Been a while since I read an anthology.
Reviews and Comments
aka @kingrat@sfba.social
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Phil in SF started reading New Jersey Noir by Joyce Carol Oates (Akashic Noir)
Phil in SF reviewed The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune (Cerulean Chronicles, #1)
Delightful character arc
4 stars
Content warning revelation of Linus Baker's character arc may reveal the gist of the plot
Linus Baker evaluates orphanages that house magical children. For some reason, the department he works for is extremely rigid and controlling for their workers (they issue demerits to workers??!). But he's given the assignment to investigate one orphanage by Extremely Upper Management. For reasons I never quite understood, this orphanage is different. Extremely Upper Management pays special attention to them, and nearby residents fear the magical children extra vehemently.
Despite a premise that doesn't quite hold together, a delightful story emerges during Linus Baker's 4 week visit to the orhpanage. The children are kooky! The headmaster, Arthur Parnassus, and Linus Baker develop a friendship. Linus gets to learn that maintaining a distance and objectivity limits him, and he gets to break out of a decades long deference to authority and fear of connection.
If you listen to the audiobook as I did, Daniel Henning does a wonderful job of voicing a multitude of characters that gets to the essence of each of the children and adults. I often find it hard to follow audiobooks with lots of characters, but Henning's narration does such a great job of making each of them distinct and memorable that I had no problems.
Phil in SF reviewed Braking Day by Adam Oyebanji
Action packed and enjoyable
4 stars
Ravinder "Ravi" Mcleod is training to be an officer on a generation ship going from Earth to Tau Ceti. While not strictly speaking a heredity based society, officers tend to be children of officers & crew tend to be children of crew. The ship (one of three in a fleet) is coming up on Braking Day, the point in the trip where the ship flips around, then fires its engines to begin decelerating. A.k.a., Braking Day from the title.
There's lots of plain drama just from keeping a ship in good shape and heading toward its destination. There's lots of drama because of the hierarchical society that dominates the ship. And there's lot of drama because Ravi starts seeing visions of a girl whose only words Ravi can understand are "help us".
This is a very young adult themed book, though I don't know if it was officially marketed as …
Ravinder "Ravi" Mcleod is training to be an officer on a generation ship going from Earth to Tau Ceti. While not strictly speaking a heredity based society, officers tend to be children of officers & crew tend to be children of crew. The ship (one of three in a fleet) is coming up on Braking Day, the point in the trip where the ship flips around, then fires its engines to begin decelerating. A.k.a., Braking Day from the title.
There's lots of plain drama just from keeping a ship in good shape and heading toward its destination. There's lots of drama because of the hierarchical society that dominates the ship. And there's lot of drama because Ravi starts seeing visions of a girl whose only words Ravi can understand are "help us".
This is a very young adult themed book, though I don't know if it was officially marketed as such. All the spotlight characters are coming of age. Pretty much anything an adult does is either off screen, or an authority figure in opposition to Ravi and his friends. As such, don't expect much in the way of adult motivations.
Phil in SF started reading Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb (The Farseer Trilogy, #1)
Phil in SF reviewed The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi (The Interdependency, #2)
i don't know why i did this to myself
2 stars
On paper, I should really enjoy Scalzi novels. In practice, not so much. Every character feels like an extension of Scalzi's social media presence. Fir the first book of this series, I could put up with it because the premise and plot were interesting.
There's nothing interesting in this second installment. it's just court intrigue with a bunch of wise cracking nobles. Scalzi can't seem to write a normal conversation, or plot intrigue that isn't over the top mustache-twirling.
Unfortunately for me, i want to know the end of the saga now. i will read the third book. then please, talk me out of reading any other of his books.
(He seems like a decent guy, but his fiction is just oil to my water.)
Phil in SF commented on The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi (The Interdependency, #2)
Phil in SF reviewed Why We Remember by Charan Ranganath
semantic memories
4 stars
As I've gotten older, I have found it increasingly harder to remember nouns, particularly names. Names of companies in my industry. names of software packages and services I use frequently. My sibling's names. My girlfriend's names.
I didn't read this book with the idea that i would learn how to cure my memory difficulties. Rather, I wanted to understand in a basic way how memory works and if research backs up any method for slowing my decline.
The book solidly walked me through things. It includes descriptions of two kinds of memory: episodic and semantic. Things I experienced and might recall vs. facts I've committed to my store of knowledge. Although my memory of things I've experienced is not great, for some reason that's never bothered me. But losing common facts really makes me anxious.
Although a bit florid, i recommend the book for a mostly understandable explanation of about …
As I've gotten older, I have found it increasingly harder to remember nouns, particularly names. Names of companies in my industry. names of software packages and services I use frequently. My sibling's names. My girlfriend's names.
I didn't read this book with the idea that i would learn how to cure my memory difficulties. Rather, I wanted to understand in a basic way how memory works and if research backs up any method for slowing my decline.
The book solidly walked me through things. It includes descriptions of two kinds of memory: episodic and semantic. Things I experienced and might recall vs. facts I've committed to my store of knowledge. Although my memory of things I've experienced is not great, for some reason that's never bothered me. But losing common facts really makes me anxious.
Although a bit florid, i recommend the book for a mostly understandable explanation of about 300 factors that influence memory.
Phil in SF reviewed The Affair by Lee Child (Jack Reacher, #16)
The File Is Real
3 stars
A prequel set just before book 1, The Affair tells how Reacher gets pushed out of the Army. The Army sends him to Carter Crossing Mississippi, where a young woman has been murdered and the town thinks the perpetrator must've been a soldier from the nearby Kelham Army Base.
This episode takes us back to early Reacher novels, where he can't put a foot wrong at all.
Including the sex scenes. Reacher can't do wrong, but Lee Child certainly does. These should have been whittled down a lot.
