The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi

I finished reading The Quantum Thief in early December. I stumbled across this book in a list of science fiction books that NPR published: Mind-Bending Sci-Fi Books For A Fantastical Summer.

I enjoyed the book as much as any science fiction book I have read in years, but it is a little disorienting. The book introduces a lot of ideas and words without any context; one review suggested that it needed a glossary. As you read, you slowly fill the details behind many of the words. The ideas include: a city that marches across the Martian desert; a cloud of universally accessible data called "exomemory" that floats in the air around people, places and things; a quantum-jail; interpersonal communication re-imagined as a dense network of negotiable privacy settings; the individual minutes of a person's life used as legal tender.

The main character is actually based on a fictional thief from a series of french books written in the 19th century. This character was literally a french version of Sherlock Holmes.

I was intrigued by the description of the author. Thirty-one year-odd Hannnu Rajanieumi is from Finland and holds a Ph.D. in string theory. He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he is a director a think tank providing business services based on advanced math and artificial intelligence.

The Quantum Thief is the first book in an intended trilogy. The second book--The Fractal Prince--will be out in April of 2012. Alhthough I am still trying to wrap my brain around the last 40 pages of the first book, I have already pre-ordered second book from Amazon.

Polaris by Jack McDevitt

I finished reading Polaris by Jack McDevitt. This is the second book in the Alex Benedict series. It was nominated for a Nebula Award in 2005. I read the first book in the series--A Talent for War--about two year ago. I started reading the series because I was interested in the he third book in the series--Seeker--which won the Nebula in 2006.

In the story, antiquities dealer Alex Benedict and his employee, Chase Kolpath, become involved in a mystery involving the disappearance of the passengers and crew of an interstellar yacht. The luxury space yacht Polaris carried an elite group of the wealthy and curious thousands of light-years from Earth to witness a spectacular stellar phenomenon. It never returned. The search party sent to investigate found the Polaris empty and adrift in space, the fate of its pilot and passengers a mystery. Sixty years later, Alex Benedict is determined to unravel the mystery.

I read science fiction partly because I love to see how authors play with ideas about technology. There are very few interesting ideas about technology in this book.

The other thing that I disliked about this book was the way that the characters zipped around the universe and got in and out catastrophe situations without a scratch. I made the same remark in Tom Clancy's Dead or Alive. About the fifth time the characters extract themselves out of some wild situation, it just gets unbelievable.

Frankly, I am very surprised that this book was nominated for a Nebula Award. I gave the first book in the series a lukewarm recommendation. I don't recommend this book at all.

I was intrigued by the style of the novel. It is written in a very causal first person voice. I have a novel in my head that I am going to write someday and like this voice. More about that on August 16...

Old Man's War by John Scalzi

I finished reading Old Man's War by John Scalzi. I bought the book in March after seeing it on the list of books nominated for the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Novel. After slogging through the Picasso biography, I was looking for somewhat lighter to read.

The basic premise of the book reminds me of several other science fiction books that I have read, including Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers, Joe Haldeman's The Forever War and John Steakley's Armor. Additionally, much like David Brin's Uplift novels, the story is set in a universe heavily populated with life forms. Old Man's War has enough new ideas to set it apart and keep it interesting.

After being inducted into the Colonial Defense Forces (CDF), the protagonist must learn to survive in battle against a wide variety of aliens. While the soldiers in Starship Troopers, The Forever War and Armor relied on powered body armor to gain advantage over their aliens, the soldiers in Old Man's War have enhanced DNA, nanotechnology and neural implants giving them advantages in strength, speed, endurance and information processing.

The book was just the right change of pace that I was looking for. As I have said before, I read science fiction partly because I love to see how authors play with ideas about technology; this is a good example. I enjoyed Old Man's War enough that I am definitely going to read the sequel.

where late the sweet birds sang by Kate Wilhelm

On the trip back from spring training, I finished reading where late the sweet birds sang by Kate Wilhelm. Looking through the list of Hugo award winners recently, the book caught my eye. It won the 1977 Hugo Award for best science fiction novel and was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1976. The title of the book is a quotation from William Shakespeare's Sonnet 73.

In the story, massive environmental changes and global disease, attributed to large-scale pollution, cause the collapse of civilization around the world. Through an experiment in cloning, an isolated post-holocaust community built around an extended family tries to survive. This is a book about individualism; it is an examination of the struggle between individualism and collectivism.

Unless you are trying to check off a list of award winners like I am, it is not a book I recommend. It is an interesting look at science fiction before William Gibson's paradigm shifting Neuromancer was published in 1984. Unfortunately, the plot is simplistic and it seems to me that the science is bad.

Interestingly, the cover art on the first edition hardback is by M. C. Escher.

Zero History

I finished reading Zero History by William Gibson. The story ties loosely with two of Gibson's previous books, Pattern Recognition and Spook Country, to create a trilogy.

Gibson made his name with Neuromancer in 1984. It has probably been 25 years since I read that book and really need to go back and reread it. Neuromancer won the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award and the Philip K. Dick Award. Since I read his first book, I have always looked for and read Gibson's books.

Unlike his earliest science fiction, Zero History is set in the near future. The backdrop for the book looks like the world we know. Interestingly, everyone has an iPhone... The book explores the hacker culture, surveillance, paranoia, viral marketing, the fashion industry, celebrity, base jumping and the Festo AirPenguin.

