Vicky Cristina Barcelona / Woody Allen

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

category: romance, director & writer:

Woody Allen

original copyright 2008

watched in August 2012

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10, watchable but only if there's nothing else

Woody Allen: loathe him or... well, loathe him.

According to the blurb, parts of this are, "so ferociously funny." Well, no. The video shop has it marked as, "drama". Not really.

There are these two young women. One is ditsy, unsettled, promiscuous and, naturally, blonde. The boring, unadventurous one is, naturally, brunette. And by "naturally" I mean "cliched". The hair itself may have been from a bottle.

They spend a couple of months in Barcelona. And in some other Spanish city. There are some interesting backdrops, with no real feel for being there.

Interesting point: In all of Barcelona there are only two Spaniards, both artists. Everyone else -- everyone in camera range, everyone who gets a speaking or even nodding part -- is American. A fine example of how travel can narrow the mind.

There is also no atmosphere. No excitement. Do you imagine Barcelona to be a vibrant city? A noisy, exciting city, a full-of-life sort of place, bustling with hot-blooded Mediterranean machismo? Well... not in this movie's sanitised version of Barcelona...

No matter where they go, no matter where they eat -- there is no background noise. No traffic. No conversation. No signs of other life. The characters may as well have never left the Hollywood studio.

Finally, the movie ends. It does not "conclude", it simply "ends".

The two Spanish artists are left to their mutually destructive ways. The blonde tart goes off on her self-destructive way. The boring brunette accepts that her life is and ever will be, boring. Nothing has changed.

Perhaps there are lessons to be learnt. Perhaps the characters note those lessons. They then continue, having ignored all possibilities of learning from the lessons.

A couple of American chicks get screwed in Barcelona. Then put it all behind them. The end.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

PissWeakly: the Index

Divergence / Tony Ballantyne

Divergence

category: science fiction, author:

Tony Ballantyne

book 3 of recursion, capacity...
original copyright 2007

read in August 2012

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10, readable but only if there's nothing else

For a while I thought, Okay, this is not such a bad book. The author's name was familiar but I could not remember what else I had read.

Then I met Judy.

Oh yes... Judy of the multiple copies. Judy the weird. Judy the pointless.

Judy from the just as ridiculous Capacity.

Divergence begins with a group of people on a spaceship. Traders. Just beginning their trading careers. So far, so good. Room -- I thought -- for some interesting developments.

Then the "plot" stumbles downhill.

Everything that happens is driven by the super-AI which rules the universe. Or, perhaps, by the super-AI which was created by the first super-AI and which then rejected its creator. Why? Neither AI knows.

Or, perhaps, every action is driven by the super-AI which is built into the universe. Which may be God. Which acts to ensure that each and every human will live in an anthill which is exactly the same as every other anthill... or something. I'm not sure what happens to the animals... Perhaps they are all killed so that each and every human can have a very small fur coat.

So the "plot" is a series of actions which is forced onto the human characters. No free will. No excitement.

So, who cares?! The characters are also boring. It's nice that most of them survive to the end of the book. Although, in the Divergence universe, they may well reappear, as good as new, in a processing space. Or in a robot body. Ho hum.

To be positive... This is traditional hard science fiction: solid scientific ideas, cardboard characters, pre-primary plotting.

Easy to read. Totally unsatisfying.
===

25oct16: 

I started to read this book again. Had a vague memory that I had read it -- and not enjoyed it -- before. Thought, it doesn't matter, my opinions do change.

My opinions have changed.

My original review begins, " Okay, this is not such a bad book." This time: It's rubbish. Right from the start.

A quick check of my original review. Now I've stopped reading.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

PissWeakly: the Index

The Redemption of Althalus / David & Leigh Eddings

The Redemption of Althalus

category: fantasy, author:

David & Leigh Eddings

original copyright 2000

read in December 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10

This is a book that you simply cannot put down.

I made the mistake of putting it down. Which gave me time to think: this book is a load of rubbish...

It was easy reading, though nothing much was happening. As long as I kept on reading -- with my mind in neutral -- I was happy with the book. It was only when I stopped to think, that I realised that I was not enjoying it.

That was about a third of the way in. By half way I was struggling. Lightweight froth, ridiculously weak plot, too much talk and not enough action.

