Tharks, Red Martians, and a Man Named John Carter

Not so long ago I finished reading the sci-fi classic A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I don't want to go into all the details of the story, so if you want to learn more, you should check it out on Wikipedia. And if you still have the urge to give it a read after seeing what I have to say and learning more about it, you can find A Princess of Mars and the rest of the books in the series for FREE over at Project Gutenberg.

Men Wearing Redshirts, Beware

Last week, I finished reading Redshirts by John Scalzi. I finished this one of rather quickly, being the slow reader that I am. It only took me about three days to finish it. That should be a sign of how much fun this book is. However, I will admit that the book is targeted towards a very specific audience. For some, this may be a bad thing, for others a good. I see it as a good thing. Scalzi is only writing what he would like to read. But he knows the audience he is writing for, mainly because he belongs to it. So, in writing for himself, he is writing for his fans. You can't go wrong there.

A Return to the Land of the Second Dimension

I finally got around to finishing off Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott. I felt the middle section of the book started to drag a little bit, which may or may not be my reasoning for taking a small break from it. But I'm glad I pushed myself to finish it. The last third of this story is where the real action takes place.

The Land of the Second Diminsion

It's taken me quite a while, but over the last couple of months, I have been flipping, on and off, through the pages of Edwin A. Abbott's Flatland. And now I am just about two-thirds of the way through it. The story itself is quite interesting, and considering the date it was  written just adds to this story's intrigue.

Written before the turn of the century, this story plays with the idea of life existing in a two-dimensional universe. Something makes me want to say this story was definitely ahead of its time. Well, of what I have read so far, much of it is not a story, but rather full of descriptions of this two-dimensional universe and the beings which possess it.

Their society consists of a rigid class system, with isosceles triangles at the bottom and circles at the top. The main character, and our narrator, is a lawyer of the square class.

There are a few more rules and laws of the world that the main character discusses, but I will save that for another time. Perhaps next week, after i finish reading this fun story.

If you are interested in reading this story, it's available over at Project Gutenberg. Just follow this link.

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Any of you who follow me may have noticed that I forgot to post what I said I would over the weekend. This is part of me trying to make up for that. Look for another post or two later tonight, and then another one or two tomorrow night. I really want to make up for my transgressions.

Nineteen Eighty-What?

Hey everybody. Sorry for yesterday. My alter ego is working on a top secret project, and he didn't really leave me any time to come over here and write up a little something for all of you out there. Any hoo, I'm here now, so let's get started.

I finished another novel this last week. I feel like I'm starting to read more than I ever did back in college. It really does equip you for a lifetime of education. Anyways, the book I finished this week was George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. It wasn't exactly what I thought it was.

Buyers and Sellers in Space, Part 2

Hey, sorry I forgot to leave a post here last night. I know I promised, but the day kind of got away from me. Let's see. Where were we now? The last time we were here, I was going on about The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth. I think I left off at the point where the action began in the book. That would be the assassination attempts on Mitch Courtenay's life. From there, it's a pretty fun read. But first, I think a little primer might be of service.

Buyers and Sellers in Space

I promised yesterday that I would have a post for today, and here is the first part of it (the latter part you will receive tomorrow). Earlier this week, I finished The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth. I will admit, it was a little difficult to get into, but I feel rewarded that I was able to finish the novel. It's a fun little story packed wit a bit of espionage and intrigue. More or less the stuff of secret agents than a science fiction story.

The Space Merchants is set in a not-so-distant future where the moon is beginning to become populated and Venus has begun to gain some hype for much of the same reason. In this future, the United States government has essentially been replaced by corporate America. Corporations hold seats in congress, and the President is a smug little man who often gets left out of the loop (I would kind of like to see what Pohl and Kornbluth have done with the judicial system).

I guess what took me so long to get into the story was the lack of action in the first quarter to half of the book. Not that there wasn't any. There just wasn't enough. Here's what happens. We meet our protagonist, star-classed copywriter Mitch Courtenay, shortly before he is given the reins for the Venus advertising project. Courtenay is a little reluctant, but realizes it will give him a large boost in his status. We also learn that he has a wife, or a wife-to-be, though she is beginning to think about leaving him. Much of the book is Mitch dwelling on her in one way or another.

After taking over the Venus project, things begin to heat up a little for Courtenay. Firstly, he meets with the first man to visit Venus. A short man, no taller than three feet and weighing no more than ninety pounds, who was selected only to travel to Venus for his size. He ends up being more trouble than he is worth for Mitch, though really not too much trouble at all. Around this time there are two assassination attempts on Courtenay's life. This is also just about where the action starts to pick up.

I think I'll leave it at that for tonight. Come back tomorrow for a little bit more of the story. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but I do want to be honest in letting you know where some of the fun parts of the story are.

Flashbacks and Flashforwards in the Era of World War II

I finished reading Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five earlier this week, and thought I should share some of my thoughts on it with you guys. It's a fun little read, and it goes pretty fast. So sit tight and we'll get through this thing in a jiffy.

