesized a causation.  Is it arguable?  Sure.  The book is vetted, all the claims made in it have a rational basis if you want to take the effort to look at his sources, not sure what else you would expect.

I'm more disappointed in the latter half of the book because the first part was so brillant.

Diamond makes a great case on hinging the development of early civilization on the early distribution of demesticatable and useful animal and plant species,  as well as the benefits of Eurasias East-West sprawl that kept early civilizations there in the same climate zones,  leading to quick adaption of innovations of plant-animal and technology innovations (as well as quick transmission of ideas and germs, leading to adaption).

To explain later development he just throws in the natural resource supposition,  and then does some handwaving on why China, Japan, India or the Middle East lagged behind Europe.  Kind of disappointing,  especially since there's a strong negative correlation between natural resource prevalence and the strength of a nation's economy (at least per studies conducted in the 20th century).

The book is immensely worth reading.  I just felt a little let down with the last half.

[lamaros]

Some of his other assertions were a little questionable, though. He tended to underrate or marginalize societal and cultural factors,  and I think tried to hang too much on the "natural resources=economic success" assertion,  but it's been a while.

He measured the stuff that was measurable, found a correlation and hypothesized a causation.  Is it arguable?  Sure.  The book is vetted, all the claims made in it have a rational basis if you want to take the effort to look at his sources, not sure what else you would expect.

I'm more disappointed in the latter half of the book because the first part was so brillant.

Diamond makes a great case on hinging the development of early civilization on the early distribution of demesticatable and useful animal and plant species,  as well as the benefits of Eurasias East-West sprawl that kept early civilizations there in the same climate zones,  leading to quick adaption of innovations of plant-animal and technology innovations (as well as quick transmission of ideas and germs, leading to adaption).

To explain later development he just throws in the natural resource supposition,  and then does some handwaving on why China, Japan, India or the Middle East lagged behind Europe.  Kind of disappointing,  especially since there's a strong negative correlation between natural resource prevalence and the strength of a nation's economy (at least per studies conducted in the 20th century).

The book is immensely worth reading.  I just felt a little let down with the last half.

I wouldn't agree with that. I don't think he resorts to hand-waving at all. He doesn't directly trying to correlate natural resources and economic strength.

He clearly talks about geography as a huge factor, and the resources of the land are a part of this, but it extends to many other considerations beside. The examples of the ease of diffusion of ideas across areas with few geographic impediments, and the advantages that come with competition between states, etc, etc.

No need to go into it here as it's all there in the book, but I think if you read it again you'll see he does more than point to natural resources.

I think it's a great book. I didn't find it especially enlightening when I read it, more that it a solid support for ideas I held already (I would say that despite his claims otherwise he is very much an environmental determinist - just expressing it in a way that gives people a wider conception of what that means and thus prevents the typical knee-jerk reaction), and one of the best things I think the book does is provide a nigh irrefutable argument against racism. I think Diamond is a really eloquent humanist and the book is valuable for this as much as anything else.

On that note, the beginning of Collapse has a very succint summary of that view, really well done. On the other hand Collapse is nowhere near as well argued or presented as GGNS and is far inferior book overall.

[Murgos]

I'm also up to the Silver Spike in the Black Company so I'm debating taking that series up again after a few months of break to let the initial campaign settle.  Good books glad I heard about this in this thread.  So yeah someone give me the high points of the last 7 pages or something...   

Picked up the omnibus of Cook's "Dread Empire" books a couple weeks ago, called A Cruel Wind.  Hadn't read them in a while,  and only had them in (very) second hand paperback.  I honestly might prefer the Dread Empire books to Black Company,  but I might be one of the few.

As far as the Black Company goes,  after Silver Spike you hit the Books of the South.  Rebuilding and a shift in the way the story is told,  especially with a succession of new narrators, and a new long-term arc.  Many folks prefer the first books,  though I like both about evenly.

I've read two of the Dread Empire books (not the omnibus) way back when and I liked them, I'll pick up the omnibus editions when I am done with my current crop of half finished books.

I did just recently read the recent re-release of Passage To Arms by Cook.  It's a good story and the only Sci-Fi by him that I have read.  The only down side to it is that if you have seen Das Boot you will recognize a couple of scenes in the book as lifted directly from the movie.  Not really a bad thing, the whole story is pretty much U-Boats in space and for an early work, '84 I think, it shows a lot of the direction and themes he will come back to in the following series.

Silver Spike is maybe my third favorite of the Black Company stories.  Shadows Linger is #1 and Bleak Seasons is #2.

[Hoax]

I started Cat's Cradle a while ago,  set it aside when I moved,  and never got back into it.  There a good place to start with Vonnegut,  or books that make a good transition into his style?

