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spooky_miss) wrote2010-10-11 12:33 pm
spooky_miss) wrote2010-10-11 12:33 pm
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Book 83 – Only In America by Matt Frei
This book is written by the former BBC America correspondent, about the state of American politics. It’s a little out of date, as it doesn’t much mention Obama, so I think it was written just before that election. Its good if you don’t know anything about American politics, as each chapter goes through what happens at each election and how the politicians try and gain people’s votes. It has funny little comments and a sort of “insiders” view of what goes on, so its not just a dry, boring political book. One thing that annoyed me a little was that it said it was updated to include the election at which Obama was elected, but there was only a few sentences, I think a bit more about it would be useful. Though apart from that, I definitely recommend it, especially if you don’t know much about American politics, as its an easy and funny read which gives you lots of info on how they do it there! 7 / 10
Book 84 – I Robot by Issac Asimov
This book was really great. It was a collection of short stories from which the film “I Robot” was made, I’m not sure if they were originally together in one or whether they were put together after the film came out. It is basically an exploration of the three laws of robotics –
1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence
And what happens when the robots are designed to get past these rules. For example in one story the human has to do something with radiation for a short enough time for it not to harm him, however the robot keeps stopping him doing it as it knows that the radiation will harm him. In another story the robot can read minds, with unfortunate consequences, and in another there is the story that I most remember from the film, where Will Smith has to find a certain robot in a room full of robots – in the story it is a robot who has had part of his brain removed so he is able to do a certain task, but this would make it dangerous if he escaped to be with other robots, but as he is somewhere in the crowd of robots they devise certain tasks to try and trick him into revealing himself. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book as I don’t usually like sci-fi, but maybe its because it is quite simply written and isn’t too technical (as back then things maybe weren’t as technical as it is now!). I’d definitely recommend it, you don’t need a huge knowledge of sci-fi or anything like that, its just an interesting story. 8 / 10
Book 85 – Forgotten Voices of the Great War by Max Arthur
This book is part of a series which also includes the Forgotten Voices of the Holocaust, Forgotten Voices of the Blitz, and a couple of others. In 1972 the Imperial War Museum started a project to record the memories of soldiers who had fought in the First World War. This book is a compilation of these, laid out in chronological order. Each is anything from a few lines to a couple of pages, and it states who the soldier was, where he fought and what regiment he was from. It is a great book, and a great idea, as it is so good to read the memories of people who were actually there, not just a researcher who has researched the events, these people were actually there and knew what it was like. There is a lot about the conditions of the war, of course, and I also particularly like the bits which talk about their relationships with their comrades, and also even with the “enemy” who they were supposed to be fighting. It was transcribed as it was said, with all the little phrases and things that the old soldiers used, so you could really imagine them saying it. I definitely recommend this for anyone interested in the First World War. There’s now a new book which is about what happened after the war, using the same archive of memories, so I’m really looking forward to reading that. 8 / 10
I've almost caught up now - just 3 more books to review until I get up to date. (oh and 4 films) I'm trying to read Naked Lunch by William Burroughs at the moment - not sure if I really like it though. I am only a few pages in but I can't really see any kind of proper story in it - and I think all the drug slang might get a bit much. But I'll keep going and see what happens. I've just read some reviews on Amazon and some of them say that it gets easier when you get to halfway, so I'll carry and see what its like. Hopefully not a waste of my time!
