The Hound of the Baskervilles / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Hound of the Baskervilles

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

detective

copyright 1901-02

read in January 2017

rated 8/10: really quite good

Really quite good. Am I biassed because I enjoy Sherlock Holmes stories? Perhaps. But then, this blog is *my* opinion :-)

The moors are gloomy. The house is spooky -- yet welcoming, when the sun shines. The servants and the family are all suspects. The mysteries are gradually revealed, then gradually solved.

Most enjoyable!

There is mystery and there is action. The climax of the story is all action. The final mysteries are explained in a more peaceful setting, almost as a postscript. Yet an essential part of the story, so I was interested right to the last page.

And, as in The Memoirs, which I have also just read, the ending is not all fairytale. And this is due, I believe, to the attitudes of the times.

Noooo... I don't think that I can say much more. Not without spoiling some of the ending. What about this:

There is an obvious conclusion to one of the threads of the plot. Yet it does not happen. Why not? Because society's standards -- of the time -- would not accept it. Today, no worries. Then, not possible.

But that, of course, is just my opinion :-)

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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
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"Before your dreams can come true, you have to have those dreams" … Dr Joyce Brothers
   

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

short stories, detective

copyright 1892-93

read in late 2016, January 2017

rated 8/10: really quite good

I read most of these stories last year then finished reading in 2017. So I can't guarantee accuracy of my memory. That's okay, these reviews are my *opinion* :-)

In my opinion -- these stories are good. Sherlock Holmes & John Watson. Murder, mystery and detailed detective anaylsis. A quiet world where workers and gentry fit in their own places, where the city is crowded -- but not by our standards -- and the countryside is peaceful.

A bucolic, ideal world where crime is unexpected -- yet potentially horrific. An ideal world... occasionally spoilt by the actions of humans.

What strikes my most about these stories -- after the sheer enjoyment of a good read -- is that a happy ending is not guaranteed.

Not every crime will be solved. Well, okay, every crime is analysed and as good as solved, from a reader's perspective. Yet the criminal may not be caught. Or the final analysis may be a matter of Holmesian conjecture: probably correct but not guaranteed. Or -- in The Greek Interpreter, for example -- the end is not as happy-ever-after as I had hoped. Very satisfactory, yes. Happy ever after? Not really.

These stories are about crime, detective work and the solution of the crime. Where possible, the people are saved. But not always.

These stories are detective fiction. Not fairy tales.

Very clever, very enjoyable. With the added pleasure of a world of gloomy streets, knuckled foreheads and clear distinctions between right and wrong.

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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"Before your dreams can come true, you have to have those dreams" … Dr Joyce Brothers
   

The Time Traveler's Almanac / Ann & Jeff VanderMeer

The Time Traveler's Almanac

ed. Ann VanderMeer, Jeff VanderMeer

science fiction

copyright 2013

(individual story copyright: all over time)

read in December 2016 / January 2017

rated 7/10: well worth reading

Though truth to tell, 6/10 "read to pass the time" was my first thought. But my wife -- not a fan of science fiction -- enjoyed many of the stories. And that has prejudiced my judgement.

This is a whole lot of stories about time travel. Some stories use magic or mysticism for the travel, others use science, more or less. The end result is a story displaced in time. So "science fiction" is near enough as a category.

There's the well known -- to me, at least -- story of the time traveller who steps on a past butterfly and changes his own present. I hadn't realised that that story is the source of the phrase "butterfly effect" in chaos theory.

There is a story set (largely) in a siege of a Dutch city. That one is interesting enough that I read Wikipedia on the details of the siege. Apparently, known facts have changed since the story was written.

There is a story set largely in an actual siege of a Scandinavian fortress. And partly in a miserable future. It is so boring that I failed to finish reading.

Some stories are exploring time, time travel, the mechanics and the effects of time travel. Others are pushing a social issue, trying to make it interesting by setting it in a different time. Sometimes it works, sometimes it's still just a boring one-issue rant.

Overall... this is a readable book. If you don't like one story... read the next. There are plenty of stories to choose from. It's probably a mistake to start at page one and try to read straight through to the end. Perhaps it would be better to jump in, read a few stories, leave the book aside for a few weeks.

There's a lot of good and some dross. Most of the stories are good. Some are very good. I'm glad to find a thorough collection on the time travel theme. I'm not sure that it's the best way to *read* a large number of time travel stories.

Worth reading. Be prepared to read the stories in small doses.

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28jan21: Interesting... This time the book is a definite six. Not seven. No more than, read to pass the time...

I didn't remember the book. I opened at random and read a short story. My immediate impression was, Americans do love to describe idyllic country-town settings. I prefer a story with minimum (irrelevant) scene-setting, more emphasis on plot.

To me, a short story is an interesting idea wrapped round with a short and relevant plot. Some of these stories are trivial and unexplained ideas wrapped round with many many words of filler. Admittedly, I have read only half a dozen, I won't bother with the rest.

