Author 'Nathan Burgoine posted this simple, direct method of not getting paralyzed by the prospect of having to write reviews. The Three-Sentence Review is, as he notes, very helpful and also simple to achieve. I get completely unmanned at the idea of saying something trenchant about each book I read, when there often just isn't that much to say...now I can use this structure to say what I think is the most important idea I took away from the read and not try to dig for more.
Think about using it yourselves!
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The Science of Agatha Christie: The Truth Behind Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and More Iconic Characters from the Queen of Crime by Meg Hafdahl and Kelly Florence
Rating: 3.25* of five
The Publisher Says: Uncover the theories behind Dame Agatha Christie's most thrilling mysteries: Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, The A.B.C. Murders, and so much more!
Gothic media moguls Meg Hafdahl and Kelly Florence, authors of The Science of Stephen King and co-hosts of the Horror Rewind podcast called “the best horror film podcast out there” by Film Daddy, present a guide to the Agatha Christie stories and supersleuths we all know and love. Through interviews, literary and film analysis, and bone-chilling discoveries, The Science of Agatha Christie uncovers the science behind the sixty-six detective novels and fourteen short story collections that have become an integral part of the modern murder mystery, answering such questions as:
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: Chatty, entertaining mishmash of gossip and opinion from oodles of carefully documented sources. Vanishingly light on hard science, at least as I interpret that promise; it has anecdotes about the generalities from interviewees. Does not make it less amusing to read, sort of like going to a Christie book-club discussion with the most well-prepared session runner of all time.
Agathites will likely find it an entertaining read. Go into it as a browsing book, not a devour-in-a-day binge. That will keep the tone fresh and involving.
Skyhorse wants $10.99 for an ebook, which I find a very good value.
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Dark Æon: Transhumanism and the War Against Humanity by Joe Allen (Foreword by Steve Bannon)
Rating: 2.5* of five
The Publisher Says: Humanity is consumed by relentless transformation
Like a thief in the night, artificial intelligence has inserted itself into our lives. It makes important decisions for us every day. Often, we barely notice. As Joe Allen writes in this groundbreaking book, “Transhumanism is the great merger of humankind with the Machine. At this stage in history, it consists of billions using smartphones. Going forward, we’ll be hardwiring our brains to artificial intelligence systems.”
The world-famous robot, Sophia, symbolizes a rising techno-religion. She takes her name from the goddess—or Æon— whose fall from grace is described in the Gnostic Gospels.
With an academic background in both science and theology, Allen confronts the paradox of what he calls “good people constructing a digital abomination.” Dark Æon is nothing less than a cri de coeur for humanity itself. He takes us on a roller coaster ride through history and the emergence of Scientism, and from government-mandated mRNA vaccines to the weird visions of cyborg billionaires like Elon Musk.
From Silicon Valley to China, these globalists’ visions of humanity’s future, exposed and described in Dark Æon, are dire and terrifying. But Joe Allen argues that humanity’s salvation is within our grasp. Only if we refuse to avert our eyes from the impending twilight before us.
It is relevant here to quote the unknown author’s bio from Skyhorse’s website here: Joe Allen has written for Chronicles, The Federalist, Human Events, The National Pulse, Parabola, Salvo, and Protocol: The Journal of the Entertainment Technology Industry. He holds a master’s degree from Boston University, where he studied cognitive science and human evolution as they pertain to religion. As an arena rigger, he’s toured the world for rock n’ roll, country, rap, classical, and cage-fighting productions. He now serves as the transhumanism editor for Bannon’s WarRoom.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: Regular readers will expect rude comments about religious nuts and radical right-wing conspiracists here. The author is, indeed, a religious nut and a radical-right Koolaid imbiber. Follow any link in his bio that I have left for you.
That does not make him all wrong. There is much to deplore in Musk’s vision of transhuman consciousness. Start with, howinahell can a mere computer contain a human consciousness, let alone millions or billions of them, when the computer is still stuck by the laws of physics in the role of extremely fast calculator? We think a LOT faster than computers, a lot deeper, too. Will the day come when we can upload a human consciousness into an electronic matrix? Maybe. But while it is a good thing to think through the implications of that, and of actual AI not merely the impressively glib LLMs and neural networks we see today, doing so from this viewpoint is...well...stupid.