The problem is, I haven't read Cat's Cradle yet, so I'm not sure what the obstacle was.

My own history w/ Vonnegut goes like this:

Slaughterhouse Five may have been the best book on any summer reading list I was ever given and year's later I happened across a copy of Mother Night on my dad's bookshelf.  I thought that book was fantastic and that led me to hunting down Siren's of Titan (favorite ending of any book, ever) & God Bless you Mr Rosewater, then he died and I took a break from reading his stuff.  I only recently bought Breakfast of Champions because I couldn't find anything else in the local hole in the wall Noe Valley bookstore.

I've been searching all over for a used copy of Player Piano but so far no luck.

As for a good "transition" book, I can't say.  From the first page I've always felt at home with his writing style and more importantly the overall structure of the universe he writes about.  I would be more helpful but I fear I am incapable.

I suggest Slaughterhouse Five or Timequake as both met great commercial and critical success and therefore are most likely the least strange of his works.

[Sky]

Some of his other assertions were a little questionable, though. He tended to underrate or marginalize societal and cultural factors,  and I think tried to hang too much on the "natural resources=economic success" assertion,  but it's been a while.

He measured the stuff that was measurable, found a correlation and hypothesized a causation.  Is it arguable?  Sure.  The book is vetted, all the claims made in it have a rational basis if you want to take the effort to look at his sources, not sure what else you would expect.

I'm interested in what he has to say about the Iroqouis Nation. They were on the verge of a total cultural revolution, hell, they were well into it, when the Euros showed up and killed most of them off or subverted them. Because the whole natural resources = success kinda falls apart when you're talking about the us of a, one of the most resource-rich areas of the world, huge and untapped. Anyway, really looking forward to the read, just started it and will chip away at it over the next few months.

Requested a few more of Power's books, the pirate one, the spy one and the one where turks attack vienna. Which, oddly, is very similar to the book my fiancee just got done reading about the turks attacking vienna, which also featured a merc as a main character. Odd.

[Bunk]

I started Cat's Cradle a while ago,  set it aside when I moved,  and never got back into it.  There a good place to start with Vonnegut,  or books that make a good transition into his style?

The problem is, I haven't read Cat's Cradle yet, so I'm not sure what the obstacle was.

Oddly, I would have recomended Cat's Cradle as agood book to start with. Take that how you will.

I'm the oddball that hasn't read his successful stuff, and instead read Cat's Cradle and Slapstick first. Still haven't read Sirens as I'm a little afraid. I've had it described to me as being the saddest book ever written (sad as in the emotion, not sad as sucking).

Someone a ways back asked about Gibson's Spook Country - it's sitting on my nightstand waiting to be read. I tend to read in frantic bursts with long hiatuses in between.

[Bunk]

Asimov - Foundation Series 1st Book:  I need to know if this is worth getting into.  I sort of enjoyed it but it didn't really stir me.  I could imagine the whole series getting good or staying bland.  Anyone advise?

I was underwhelmed. They are interesting to read in a sort of "let's see what everyone else has been cribbing ever since" but don't particularly stand up as great books in and of themselves. I thought the same thing about Starship Troopers. I know I am likely in the minority on both of those.

The first two books of Foundation really are all about short stories tying the whole idea together. After that, he breaks in to longer, more detailed stories that don't span multiple generations. The real trick to the Foundation series is knowing exactly the order to read them in relation to the Robot series - it matters. Dry or not, both series should be manditory reading for anyone who calls themselves a sci-fi fan.

[Murgos]

I'm interested in what he has to say about the Iroqouis Nation. They were on the verge of a total cultural revolution, hell, they were well into it, when the Euros showed up and killed most of them off or subverted them. Because the whole natural resources = success kinda falls apart when you're talking about the us of a, one of the most resource-rich areas of the world, huge and untapped.

You pretty much answered your own question though.  The Iroquois Nation was large and powerful which is exactly in keeping with the natural resources theme.  When two resource rich entities come into conflict what will be the deciding factor?  Hint, the book is called Guns, Germs and Steel.

[Johny Cee]

Some of his other assertions were a little questionable, though. He tended to underrate or marginalize societal and cultural factors,  and I think tried to hang too much on the "natural resources=economic success" assertion,  but it's been a while.

He measured the stuff that was measurable, found a correlation and hypothesized a causation.  Is it arguable?  Sure.  The book is vetted, all the claims made in it have a rational basis if you want to take the effort to look at his sources, not sure what else you would expect.

