Galaxy Blues by Allen Steele

This book was originally serialized in Azimov's Science Fiction Magazine, which is where I read it. Instead of reading it in the four monthly installments, I waited until all four issues had been published and then read the entire book.

I was completely unfamiliar with Allen Steele's writing and found this book to be, for the most part, an enjoyable sci fi diversion. I tend to lean towards more thought provoking science fiction but occasionally, a good old fashioned adventure story is a welcome change.

One of the best elements of Steele's writing is his emphasis on character development. Often, so called, "hard" science fiction spends too much energy on the technology and world building aspects of the genre and nowhere enough time on the characters who are living through the story. Obviously, strong characters are almost always an essential part of good fiction but, sadly, this is sometimes overlooked by modern science fiction writers.

The only flaw to this book is that the actual adventure itself gets a little boring and predictable at times. For the most part, Allen Steele's story telling instincts and the likability of his characters manage to hold the book together and make it worth reading.

"Galaxy Blues" seems to be part of or related to a series of books that Steele has written about a fictional planet called Coyote.

The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby

Dismayed by the rapid decrease of reading, writing and intelligent discourse in America, Susan Jacoby has crafted an engaging, at times humorous, often depressing and always thought provoking book on the present, past and future of intellectualism in America.

I came into this book thinking that the author would be "preaching to the choir" and was surprised to come away looking hard at my own life for ways to change. Although I am an avid reader and consider myself, probably quite pompously, to be an intellectual, when I really started looking at how I spend my time, I found that there is room for improvement. Like most Americans, I still spend far too much time watching television, playing video games and surfing the web and nowhere near as much time as I'd like reading, thinking, creating or engaged in thought provoking conversation.

I have begun to make some changes in how I spend my free time but, as I read this book I kept thinking, "How can we change this trend?" The answer isn't so simple but, like fighting global warming, doing something is better than doing nothing. So, I hope anyone reading this will consider cutting by one third the time they spend each day watching television, reading more books, experiencing more life and, most important of all, doing all you can to encourage and help the children in your life to do the same. If you have children of your own, read to them every day and when they are old enough to read themselves, take them to the library every week. Make reading and talking and thinking the central aspects of your family life.

No, I haven't completely forsaken television or video games and this blog is proof that I still see the Internet as part of my entertainment/information mix. However I am trying to recommit myself to not only being an intellectual but to celebrating intellect and reason. I hope you will do the same and reading Susan Jacoby's book is as good a place to start as any.

At the beginning of this year, I made the decision to write about the books I read on this blog. My reasons at the time were to create a record, for me as much as anyone else, of the books that I read and what I thought of them. I also hoped it would cause me to read more books than I ordinarily would. I don't know if that's happened or not but, after reading "The Age of American Unreason," I feel like I have a new reason for writing about books in this space. As much as anything else, blogging is about the exchange of ideas, which gives us a unique opportunity to further the dialogue in this country. Here's hoping my little corner of the blogosphere can achieve that goal in some small way.

The Man In The High Castle by Philip K. Dick

Outside the circles of serious science fiction fans, Philip K. Dick is mostly known as the author of the books that the movies Blade Runner and Minority Report were based on. Science fiction fans know him as one of the most inventive and best writers in the genre. I would go a step further and say that he is one of the most important writers of his era, which is the early 1960s through the early 1980s.

It has always been a bit of a puzzle to me that science fiction authors are always thought of as being a bit "minor league" by the literary establishment. Writers like Dick, Ray Bradbury and Robert Silverburg belie this theory.

"The Man In The High Castle" is widely viewed as Philip K. Dick's masterpiece. Originally published in 1962 it is one of the first of the now prevalent alternate history sub genre and it's basic premise is that America came out on the losing end of World War II and is now under the split control of Japan and Germany.

Like most of Dick's best work, this is a thought provoking work of social commentary and solid fiction writing that left me with as many questions as it did answers. I had to resist the urge to immediatly go back and read it again.

The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records by Ashley Khan

Impulse records, the final and perhaps definitive, record label of John Coltrane, was the premier jazz record label from the late fifties through the late sixties. This carefully researched book traces the history of the label up through its demise in the mid seventies (although it would return later and still exists as a functioning label today), with particular focus on the influence of John Coltrane.

Like most books about music or musicians, the most interesting part is the early days when Creed Taylor created the label (then part of ABC records) and handed off the reins to Bob Thiele who produced such classics as Coltrane’s "A Love Supreme" and "Crescent" while ushering in the glory years of Impulse.

Ashley Khan's knowledge and understanding of jazz and his unabashed love for the Impulse sound and look make this book interesting reading. I particularly liked the thirty or so sidebar pieces that focus on specific releases, which are important to the history of the label and, for that matter, the history of jazz. He also spends considerable time on the very distinctive LP sleeve design characteristics that made these records stand out from the rest of the pack. Impulse records are great to listen to AND to look at.

The only caveat that I will give you regarding this book is that it may cause you to have an expensive jones to purchase some Impulse vinyl records. I know it did that to me.

40 Days and 40 Nights: Darwin, Intelligent Design, God, Oxycontin, and Other Oddities on Trial in Pennsylvania by Matthew Chapman

This book popped up on my Amazon recomendations, probably as a result of Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion." It is the story of the 2005 Dover, PA Intelligent Design trial and, interestingly enough, it was written by Charles Darwin's great-great grandson, Matthew Chapman. When I read the description, or for that matter the subtitle, I was intrigued and the book didn't dissapoint.

Chapman has an easy going, irreverant style that makes the story a quick read. His empathy with the plaintiffs in the case, who were suing the school board for introducing Intelligent Design into the Dover school science curriculum, isn't surprising however, his ability to get to know and like the defendents is part of what makes the book so special. As I said, his approach isn't exactly scholarly but his strong sense of character development makes this read at times like a novel and at other times like a memoir.

I am fascinated by the proliferation of Intelligent Design as a scientific concept. It's very difficult for me to get my head around the idea that there are educated, intelligent people who somehow still believe that Darwin's theory of evolution is not settled science. They seem to get caught up in the word "theory," which is often used in common language to put forth an opinion about the truth of a given subject (I guess in science that would probably be a hypothesis). In science, theory is used to describe a concept that is proven by a series of facts. As I understand it, a scientist first makes a hypothesis, or best guess, and once he has proven that hypthosis, it becomes a theory.

Matthew Chapman also has a book about the Scopes evolution vs creation trial of 1925 that I really want to read. There is also a book called "Monkey Girl" by Edward Humes that is also about the Dover, PA case. I'm thinking of reading that as well. Like I said, I find this subject both perplexing and fascinating.