Stephen Pinker, in Language as a Window Into Human Nature, says humans are verbivores—that is, we live on words—and linguistics reveals hidden operations of the mind. “...words determine our reality, or at least a large part of it. Semantics is no arcane intellectual quibble; it lies at the core of our existence”, says Pinker. Thought-provoking stuff.
While on the surface Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” paints the picture of a time and place not far from our own where the utopic ideals of one group of people appear to be a dystopic hell for another, beneath these circumstances it is, among other things, a story about freedom and choice; the freedom to make your own choices, and the freedom from making your own choices.
Not surprisingly, you won’t find a lot of “love and rainbows” in On God: An Uncommon Conversation. Mailer finds fault with the Ten Commandments and calls technology “the Devil’s most brilliant creation”. His conclusion? An artistic god prone to failure and a fitting reincarnation for everyone.
"These are the books that are disappointing only because they have to end. They’re the ones we mention to friends. They’re the ones worth taking on vacation, and they are well executed, whatever their genre or subject matter. They are what we’d read even if Michiko Kakutani, William Grimes and I weren’t designated readers."
“Old prejudices against science fiction should not deter new readers from these fables of a technological age,” writes Dinah Birch in her review of this collection of science fiction tales edited by Brian Aldiss. Quite a good review—not merely an overview but an informed look at the genre, addressing its strengths and difficulties.
It’s common knowledge that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was unfaithful to his dying wife, but until now records of the affair have been rare. Biographer Andrew Lycett is now able to shed some light on things, since Conan Doyles’ personal papers have been made public after seven decades of being squabbled over by the family.
I just posted the 200th review since I started my site, Rat's Reading. Not surprisingly, it's science fiction. David Marusek's Counting Heads, which is one of the first cyber-punk style S.F. novels that I think gets things right. And since I accidentally bought two copies (something I do all too often), the extra copy is now a giveaway prize in celebration!
I suppose we could have used the title 'not safe for anyone' many times already, but I thought it would be especially pertinent here because in this show Richard and Hans illustrate the many situations in which the C-word is perfectly appropriate.