Page 279 of 693 and I have given up.

Redemption is a moralising child's fable. Where the child should be a tweener girl with religious inclinations and a leaning towards simplistic romance. Perhaps that child would enjoy the book. As a parent I would prefer my children to not read such nonsense.

The two main characters start to kiss. This is getting a bit hot, thinks the man. Perhaps we shouldn't, says the woman. Okay we won't, says the man. And that's that.

If you think that that's a bit... childish?... then you really don't want to meet the cat... She's soooo cute and cuddly and how could anyone possibly resist her... Fine for a while but eventually grates on the nerves.

Then there's the moralising. It's not too long but it's regular.

One character will suggest something. Another character will explain that that's wrong, immoral, not nice. The first character will agree. It's not character development, it's morality lessons for the reader.

Perhaps the authors have not heard that authors should show rather than explain.

On the positive side: This is, "A new single-volume epic". I appreciate that. I am rather sick and tired of fantasy books that just have characters from previous volumes carrying on with previous actions. If an author doesn't know how to end the story -- perhaps they should go back to authors' school.

If you believe that The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is essential reading for every child then your children should also be forced to read The Redemption of Althalus. Perhaps Redemption also includes someone being sacrificed. On the bright side, the characters in Redemption are not as creepy as those in the Wardrobe. They are simply so nice, so clever, so always correct and so good... that they make you cringe.

Enough.

Perhaps, too much.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

PissWeakly: the Index

Ardneh's Sword / Fred Saberhagen

Ardneh's Sword

category: fantasy, sub-adult, author:

Fred Saberhagen

book 1 or ?? of (new) Empire of the East
original copyright 2006

read in November 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10

This book fails to excite. Fails to impress. It's a book which is written by the numbers.

Take one wimpy kid with obvious hero potential. Add a support cast of magician, wise old teacher, tough old soldier, loyal pet with claws. Throw in a mysterious relic, promise of treasure, group of healers who set up business as far from people as possible...?! Sweeten with attractive girl and a group of cute kids...

Yuk !

Arrgh... it flows... Without much rhyme or reason, but things happen in a somewhat logical sequence. The sequence of events has some logic. The motives and actual events lack logic.

I've included this book in the category "sub-adult". Not to insult younger readers... :-) but the plot and motives are simplified. I enjoy a simple plot. But even young readers deserve a less mechanical story-line.

The book is fantasy, based on a post-post-apocalyptic world. "Post-post-apocalyptic?"

The book is set 1000 years after the Empire of the East books... which appear to have been post-apocalyptic. Where a super-computer was battling against... demons?!

So there is an underlying idea of super-technology. In a battle against the demons of myth and magic. This is trite, a cliche, clever enough as the basis for a series... Perhaps the earlier series was fantasy plus science fiction. But enough, it's drifted into pure fantasy.

Especially the ending...

Trying to not give too much away: At the grand finale, the immortal gods of legend are recreated... With their original memories... So if they are immortal -- where have they been?! And what will the real immortal gods say -- and do -- when they find that they have been cloned?!

Good grief!

After all that hard-to-believe non-excitement... This book is revealed as being chapter one of a totally new series: The Post-Post-Post-Apocalyptic World of the New Old Gods.

Groan.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

PissWeakly: the Index

The Isle of Glass / Judith Tarr

The Isle of Glass

category: fantasy, author:

Judith Tarr

book 1 of The Hound and the Falcon
original copyright 1985

read in November 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10

Historical fantasy. A mix of real history -- I guess -- with the added element of elves. (I'm not an historian so I only guess that the history is real. Though I guess that it is "real" history that is largely based on dubious documents and word-of-mouth myths. Anyway.)

It's a religious fantasy: an elf who is a monk who accepts the then-current religious belief that elves have no soul. Which raises a severe barrier to my enjoyment of the book.

I have just read a book where people use religious stories as the basis for their own drive for power (The Doomsday Prophecy). To me, Doomsday portrays an accurate view of religion: No matter what the basis of the religion there are always people who will misuse the religious beliefs for their own uses. Isle builds on that view.

The central character of Isle is an elf. A very religious elf -- in the sense that he believes and he is as close to saintly as it is possible to be. And his religious beliefs tear him apart...