I read the two previous books in the loose trilogy in 2003 and 2007. While I remember a couple of the more interesting ideas from those books, I am fuzzy on the characters. Several of the characters from the previous book are the main characters in Zero History. I feel like I need to go back and read the previous books again.

I enjoy the pace and style of Gibson's writing. I found myself getting drawn into the story and the characters. Zero History can probably be best described as a thriller rather than science fiction. It is a solid book which I would give a 'B'. Although the book could stand alone, it probably makes sense to read Spook Country before this book.

The Windup Girl

I finished reading The Windup Girl. This book has won a number of major awards. It was named as the ninth best fiction book of 2009 by TIME magazine. The novel is both the 2009 Nebula Award and the 2010 Hugo Award winner for best science fiction/fantasy novel. I brought the book after seeing that it won the Nebula Award.

The novel is set in Bangkok in the 22nd century. Global warming has raised the levels of world's oceans. Bangkok survives behind a series of dikes. Carbon fuel sources have become depleted. Biotechnology is dominant. Other themes in the book include megacorporations, bioterrorism and seedbanks.

I read science fiction partly because I love to see how authors play with ideas about technology. As someone who struggles everyday to build and maintain technology solutions on a large scale, I am fascinated by how technology might interact with our lives in the future. Although pessimistic about the future, The Windup Girl is a good example of a book with lots of interesting ideas.

After we spent two weeks in the Philippines in 2003, Sharon and Pat continued on to Bangkok and Thailand, while I headed back home with Jack. I have always regretted not having a chance to see Bangkok and some of Thailand. The country remains on my top ten countries to visit.

Although I am not sure that any book could live up to the positive reviews and awards that it got, I enjoyed the book. I started to worry in the last fifty pages that I was going to be disappointed by the ending, but I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed how the story ended. I would grade the novel as a strong B+ or A- and would recommend it.

The City & The City

In April, I finished reading The City & The City. Perusing the list of Hugo and Nebula awards winners, I saw that this book was nominated for 2009 Nebula Award for Best Novel. I was familar with the author China Miéville, but had never read any of his books. On a whim, I ordered the book from Amazon. In April 2010, the novel was named a 2010 Hugo Award nominee in the Best Novel category.

When I ordered the book, I did not realize it is essentially a detective story, but with an unusual twist. The murder is set in the fictional twin southern European cities of Beszel and Ul Qoma. The two cities coexist in the same physical location, separated by their citizens' determination to see only one city at a time. Citizens in each city are raised from birth to "unsee" the other city. Ignoring the separation between the two cities, even by accident, is viewed as a crime.

The author does a nice job of executing a very original idea. Although not the more traditional science fiction novel I was expecting, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it.

Eifelheim

I finished reading Eifelheim. Sharon's brother Tom mentioned the book at Erin and Eileen's graduation party last June. I was intrigued because Tom does not read much science fiction. When I realized that it was one of the finalists for the Hugo award, I was hooked and brought the book to add to my pile.

Most of the story is set in Germany in 1348 in a small village in the Black Forest. The story revolves around a Catholic priest, the feudal and manorial systems, the black plague and aliens from another planet that apparently resemble large grasshoppers. There is a smaller contemporary story line involving a historian researching why the village disappeared from the map and a scientist working on a model of the universe.

I struggled getting through the book more than a little in the last month, but in hindsight that is more a reflection of how much was going with the holidays, January birthdays and work than a comment on the book. When I turned to the book in earnest in the last week, I was drawn along by the story. Overall, I would recommend the book; it is an interesting mix of historical fiction and science fiction.

A Talent for War

During May, I finished reading A Talent for War by Jack McDevitt. This is the first book of a series that take places in the same world with the same main characters (Alex Benedict and Chase Kolpath). Seeker, the third book in the series, won the 2006 Nebula award for best novel.

This science fiction novel is set in the distant future with humanity spread amongst the stars. Several hundred years before the time of the novel a war was fought against an alien species. The plot revolves around historical research trying to untangle the events of the war. The passage of time and the confusion of war create disinformation and confusion. Essentially, the novel is a historical puzzle with a number of interesting plots twists.

I give the book a lukewarm recommendation. There are parts of the books where the pacing is very good that I really enjoyed, but there were other parts that seemed to drag. The underlying puzzle is strong enough that it pulled me along and kept me interested until the end.

Thirteen

In March, I finished reading Thirteen by Richard K. Morgan. Over the last three and a half year, I have read three other of Morgan's books, including Altered Carbon, Broken Angels and Market Forces.

Set in the early 22nd Century, the plot includes a very different world geo-political landscape; the United States is divided into three different countries. Mars is being terraformed and settled. During the late 21st century, genetic engineering created a number of different specialized humans. The main character, a Thirteen, is a genetically engineered solider.

Thirteen started slow, but then pulled me in. About 200 pages into the book, someone asked me about the story and I described it as a detective story set in the future. Then about 350 pages into the 550 page book, the story rolled through and past what I thought was going to be the ending. While it remains in part a detective story, on another level it uses the story to comment on society based on how society reacts to the genetically engineered humans.

I am always looking for interesting ideas in books. At one point in the story, the main character talks about "eleven things that I wanted to do at some point in what was left of my life." Essentially, some larger goals to drive him forward. I like this idea. I have started outlining some overarching goals for my life.

Overall, I give the book a lukewarm recommendation: interesting, but not great. Of Morgan's four books that I have read, I recommend Altered Carbon as the best.