William Mandella a young student, is drafted by the United Nations Exploratory Force to save mankind from the Taurans. The Taurans are an alien species that are apparently attacking human colonists’ ships. Each draftee is the brightest and best of their generation.  While traveling the soldiers don’t experience time like those on planets, so the farther they travel the more into the future they move.

It’s a book about young people getting drafted and sent off to fight. Then those that survive coming home to place they no longer understand.  Unable to cope they end up returning to the fighting, knowing it’s suicide. In the book Haldman explores several ways that mankind might change. In one he has man embracing  homosexuality and punishing heterosexuals to control the  population.

Overall I enjoyed the book, it kept me entertained and it never seemed to bog down. There were no surprises and the ending was easy to predict. I’m shocked they haven’t made this book into a movie — evil aliens, war, space travel and a love story.

This book was the basis for the 1982 film Blade Runner, but the movie left out some of the main plot elements of the book.

The earth has  been badly damaged  by  World War Terminus a Nuclear War. The radiation poisoning from the war has wiped out practically all animal life and most humans have migrated into space. Androids are built to assist man in space, but are not allowed on earth. These robots mimic human in every way but one, they lack empathy.   The main character is Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter of androids that return to earth.

The book probes the nature of what separates humans from these life like androids. When technology becomes self aware, does it then have a soul or is it the empathy, that makes us alive?  This book asked these questions long before Data began his quest to become human on Star Trek.

Really enjoyed this book, even if it left me a little demoralize.

Robinette Stetley Broadhead a future prospector examines his  past for his computer generated shrink.  For Broadhead prospecting means boarding alien ships nobody understands and riding then to preset locations looking for alien technologies. Most prospectors don’t return from these dangerous missions but Broadhead does successful, rich and scared.

Guess I found the book engaging because I finished it so quickly. Pohl did a great job of making me want to know just what happened to Broadhead. Pohl slowly uncovers the Gateway and it’s impact on the world, then it’s impact on Broadhead himself.  Thought the climax fizzled, guess his foreplay made me expect more from the ending.

I read the book because it was on a list of the best science fiction ever written. While I enjoyed the book, it’s not one of the best books I’ve ever read, or one I’d tell someone else to read.

This is the story of an American (Robert Jordan) fighting against the Fascists in the Spanish Civil War.  Jordan has been ordered to blow up a bridge behind enemy line, just prior to an attack. He recruits  a republican guerrilla unit to aid him in completing his mission.  With the guerrillas is a girl named Maria and romance soon follows.

I’ve read several books on the Spanish Civil War, including one made up of letters sent home by Americans fighting in this civil war for the Republic. They were idealist young people fighting for the common people of Spain and they hoped, by example the world. The occupy wall street movement got me thinking about these young people of a different time and moved me to read this book.

I Found For Whom the Bell Tolls to be more a love story with hundreds of pages before you get to any action. The book does give you a window into Jordan’s thinking about his father and grandfather,  never his principles or opinions. Jordan is willing to lay down his life without question, but why and for what?

I wanted to be drawn into Jordan’s emotions, but it never happened and I was left with a couple chapters of action at the end of the book.

The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King is written by Michael Craig.  It is a non-fiction book about  Andy Beal, a Texas banker and billionaire, who takes his heads-up poker prowess to Vegas, specifically the Bellagio, where he competes against a consortium of poker professionals at the highest stakes of all time.  Each side had ten million dollars on the table and the swings were in eight figures.

This book had interesting moments, but was somewhat dull too often for me to really get into it.  I was very interested to read about these enormous games and all the intricate associated facets, but the writing was too much a dry report of the happenings with the intrigue placed in the back stories of the various characters. The reports of the actual poker were repetitive and a bit boring.  The story also jumped around too much and lacked a real focus I thought.  I enjoyed hearing anecdotes of the well known poker pros and even our author’s own poker stories, but I guess I just expected more here.

5/10

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger

The book is Roland (the last gunslinger)  chasing after his adversary, “the man in black”. It starts out in an old western type desert, but then it changes.  As the story unfolds it seems to be taking place in some sort of parallel universe, with parts of our universe poking  in.

It did get me thinking, but didn’t grab me as other King novels have 4/10

Born to Run

The whole book is a giant build to a race in the wilds of the Copper Canyons in Mexico with the Tarahumara.  The Tarahumara are a lost tribe of super runners, that run the trails in harsh badlands. Through out the book McDougall makes the case of how running is natural and we were born to run. The book covers ultra runners (50-150 mile races) and many of their races. He looks at running shoes and their impact on runners(running hurt runner). He also covers anthropology, diet, physiology as they of course they relate to running.  The main message, we were born to run and if you far enough and long enough you will be happy.

Loved the book—believe me I was surprised.

The Day After Roswell

I’ve always thought the Roswell UFO was just a balloon used to collect information on radiation from the atomic bombs. Now I’m not so sure.