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When a catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb, it triggers a feverish race against the inevitable. An …
Traces the high-stakes quest of John Mattera and Shadow Divers' Chatterton to find the lost …
This was a little out of my usual, but surprisingly good!
In the tradition of Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air and Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm …
Surprisingly good read about surprisingly crazy people.
Is a loved one missing some body parts? Are blondes becoming extinct? Is everyone at …
An editorial couched as a story, this book starts with a contemptible cast and finally grows a couple of characters you wouldn't choose for a shallow grave in the desert.
In the process he tackles some serious issues such as gene patents and what happens when you sic lots of value on a field once viewed more as a public service.
Jelaluddin Rumi was born in the year 1207 and until the age of thirty-seven was a brilliant scholar and popular …
When Zen Flesh, Zen Bones was published in 1957 it became an instant sensation with an entire generation of readers …
National Bestseller Winner of the National Book Critics Circle AwardA New York Times Book Review Best Book of the YearOne …
From his triumphant debut with Snow Crash to the stunning success of his latest novel, …
A tightly crafted, fast-paced story in Neal's best form. Cliff-hangers, suspense, near-misses, and completely believable villains.
I missed it originally perhaps as it was released under Stephen Bury pseudonym.
If it was published today it would be on-topic and current.
For a book released in 1994 it is strikingly prescient, to be expected of Neal.
SPOILERS:
Having completely enjoyed this romp through conspiracy theory, now I have to take the authors to task a bit. The trope of a hidden network of unseen conspirators who only have to be grappled with and defeated tackles a far scarier topic in an overly simplistic fashion. By bundling all our fears into a single, if powerful and far-flung Network, Neal creates a scarecrow that requires only knocking over to save the world.
This is the fundamental appeal of Conspiracy Theory.
Far more difficult to grapple with is the actual Marketplace, with the substitution …
A tightly crafted, fast-paced story in Neal's best form. Cliff-hangers, suspense, near-misses, and completely believable villains.
I missed it originally perhaps as it was released under Stephen Bury pseudonym.
If it was published today it would be on-topic and current.
For a book released in 1994 it is strikingly prescient, to be expected of Neal.
SPOILERS:
Having completely enjoyed this romp through conspiracy theory, now I have to take the authors to task a bit. The trope of a hidden network of unseen conspirators who only have to be grappled with and defeated tackles a far scarier topic in an overly simplistic fashion. By bundling all our fears into a single, if powerful and far-flung Network, Neal creates a scarecrow that requires only knocking over to save the world.
This is the fundamental appeal of Conspiracy Theory.
Far more difficult to grapple with is the actual Marketplace, with the substitution of hundreds of uncoordinated and contrary Invisible Hands working at odds both with our heros and each other.
The Market will generally find an optimal (least spanning might be a better term)solution, but it works like evolution in that you better define that solution pretty clearly (by interfering with the Market) and it will be stunningly wasteful getting there.
If you have sacred cows to be preserved in the solution, that must be built into the Market as a required outcome.
I largely failed to engage with the storyline, but Brust and White write together exceptionally well.
Nothing I can say about The Blogess that hasn't been said better elsewhere.