This book is written by the former BBC America correspondent, about the state of American politics. It’s a little out of date, as it doesn’t much mention Obama, so I think it was written just before that election. Its good if you don’t know anything about American politics, as each chapter goes through what happens at each election and how the politicians try and gain people’s votes. It has funny little comments and a sort of “insiders” view of what goes on, so its not just a dry, boring political book. One thing that annoyed me a little was that it said it was updated to include the election at which Obama was elected, but there was only a few sentences, I think a bit more about it would be useful. Though apart from that, I definitely recommend it, especially if you don’t know much about American politics, as its an easy and funny read which gives you lots of info on how they do it there! 7 / 10
Book 84 – I Robot by Issac Asimov
This book was really great. It was a collection of short stories from which the film “I Robot” was made, I’m not sure if they were originally together in one or whether they were put together after the film came out. It is basically an exploration of the three laws of robotics –
1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence
And what happens when the robots are designed to get past these rules. For example in one story the human has to do something with radiation for a short enough time for it not to harm him, however the robot keeps stopping him doing it as it knows that the radiation will harm him. In another story the robot can read minds, with unfortunate consequences, and in another there is the story that I most remember from the film, where Will Smith has to find a certain robot in a room full of robots – in the story it is a robot who has had part of his brain removed so he is able to do a certain task, but this would make it dangerous if he escaped to be with other robots, but as he is somewhere in the crowd of robots they devise certain tasks to try and trick him into revealing himself. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book as I don’t usually like sci-fi, but maybe its because it is quite simply written and isn’t too technical (as back then things maybe weren’t as technical as it is now!). I’d definitely recommend it, you don’t need a huge knowledge of sci-fi or anything like that, its just an interesting story. 8 / 10
Book 85 – Forgotten Voices of the Great War by Max Arthur
This book is part of a series which also includes the Forgotten Voices of the Holocaust, Forgotten Voices of the Blitz, and a couple of others. In 1972 the Imperial War Museum started a project to record the memories of soldiers who had fought in the First World War. This book is a compilation of these, laid out in chronological order. Each is anything from a few lines to a couple of pages, and it states who the soldier was, where he fought and what regiment he was from. It is a great book, and a great idea, as it is so good to read the memories of people who were actually there, not just a researcher who has researched the events, these people were actually there and knew what it was like. There is a lot about the conditions of the war, of course, and I also particularly like the bits which talk about their relationships with their comrades, and also even with the “enemy” who they were supposed to be fighting. It was transcribed as it was said, with all the little phrases and things that the old soldiers used, so you could really imagine them saying it. I definitely recommend this for anyone interested in the First World War. There’s now a new book which is about what happened after the war, using the same archive of memories, so I’m really looking forward to reading that. 8 / 10
I've almost caught up now - just 3 more books to review until I get up to date. (oh and 4 films) I'm trying to read Naked Lunch by William Burroughs at the moment - not sure if I really like it though. I am only a few pages in but I can't really see any kind of proper story in it - and I think all the drug slang might get a bit much. But I'll keep going and see what happens. I've just read some reviews on Amazon and some of them say that it gets easier when you get to halfway, so I'll carry and see what its like. Hopefully not a waste of my time!
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Meanwhile they made Naked Lunch into a movie lol. It was so insane. They're also making On the Road into a movie now. I don't really get how they could make it into a movie and that Twilight chick is in it so I'm trying to ignore the fact it exists. ;)
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The style he writes in... it's more about the style than the words in a way. They all were so into playing with words and structure, making it all into something not seen before. I heard Burroughs used to write words on separate pieces of paper then throw them on the floor and mix them all up and see what came out. I love that period of time and what they did literature wise but it is hard to read. Burroughs has another called 'Junkie' that I vaguely remember being more plot driven... but I might be misremembering! It was a long time ago. Kerouac has a ton but if you didn't like On The Road you probably won't like the others!
Also try Allen Ginsberg is you haven't read any of his stuff. He was a poet and wrote 'Howl' which is his most famous one. His poetry is more traditional in a way.
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I've finished Naked Lunch now, I think towards then end the writing got better and it was a bit more structured...but I still didn't really like it, haha. I've heard of Junkie as well - what I might do is go to the bookshop and read a bit, just to see if I might like it! :)
and talking of "beat" things...have you heard this? :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujUQn0HhGEk (I assume so, being australian! :) ) Its great :D
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hehe I know some of his stuff but I hadn't seen this particular one! thanks!