Montgomery Webster
Information value: 7 / 10
Prose: 7
Content density: 2
I would strongly suggest reading a one-page summary of this book. It has more filler than anything I've encountered before. Rich Dad, Poor Dad is effectively unreadable.
The most important piece of advice in the book is that the rich create corporations to limit their tax exposure.
Terrible that the end of the trilogy has to be so poor. Luckily, all the books existed largely independent of one another, so the impact is minimal. The problem was that the prose seemed to have changed. Where before the book used the voice of Cley, now Misrix was writing. His character is well read enough to have been clear, but Ford was probably unable to use the different style.
In addition, there was a lot of wasted white space on each page. The whole thing was off, taking way too long to start the interesting part of the book. Nevertheless, besides the boring adventure, the high-level plot seemed reasonable. Will still read Ford: 2/3 isn't bad.
Truly a remarkable book. The mnemonic world introduced in the first book is fully explored here. Sort of a bit metaphysical and drug-induced, but with a clear direction.
Another recommendation, but this one I really liked. It might not have been so much recommended as a date of mine was reading it and the title really appealed to me. Luckily, the prose was fun and diegesis compelling. Only con was that all the elements of the book seemed similar to others I had run into before, though not directly stolen like some children books do. For example, the main Physiognomist was clearly a Dickens' villain. The book's cover compares it to The Penal Colony and 1984.
Will definitely read the rest of the trilogy.
Definitely a much more worthwhile read than Volume 1, but still a stinging disappointment. Sadly, Volume 1 is also substantially longer, leaving very little in the second book. Additionally, having the Eugenic “Wars” take place before the book was written is very strange. Maybe that is how the story was setup in other references, but it is altogether miserable to read. Generally, the events in the book are not strong enough for generations later to remember.
Not worth anybody's time and should probably be removed from the Star Trek timeline altogether. This is likely my first and last Star Trek book.
The writing is alright, but the direction is terrible. Why base the book on an already stupid time-continuum original series episode? The first two-thirds are satisfactory, once the basis is overlooked. From there everything goes downhill and ends on a cliffhanger. What a jerk!
Have not read the second book yet, but nothing in Volume 1 is important for understanding the Eugenics Wars.
Not really an interesting or relevant read for the average person. Though the book is relatively short, it is not as brief as it promises, filled instead with a lot of tertiary information to the history of the Universe. Additionally, a lot of complex theoretical Physics is introduced. Though the descriptions are simplified, the concepts are still not terribly accessible. Would not recommend this book to anyone and will not retain much of it.
Claudia, Claudia,
I trust you're well. Hopefully you didn't find time to read this book?
How did we ever decide to read it in the first place?
There are a lot of themes in the book that might have more impact from a woman's perspective. Please do consult a scifi lady before absolutely disregarding this novel.
Story: 3 / 10
Characters: 4
Setting: 8
Prose: 3
Themes: Forced egg donors, religious dystopias
Story: 2.0 / 10
Characters: 6.5
Setting: 7.5
Prose: 3.5
Tags: Zainichi, Korea, Japan, foreigners, fighting, romance, identity, nationality
Story: 6 / 10
Characters: 7
Setting: 8
Prose: 7
An all around fascinating adventure. Definitely the most detailed description of cyborgs I have come across. The visual perception system is an incredible design. You'll like the wings too. The plot is quite slow though, so might not appeal to everybody.
As for rankings, Jem is quite a bit better. Gateway has a lot more going on, but the therapy sessions in Gateway lessen its brilliance. Man Plus is the second best Pohl best I've read so far.
Information value: 7.5 / 10
Prose: 8.5
Content density: 8.5
My first investing book. Highly recommended, though the main premise of investing in low-cost index funds can be a bit repetitive at the beginning. Don't worry, it gets better.
Definitely one of the top 3 personal development books I've read.
Will be interesting to see how it begins to weave itself into my life.
The Colour of Magic is to Fantasy what The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is to Science Fiction (theoretically). In actuality, this book is not at all good. Similar to Hitchhiker's Guide, if you do not enjoy the humour, then it can be an extremely unpleasant experience. I laughed once on the first page. What's even worse is that I saw the film beforehand.
Not really a fan. The book is good enough, but the wording and structure are not terribly important. The real strength is the continued use of smell, obviously.
Still, reading it in Paris was a brilliant idea...
Really a 5.5/10. Well done and everything, but strikingly unoriginal. This type of story is part of modern culture, sufficiently similar to Slaughterhouse Five (1969), Groundhog's Day, and The Time-Traveler's Wife. This version is probably the weakest out of all of them, despite being the most different. For instance, the romance in The Time-Traveler's Wife was extremely potent, markedly distinguished from the matter-of-fact relationship in “Reply”.
Not terribly recommended, except if you literally run out of all other books. Was surprised to see it included in the Fantasy Masterworks collection.
Short, simple book, but a bit too rudimentary for someone at my level. For beginners, I would recommend reading a summary or using someone else's heuristics instead of buying this book (eg, http://www.squeezedbooks.com/articles/dont-make-me-think-a-common-sense-approach-to-web-usability-(2nd-edition)–summary.html)
Read this as sort of an introduction to Alexandre Dumas, hoping to continue onto The Count of Monte Cristo, a much larger work and the name of my favorite sandwich. However, I was largely put off by Dumas writing style and the book only started getting interesting in the last few pages.
On the contrary, hearing about Corsica, feuding, and dueling was fun.
Not a very high brow book, but a good read nevertheless. The book is so strange and unnatural. All elements of the plot are ridiculous and a lot of the dialogue, especially the romance, is weak. Everything just sort of worked.
Will definitely consider reading Bester again.
Story: 7 / 10
Characters: 7.5
Setting: 6.5
Prose: 6
Although the book does have a coherent story, it only teaches a limited amount of coding