I'm interested in what he has to say about the Iroqouis Nation. They were on the verge of a total cultural revolution, hell, they were well into it, when the Euros showed up and killed most of them off or subverted them. Because the whole natural resources = success kinda falls apart when you're talking about the us of a, one of the most resource-rich areas of the world, huge and untapped. Anyway, really looking forward to the read, just started it and will chip away at it over the next few months.

Requested a few more of Power's books, the pirate one, the spy one and the one where turks attack vienna. Which, oddly, is very similar to the book my fiancee just got done reading about the turks attacking vienna, which also featured a merc as a main character. Odd.

Warpaths: Invasions of North America by Ian Steele is a great read,  and pretty heavily covers the Iroquois.

Iroquois history is really fucking interesting.  They had moved to a role of some importance before Europeans arrived,  but then played the English and French against each other to move to hegemonic control over most of the other Northeastern tribes in the Beaver Wars.

[Hoax]

Still haven't read Sirens as I'm a little afraid. I've had it described to me as being the saddest book ever written (sad as in the emotion, not sad as sucking).

Someone a ways back asked about Gibson's Spook Country - it's sitting on my nightstand waiting to be read. I tend to read in frantic bursts with long hiatuses in between.

I cried at the end.  I felt it was a very profound set of statements.  Like I said though, I would call that my favorite book of all time.

Let us know about Spook Country, I really did enjoy the beginning and most of the middle of Count Zero.  Gibson's writing is just so fucking slick.  Half the time I know I'm not 100% on any of the details but I just don't care.  I don't want to slow down my mind's eye imagery by going back and re-reading sections or consulting w/ outside sources for any needed info.

*finished sentence that was cut off by sudden need to actually work @ work*

[Murgos]

Gibson's writing is just so fucking slick.  Half the time I know I'm not 100% on any of the details but I just don't care.  I don't want to slow down my mind's eye imagery by going back and re-reading sections ...

"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."

[Endie]

Asimov - Foundation Series 1st Book:  I need to know if this is worth getting into.  I sort of enjoyed it but it didn't really stir me.  I could imagine the whole series getting good or staying bland.  Anyone advise?

I was underwhelmed. They are interesting to read in a sort of "let's see what everyone else has been cribbing ever since" but don't particularly stand up as great books in and of themselves. I thought the same thing about Starship Troopers. I know I am likely in the minority on both of those.

I read the Foundation series when I was 12 or 13 and loved them.  Re-reading them now, I can see how much sci-fi has moved on.  They were fine enough, but I stopped after the third and I'll not be back again.

Plus, many of his premises were ridiculous even when he was writing them.  Coal-powered spaceships?  Come on.  Maybe Jules Verne could get away with that...

[Johny Cee]

Asimov - Foundation Series 1st Book:  I need to know if this is worth getting into.  I sort of enjoyed it but it didn't really stir me.  I could imagine the whole series getting good or staying bland.  Anyone advise?

I was underwhelmed. They are interesting to read in a sort of "let's see what everyone else has been cribbing ever since" but don't particularly stand up as great books in and of themselves. I thought the same thing about Starship Troopers. I know I am likely in the minority on both of those.

I read the Foundation series when I was 12 or 13 and loved them.  Re-reading them now, I can see how much sci-fi has moved on.  They were fine enough, but I stopped after the third and I'll not be back again.

Plus, many of his premises were ridiculous even when he was writing them.  Coal-powered spaceships?  Come on.  Maybe Jules Verne could get away with that...

In the Foundation stories,  I was more turned off by the mediocre characters and stilted dialogue.  I wanted to strangle the Professor who shows up in the Mule events,  especially because of his awful catchphrase.

There's always the problem with classics that their general tone and issues discussed are so widely repeated in later works,  they come off as hackneyed later on.  Probably why I wasn't that impressed with the issues dealt with.

The example that jumps to mind in film is "Escape from New York".  The asshole, amoral antihero was kind of revoltionary at the time,  but when I watched the movie with my bro a couple years ago it seems like an awful paint by numbers affair,  since the lovable yet amoral badass is a staple figure.

[Viin]

I caught William Gibson on my local NPR station talking about this and that, including his latest, Spook Country. Anyone pick that up?

I picked it up a couple weeks ago and I think it's pretty good. Haven't quite figured out what is going on, but some interesting stuff. (Starts off with location based Virtual Reality art, using a special headset with GPS built in).

[HRose]

About Erikson, I've read that there are three entry points in the series because only some books continue the same story, while others deals with other plots/continents.

Someone could explain the relationship between the different books (without spoilers!)?

For example book 3 should continue from where book 1 stopped, book 4 should be sequel to 3. While 2 starts a new story that continues on book 5? Something like that.