This saintly, religious elf believes -- as his religion teaches -- that he has no soul. So he is doomed to have no after-life. No matter how saintly his actual life.

What a miserable premise for a story.

What a depressing book.

Worse yet, nothing much of interest happens.

I have a book from the library: The Hound and the Falcon. It contains three complete novels of which Isle is just the first. My question now is... should I read the next novel?

Probably not, if it's going to be more miserable religious prejudice.

Oh well.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

Do androids dream of electric sheep? / Philip K. Dick

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

category: science fiction, author:

Philip K. Dick

original copyright 1968,
read in September 2011 (and before, in Feb 05)

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10

Sadly dated.

Or, perhaps, it's just me...

In 1968 -- when Androids was written -- perhaps I would have agreed with Dick, that the world was going downhill fast. That nuclear war, lifelike androids and interplanetary migration were just around the corner. That by 1992 emotional control and telepathic empathy would be implemented and automated. By 1992!

Perhaps it is just me. Perhaps I have changed.

As I started to read Androids I thought, What a gloomy world. What an extreme case of all that is bad overcoming all that is... well... better. I seem to have a less negative view of the future of humanity.

Not a positive view. Just, less negative.

Surface Detail / Iain M. Banks

Surface Detail

category: science fiction / fantasy, author:

Iain M. Banks

book 12(?) of Culture
original copyright 2010,
read in Aug 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10

If I wanted to pick just one word to summarise Surface Detail, it would be "tedious". The author seems to have forgotten to add "action" to his check-list. For the first 400 or so pages... nothing much happens.

Rather, things are happening -- but those happenings are swamped by... well... the surface detail of descriptions of the Culture. Oh, look! here's something wonderful! How does it advance the story? Not at all... But look, it's wonderful!

Go back and watch the very first Star Wars movie. The first one that was made, I mean. Look at the background, the detail, the little robots running round polishing and cleaning. Does anyone say, Look at that little robot! Isn't it wonderful!

No...

The Curse of the Mistwraith / Janny Wurts

The Curse of the Mistwraith

category: fantasy, author:

Janny Wurts

book 1 of The Wars of Light and Shadow
original copyright 1993,
read in April 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10

In this long-winded and episodic book, Wurts has missed Vonnegut's second rule for writing a good story: "Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for."

The book begins with a clear indication that there will be a war of good versus evil. With "evil" being, in fact, a good guy. Then we meet the half-brothers who will represent good and evil. And neither of them is particularly sympathetic.

Okay, I can generate some sympathy for evil-half-brother. Clearly, he's good. Except that he's such a moody, self-centred, trouble-making creep that... who cares. And why waste sympathy on someone who is going to be loathed for an unknown number of very thick books?

Good-half-brother in even worse. He's shiny, clean, pure -- and clearly slated for jealous rages and abuse of power. Super-magician uses his powers for manipulation and deceit. Humourous side-kick has apparently spent 500 years as an apprentice; it's no use hoping that he'll even be anything other than a drunken fool.

There is one girl who appears occasionally. She may turn out to be the designated love interest. Maybe the two half-brothers will fight over her? Who knows. Who cares...

Cast a Bright Shadow / Tanith Lee

Cast a Bright Shadow

category: fantasy, author:

Tanith Lee

book 1 of Lionwolf
original copyright 2004,
read in March 2011 (and before, in April 2009)

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10

This is a miserable book. You like a happy ending? Forget it. You like sympathetic characters? There are none. This book is simply a litany of woe.

It's also a dream-like fantasy. And I don't mean that to sound positive. Illogical and inexplicable things happen because -- we have to believe -- because the gods decide that these things will happen.

Book of Dreams / Traci Harding

Book of Dreams

category: fantasy, subadult, romance, author:

Traci Harding

original copyright 2003,
read in March 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10

I just can't make up my mind about Harding's books. They are generally girly, sweet, new-age-mystic and cheerful. They target young teen girls who like a happy ending in every chapter. I should, by rights, absolutely loathe them all. (The books, not the girls.) Yet I rather enjoyed each of the first two Harding books that I have read...

btw: To see my reviews for other Harding books, click on the "author:harding" link at the bottom of this review.

