Invisible Zinc SunScreen

category: other product, author:

Agamedes

Agamedes' opinion: 3 out of 10

We were heading off on holiday and needed a small tube of sunscreen. Small, because we were only away for two weeks. Small, because we were going to New Zealand, land of the long white cloud. Small, because we didn't want to carry too much.

We bought the smallest container of sunscreen that we could find, in our local supermarket. We bought a 75g tube of Invisible Zinc.

Our first surprise was the price: $19.95 for 75 grams.

To put that in context, our next sunscreen purchase was Cancer Society sunscreen at $10.35 for 110 ml. Different measurement units but the Cancer Society tube is larger and costs about half as much.

Why does Invisible Zinc cost so much? Is it the effectiveness of its sun-screening? Or is it the cost of using a bronze goddess supermodel in the advertising campaign...

Our second surprise was that -- despite the name -- Invisible Zinc is not invisible! Rub it in as much as you like, you will still have a ghostly but obvious white smear on your skin. Read the very fine print on the tube and yes, it says, "Product may leave a white cast on certain skin types." That's the small print. The LARGE print says, INVISIBLE ZINC. Yes, INVISIBLE.

This is marketing versus honesty.

Then we went to New Zealand and used the product, nearly every day.

I have patches of skin which have no pigment. I call it my Michael Jackson Syndrome: the skin is turning white, starting with my hands. A side effect of having no pigment is that that skin burns easily in the sun.

Under our Australian sun I use standard sunscreen on my hands and have no trouble: the skin stays white. Under the New Zealand sun, using Invisible Zinc sunscreen -- my hands turned pink. Not enough to call it "sunburn". But enough to know that Invisible Zinc was not protecting my skin from the sun.

So that's the third surprise: The "SPF 30+" Invisible Zinc Sunscreen provides less protection to the skin than our usual, cheaper brands. Given the relative strength of the sun in Australia and New Zealand, I wonder if Invisible Zinc is, in fact, anywhere near the claimed SPF 30+.

So we bought a sunscreen which is very expensive, misleadingly named and does not do what a sunscreen is expected to do.

Ten out of ten for marketing hype. Three out of ten as a consumer product. Three, because it may have been better than no sunscreen at all.

..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.

Against the Tide / John Ringo

Against the Tide

category: military science fiction, author:

John Ringo

book 3? of Council Wars
original copyright 2005,
read in December 2010 (and before, in April 2006)

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10

First time I read this book I had never heard of "military" science fiction. I thought, entertaining book -- but too many characters, too little excitement, not enough result...

As "military" science fiction, it makes a bit more sense:

This is war in a different environment. And war is about numbers, chain of command, clever strategies, small numbers of leaders and large numbers of cannon fodder.

Not, an independent scientist battling to solve a scientific problem. Not, humans battling an alien environment and each other. (Nor, vice versa.) Not a what if, taking one scientific possibility and exploring its possible impact.

Unless you take that last and say, military science fiction is taking a scientific possibility and exploring its impact on war... But really, it's not even that.

Against the Tide sets up a post-apocalyptic world -- where the apocalypse is post a far future society. In this world there is war. And the war is, really, fairly standard.

The strategic leader of Tide is a military genius who constantly refers to strategic lessons from history's great generals. War in this far distant future is just war. Perhaps with different types of troops, with some fancy weapons and steeds. But -- as an example of the standard nature of this future war: it's the cavalry which rides in to save the day!

It's an entertaining novel with plenty of unbelievably macho characters. And tough yet girly women. Breast beating and breast baring.

There's an interesting insight into the (possible) core beliefs of the author: The general uses great strategies based largely (so he says) on lessons learnt from past wars. He very seldom explains his plans -- waiting to reveal them when they actually happen. Then there's the status of women in various areas of this future society: one character spends several pages explaining why women are always subservient. Then another couple of pages explaining that his role in sex is always as a strongly dominant male.

Battle strategies -- the core of the book -- are implemented but not explained. The relative roles of men and women, in society and in bed, are explained -- in glib detail and with inaccuracies in the reasoning.

Still, that's just a few pages of the whole novel!

If you like your battles violent, your heroes superior and your heroines tough yet subservient -- this is your book. And yes, I did enjoy the book! It was just a bit embarrassing when the underlying machismo was discussed as though it were an undeniable truth.

Interesting science with defined limits. Wars which ultimately are settled by mass battles. A satisfactory conclusion: one battle won, more to come.

An enjoyable novel of military science fiction.

..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.

