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julesjonesThe links to B&N and Powells will return when I can remember my passwords, or get around to asking for them to be reset...
Isaac Asimov -- The Caves of Steel
Asimov's first robot novel, and it's a nice short (by today's standards) mystery as well as sf novel. As with "I, Robot", this is the first time in years that I've read it, although it was one of my favourite books when I was a teenager. And again, I thought it was still an excellent book, but I was occasionally jarred by the way reality has caught up with Asimov's projections about the future and left them looking rather silly in places. The futuristic setting with a 1950s nuclear family, complete with the husband as the head of the household and sole source of the family social status, isn't quite as plausible as it might have been when the book was first published back in 1954. And the suggestion that a population of 8 billion is unsustainable without the Cities seems unlikely in a world that is rapidly approaching 7 billion and has more than enough food to feed everyone were it distributed to all. But these are minor niggles rather than major flaws, and the story itself is good enough to easily override them.
A period piece, then, but one that has survived the passage of time and which offers an entertaining story along with some interesting speculation about the psychological effects of the cultures protrayed.
Caves of Steel (Robot City (Paperback))
at amazon.com
The Caves of Steel (Robot Series)
at amazon.co.uk
P G Wodehouse -- Carry on, Jeeves
Collection of Jeeves and Wooster stories, including the story in which Wooster first takes on Jeeves (or possibly the other way around). Enormous fun.
Carry On, Jeeves
at amazon.com
Carry On, Jeeves
Arthur C Clarke -- The Sentinel
1983 collection by Byron Preiss of some of Clarke's most important short stories, including "The Sentinel" -- which still makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. Good collection, beautifully illustrated. Out of print, but readily available second-hand, which is useful as this was a library copy and I probably want my own.
The Sentinel
at amazon.com
The Sentinel: Masterworks of Science Fiction and Fantasy
at amazon.co.uk
Isaac Asimov -- The Caves of Steel
Asimov's first robot novel, and it's a nice short (by today's standards) mystery as well as sf novel. As with "I, Robot", this is the first time in years that I've read it, although it was one of my favourite books when I was a teenager. And again, I thought it was still an excellent book, but I was occasionally jarred by the way reality has caught up with Asimov's projections about the future and left them looking rather silly in places. The futuristic setting with a 1950s nuclear family, complete with the husband as the head of the household and sole source of the family social status, isn't quite as plausible as it might have been when the book was first published back in 1954. And the suggestion that a population of 8 billion is unsustainable without the Cities seems unlikely in a world that is rapidly approaching 7 billion and has more than enough food to feed everyone were it distributed to all. But these are minor niggles rather than major flaws, and the story itself is good enough to easily override them.
A period piece, then, but one that has survived the passage of time and which offers an entertaining story along with some interesting speculation about the psychological effects of the cultures protrayed.
Caves of Steel (Robot City (Paperback))
at amazon.comThe Caves of Steel (Robot Series)
at amazon.co.ukP G Wodehouse -- Carry on, Jeeves
Collection of Jeeves and Wooster stories, including the story in which Wooster first takes on Jeeves (or possibly the other way around). Enormous fun.
Carry On, Jeeves
at amazon.comCarry On, Jeeves
Arthur C Clarke -- The Sentinel
1983 collection by Byron Preiss of some of Clarke's most important short stories, including "The Sentinel" -- which still makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. Good collection, beautifully illustrated. Out of print, but readily available second-hand, which is useful as this was a library copy and I probably want my own.
The Sentinel
at amazon.comThe Sentinel: Masterworks of Science Fiction and Fantasy
at amazon.co.uk