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Rising Sun
Michael Crichton
Read 7/24/07
A beautiful girl is found dead in a conference room of a new Japenese office building. The book is more about Japanese relations and how they are taking over the world. There is little about the murder.. the security tapes show them who did it.. but it becomes a onion.. peeling back the layers to find out why.
One thing I noticed in Crichton's books is that there is a LOT of confrontation.. more than is really necessary. The book also has long passages that don't really have to do with the murder.. but add background to the 'Japan is buying America' theme of the book. At one point the lead character listens to other men talk while he is in a waiting room about how Japanese are buying up ranches in Montana.
Crichton is an interesting author.. and even though this book is fiction there is a biblography... you are encouraged to did deeper into this Japanese "problem". Honestly I'm not really worried about the Japanese... I have better things to worry about :)
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Nightfall (30)
Nightfall
Isaac Asimov
Robert Silverbert
Read 7/19/07
I am not a big SciFi fan, but had this book. It is based on a 1941 short story by Asimov. The premise is a world that has 6 suns.. and their planet is never in darkness. Several things happen at once.. and you finally figure out the significance of all the events. The world is going to have an eclipse with will last about 14 hours.. problem is that the world has never been in darkness (the eclipse only happens every 2000 years). The people freak out.. lose their minds and riot. In hours civilization is lost.. The book follows several of the scientist from the beginning to see how they make out in the post-apocalyptic world.
There are some interesting premises in the book. It is a world similar to Earth.. yet they seem to have a very limited view of science.. They believe their world is only a few thousand years old.. and that they and their 6 suns are all that is in the world.. and that the universe is only a few dozen light years in size.
Their views are put to a test as the world goes dark and they see stars for the first time and not a few as they thought... but countless thousands....
The story isn't bad and some of the ideas (people could not live on a world that was in darkness 1/2 of the day) are interesting and give you something to ponder.
Isaac Asimov
Robert Silverbert
Read 7/19/07
I am not a big SciFi fan, but had this book. It is based on a 1941 short story by Asimov. The premise is a world that has 6 suns.. and their planet is never in darkness. Several things happen at once.. and you finally figure out the significance of all the events. The world is going to have an eclipse with will last about 14 hours.. problem is that the world has never been in darkness (the eclipse only happens every 2000 years). The people freak out.. lose their minds and riot. In hours civilization is lost.. The book follows several of the scientist from the beginning to see how they make out in the post-apocalyptic world.
There are some interesting premises in the book. It is a world similar to Earth.. yet they seem to have a very limited view of science.. They believe their world is only a few thousand years old.. and that they and their 6 suns are all that is in the world.. and that the universe is only a few dozen light years in size.
Their views are put to a test as the world goes dark and they see stars for the first time and not a few as they thought... but countless thousands....
The story isn't bad and some of the ideas (people could not live on a world that was in darkness 1/2 of the day) are interesting and give you something to ponder.
The Eighth Commandment (29)
The Eighth Commandment
Lawrence Sanders
Read 7/16/07
I have not read Sanders in a while.. he is a guilty pleasure.. I have always enjoyed his books... This one is based on a girl, Dunk who is an appraiser of rare coins. She oversees a shipment of coins to the auction house she works for.. only to discover the most valuable coin in the lot is stolen in shipment. So she sets off to find out who did it... A story full of rich people leading spoiled lives. As with many of Sanders books there is a great deal of detail concering the fashions that everybody is wearing, and what they are eating.. his books always make me hungry :) Dunk is working with the police detective, and the insurance investegator. She has romantic involvment with each.. and toward the end each ask her to be with them.. one in marriage.. one in sin
In the end she find out who did it... but she picks the wrong guy to be with :P
Lawrence Sanders
Read 7/16/07
I have not read Sanders in a while.. he is a guilty pleasure.. I have always enjoyed his books... This one is based on a girl, Dunk who is an appraiser of rare coins. She oversees a shipment of coins to the auction house she works for.. only to discover the most valuable coin in the lot is stolen in shipment. So she sets off to find out who did it... A story full of rich people leading spoiled lives. As with many of Sanders books there is a great deal of detail concering the fashions that everybody is wearing, and what they are eating.. his books always make me hungry :) Dunk is working with the police detective, and the insurance investegator. She has romantic involvment with each.. and toward the end each ask her to be with them.. one in marriage.. one in sin
In the end she find out who did it... but she picks the wrong guy to be with :P
Sahara (28)
Sahara
Clive Cussler
Read 7/13/07
Another Dirk Pitt adventure.. this one strangely takes place in the desert. Again everything is over the top.. from the main problem... run away red tides (algae) will use up all the oxygen on earth and kill everybody.. to enemy.. .to Dirks adventure... he walks for days in desert covering hundreds of kilometers with no water.. a day after being rescued he is on a commando raid... after being shot he goes on to get the bad guys... The stories are good.. and don't need all the super human (and unbelievable) antics of Pitt to make them interesting.. Rather than adding to the story they detract from it... ALthough I keep reading them... as I say.. they ARE good yarns.
Clive Cussler
Read 7/13/07
Another Dirk Pitt adventure.. this one strangely takes place in the desert. Again everything is over the top.. from the main problem... run away red tides (algae) will use up all the oxygen on earth and kill everybody.. to enemy.. .to Dirks adventure... he walks for days in desert covering hundreds of kilometers with no water.. a day after being rescued he is on a commando raid... after being shot he goes on to get the bad guys... The stories are good.. and don't need all the super human (and unbelievable) antics of Pitt to make them interesting.. Rather than adding to the story they detract from it... ALthough I keep reading them... as I say.. they ARE good yarns.
Sin City (27)
Sin City
Harold Robbins
Read (7/5/07)
This wasnt actually written by Robbins, but was edited after his death from notes he left. Seemed very much like a Robbins book, but maybe slightly updated. Kid from the streets makes good and moves up to be a big wheel in Las Vegas, and finally puts together a deal to build the biggest casino ever on the strip. To do this he must sell his soul to a Chinese "businessman' that he has dealt with periodically during his life. The sex, violence and hard lives of the main characters are all over the top.. and yet they do blend nicely into the story line...
Harold Robbins
Read (7/5/07)
This wasnt actually written by Robbins, but was edited after his death from notes he left. Seemed very much like a Robbins book, but maybe slightly updated. Kid from the streets makes good and moves up to be a big wheel in Las Vegas, and finally puts together a deal to build the biggest casino ever on the strip. To do this he must sell his soul to a Chinese "businessman' that he has dealt with periodically during his life. The sex, violence and hard lives of the main characters are all over the top.. and yet they do blend nicely into the story line...
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