Now we come to Book of Dreams...

And Harding has gone just a bit too far... For me.

Peggy Guggenheim Collection / Art Gallery of WA

Peggy Guggenheim Collection

category: a Collection of ... Art?, author:

Abstract Expressionist Artists ... ?

from the Peggy Guggenheim Venice collection,
visited in January 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10 -- good for a laugh.

I just wish that I had met Peggy Guggenheim. I bet she would have been a sure-fire purchaser of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I'm only selling the bridge because my dear friend the Manager of the Stateless Bank of Nigeria is recently deceased. He left me a bequest and specifically requested that I give $100,000,000 (one hundred million dollars) to my dear friend Pegggie Gaagenherm. Just send $10,000 transfer fee, details of your bank account and a sample signature. Your $500,000,000 (five hundred million dollars) will be on its way as soon as we can clear customs, which will require you to pay a further minor deposit of $17,000...

You get the idea: Guggenheim was a sucker with too much money and no sense of when she was being had.

Dragonclaw / Kate Forsyth

Dragonclaw

category: fantasy, author:

Kate Forsyth

book 1 of Witches of Eileanan
original copyright 1997,
read in Jan 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10

Warning: This is not a novel! It is not even one book of a trilogy... It is the first volume of a three (or more?) volume story.

Yes, it's one of those annoying books which ends with a cliff-hanger. Or several.

Okay, I did enjoy reading this book. Until about page 400 of 500 -- when I thought, There is no way that this plot can wrap itself up in just 100 more pages...

A dead giveaway, really: A group of new characters being introduced at what should have been a build-up to a climax. And all these characters did, was to meet other characters and escape from an evil city... No link to any previous action. No link to any subsequent action, either...

From there, Forsyth introduced yet another set of characters... Introduced them, then left them.

The Timewaster Diaries / Robert Popper (as Robin Cooper)

The Timewaster Diaries

category: humour, author:

Robert Popper (as Robin Cooper)

book 3 of Timewaster
original copyright 2007,
read in December 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10

Take a lot of lightweight cliches. Mix with cliche characters. Believe that the cliche stupid hero is actually funny. Serve as a Timewaster.

The hero invents all sorts of things. These could be cliche clever and working, a la Doc in Back to the Future. Or they could be ridiculous and not working, a la Timewaster. I find that this perpetual and unadmitted failure is sad rather than funny.

The hero fails to fix the bathroom door. Until the day when he is trapped in the bathroom so finally gets round to it. Sad and thoughtless. And cliched.

The hero lies to his wife about his efforts to clear a bird from the attic. Sad and thoughtless and stupid. And cliched. Seinfeld, for example, is about people whose first and automatic response to trouble is to lie about it.

The hero has been fired for writing thousands of letters using employer resources during work time. Sad and thoughtless and stupid and dishonest.

Then there's the Simpsons cliche: The hero is sad, stupid, mean, thoughtless and dishonest -- but his wife loves him, despite all his faults.

It's an easy book to read. It provides lightweight entertainment. Just don't think to closely about the underlying pathos.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

Helliconia / Brian Aldiss

Helliconia

(Helliconia Spring + Summer + Winter)

category: science fiction, author:

Brian Aldiss

book 1, 2 & 3 of Helliconia
original copyright 1982, 83, 85,
read in December 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10

Every good science fiction reader has heard of Helliconia. It's a classic: An entire civilisation -- from beginning to end -- on a planet with one major distinguishing feature. Aldiss at his amazing and most creative best.

Yes, it's a classic. And boring.

There's this character, Yuli. He lives out in the wilds, slips in amongst the more organised cave-dwellers, then escapes to a village on the edge of the wilds. In the caves he learns about a religion which opposes the god of his childhood. This makes him disbelieve all religion. Then he dies.

Do not buy this book.

Well, Yuli doesn't actually die... Having learnt something about religious differences, having escaped from the caves, he becomes chief of a village. The book then skips a few generations and starts with the death of Yuli2, who happens to be Yuli's grandson. It appears that Yuli's grandson's grandson is about to become the central character...

So what was the point of Yuli's religious discoveries? What was the point of his village leadership? Who knows? Who cares!

