Stowaway to Mars / John Wyndham

Stowaway to Mars

by John Wyndham

science fiction

copyright 1936

read in March 2018

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

Okay, it's by John Wyndham but it's not particularly good. Part of that is the dated science but a lot is the book itself.

The rocket seems to be a loose adaptation of Wells' (I think it was) giant bullet. Wells fired from a giant gun barrel, Wyndham is the more modern form of rocket -- but it feels as though it's a bullet dressed up as a rocket.

The rest of the science is... well... very dated. Really, though, that is irrelevant. After all it is science "fiction". Perhaps the Stowaway science was best available knowledge in 1936? I don't know. Nor do I care :-)

The book itself, is rather weak. There is a lot of preaching, of giving a message to the reader. The message, generally, is in favour of environment and equality and treating people nicely. I support the views but they are laid on far too thickly.

The characters are okay but none are particularly appealing. That may be deliberate? Ah well...

It's readable, not too bad... but not too good, either. Read to pass the time -- or read to complete your knowledge of the works of an author who has written several really good science fiction stories.

 27apr22:

I read it again. Quite enjoyed it... and accept the first rating.

What does surprise me -- is the sex. Good grief! I was sure that sex was not invented till well after 1936 :-)

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"Avoid criticism: say, do and be nothing." … per Ginger Meggs

===

https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/

The Family Tree / Sheri S. Tepper

The Family Tree

by Sheri S. Tepper

fantasy, science fiction

copyright 1997

read in March 2018

rated 8/10: really quite good

I thought, this looks to be a typical police thriller. It is not... not at all.

The book soon diverges into fantasy -- or science fiction... there is plenty of both.

It is also a cry for population control, conservation of nature, various other hot topics. Yet it is still easy to read and very enjoyable.

Okay, the saving of the world is a bit simplistic. There are far too many really nice characters. Too many plans go completely to plan.

It is still easy to read, enjoyable and positive. The save-our-planet messages do not drown out the story. The characters are good.

And the twist near the middle of the book caught me entirely by surprise! Logical, reasonable, completely unexpected. Well done :-)

===

Okay, I thought the author's name was familiar. I read another of her books, The Margarets, in 2011. My comment then can be applied to The Family Tree: "It's a good book but not great. It is a book to be enjoyed. The book raises difficult problems. It is not a treatise for solution of the world's very real problems."

Perhaps I could also say, the presented "solutions" are pure fiction. They are really just statements of wishful thinking. Which is fine. The book is, after all, "fiction".

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"Avoid criticism: say, do and be nothing." … per Ginger Meggs

===

https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/

Lady Betty across the Water / CN Williamson, AM Williamson

Lady Betty across the Water

by CN Williamson & AM Williamson

fiction, romance

copyright 1906

read in March 2018

rated 7/10: well worth reading

I was reading a book about Mawson exploring the Antarctic. The book was too harsh for me -- especially since we were then heading towards the Antarctic. I stopped after a couple of icy deaths.

One scene, however, stuck with me. The frozen explorers would read books and discuss them. Mawson wrote, " The sudden breath of a world of warmth and colour, richness and vivacity and astute, American freshness amid the somewhat grim attractions of an Antarctic winter was too much for every one. Lady Betty, in the realm of bright images, had a host of devoted admirers." The book was Lady Betty across the Water.

Months later I tracked down and read Lady Betty. It was well worth the effort :-) (And thank you, Project Gutenberg!)

The book is set in a Wodehouse world but with less humour. It's just sweet and innocent. There are people with more money than I can possible imagine. There are people with a "name" but no money.

Have you watched the latest Great Gatsby movie? There's a party... In this book one rich woman puts on a party which -- to my mind -- makes the Gatsby party look like a night out at a fast food joint.

One of the poor-but-upper-crust men courts a very rich girl. I'm not entirely sure whether the man is meant to be obviously after the money... Lady Betty -- who tells the story -- does not make this clear. I'm not sure if she's assuming we understand, or naive, or just rather blind to motives.

No matter, Lady Betty is a delightful young woman. She knows that she is "upper crust". Yet she does not get cross when people treat her with less than the deference due to her rank.

Exaggeration or not, deliberate or not, this book is also a window into a past world. Lady Betty is said to be intelligent and well educated. Well educated, that is, by the standards of the time. Her education has been limited to the "womanly arts".

If there is a message about equality and other modern concerns, I believe that it is a message in the mind of the reader.

I read Lady Betty, I saw some messages... and I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"Avoid criticism: say, do and be nothing." … per Ginger Meggs

===

https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/

Crossroads of Canopy / Thoraiya Dyer

Crossroads of Canopy

(#1 of 3: Titan's Forest)

by Thoraiya Dyer

fantasy

copyright 2017

read in March 2018

rated 7/10: well worth reading

I enjoy reading this book. It's an unusual world but easily understood. Well, easily enough... there are still new aspects introduced almost to the end. All very interesting, fantastic yet logical.

I like the characters. Some are evil, I don't like them! But the majority are sympathetic -- even if they do act against the heroine. They have good -- or at least understandable -- reasons for their actions.

I do feel that some of the characters are unrealistically nice... yet that is something which I enjoy. It means that the story depends on plot rather than on suffering.

The book is a single story thread -- a great relief after struggling with the trend to complex fantasy sagas -- soap operas -- rather than stories. This book has a beginning, a middle and an end. It is book one of a trilogy yet it can be read alone.