The War for Elderly Folks

Hey there folks. Looks like I just about forgot to post again. I know I'm supposed to be posting stuff on the weekends. Heck, I've been doing it nearly every single weekend since this year began. So why am I starting to forget to post stuff now? Anyways, here's a little catcher-upper on one of the latest books I've finished, John Scalzi's Old Man's War.

A Long Lasting War

Ah man, it looks like I just missed the deadline for this post by just a few short moments. That's ok. I'm still getting it in, so I feel good. Anyways, less of me rambling on... for more of me rambling on? Haha, well, whatever. Enjoy!

Earlier this week, I finished reading Joe Haldeman's The Forever War. And like I said last week, it's pretty good. The novel starts off more or less like the science fiction edition of a dissertation on the Vietnam War. In fact, Haldeman is a veteran of that war and drew extensively from many of his experiences while serving in the military. The second half of the novel deals more or less with the disconnect that the main character, William Mandella, felt towards home, or more pointedly, the changing society. Many veterans may have felt, and may still feel, how Mandella does in the book when they initially returned home from a long stint on the battlegrounds.

Wikinomics: The Business Model of the Future

Not so long ago, I finished reading Wikinomics by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams. It's not at all a fiction book, but it takes a hard look at the direction many companies are going and where they will go in the future. The collaboration that comes from wikis and the open source community is changing the way business is run.

Tapscott and Williams offer four key principles that are needed in the future of business if it is to continue down the same route. They are being open, peering, sharing, and acting globally.

• Being open can mean a lot. It can mean being transparent and honest with your employees and clients. It could also mean being open source, or letting others use your "blueprints" (in a sense). Be inviting: open up the doors and let outsiders in. Don't close off your organization. Sometimes it's better to let in others in order to think outside of the box.
• Peering is all about horizontal organization. Tapscott and Williams see this as one of the largest changes to come in the future. Businesses are already becoming less hierarchal and working more laterally with other organizations.
• Sharing is a big one. There's that old saying: The more you give, the more you get. And this is true in the Information Age. The open source community is the golden standard.
• Acting globally means crossing borders, not only company borders, but also country. Working in a local area is great, but many times there are better offers elsewhere.

Along with this, they also show some companies who have lead by example. IBM, Boeing, Lego, and Second Life are just a few of the businesses mentioned in the book.

They have a new book out called MacroWikinomics. I haven't read it, but I have it sitting on my bookshelf. One of these days I'll get to it.

Finally Finished with A Dance With Dragons

Earlier this week, I finished reading George R. R. Martin's A Dance with Dragons. This is another of those books that I started a while ago and have been reading off and on until recently when I just wanted to hurry up and finish it so I could move on to some other books. Not that it was bad or anything. It's an awesome book to be truthful. Th only problem is that it isn't quite suitable as a quick read. But that didn't stop me.

This book is the fifth in the series and is partly split up with the previous book, A Feast for Crows. Events in A Dance with Dragons mainly take place in the north (on the wall and elsewhere) and in the east (mainly surrounding Meereen and those choosing to venture there). There are some other places but not quite that many.

And Martin has risen the stakes even higher in this book. He's killed off some characters that we wish were still alive. He's kept some alive just to tantalize us (or that's what I like to think anyways). But most of all, he's bringing his story to it's big climax. And that I just can't wait for.

Some of the things he's done with the characters in this story are just superb. I love what he's done with one of the characters who he's brought back from the dead (well, not so much brought back as the character never really died, but we were lead to think it did in the previous book). And Cersei finally gets what she's been deserving. Go and pick up a copy the book to find out what happens.

Finished With Anthem Now

Earlier this week, I finished reading Anthem by Ayn Rand. It isn't quite as exciting as Ender's Game. However, I have been reading a lot of exciting, fast-paced books lately, so it was kind of nice to pick up Anthem and slow the pace down a little bit.

Ender's Game: The Last Quarter

Wow, I sort of got distracted to day and nearly forgot all about this. And I promised to post this today, and here's to hoping that it gets up in time.

Reading Ender's Game

Well, I said I wanted to post at least twice a week, and if you noticed, I nearly missed the second post this week. But I didn't miss it. Here it is. It's a little late because I was hoping to finish the book before writing about it. However, I don't think anyone would mind if I talked about it before I finished it, and then gave an update when finished.

Now, since you probably read this post's title, you will know already that I'm reading Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Actually, I only started reading it a couple of days ago, and already I'm three quarters of the way through the book, with less than fifty pages to go.

Brave New... Frankenstein?

My New Year's Resolution was to publish two posts a week, and I plan on keeping that resolution. So here's this week's first. Not quite the short story post I promised last week. I should have that one up tomorrow, so be sure to come back and keep an eye out for it.

This week I am proud to say that I have finished reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, both of which I had been reading off and on over the last year. There's always something to distract you, and the stuff that you had in mind to do somehow gets stuck on the back-burner, sitting, forgotten for long periods of time.

Now, I know what you're thinking. "So what? You read Frankenstein and Brave New World. Who hasn't?" Well, I think the answer is a lot of people. Some might have to read it in high school, but I never had to. Unfortunately it was never on our curriculum. However, now that I have more time to myself, I have decided to jump into the classics and see what it is that I've been missing all that time. So let's stop yapping about it and jump in already