After failing to get particularly interested in Yuli -- having struggled through a hundred pages or so -- I failed to have any interest whatsoever in his descendants. With perhaps a thousand or more pages still to go -- I stopped reading.

If you enjoy long narratives with no interesting characters, long histories of a civilisation which (judging from the author's preface) will teach us all sorts of things about our own civilisation (of the 1980s), read these books. If the first hundred pages is intended as a message then it is a ham-fisted, slap-in-the-face sort of message: "Hey! You! Look! There is no god!" No subtlety, no argument, convincing or otherwise.

If you enjoy good stories with interesting characters, absorbing plots and significant messages presented as part of the story -- read something else.

My recommendation is: read something else.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

A Stainless Steel Trio / Harry Harrison

A Stainless Steel Trio

category: science fiction, humour, author:

Harry Harrison

contains books 1, 2 & 3 of Stainless Steel Rat
original copyright 1985/87/94,
read in October 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10

A Stainless Steel Trio contains the first -- is story chronology -- three stories of the Stainless Steel Rat series. I have already reviewed the first novel, A Stainless Steel Rat is Born. In that review I wrote, "By the end of the volume -- I suspect that I will have raised my rating..." I was wrong.

The second and third novels -- The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted and then Sings the Blues -- take problems from the first and make them worse.

The Rat himself is strong, intelligent, agile, good at everything... When he was Born he was learning. Now, he is perfect. Yukk!

Worse yet, everyone else is a fool, a total moron, weak, or strong but uncoordinated. In the army the Rat does meet -- as he tells us -- the one person who actually earned the medals that he was wearing... So what happens? The Rat runs, then picks on the next person in line, who is the standard strong but thick moron.

There is a handful of more capable characters. These all turn out to be bad guys who are revealed then easily defeated, or good guys who recognise the greatness of the Rat and swoon at his feet. Sheesh! Two-dimensional boredom!

In an introduction, Harrison claims that the Rat's adventures in the army reflect Harrison's own period as an army draftee. Sorry, but it takes more than bitter memories to create humour.

It's quite a few years since I read the original -- first written -- Stainless Steel Rat novel. I remember enjoying it, quite a lot. Has my taste in books changed so much? Or has Harrison simply grown old and retreated into the simplicity of churning out formulaic potboilers based on sarcasm and stupidity...

Oh well. A least these books are light enough to read quickly.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

The First Men in the Moon / H.G. Wells

The First Men in the Moon

category: science fiction, author:

H.G. Wells

published by Gollancz,
original copyright 1901, read in August 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10

My rating for this book is five out of ten: readable, but only if there's nothing else. That rating is based on my enjoyment as I am reading the book... and I read largely for escapism. If you are a science fiction (or literature) fan and interested in the development of the genre -- rate this book as eight: really quite good.

For me, the book suffered somewhat in comparison with the next book on my list, Moving Target. Moving Target is Horatio Hornblower in space: non-stop action, adventure and heroism. The First Men in the Moon is more imagination but less fun.

First Men describes the efforts of two men to get to the Moon, and the civilisation that they discover on the Moon. As far as the Moon civilisation goes, it could have been found by Tarzan in the depths of the jungle, or by John Carter on Mars.

On the plus side: The Moon people are entirely at peace, yet they are neither perfect nor stupid. The narrator is shocked at some of the practices which maintain the Moon civilisation. Then, when the Moon people discover the warlike and predatory nature of Earth humans -- the Moon people use trickery and deceit as they prepare for a preemptive strike against Earth.

Compare this with Out of the Silent Planet, by C.S.Lewis. Wells imagines a peaceful but lively civilisation. On the surface all runs smoothly but there is an underlying cost. Moon people have no war but quickly accept the need for a strong defence. Earth people are inventive, active, belligerent and threatening. Dangerous but not all bad.

Lewis, on the other hand, describes a civilisation of idiots. Well, that's my memory of the book, from reading it in late 2008. Idiots who -- according to Lewis -- are the perfect models for an ideal society. As opposed to Earth -- the "silent planet" -- which has been isolated due to the unutterable evil of its inhabitants.

Wells' opposing civilisations -- Earth and Moon -- each have their good and bad. Wells presents some interesting and valid messages -- without preaching.