For people who claim to base their visions for Humanity on their god’s rule, they have very little faith in her ablity to do stuff for herself...they need to protect this omniscient and omnipotent being from us mere humans’ actions, because they will somehow harm her.
What this book gets wrong is its religion, not mostly wrong like its science. If your omnipotent god does not want transhumanism to occur, it won’t. Simple as that. As she set up rules of physics that present HUGE hurdles to the creation of genuine AI and/or transhuman being, I’d say she has it covered and y’all need to CTFD.
Skyhorse wants $17.99 for an ebook. I say get it out of the library.
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The Serpent (Time of Heroes #3) by David Drake
Rating: 3 generous stars of five
The Publisher Says: Jon of Dun Add has created a civilization where before there had only been isolated pockets of humanity in a shattered cosmos.
Young knight Pal is one of the most respected members of Lord Jon’s Hall of Champions. But Pal’s greatest talent lies not on the field of battle, though he’s no slouch there. He is also a Maker, one who can repair the tools the Ancients had left—sometimes. Moreover, he has learned to use his warrior dog’s ability to predict motion better than any human could, an ability that has saved his skin and won the day more than once.
Now, Pal will need all his talent—as a fighter, as a Maker, and as a Champion—to deal with the monsters the Waste throws at him—and to deal with his fellow humans. For there are those who would destroy Dun Add and Lord Jon’s vision of a humanity united in peace from within . . .
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: I screwed up. I got book three in a series I had never heard of before because I recognized the author’s name...what SFF reader wouldn’t...and, once I clocked my eff-up, I thought I’d just go back and get the others. That has never happened in three years, in spite of his December 2023 demise, because I just did not like this Arthurian retelling all that much. The writing is ordinary David Drakery. The typos were plentiful, and they irked me a lot.
It really just, as a story, goes nowhere much, which is actually quite a feat when retelling a millennium-old story; it has action that is not tied to anything like a plot; and, in under two hundred pages, there is more flashback to the first two books than there is present action. So it is not something I recommend to you.
Still, not everyone thinks like me, so a Kindle edition is only $6.99...but seriously, buy something from an unknown instead.
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Erskine Caldwell, Margaret Bourke-White, and the Popular Front: Photojournalism in Russia by Jay Caldwell
Rating: 3.25* of five
The Publisher Says: Erskine Caldwell’s novels Tobacco Road (1932) and God’s Little Acre (1933) made the author a popular and critically acclaimed chronicler of the South but also a controversial one, due to his work’s political themes and depictions of sexuality. Margaret Bourke-White, fresh from her role as staff photographer for Fortune, became the first female photojournalist for LIFE in 1936, and her iconic images graced its covers and helped solidify the magazine as a preeminent visual periodical.
When Caldwell and Bourke-White married in 1939, they were both celebrities, popular and provocative in equal measures because of their leftist politics and their questioning of American cultural norms. They collaborated on the photodocumentary books You Have Seen Their Faces (1937), North of the Danube (1939), and Say, Is This the U.S.A. (1941). In the summer of 1941, the couple entered Russia on assignment and were there when the Germans invaded on June 22. As a result, Caldwell and Bourke-White were the first Americans to report on the Russian war front by broadcast radio and continued to transmit almost daily newspaper articles about the Russian reaction to the war. Their international celebrity and their clout within the Soviet literary establishment provided them remarkable access to people and places during their five-month stay. Their final collaboration, Russia at War (1942), is a culmination of their work during that time.
Erskine Caldwell, Margaret Bourke-White, and the Popular Front traces and analyzes the couple’s collaborations, the adventures that led to them, the evolving political stances that informed them, and the aftereffects and influences of their work on their careers and those of others. Both biographically revealing and analytically astute, author Jay Caldwell offers a profound, new perspective on two of America’s most renowned midcentury artists at the peaks of their careers.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: In the 1990s I knew a man called Fred Bonnie, a writer and an academic who had a vision for the revival of his friend Erskine Caldwell’s many unjustly-neglected mid-century works. Sadly, Fred died in a one-car crash before any of these plans could be brought to fruition.
I approached this read, then, in sympathy with the politics and the art of both leads. I had hoped for an insight into the couple’s life together and their shared goals, with lots of photos. I got instead a thorough travelogue, a relatively few...forty-two to be exact...photos, and a pretty academically dry assessment of the enterprise of reporting from the front lines of WWII’s scariest front, that in Russia.