Phil in SF reviewed Second Son by Lee Child (Jack Reacher, #15.5)
An uninspired story of Reacher's childhood
2 stars
Second Son goes back to Reacher's childhood, specifically age 13 when his family is newly stationed on Okinawa. Local bullies threaten the new to town Reacher brothers. Reacher kisses a girl on the beach. Reacher acts and, worse, talks like adult Reacher. He gets to solve crimes like adult Reacher, including explaining to military investigators exactly where his father's missing code book has ended up. At age 13. Just scan right.
Phil in SF reviewed How Minds Change by David McRaney
Interesting ideas
4 stars
McRaney explores the psychology of persuasion, intrigued by the work of the Los Angeles LGBT Center and their Deep Canvassing technique. The other method that he covers is Street Epistemology, which isn't specifically supposed to change minds. Just make people look hard at their reasons, which if those reasons are bad maybe they'll consider changing them on their own.
The rest of the chapters explores psychological concepts around persuasion and the final chapter is one on social change and networks of human contact. That last chapter is frustrating because McRaney presents it as if the change that spreads through human social thought is inevitably positive in the long run (LGBTQ people are so accepted! Anti-vax people that really opposed covid vaccines are mostly getting vaccinated in Britain now!) The book was published in 2022, so the current backlash against trans people hadn't reached the heights it has, but we've been …
McRaney explores the psychology of persuasion, intrigued by the work of the Los Angeles LGBT Center and their Deep Canvassing technique. The other method that he covers is Street Epistemology, which isn't specifically supposed to change minds. Just make people look hard at their reasons, which if those reasons are bad maybe they'll consider changing them on their own.
The rest of the chapters explores psychological concepts around persuasion and the final chapter is one on social change and networks of human contact. That last chapter is frustrating because McRaney presents it as if the change that spreads through human social thought is inevitably positive in the long run (LGBTQ people are so accepted! Anti-vax people that really opposed covid vaccines are mostly getting vaccinated in Britain now!) The book was published in 2022, so the current backlash against trans people hadn't reached the heights it has, but we've been watching it build for a while so I'm not so optimistic that social change is positive.
However, the methods of persuasion discussed seem intriguing if somewhat distasteful. Both methods emphasize being judgement free of people's bad and harmful positions in order to change their minds. In the context of canvassing, I can do that (I worked on Washington state's 2012 marriage equality referendum). Keeping judgement out of my conversation for short term conversations while canvassing is much easier than keeping it out of a long term relationship with relatives. I might be more successful on topics like housing (with some training, of course) that don't directly threaten people because of who they are.
A worthwhile overview and read, but don't consider this a how-to. For that, read & train up on the methods after reading this book.
Phil in SF reviewed Worth Dying For by Lee Child (Jack Reacher, #15)
Reacher trips over yet another massive criminal conspiracy
3 stars
Reacher stumbles into a rural Nebraska county while hitchhiking away from the events in 61 Hours. While drinking coffee at a rural motel bar, he overhears an alcoholic doctor turn down visiting a woman who is experiencing a nosebleed. Reacher keeps his nose out of lots of other people's business, but he suspects the woman is a domestic violence victim and badgers the doctor into visiting, with Reacher along for the ride.
The woman turns out to be the wife of a local county heavy, so Reacher is off on another adventure battling local crime bosses, much like a one man A-Team. Before the end of the book, Reacher aims to end their control, at least the terrorizing people into silence part.
Competence porn at its most ok.
Phil in SF reviewed Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
possibly some good advice, but it's presented as a buffet
3 stars
Voss premise is that negotiating is an emotional exercise rather than an intellectual one. so he presents a bunch of techniques that he says are designed to subtly play on people's emotional processing. I assume they work well if skillfully wielded, though i can't be sure. but he never puts it all together into a coherent method. the techniques remain a grab bag. lastly, the book does not present any way for the reader to practice the techniques, though he talks about such practice in classes he teaches. consequently all except type a personalities are likely to find it intimidating.
Phil in SF reviewed The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang (Kiss Quotient, #1)
OK, but eye-rolly in parts
3 stars
Michael is a male escort catering to women. Stella is an autistic woman who lacks confidence. She hires Michael to teach her how to be better at sex, then to he better at relationships. Of course it turns into more.
But the conflict relies on characters that hear one thing said and assume it means another. lots and lots of that. And each character blows those meanings up into all sorts of drama that could have been avoided by asking what they meant.
Phil in SF reviewed Terra Nullius by Claire G. Coleman
Dignity rather than happiness or satisfaction
4 stars
Content warning The book's premise is not uncovered until halfway through, but this review reveals it
Until about halfway through the novel, you might think the story is set in early 1800s Australia. Jackie is an Native inmate at a boarding school run by Settler nuns, until he rebels against his treatment and absconds. Sergeant Rohan is a Trooper assigned to chase after runaway Natives. Sister Bagra is a nun responsible for the education of Natives, including Jackie. The book follows them and a few more point-of-view characters, each of whom gets a different view of the reality of colonization.
About halfway through, the story reveals that the Settlers are actually Toads, aliens who have conquered Earth. The book is a "what if aliens used much the same tactics colonizing Earth that the British used in Australia."
This is well-written, and readable, but not very hopeful. For, despite being aliens who lay eggs, they are in most respects human. They conscript their own people. They have a colonial government. They have religious orders. Their society mirrrors humans where some sympathize with the subjugated humans, but don't want to rock the boat and anyway they depend on the humans for the comfort they experience. If humans did not choose a different path in Australia, why would invading aliens who think almost exactly like humans choose a different path.
The story isn't looking for happiness. Instead, the books tries to show the dignity in the face of overwhelming oppression.