Looking at my original comments: This time, the Dutch city did not interest me. I was distracted by the pointless and contradictory use of a clock. Whereas the Scandinavian story held my attention past the end and into Wikipedia.

I guess there's a lesson: A review is just one person's opinion, at one time. A different person -- or the same person at a different time -- may have a completely different opinion.

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04aug21:

Without realising it, I took my own advice from my 2017 review: I dipped into this book and read a few of the stories. Based on those few I would rate this book as four -- bad but could be read... at best.

The stories that I read were... terrible. I suspect that one was based on a classic story. Another on American history. As simple stories -- rubbish.

Like all reviews: mine are my own opinion. And my opinion may vary over time. Read the book or not... read random stories... enjoy, or not...

Over to you :-)

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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
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​What I do on my holidays: see http://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/​

"Some people have trouble making friends because they build fences rather than bridges." … on a cafe wall

This Book will Make you Think / Alain Stephen

This Book will Make you Think

by Alain Stephen

self-help

copyright 2013

read in December 2016/January 2017

rated 9/10: really, really good

This book will make me think? Absolutely! It's brilliant! Even typing the title has made me think. A sort of leftover state of analytical thinking:

First, I wrote, "This Book will make you Think". Then I changed it to, "This Book will Make you Think". See the difference? It's the first letter of "make". In my second attempt, I made it a capital M. So what?

With the lower case m in make, the emphasis of the book title is, "Think". Use a capital M and the emphasis shifts, to "Make". From Think to Make. From freedom of thought to enforced analytical effort. Amazing!

Also, ridiculous.

No matter how I type -- or analyse -- the book title, this book is about Thinking. A dipping into the thinking -- the great ideas -- of a few millennia of philosophers. Thought-provoking. And amazing.

Way back, for example, Greek philosophers were thinking about the structure of things. They came to the conclusion that matter can be neither created nor destroyed. You think that's new? These ancient Greeks came to that conclusion just by thinking deeply. Despite the prevalent beliefs in myth and magical creation.

But that left them with a conundrum. If matter cannot be created -- how does a plant grow? A plant seems to be creating new matter as it grows. So Democritus (and others) imagined "atoms". An infinite number of tiny things, linking, unlinking, relinking, to build all the stuff that we can see and touch.

Democritus could not see, feel, manipulate these "atoms". Instead, he used logic, imagination and thinking, to describe a possible explanation for what he could see. And that explanation is still good (though needing refinement) today. Thousands of years later.

That's a physical example. Most of the book is about, well, the meaning of life. Clearly written, easy to follow. And it definitely makes me think.

"Religion ... is the opium of the people." Yes, we've all heard variations of that one. Communism and some religions use the principal, offering their religion (or social change) as a drug to make life of "the masses" more bearable. Because that's what Marx meant: People suffer, religion helps them to dull the pain of the suffering.

Isms and religions offer themselves as opium to the people. The way Marx saw it, if you remove the suffering and oppression, the people will no longer need the opium. A positive view, warped in its implementation.

There are also more immediately applicable ideas. I use Hegelian dialectic. (If I understand it correctly.) Now, I know that it's not just me, a philosopher described and supported the method. I also know -- thanks to this book -- that he described it in very unclear fashion. Being a great thinker does not guarantee being a great communicator :-)

The title of this book is absolutely correct: it did make me Think.

I've dipped into it over a couple of months. Enjoyed every dip. I would like to keep dipping... but I Think that I may also look at other books and readings on philosophy and thinking.

Fascinating. And very, very, thought-provoking.

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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
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​What I do on my holidays: see http://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/​

"Some people have trouble making friends because they build fences rather than bridges." … on a cafe wall

The Just City / Jo Walton

The Just City

by Jo Walton

fantasy

copyright 2014

read (skimmed) in January 2017

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

As far as I can tell -- without having read Plato's Republic -- this book is an analysis of Plato's Republic and the reasons why it would not work. With one of the reasons being, the people who tried did not follow the exact Republic instructions.

Okay, so I've learnt something about Plato. And his Republic. And reality. If I were a fan of the Republic, this could be fascinating. Without that background knowledge -- or interest -- it's just a rather boring story.

The characters are quite likeable. Unfortunately, they spend an awful lot of time discussing philosophy. Interesting, yes. Quite well explained, yes. Right now, I was hoping for some mindless excitement... I skimmed the last half of the book. Just to see if it ended poorly.

It ended poorly. For the new Republic, that is. Which was a relief: any other ending would have been blind optimism.

Right at the start there's a suggestion that efforts to create the Republic have caused an increase in slavery. The author recognises this downside of the efforts to create Utopia. As the book progresses there are more things that -- in my opinion -- are negatives. Parts of the "ideal" Republic which are just nonsense. You don't get freedom of thought by forcing people to all think the same way.

Plato's ideas are presented and implemented. And occasionally questioned. Then, at the end, the questions become rejection. (Sorry if that was a spoiler.) The book is, I believe, an honest analysis. Including comments on Plato's own limitations due to the assumptions of his own society.