On the down side, the end seems a bit rushed. After a reasonably steady development, the ending is a rush of violence. Okay, it makes sense... perhaps I am enjoying the book and wish that it continue for just a bit longer!

I'm looking forward to book #2 :-)

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"Avoid criticism: say, do and be nothing." … per Ginger Meggs

===

https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/

Never Say Die / Chris O'Brien

Never Say Die

by Chris O'Brien

self help

copyright 2008

read (partly) March 2018

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

This book was written by a man who was killed by brain cancer. The same type of cancer which is due to kill me, so it has some interest :-) Despite that, I only rate the book as six out of ten.

The author was a successful doctor and a tv celebrity (though I'd never heard of him). The bulk of the book (250 of the 300-odd pages) is his own autobiography -- fair enough since he was a successful doctor and a well known and respected celebrity. But of no interest to me.

I read only the pages (prologue and final 50 pages) which were about his cancer diagnosis and treatment. My rating is based on those pages.

It's good fun to read some of his comments on the side-effects of his treatment. If you are reading this book because you now have the same brain cancer, be warned: my own reactions to the treatment cover the same ground but were not nearly as severe -- so don't panic (yet...). I believe that the chemo drug dosages have been reduced since the author was being treated, so you may also have less severe side-effects. Still... the side-effects are bloody awful.

What I definitely do not like about this book is the author's attitude. "Never say die" when you have a definitely terminal cancer?! Then, as both doctor and patient, he says that every prognosis needs to include hope. What he means is, pretend that there is a cure for this terminal disease. That is, lie to the patient.

Okay, some patients may like to live -- then die -- in ignorance. I was given "the truth" with the initial diagnosis. It is then *my* decision as to how I cope -- or do not cope -- with the spectre of imminent death.

He also spends a lot of time -- or it seems to be a lot of time -- hugging his family while they all burst into tears. I can accept some of his reasons: he died ten years younger that my current age, his children were not yet established in careers, his side-effects were relatively severe. Still... it would be nice if he had at least considered -- or recommended -- encouraging acceptance rather than misery.

It's an interesting story, written by a person who was suddenly faced with imminent death. If you read it as a person with terminal cancer, there are some relevant points of interest. But the author's attitude is not the only possible attitude.

To me, the author was in denial, at least until he finished writing. (And he died less than a year later.) After gaining fame as a cancer doctor -- he attempted a selection of untested non-medical "cures". (With no indication that he added scientific evaluation to the treatments.) He denied the possibility of death, he denied his training in using well tested medical methods.

It is an interesting view of one man's experience with approaching death. It is not -- not at all -- an indication of the "best" way to approach death. It is just one man's way.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"Avoid criticism: say, do and be nothing." … per Ginger Meggs

===

https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/

Before and After Cancer Treatment / Julie K. Silver

Before and After Cancer Treatment

(2nd edition)

by Julie K. Silver

self help

copyright 2015

read March 2018

rated 8/10: really quite good

I've rated this book as eight out of ten: really quite good. It is "really quite good" -- if you are either before or after treatment for a cancer where there is a high chance of cure or remission.

If you are definitely dying -- with no hope of remission -- then the chapters on "mood" may help... imminent death does not require relentless misery.

You don't have cancer? Excellent! This book still has chapters which are relevant to everyday life. The overall message is, keep calm, keep fit, eat good food. You don't need cancer to benefit from that message.

But the book is aimed at people who have been through the worst treatments for cancer -- and who now want to get back to a normal life. Or at least to a near-as-possible to normal life. As such, it is really quite good.

There is plenty of *bad* advice available. Eat nothing but broccoli. Swallow miraculous pills. Shove liquefied green waste up your backside. Pay a lot of money to a nameless website...

This book admits that there are no miracle cures. Though -- compared to even fifty years ago -- everyday medical science is now miraculous. This book offers advice which is closer to commonsense. And much more likely to help people as they recover from the often extreme measures which actually do help us to live through cancer.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"Avoid criticism: say, do and be nothing." … per Ginger Meggs

===

https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/

Pollyanna / Eleanor H. Porter

Pollyanna

by Eleanor H. Porter

subadult

first published 1913

read in 2016 (approximately)

rated 8/10: really quite good

I'd heard of Pollyanna but had no idea what it was about. Children's book for girls, I thought. Then Pollyanna was mentioned in a book that I was reading, just a passing mention. I suspect that it was mentioned in Doc Smith's Skylark of Space. Because I recently reread that book and I recently read, again, a reference to Pollyanna.

I know that I was interested enough -- the first time -- to read that first Pollyanna book -- but I don't seem to have reviewed it... My system is not perfect. In particular I seem to forget to review books which I read on my tablet. Ah well. So:

Here is a late review, from memory.

I know that I enjoyed reading Pollyanna. I enjoy The Glad Game -- I practise it and it works.

The story itself is quite simple -- and enjoyable. It seems quite obvious that Pollyanna will defeat sadness and misery. Until... the final accident. So serious, compared to the more obvious problems of the rest of the book.

By then I was very fond of Pollyanna. How will she cope mentally? Will she recover physically?

Read the book and find out. It's well worth reading. (I found my copy at Gutenberg.org, a great site for older books.) It's simple, it's fun and it's really quite good.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"Avoid criticism: say, do and be nothing." … per Ginger Meggs

===

https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/