The characters, too, are more than two-dimensional. Sure, the scientist is an absent-minded genius who sees new knowledge as the one and only goal. But the narrator is not the standard straight-talking, two-fisted, battle-the-baddies hero. He is an undischarged bankrupt, in for the money and too quick to use violence.

In terms of speculation -- the heart of good science fiction -- the plants of the Moon are excellent. Wells has taken the actual situation, of two weeks day, two weeks night and extreme temperature changes, and built an environment of rapid growth and equally rapid decay. This is good: an ecology which could not occur on Earth.

Interestingly, my copy of the book has someone's pencilled comments. A student, perhaps, forced to read an old book. The student has made a "correction" to the text -- and got it wrong. Fortunately enough, Wells knew the facts of his science.

Even more interesting, was an article in a recent newspaper. Apparently some scientists have now decided that there may, in fact, be some water at the centre of the Moon... Probably not enough to support all of Wells' Selenite civilisation -- but better than nothing!

As I write these quite positive comments I wonder, should I adjust my rating upwards? No... There is a lot of good material in this book. But it fails to make a ripping yarn. The Sleeper Awakes, also by Wells, has just as many good ideas. But Sleeper is also a very enjoyable and easy-to-read book.

One final point. A paragraph that I love. It's either quintessentially British -- or Wells poking fun at lots of other books:

It is within the right of every British citizen, provided he does not commit damage nor indecorum, to appear suddenly wherever he pleases, and as ragged and filthy as he pleases, and with whatever amount of virgin gold he sees fit to encumber himself, and no one has any right at all to hinder and detain him in this procedure.

Absolutely, old chap!

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

Double Vision / Tricia Sullivan

Double Vision

category: science fiction, author:

Tricia Sullivan

published by Orbit,
original copyright 2005, read in July 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10

I tried to like this book. Really. I thought, second book, almost a new author, not bad for a second book... but I could not quite agree with myself.

It's a bit hard to work out what's going on. By the time it was explained, it was almost the end of the book. Okay, fine -- but I still did not really understand. Worse yet -- I did not really care.

The protagonist is a nice enough person. Meek, mild, accepting, room for growth. And she does grow -- too little, too late. A little more life, a little more action and I might have enjoyed the book. As it is... so what?!

The idea of the book is interesting but does not fill the book. I would have liked to see all this book squeezed into half a book -- then continue with some response to the final almost-action of this book. I was glad that the girl finally developed some gumption -- I liked her enough to be glad to see her develop -- but I just wished she then did something more interesting and more useful.

Okay... I've just checked Sullivan's website.

She has written some other books but not many. Plus some short stories. Now spending more time raising three children. The website did remind me of one aspect of the book that I did really like:

Sullivan's husband runs a martial arts academy. Martial arts is a great source of inspiration for some authors. The power, the responsibility, the calm mysticism of the extremely honourable exponents of the art... Good grief!

At last -- an author who can see past the mysticism!

Sullivan has some very human characters in charge of the martial arts academy. Some are honourable, others less so. The senior people in the organisation are in it for the money, the power, the growth of the organisation... They are real people, with real and not always nice intentions.

Double Vision has some good ideas and some good -- and real -- characters. It just doesn't do enough with the ideas and characters to make a good novel.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

Who let the blogs out? / Biz Stone

Who let the blogs out?

category: commentary, author:

Biz Stone

original copyright 2004, read in May 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10

What can I say about this book? Nothing much... I only skimmed a few sections.

Not that it was bad (as far as I read). But it was dated. And a bit too gung ho name dropping I-know-all-ish for me. Still, PissWeakly is opinion. There is no promise of fact and no guarantee of relevance. So let's start with what little I can remember:

Read it as a history of blogs up to 2004. Biz Stone is founder and co-founder of various blog sites and systems -- and of Twitter. So he was there and involved. He knows what was happening and he may have written some of the truth. In a very glib fashion.

It's a readable book, especially if you want to learn about the history of blogs and blogging.

One thing that does come through -- in my skimming -- is the commercialisation of the web. There are stories of growing readership, rapid take-up -- and making money. The book is an indication of the direction of mainstream blogging.

