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matt_bitonti's Reviews (227)
Really good. There's a ton of action and gore and a sense of urgency, despite knowing the ending at the start.
Phillip K. Dick is the master of the premise. No one sets a premise like him. His short stories start off like a thunderclap. The settings, the mechanisms of what is possible in these worlds, are truly breathtaking. It's not an obscure fact that several short stories in this book inspired full-length movies, and those movies were often hugely successful. But when reading these stories one after the other, the endings often have a vague trailed-off lack of definite resolution. At first, I perceived this trait to be a flaw but as time went on the uncertainty became fun. I looked forward to these endings, like a gambler looking forward to the spin of the roulette wheel. A more concrete ending could not be more profound as the brain activity that is sparked after Phillip K. Dick dunks you in the cold ocean of uncertainty and you have to swim to shore. It's not the easiest option but it might be the most rewarding.
The action scenes are excellent and the way Heinlein describes warfare sets the ground rules for future battlefield space operas. But the characters are flat and the ethics scenes can be dry and preachy. Even more troubling, intelligence is disdained, women are objectified (despite being the only math geniuses in society smart enough to be pilots) and there are a few throwaway racial lines that have not aged well. There were moments of genius and also moments of cringe.
When this book was originally published, the reader could nod along and be impressed by author's selection of songs (flip directly to the discography, it's all classics). The reader could be transported by the author's lush and uncannily accurate descriptions of the tracks. But the reader probably couldn't hear the music in real time to verify how accurate these descriptions are, or if the song was to their personal taste. Simon Reynolds can convey in words how great, for example, Green Velvet's "Flash" Remixes were. But when this book came out there was no way to experience it, on demand, as the reader makes their way through the book. Sure, a person in theory could go to a record store but these were often low pressings and inventory was spotty. Many of these all time tracks were snapped up quickly and not repressed for years. It's a totally different experience to read this book and hear the songs in real time, I guess that's my point. It's a guidebook to early EDM: the roots of house, techno, breakbeats, everything. Check it out if you can find a copy. I rescued my copy in a used bookstore in Rhode Island.
Atwood's prose flows like poetry. It's a dark and beautiful journey.