It's an interesting book. Easy to read. Thought-provoking. Today, however, I found it to be a bit ho hum. With nothing which made me want to read every word. If I read it again -- in a different mood -- I suspect that I may read and enjoy every word.

Today, though, it's just a book which I read to pass the time. And when time ran short, I skimmed to the final chapters.

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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
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"Like the measles, love is most dangerous when it comes late in life." … Lord Byron

Ninefox Gambit / Yoon Ha Lee

Ninefox Gambit

(Machineries of Empire #1)

by Yoon Ha Lee

science fiction

copyright 2016

read in January 2017

rated 8/10: really quite good

It's "science fiction". The science is ... unusual. No basis -- as far as I know -- in any of current, theorised, or dreamt of, actual science. Science so hard to comprehend that it may as well be magic... But it all happens in spaceships. So it's science fiction.

Solid science but not hard science. I like it.

The actual story is traditional: individual struggle within a massive, dictatorial empire. (Not Empire, there's no Emperor. Can it still be an empire?) At the top of the page I've written, "1 of...". No individual can succeed within an entrenched empire. Not in one book, anyway...

What we have is, in essence, a single battle. And what a battle! The "science" is central. The characters are simply cannon fodder. And yet... I have time to get to know and almost like, many of the characters. Know them, like them, miss them when they are destroyed. "Destroyed", because ordinary "death" is too small a word for it.

I don't get to know them enough to be truly upset when they die. Or, perhaps, the author makes it clear that these people are destined to die. This preparation helps to soften the blow. (To the reader, if not to the dying character.)

And throughout the battle, plot is developing.

When the ultimate plot drivers are fully revealed, it is not a great surprise. The exact details are new but it's more satisfaction than surprise when it all falls into place.

Then the book ends -- with more to be done but a very satisfactory conclusion. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was (still am) confused by the science, though it seems to be consistent and well thought out.

I enjoyed this book. As a novel, it can stand alone: the battle is over, relevant secrets have been revealed. All that is left, is to go out and explore the entire -- the huge -- empire. Room in this empire for a lot more books!

I'm hoping for more books to follow.

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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"Before your dreams can come true, you have to have those dreams" … Dr Joyce Brothers
   

Prepare to Die / Paul Tobin

Prepare to Die

(seems to be 1 of ...)

by Paul Tobin

fantasy, young adult

copyright 2013

read in January 2017

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

This is very much a escapist wish fulfilment for young adults. As long as they are male. The hero is super strong and reasonably smart. And he gets a lot of sex.

It's just as a young man would wish: Sex is everywhere, all women are willing, all men are able. There's no embarrassment. There's no doubt. There's no guilt... just a lot of pleasure. And of course the hero -- the super-hero -- gets super sex.

Oh, but he still gets excitement from the sight of a woman's breasts. She's a lesbian, you see, so she does not mind flashing her breasts at a man. No interest, you see. Oh yeah?!

Oh, and drugs are available. Soft, harmless. Non-addictive. Of course.

So where is this utopia? It's in a small town. Sure, in the big cities, life may be more complicated. After all, that's where most of the target audience will be living. They know the embarrassing, the guilty, the frustrating reality. Surely, they hope and believe, sex could be a lot better. And probably is... somewhere else.

And yet... The hero and his girlfriend have never had sex. The hero, well, yes, it's part of his job description to have sex. But that doesn't count. It's just a requirement of his role. Just something to do, in between episodes of saving the world. And his girlfriend is a virgin-by-choice. (Almost a virgin. Let's be realistic.) And yet, she really is saving herself for him!

The rest of the book is pretty much at that level. Lots of pleasure, lots of suffering, high levels of moral behaviour -- by the good guys.

The villains, however, are completely amoral. After all, if you have the power to do anything at all -- you may as well do, anything at all. And you know what's really surprising? As the super-villains run rampant -- civilian life just carries on.

Any life could be snuffed out at any time. Individuals... towns... entire cities are wiped out suddenly, on a whim. Yet the remaining people go to work, go to play, carry on regardless. To be destroyed -- or occasionally saved -- by the super-powered minority.

Speaking of destroyed: People are not just killed. Plenty of people are, just killed. But not all. Many of the deaths are particularly cruel. This is something that I do not enjoy, in these "young adult" books. Sure, it's cartoon-level violence. It still leaves a nasty taste in the mind.

The story -- in between the wouldn't-it-be-nice sex -- jumps all over the place. After a while, it starts to make sense. The jumping is deliberate, a way to gradually reveal the plot drivers. Though a lot of the references are never explained. They are back-story and scene-setting. Complicated but quite well done. Never boring.

The book is quite fun. Nasty in spots. Unbelieveable fantasy... and I mean the attitudes to sex, not the super-power stuff :-)

I quite enjoyed it.

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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"Before your dreams can come true, you have to have those dreams" … Dr Joyce Brothers