"The modern blog evolved from the online diary, where people would keep a running account of their personal lives." That's from the Wikipedia article on blogs. That's what I remember, of the first blogs.

I was browsing blogs... many years ago... when I came across a real, online diary. A teenage boy in small-town America was documenting his life, including family and town events. It was fascinating! The blog -- as an online, public diary -- gave a glimpse of a small slice of real life.

What is a blog today? It's a means of making money.

Okay, perhaps there are still people out there who write an online diary. Perhaps I am prejudiced, because I have recently read several articles related to Google ads earning money for blogs. Perhaps there are still people who blog for pleasure.

Google adwords support lead me to a site -- a blog -- which provided top tips for earning money from your blog...

The blog author began his blogging career by providing tips on photography -- but realised that people reading tips on photography would already own a camera. So he started another blog -- reviewing photographic devices. If there is a new camera (for example) about to be released -- he will write a review. Even if he knows nothing, he will write a review. And he will provide a link to Amazon, where readers can pre-order that camera -- and the blog author will get a commission.

There is no special interest in photography, no hope to improve the knowledge of readers, no desire to share information -- just an over-riding urge to make money. No original thought required -- just enough words to wrap around a link to a potential commission.

Did you happen to find this post by a search on "photography"? Or even on "Pentax K100"? Surprise me: follow the link, buy the camera, earn me a commission. Oh yes, I do own a Pentax K100. And, in my opinion -- it's a very good camera. So there.

The PissWeakly Ethos

I write for fun. I write about books that I have read because I wanted to read that book. I hope that someone out there enjoys -- or at least reads -- what I write. It would be nice to make money. But I do not post articles solely to make money. It's all my opinions and I try to keep my opinions honest. If I don't like a book -- I will say so... and still provide a link to Amazon. After all, whether I like it or not, you may still want to buy it.

Enough ranting (I have a separate blog for that).

If you want to read a book about the origins of the blogging business, read Who let the blogs out? It's not a bad book and it's very easy to read. I just found that I was not particularly interested in the topic.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

The Tin Drum / Gunter Grass

The Tin Drum

category: fiction / fantasy / "magic realism", author:
book 1 of Danzig Trilogy

Gunter Grass

translated by Ralph Manheim
published by Everyman's Library, original copyright 1959, read in May 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 5 out of 10

A couple of weeks ago I was discussing my PissWeakly rating system with a friend. "What do you do," he asked, "If public opinion is that the book is 'good' -- but you don't like it?" "No worries," I replied. "The rating is Agamedes' opinion. I rate it as I like it."

Here is a good test of the system...

The Tin Drum is, I suspect, a classic. You know, a book that everyone has heard of but no-one has read. There is also an expectation that a classic has survived because -- in general literary opinion -- it is "a good book". Perhaps the inside cover blurb explains why this book is a classic:

THE TIN DRUM presents Hitler's rise and fall through the eyes of the dwarfish narrator whose magic powers become symbolic of the dark forces dominating the German nation in that period."

Oh, so that's what it's about!

And there I was, thinking that Drum was about a weird little kid who became a weird little adult, without going through the standard phase of "growing up". The book is written by Oskar -- the weird kid -- as an adult. He tells of his birth, growing older, deciding(!) to not grow any larger. He's anti-social, extremely self-centred and very bad with relationships. When he refers to his current life -- as an adult, living in a lunatic asylum -- he is still anti-social, extremely self-centred and very bad with relationships.

Oskar does claim to suffer from guilt, from two incidents. He suffers guilt for killing his mother, though as I understand it, he didn't. He feels guilt for allowing his (Oskar's) self-centred demands to cause his father to be killed; he did. Oskar could have saved his father from death; he didn't. Oskar is an all-round nasty person who causes grief to everyone around him.

If that is "symbolic of the dark forces..." then it does not make for an enjoyable book.

If Oskar is indeed "symbolic of the dark forces" -- then perhaps the symbolism needs to be explained more clearly.

The Tin Drum is a book for readers who like to relive the past. For people who like to read a new view of incidents with which they are already familiar. I did read about Danzig -- where the story is set -- in Wikipedia. Which did make some sense of what was happening as a backdrop to Oskar's own story. But so what?!

