• Red Mars

Odds and ends...

Books I've read recently

  • How I Killed Pluto, and Why it Had it Coming, by M. Brown. A wonderful little book about the scientific discoveries of an astronomer at Caltech that led to the great planet debate and the "pluto-ing" of Pluto. I honestly read the book in one afternoon, partly because it was relatively short, but mostly because it was so well written. The book showed a side of science that not many people outside academia get a window into.
  • Children of God, by M. D. Russell. A decent follow-up to her earlier book, The Sparrow, about first contact between humans, via a group led by four Jesuit priests, and a neighboring alien civilization. In The Sparrow, the first contact between the humans and aliens goes about as wrong as it possibly could and is the true definition of a tragedy. In Children of God, Russell tries to bring things back into harmony, however, I found that things weren't as plausible as they were in The Sparrow. Still definitely a great book, but didn't quite live up to what I was hoping.
  • Elizabeth I, by A. Weir. A wonderful biography of Queen Elizabeth I that detailed the way in which she balanced the many threats to her kingdom through cunning and wits. I have a soft spot for British history and this was definitely a great read.

Favorite books of all time

  • The Hyperion Cantos, by D. Simmons. A great set of uber-nerdy science fiction books about a distant planet Hyperion and its role in the lives of seven pilgrims.
  • Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars, by K. S. Robinson. A trilogy about the colonization and eventual independence of Mars. In my opinion, a fairly plausible story about how humans might colonize and live on Mars. The characters are some of my favorite ever, and I've definitely read the books so many times that they're falling apart.
  • The Dune Chronicles, by F. Herbert. A wonderful series of science fiction books about the fictional planet Dune. Most of the books in the series are really good (with the probably exception of Dune Messiah and God Emperor of Dune), and have a unique style of prose that I haven't ever really found elsewhere. Oh, and in case you're wondering, the later Dune novels adapted and written by F. Herbert's son, B. Herbert, are utter crap and pretty much ruined the rest of the Dune universe for me.