Book Report

Spook Country

Author: William Gibson

Publisher: Putnam Adult (2007)

Binding: Hardcover, 384 pages

For many years I've enjoyed William Gibson's novels. I read Neuromancer and Mona Lisa Overdrive when I was a teenager. In the last ten years or so I've reread those and several others and, while not as impressed as I was when I was younger, I still liked them. I especially liked his 2003 novel Pattern Recognition, which seemed to break many of Gibson's patterns which held him back from being an excellent writer. Pattern Recognition's characters showed depth, complexity, mystery, and development. Its plot involved technology but wasn't just about the technology. Gibson's writing in the 20th Century has been said to have created a new genre; Pattern Recognition rose above simple genre writing.…Go ahead, keep reading

Democracy in America, Volume 1 (Vintage Classics)

Author: Alexis De Tocqueville

Publisher: Vintage (1990)

Binding: Paperback, 480 pages

From hearing all the academic jingoists quoting Tocqueville I had the impression that Democracy in America would turn out to be a glowing review of the marvel that is American Democracy. In some aspects it certainly is; Tocqueville had great admiration for the accomplishments of the fledgling republic. What I found surprising was how critical he was not just of the United States, but of democracy itself.

I should have realized that Tocqueville would not have taken for granted the ideas about democracy that I was taught in school almost a century and a half later. Moreover, I should have remembered that even if he were the strongest advocate for democracy, his audience was unconvinced. Common sense in Europe said that democracy was a system of government that failed in ancient Greece; that if monarchy was perhaps less than ideal aristocracy would make up for its shortcomings.…Go ahead, keep reading

Rework

Author: Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson

Publisher: Crown Business (2010)

Binding: Hardcover, 288 pages

The authors of Rework claim it was edited down from 57,000 words to 27,000, and that the book is better for it. One of those claims is easy to believe; the language is clear and direct. But whatever fluff was taken out should have been replaced with some substance.

The comments section of on my report on Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point echoes Voltaire that common sense is not common, and attribute Gladwell's success to this fact. I like to give Gladwell a little more credit; perhaps his conclusions are—or should be—common sense, but he went to the effort not just to assert his conclusions but to research and analyze them. Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson gave us a book of common sense without any of the support or analysis Gladwell supplied.…Go ahead, keep reading

Revelation Space

Author: Alastair Reynolds

Publisher: Ace (2002)

Binding: Paperback, 592 pages

I'm continuing to enjoy my run of Alastair Reynolds reading by going back to his first novel. Revelation Space is the kind of science-fiction I enjoy. More mystery than western-in-space, the technology and physics are plausible and if it doesn't quite ask the big questions, it does ask the pretty big questions, spoeculating about the nature of our universe and the future of humanity.

I'm afraid I spoiled this for myself by reading Redemption Ark first. Of course, I had no way of knowing it at the time, but a good part of the mystery was blown by knowing the events and circumstances that were to arise in the later book. There are a couple other novels in this series, so I'm curious what it will be like to re-read Redemption Ark in its proper context.…Go ahead, keep reading