The book just goes on and on... and on... and on... with mean-spirited and petty actions by a nasty person. If you're interested in the characters of peasants and shop-keepers of pre-WWII Danzig -- read this book. Actually -- I did find that quite interesting. But it was spoilt by the pointless nastiness of the narrator. And -- I must admit -- I have no great interest in events in Danzig, during Hitler's rise and fall.

Back to "Agamedes' opinion"

I originally rated this at "6: read to pass the time". Then I remembered how hard it was to read this book! So, no, do not pick up The Tin Drum with the idea of a passing a few hours with a readable book. It was readable enough at first, then just clagged up my mind. Too much of the same, too little of interest.

I managed to read as far as page 278 -- almost exactly half way -- before I gave up. "My wife said, "Are you just skipping to the end, to see what happens?" No... It's worse than that.

I read half the book, then stopped. And I have no interest whatsoever, in finding out how it ends... There is no character, no plot, no idea which is worth following. The book is a series of incidents leading forward -- but to no place that I am interested in reaching.

And finally: Did you notice that the narrator has "magic powers"? The blurb says so and it's true. Which makes it difficult for me to categorise.

Grass is, apparently, "an early advocate of 'magic realism'". Does that mean that this book is a really boring fantasy? I don't have a category for "historic fiction", just "fiction". This book is a bit more than just "fiction". So I categorise Drum as both fiction and fantasy. Just don't confuse this book with escapist fantasy...

This book is a classic. Read it, if you are interested in deep and dark symbolism. If you believe that you would rather enjoy reading an historic classic -- read any book by Dickens. If you would like to enjoy a book about a dwarf and translated from German -- try The Dwarves. Read Drum only if you are interested in a complex and long-winded...

Ah, forget it.

And for goodness sake, Stop humming Little Drummer Boy -- it has nothing at all to do with this book!

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

Viscous Circle / Piers Anthony

Viscous Circle

(category: science fiction)
book 5 of Cluster Series by

Piers Anthony

published by Grafton Books in 1982
Nick read a library book, in March 2010

Nick's rating: 5 out of 10

Nick's opinion:

Anthony likes to take a play on words -- and work it to death. Viscous circle, a planet of doughnut -- circular -- aliens, discussion groups where the circular aliens form a circle for exchange of ideas. Ah well, it can be entertaining.

Viscous Circle presents a simple yet perfect civilisation: no nasty thoughts, no lies, no fighting, no fear of death because their heaven -- the "viscous circle" -- is so perfect. Humans, of course, come in to spoil it all. Only the hero -- a human mind transferred into a doughnut body -- can save the aliens. First, he falls in love with a female alien (then cements the bond with circle sex). He tries to teach the pacifist aliens to fight back, but they die rather than fight. Only the hero can save the day, and he is willing to die to do it.

But wait a moment: isn't that the plot of Avatar?!

Avatar was accused of plagiarism... of various stories. Viscous Circle can be added to the list of possible inspirations. In fact, the "military human spies on aliens, falls for alien girl, sympathises with alien culture, fights against human evils" plot is very, very standard in science fiction. And in fantasy. And in any other genre where bigger, social issues are explored. Just add Viscous Circle to the list of stories where one human sees the light and protects the innocent aliens against the rest of (evil) humanity.

Apart from that, the book offers very little. Take a bunch of doughnuts who fly along magnetic lines of force. Explore and explain what this will do to their lifestyle. Add doughnut sex and human sex. Leaven with perfect pacifists and evil invaders... It's an Anthony fable pushing his own ideas of right and wrong.

Speaking of which... Anthony seems to feel that both of these civilisations offer full equality of the sexes. Then he tells us how every female, in every race of the galaxy, is a conniving schemer, intent on gaining flattery and top quality sperm. The "perfect" doughnut aliens also have internal contradictions. Their stated aim is to gain as much knowledge as possible, then die, so that their knowledge can be absorbed back into the unified, after-death consciousness. Yet they show no interest in seeking knowledge outside their own group of planets.

At the end is an Anthony, I-am-always-right author's rant: interesting but strange. On the interesting side, this seems to have been his his last SF novel before he switched to fantasy (well, to fantasy with some SF). Interesting. But it doesn't make this book any better than, "adequate".

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes & documents, email nick leth at gmail dot com.