More than Human / Theodore Sturgeon

More than Human

category: science fiction, author:

Theodore Sturgeon

original copyright 1953,
read in December 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10

Another "authentic masterpiece", according to the cover blurb. Well worth reading but not great, I would say. This is science fiction from the days when mental powers were the up-and-coming science of the day...

Take a bunch of troubled kids, dumb kids and cretins, mix them together, gain a superior being. Just as the body is made of separate parts -- none of which could exist as an individual -- so too is Sturgeon's new being a mix of people who could not survive on their own.

Is this a story of the creation and growth of a gestalt being? Or is it a pointed message for the need for a complete mind in any human being... In true science fiction style, this book is both.

Sturgeon describes the growth of his gestalt being. The middle third of the story is rather boring and confused. Or perhaps I simply don't appreciate the use of psychological concepts as though they were absolute, immutable and all-powerful. Still, it's part of the interesting structure of the story: id, ego, super-ego...

First, Sturgeon creates a being driven by its id. Reactive, simple, survival oriented. Then the ego is born... Or, since this is a gestalt being, the pure id "head" is replaced by a more analytical and ego-centred head. Finally, the third section of the book follows the development of a super-ego -- in simple terms, a social conscience.

Now that's interesting... Did Sturgeon actually use those terms? Id, ego, super-ego? Not as far as I remember... He discussed morals and ethos and ethics but missed the neat, three-level labels which neatly classify what he, Sturgeon, is trying to say...

So... this is a novel about the next stage of evolutionary development, "homo gestalt"... Or not.

The new homo gestalt is a being with individual humans acting as head, arms... No, I just can't make sense of the breakdown. Sorry, but Sturgeon's gestalt being is confused. He writes of the two arms but there's a third. Then there's the brain but that brain is for memory and analysis, with a second brain for overall control and a third for conscience. Sturgeon says that his gestalt being is a separated version of a single human being -- but it isn't. Not in the terms that he uses.

The gestalt being is a group of semi-independent people with overlapping roles within the gestalt. The main point of the story is the essential nature of the conscience. The gestalt conscience is provided by a new person within the gestalt -- yet the new conscience is simply overlaid onto the existing ego person...

Ignoring that confusion, consider my claim that, "The main point of the story is the essential nature of the conscience." Sure, Sturgeon is writing about a gestalt being. But his message is for every human being: a conscience -- a working set of ethics -- is essential.

That's what science fiction does: Step away from current reality and use an invented and restricted world to give a clear message back to the real world. (Well, that's just one thing that a science fiction story may do.) Sturgeon has given us an interesting view of an improved humanity. At the same time, he has given us -- unimproved humanity -- a message which is as true now as when his story was written.

Still, I wish he had been a bit more imaginative with his gestalt being... What's wrong with having more than two "arm people"? Or perhaps three or four "eye people"?! A specialised "green thumb" person to manage the gardens? I mean, okay, he's making a human gestalt. With human abilities but even better. Why not add a few useful extra "organs" while he's at it?!

..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.

King of Sword and Sky / C.L. Wilson

King of Sword and Sky

category: fantasy, romance, author:

C.L. Wilson

book 2 of Tairen Soul
original copyright 2008,
read in December 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10

There's a reasonable story here. Heavily overlaid with longing looks, deep sighs and heavy breathing... It's a romance, in the sense of true love, jealousy and do-anything-for-the-partner heroics. Sigh...

But it's not a great romance. I have nothing against lovers who will give their lives for each other. But come on! Lovers who fly into a jealous rage when someone else just holds the partners hand? Oh well, just a bit too heartfelt heavy-handed for me... The Twilight books are ridiculously good fun. King is just a bit ridiculous.

It's also a bit, well, nasty. There's the couple who have been prisoners for one thousand years. The villain will torture them mercilessly, bring them screaming to death's door -- and then... eventually... heal them. To start the torture again. For the last thousand years. Sure, the prisoners are immortal. But still... Yukk!

I just have a thing against people being held completely at the mercy of a villain. It's only the fact that these two are still resisting -- even a tiny bit -- that allows me to enjoy other aspects of the book.

Another problem is with the number of characters. All with the standard, complex, fantasy names. After half a book, I was getting to grips with them all -- then I went away for a couple of weeks. Read other books. Came back for the last few chapters of King. And found myself very confused, trying to remember who was who.

Okay, it's also a problem with reading the second of a trilogy without having read the first. The confusion of characters is largely my own problem. Bear that in mind when you consider my rating of this book!