It is, of course, not the book’s fault I wanted something I did not get. I felt, not unreasonably I believe, that the marketing of the book...see synopsis above...led me to expect that book. I got a very worthwhile academic consideration of a stressful and productive time in the careers of two titans of early twentieth-century leftist culture.
The University OF Georgia Press offers a giftable hardcover for $41.95. I suggest requesting your library get one unless you are a giant fan of these lights of the era.
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Snow Birds (Grand Mafia Series #2) by Sandy W. Robson
Rating: 3.5* of five
The Publisher Says: Get ready to immerse yourself in the gripping, golden-years finale of the Grand-Mafia Series! If the quirky escapades in Bone Park left you hungry for more, buckle up for a wild ride with this compelling conclusion.
Bernie, Ruby, Freda, and Opal are four indomitable spirits, each uniquely shaped by the tempestuous world of Cicada Hollow. They've accidentally started a burgeoning criminal empire, their story unfolding like a modern-day "Thelma and Louise" saga.
But as their empire expands, so do the risks. These ladies might have expected bingo nights and quiet book clubs in their later chapters, but fate had other, far more thrilling plans.
This book isn't just a story—it's a captivating journey through the ups and downs of friendship in the face of remarkably unconventional challenges.
Join us for a story that combines heart, suspense, and just a touch of criminal activity. It's a reminder that adventure doesn't retire – and neither do the fabulous ladies of Cicada Hollow. Grab your copy and prepare for a series finale proving retired life doesn't have to be boring (but make sure you have a good alibi)!
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Still decently entertaining, with the expected pleasures of a cozy mystery that subverts our cultural expectations of old women existing solely as powerless, sweet Little Old Ladies. I will, I confess, miss the Grand-Mafia now that their adventures have come to an end.
The right combination of fun and silly with a light salting of pointed social commentary in the background. Great for the first sunny afternoon on the front porch.
A Kindle edition is $5.99 (non-affiliate Amazon link), and it is available via Kindle Unlimited as well.
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Jumpnauts by Hao Jingfang (tr. Ken Liu)
Rating: 3.75* of five
The Publisher Says: From the Hugo Award–winning author of Folding Beijing comes a gripping science fiction thriller in which three unlikely allies attempt a desperate mission of first contact with a mysterious alien race before more militaristic minds can take matters into their own hands.
In a future where the world is roughly divided into two factions, the Pacific League of Nations and the Atlantic Division of Nations, tensions are high as each side waits for the other to make a move. But neither side is prepared for a powerful third party that has apparently been an influential presence on Earth for thousands of years—and just might be making a reappearance very soon.
With the realization that a highly intelligent alien race has been trying to send them messages, three rising scientists within the Pacific League of Nations form an uneasy alliance. Fueled by a curiosity to have their questions answered and a fear that other factions within their rival Atlantic Division of Nations would opt for a more aggressive and potentially disastrous military response, the three race to secure first contact with this extraterrestrial life they aren’t quite convinced is a threat.
Bolstered by recent evidence of alien visitations in the distant past, the three scientific minds must solve puzzles rooted within human antiquity, face off with their personal demons, and discover truths of the universe.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Interesting mash-up of Doctor Who and the holographic universe interpretation of quantum physics. I was less sold on this story than I was on Vagabonds a couple years ago. Part of that is down to the personalities of the main characters, as I am bored by straight people competing over sex. Another part was the politics of the Earth conflict...why the hell does an omniscient, all-but-omnipotent force...whether alien or divine...allow the injustice and horror of the world as it is?
There is no answer to that question that convinces me of the existence of such beings. So a big part of my reading energy goes into fighting off the sense that this story is founded on sand, and it is shifting rapidly under my readerly feet.
Not everyone will feel this way, so the folks who liked Contact, Arrival, or the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson will be gruntled by this read. Vagabonds readers will likely miss the more ornamented prose in that book, but the pleasures of characters developing, seeking, and solving problems will make up for it.
Saga Press wants $13.99 for an ebook, which feels like a good deal to me.
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This space is dedicated to Nancy Pearl's Rule of 50, or "the Pearl Rule" as I've always called it. After realizing five times in December 2021 alone that I'd already Pearl-Ruled a book I picked up on a whim, I realized how close my Half-heimer's is getting to the full-on article. Hence my decision to track my Pearls!
