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chan_fry's reviews
164 reviews
3.0
This edition is beautifully bound, slender and elegant, but for some reason includes 46 pages of introduction from a 1910 commentary by translator Lionel Giles (and a bunch of end notes too), so Sun Tzu’s words are less than half the content.
As for the words of the actual ancient text, they reminded me of any number of other “ancient wisdom” books, concise and overly generalized. There IS actual wisdom here, but it’s not nearly as groundbreaking as it must have been 2,500 years ago. For example, we would say it’s pretty much common sense not to march your army into a narrow pass where the enemy can pick you off as you exit either end — but in this book, knowing stuff like that makes you a master general.
(I have published a longer review on my website.)
3.0
I’m a sucker for Star Wars novels, especially the older ones, and these three didn’t disappoint (much). Exciting, fast-paced romps through a hostile galaxy are exactly what I needed just now, and these 1979-80 novels are all the more impressive for how little canon they had to work with when Daley wrote them. Lots of world-building got mixed in with the action and Daley did well at it. I tried to ignore a bunch of what I assume were sloppy/hasty edits (like when Solo tells a woman what he’s worried about, when she asked, but then a paragraph later the narrator says she was the one who was worried and Solo figured out why), and the lack of accuracy in the second book’s title, but they chipped off points for me.
(I have published a longer review on my website.)
4.0
A year ago, I’d read a short story (in an anthology) called The Book Of Phoenix, so I was surprised to learn that it was also a full-length book. It turns out the short story is basically the
same as Chapter 1 of this book, though not word-for-word. I enjoyed the book far more than I did the short story — mainly because what I didn’t like about the short story is that I never knew what happened. The book takes care of that.
This works as a standalone novel. As a prequel to Who Fears Death, it felt too separated in time. But I enjoyed the casually sophisticated world-building, and most of all the emotions that I felt as I identified with several characters, including Phoenix.
(I have published a longer review on my website.)
5.0
I am disappointed in myself for not having read this earlier. Any American who hasn’t read it definitely should.
Without waxing polemic, merely by stating his experiences (and thoughts and opinions), Douglass powerfully brings down any and all defenses — both ancient and modern — of the “peculiar institution” (slavery) that defined the first half of the U.S.’s history — and arguably has a massive influence on current events. The language is startlingly clear (relative to many other 19th Century books I’ve read) and requires little explanation — though the specific edition I read was apparently annotated for middle/high school students and thus explains the handful of arcane words and literary references.
(I have published a longer review on my website.)
5.0
It’s easy to see why this won a Hugo. The story is quickly paced without being frenetic, interesting, diverse, and a great example of world-building. I don’t think I had heard of Sawyer before this — I found the book accidentally because it was next to Scalzi in my public library — but now I’m looking for more Sawyer.
I have published a longer review on my website.
5.0
Reading this almost immediately after Slaughterhouse-Five, I find the question unavoidable: why is that one on so many “best novels of all time” lists, while this one isn’t? Player Piano is a better book in almost every way. It’s difficult to tell whether it’s simply a matter of taste.
I identified a bit with the protagonist, who’s been given a good life by hardworking parents but comes to question the societal structure the previous generation has placed him in. And what, really, are human beings supposed to do once machines can do everything we used to? This is one of the central themes of the book and is often present in the background of our current politics, 60-something years later. And is going backward ever the right answer? Is it even possible?
Naturally for a book from the 1950s, there are a few uncomfortable moments when it comes to views on men/women or non-white people, but at least it looks like Vonnegut was ahead of the curve in that regard.
(I have published a longer review on my website.)
5.0
This is a fascinating, entirely true tale in which Adams and (Mark) Carwardine encounter a plethora of interesting characters, some of them human, all over the world. On the way, Adams is pummeled by insights and epiphanies about the very nature of life, evolution, and being human.
In the 29 years since this book was published, two of the seven species highlighted here have gone "functionally extinct" and others are still endangered, some of them critically. This drives home the real zinger: that the impact of humanity's ubiquitous presence is ongoing, that we're currently living in (and causing) a mass extinction event.
This is a must-read book. I am immediately donating my copy to a local book-sharing cooperative. If you happen to see a copy in a used bookstore or yard sale (it’s long been out of print), get it and read it.
(I have published a longer review on my website.)
5.0
Having enjoyed H. Beam Piper's 1962 original (Little Fuzzy) at least twice in my life, I admit I like John Scalzi's "reboot" even more. He takes the original story arc and a handful of the original characters but then remolds them in his own image. Scalzi's version is a quicker read, and also funner and funnier.
One huge improvement in my estimation is that Scalzi names fewer characters — Piper had far too many to keep up with.
(I've published a longer review on my website here.)
5.0
I typically enjoy histories, biographies, etc., but it's fatiguing to always read about history's worst people — slave-owners, colonizers, warmongers, war profiteers, monarchists, religionists. I wanted a book about someone fundamentally decent — a person who didn’t find ways to make the world obviously worse. And I wanted that book to inspire me, to encourage me, to warm my heart. This book was exactly what I was looking for.
For most of the first half, it felt intimate, as if Mrs. Obama was sitting in a comfortable chair near me, sipping her favorite warm beverage, and telling me the story of her life. It felt like her voice, lost in thought, forgetting for the moment that I'm sitting nearby listening. That tone shifted a little later on as the book gets to the White House years, but it still felt like it came from an ordinary person telling me about her actual experiences — as opposed to a Washington insider trying to make a buck by selling a book.
Unfortunately, the book ends on a mostly frustrating note, though this is due to actual events rather than to any fault of Michelle Obama. She forces herself to be optimistic at the end: "I continue, too, to keep myself connected to a force that’s larger and more potent than any one election, or leader, or news story — and that’s optimism. For me, this is a form of faith, an antidote to fear..."
(I have written a longer review on my website.)
5.0
As both a photographer and an admirer of the Obama family, I assumed I would enjoy this book. I followed Pete Souza's photos on Flickr (before the next administration scrubbed his content from the official White House account) and always appreciated them. What I did not expect was how blown away I would be by this book -- emotionally. For someone who doesn't get misty-eyed very often, I went through a suspicious amount of tissue while viewing this book.
The photos are amazingly done. The selection process must have been grueling -- getting only 300+ images out of 2 million files? The intimate look at the eight years of Barack Obama's administration is a powerful reminder of what we once had.
(I have posted a longer review on my website, here.)