If you like to mix your true love romance with torture and slaughter, this book is for you. For me, I may read other books by Wilson. But I won't go looking for them.

..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.

Queen of the Demonweb Pits / Paul Kidd

Queen of the Demonweb Pits

category: fantasy, author:

Paul Kidd

book 5? of Greyhawk
original copyright 2001,
read in December 2010 (and before, in March 2009)

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10

Action, fighting, magic... cute fairies, doe-eyed lovers, some nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more... With a villain so evil that you just have to laugh. Not a great book but an easy and enjoyable read.

Cities are destroyed, millions killed, slaves are eaten like popcorn. Yet you can be sure that the good guys will survive... Or, at least, that they will not be dead for long. This is a fairy-tale with a happy ending.

This book just has to be aimed at the "young adult" market. (Even though I enjoyed it and I'm certainly no young adult.) A young adult fantasy -- with a challenging adult idea thrown in, for good measure:

There are demons and monsters and gods, all from other "planes" of existence. There are the "physical" planes, lots of them, where mortals live. And when mortals die, their immortal souls travel to the "spirit" planes. Simple enough, so far.

Some of the spirit planes are populated by demons and monsters, the source of the stories of a hell in the afterlife. After life -- ie in death -- human souls may end up in a demonic plane, being tormented by the resident demons. Nothing too challenging in that idea.

But what about the "good" souls?

If you worship a particular god then that god will claim your soul when you die. Unfortunately, the gods of the Demonweb Pits universe are simply beings with greater-than-human powers. Your chosen god will claim your soul -- and turn your soul into an immortal slave.

Gods and demons are all very similar beings, all fighting for your soul, offering various inducements to try to seal the soul-sale contract before you die. Once you die, your soul becomes a tool, to help your new owner in its efforts to gain power and influence over all of the other gods and demons...

An interesting view. Perhaps, even a thought-provoking challenge to accepted views. This may simply be a contrivance to support an otherwise unbelievable (but enjoyable!) plot. Or it could be a sneak attack on establishment views; an alternative idea to help young adults to look beyond the heavy black box of conventional thinking.

Or it may even be, that I'm a cynical old person who sees challenging ideas in the simplest of fantasy novels :-)

And that's not my only bias...

Isn't it great to see that the author, Paul Kidd, is a West Australian!

..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.

Best Served Cold / Joe Abercrombie

Best Served Cold

category: fantasy, author:

Joe Abercrombie

original copyright 2009,
read in December 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 8 out of 10

Is this book brutal? Yes. Is it honest? I think so. Is it enjoyable? Yes -- if you don't mind blood, guts and gore.

The action is brutal, with graphic violence (and occasional graphic sex). The violence is over the top... so brutal that -- to the hardened reader -- it is like a Warner Bros cartoon: it's obviously just a story, it's clearly not real, it is not offensive.

Except, of course, that some of the good guys also get brutalised. I never really enjoy that.

Still, it's a ripping good yarn... With added complexity:

There is a clear heroine; you hope that she wins through in the end. Yet what she is doing -- revenge -- is ugly. Even the heroine questions her actions!

From the book's title, Best Served Cold, it is clear that revenge is the theme. At first you think, yes, go girl! Get those evil... people! Then you begin to have second thoughts: second thoughts which are prompted by the heroine's opinions and by other points made by the author.

The same is true of the fighting: hard and bloody, show no mercy, pull no punches. Yet ultimately pointless -- as the author points out, several times. Violence breeds violence. Blood leads to more blood.

At times I am wondering, Is Abercrombie writing this book with a strong anti-war message? Sure, the book is violent. Yet the violence is hardly glorified. Both characters and author let us know that violence makes for a good story -- but it is not the answer to all of our problems.

Still, it's a violent book, and that is part of the enjoyment of reading it. To be honest, the violence is a key part of the enjoyment. In a fantasy world steeped in violence we would be bored by characters who ran away from every fight.

So it's a violent book.

The next strongest theme is... betrayal.

After betrayal comes the urge for revenge. Yet the betrayal never stops! I was beginning to wonder, Is there any character who will not change sides?

Until the revenge theme changed up a gear... And betrayers began to feel the pains of revenge. At which point I began to wonder, Will there be anyone alive at the end of this book?

No worries though. There are enough characters left alive to start a new book. Just.

I expect -- and hope for -- a book to continue the adventures (to use a euphemism; I mean, to continue the brutal and violent adventuring). It will be an interesting sequel, too, with a whole host of new characters. Unless, of course, the fantasy extends to raising the dead...

..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.