As she says:
People frequently ask me how many pages they should give a book before they give up on it. In response to that question, I came up with my “rule of fifty,” which is based on the shortness of time and the immensity of the world of books. If you’re fifty years of age or younger, give a book fifty pages before you decide to commit to reading it or give it up. If you’re over fifty, which is when time gets even shorter, subtract your age from 100—the result is the number of pages you should read before making your decision to stay with it or quit.
So this space will be each month's listing of Pearl-Ruled books. Earlier Pearl-Rule posts will be linked below the current month's crop.
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Whaling Captains of Color: America's First Meritocracy by Skip Finley
PEARL RULED @ 27%
Rating: 3 generous stars of five
The Publisher Says: The history of whaling as an industry on this continent has been well-told in books, including some that have been bestsellers, but what hasn't been told is the story of whaling's leaders of color in an era when the only other option was slavery. Whaling was one of the first American industries to exhibit diversity. A man became a captain not because he was white or well connected, but because he knew how to kill a whale. Along the way, he could learn navigation and reading and writing. Whaling presented a tantalizing alternative to mainland life.
Working with archival records at whaling museums, in libraries, from private archives and interviews with people whose ancestors were whaling masters, Finley culls stories from the lives of over 50 black whaling captains to create a portrait of what life was like for these leaders of color on the high seas.
Each time a ship spotted a whale, a group often including the captain would jump into a small boat, row to the whale, and attack it, at times with the captain delivering the killing blow. The first, second, or third mate and boat steerer could eventually have opportunities to move into increasingly responsible roles. Finley explains how this skills-based system propelled captains of color to the helm.
The book concludes as facts and factions conspire to kill the industry, including wars, weather, bad management, poor judgment, disease, obsolescence, and a non-renewable natural resource. Ironically, the end of the Civil War allowed the African Americans who were captains to exit the difficult and dangerous occupation—and make room for the Cape Verdean who picked up the mantle, literally to the end of the industry.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: A subject at once fascinating, important, and repellent. The whaling industry left us without whales that we now understand are vital members of an ocean ecology that works to stabilize the climate...while affording many men of color the opportunity to improve their lot in US life, support their families, and make a future of prosperity possible for their community as a whole. It is not their fault that this chain of consequences was not understood in their time. It still made reading about the industrial-scale killing of cetaceans for profit unpleasant to me.
The author has done a lot of research, has presented it in synthesis, and did so without a shred of verve, excitement, or pleasure. I had to stop reading because I was beginning to resent the didactic tone. If I am going to read a monograph, I want a grade. So, while the book succeeds on its own merits at doing the job it set out to do, it did not cross into general-interest readership territory as I had very much hoped it would.
A trade paper edition is $21.95, quite reasonable for an academic press book.
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Reservoir Year: A Walker’s Book of Days by Nina Shengold
PEARL RULED @ 34%
Rating: 3 generous stars of five
The Publisher Says: On the eve of her sixtieth birthday, Nina Shengold embarks on a challenge: to walk the path surrounding the Catskills' glorious Ashokan Reservoir every day for a year, at all times of day and in all kinds of weather, trying to find something new every time.
Armed with lively curiosity, infectious enthusiasm, and renewed stubbornness, she hits the path every day with all five senses wide open, searching for details that glint. As Shengold explores the secrets of this spectacular place, she rediscovers the glories of solitude and an expanded community, both human and animal. Step by step, her reservoir walks rekindle connections with family, strangers, and friends, with a landscape she grows to revere, and with a new sense of self. Like the writings of John Burroughs, Annie Dillard, and Barry Lopez, Shengold's reflections on her personal journey will resonate with outdoor enthusiasts and armchair hikers alike.
Quietly transformative, Reservoir Year encourages readers to find their own ways to unplug and slow down, reconnecting with nature, reviving old passions and sparking some new ones along the path.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: I am the author’s age, I am always interested in nature-centered books, and I LOVE the Catskills.
I should’ve loved this book. I did not. It took me a year to get to the 34% mark in my DRC, and then I forgot I even had the book. The writing is perfectly fine, nothing awful, nothing glorious. I love the idea of this kind of book. The quiet, gentle quality of this iteration ended up feeling soporific to me.
If Annie Dillard is too tendentious, and Barry Lopez is too strident, for your present mood, this book is a godsend for you. Treading the same paths they do in Hush Puppies instead of sneakers or boots, the stories will offer you solid value.
The ebook is steep at $24.95, but the library ought to have it.
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