Ultra Hip Book Reviews: August

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Ultra Hip Book Reviews: August

Friday, September 3rd, 2010 | techno blog

Books make us to see possible futures or to experience the lives of beings which we would otherwise disregard at first sight. They provide avenues and windows into the lives and places that wouldn’t be available in the real world. For many, reading has become a chore that has been replaced with other activities. But an out of shape mind is just as lethal as an out of shape body, for who is going to save you from this cruel world except yourself. I have three books for you this month that will put you back on the cerebral treadmill, a segment that I like to call:

Three Books I Recently Finished That Will Pleasure Your Eyeballs.

One: Watership Down by Richard Adams.

The characters in this book have eyes of blackness that reflect their lives. They live in a place filled with violence and terror, if not from man then certainly from their natural predators. Yet, the parts we don’t see, their souls, are filled with the glow of hope, that maybe they′ll be able to live longer then their race is destined, that maybe they′ll find happiness in a frightening world.

This story is about rabbits but more so it is a story of courage and faith. After a dream, Fiver, a seer of sorts to his people, knows that something large and omnibus is coming over the hill to destroy his warden, his friends, his family. He tells another of his kind named Hazel they must leave now or suffer extinction. They both plead with their leader but he will not listen. So they, and a few others along with a Oswa (a protector) called Bigwig, trek to another land called Watership Down. The journey will be hard; there is no question but the offerings of the quest show that sometimes we must go through pain before we can achieve bliss.

Published in 1972 by English writer Richard Adams, the novel has been a bestseller for over thirty years and will probably continue to be so. It is a masterwork of unbelievable power that will leave you thrill, sorrowful and will show you that boundless aspect pf life called Friendship.

Two: Astro City Volume Two: Confession by Kurt Busiek

If you knew you would never become famous, rich, honored would you still want to be a hero? That is a question Brian Kinney ask for he doesn’t understand what a hero means like giving medical treatment free of charge, thinking before drinking and driving, loving without a condition. He suffers from the age old dilemma that all of us have went through at one time: Youth.

Brian wants to be a hero in Astro City, a vibrant, colorful place, basically for the wrong reason. He works nights as a busboy for those superheroes and after a very impressive fight with a villain in the nightclub, he is offered a sidekick job by what could be the darkest hero of the city, The Confessor. The man trains the boy but the hero is very secretive about his past. Exactly what is he hiding? Soon, all the heroes are under fire for a killer is on the loose and no one seems to be able to stop the murderer. Soon, however, all things will become clear and a truth of a real hero is known.

Kurt Busiek’s Astro City is one of the best comics in modern times. This is the second book I’ve read in the series. The first was very well done but I thought some of the art and storytelling was trying to push each other off the page. The second volume doesn’t falter one second in terms of its art and story. In fact, they work in perfect harmony to create one of the best stories I’ve read in a long time, in any medium. Also, there is not just one story in the book. The bulk of the text is mostly Brian’s story and the ending, while not as thrilling as the first tale, is still quite a fun read. See for yourself, get it.

Three: The Mote in God’s Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.

Though not the best book in the co authorship of these two giants in the Science Fiction world, this is certainly not the worst book they’ve ever written. In fact, I would say it is their second greatest achievement, their first being Football. What we have in this novel is an answer to the question of how to deal with intelligent life in the cosmos and how human will handle it once it happens. Characterization is pushed aside for a large plot so some might none find it their taste. Still, if you’re a plot person like I am, who thinks there is a place for this kind of Hard Science Fiction then you can’t get much better then this.

The year is 3017 and much of the known galaxy is controlled by humans. Near Coalsack Dark Nebula, which looks to observers at the right angles like a hooded man, a probe from very long ago carries a dead alien. We call them the Moties, for they came from the mote in god′s eye and soon, a ship is sent on a mission to make first contact with this race.

The novel was a particular favorite of Robert A. Heinlein, a very good writer who knows quality when he sees it. I′ll be honest with you that some parts drag and it’s going to be a tough time if you don’t find those sections fascinating. What I will say is that the good parts of the book more then makes up for it and you will have a good time. Be mindful, vigilant and ask the question the book tries to answer: What is Crazy Eddie?.

Read!