The Crucible of Empire by Eric Flint and K.D. Wentworth

The Crucible of Empire by Eric Flint and K.D. Wentworth

This is the sequel to The Course of Empire. During The Course of Empire, the Jao conquered earth. Partly this was because of human disunity. Now, the Jao have drafted humanity into fighting their ancient enemies the Ekhat. They have adapted both human and Jao technology to create a massive new spaceship the size of an aircraft carrier, the Lexington.

This story is partially about how technology changes when two cultures meet to make something far more deadly than the single culture can produce by itself. The Lexington with its combined kinetic and energy weapon technology, energy shielding and heavy armored plate easily destroys the Ekhat ships.

In The Crucible of Empire, the new human Jao alliance have to rescue a third alien race, the Lleix from the Ekhat. I liked how the different aliens were described with their strengths and weaknesses. The Lleix had a very interesting artistic flair to them. The Jao and the Lleix were described as being very different.

This book does an excellent job of worldbuilding and describing how alien worlds interact. It also does not assume human superiority which is refreshing. Humans are not the center of the universe. I am looking forward to the next book in the series. I hope they add a few more alien cultures to the mix.

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession by Alison Hoover Bartlett.

This is the story of John Charles Gilkey a man who repeatedly goes to jail for stealing antiquarian books. It is a story of obsession and moral flexibility. Mr. Gilkey loves books to the point where he wants to build a giant collection of them. He believes this will give him prestige and make him into a gentleman of leisure. It is very much in line with him talking about how collected the comic book Richie Rich when he was a child. Gilkey's self delusion is easy to spot.

The story is one which weaves through the antiquarian book world. It follows John Gilkey as he goes in and out of prisons for stealing classics. The methods of the book thief are described in detail, everything from stolen credit card numbers, ebay transactions, wet yarn, and conning people out of their beloved property.

We travel through the world of the antiquarian book fairs and stores mostly in California and New York. John Gilkey's nemesis is Ken Sanders who maintains a database of stolen books from various antiquarian dealers. He has the nickname "bibliodick" for his attempts to hunt down book thieves. The world of antiquarian book dealers is one of extreme love for old books. For some, it is more important to have books in their stores than sell them. There is a word for the most extreme kind of book love, bibliomania.

This book is entertaining. It is a story of out of control compulsions. Gilkey is so obsessed with books that he is often more knowledgable than many of the dealers he steals from.

Threaded throughout the book are anecdotes about the history of book thievery and the antiquarian book trade. There is of course some material on stealing library books and the problems encountered with special collections of books in museums and libraries. A quote aptly describes how many bookstore owners and librarians feel about book thieves.

For him that stealeth, or borroweth and returneth not, this book from its owner... let him be struck with palsy, & all his members blasted... Let bookworms gnaw his entrails in token of the Worm that dieth not, & when at last he goeth to his final punishment, let the flames of Hell consume him forever. -- Anathema in a medieval manuscript from the Monastery of San Pedro in Barcelona. This is one of the opening quotes in the book.

Much of this book comes from face to face interviews. Alison Hoover Bartlett visits John Gilkey while he is in and out of jail. She goes to Ken Sanders shop. Some of the antiquarian booksellers are upset with her about talking to John Gilkey. There is a set of notes for each chapter. These include numerous references to authors and librarians she has interviewed. There is also an index.

A lot of the antiquarian book world is built on trust. The idea that you can look at, inspect, and have full access to the provenance of a particularly valuable books history. But, like so many objects, it is often hard to authenticate where a book has come from and whether things are authentic. It is also built on love of books. There are very few fortunes made this way.

This book also reveals the place of nostalgia for books in our lives. It does a good job of explaining why we may want to have a book which we owned as a child, or build our own collection of material on a specific interest like poetry, science fiction, or art.

I found this book to be very insightful. It will be of special interest to those who work with books or are bibliophiles. That John Gilkey is caught and many of the books he has stolen are returned to their owners is satisfying.

The Cartoon History of the Modern World Part 2 From The Bastille to Baghdad by Larry Gonick

The Cartoon History of the Modern World Part 2 From The Bastille to Baghdad by Larry Gonick

This book is the final book in a long running series of cartoon histories by Larry Gonick. I remember reading the first one when I was in high school. They made history very entertaining. The cartoons drawn by Larry Gonick did not leave out the juicy parts of history; intrigue, thievery, murder, affairs, and human foibles that were not often in the high school textbooks. The way he describes history leaves no group spared. He is out to expose humanity in all its glory from every corner of the globe.

I found the first half of the History of the Modern World to be better than the latter half of the book. Larry Gonick seems to do a better job with the older history. I think this is because he uses a lot of primary source material. History before World War I is less open to interpretation, partially because most of the people from that time period are dead. The second half of the book includes many people who are still alive.

There is a definite slant to the left in this book, especially in his coverage of the Vietnam war and the war in Iraq. However, he does not spare any group when he writes about them. He writes about China, Indonesia, France, Austria, the United States, Nigeria, the Congo, Colombia, and places all over the globe. He attempts to skewer every group when he does his cartoons.

His description of the cold war is different than most. He describes it in a much larger historical perspective which springs from colonialism and earlier history. His take on Russia, China, and the United States is quite interesting. There is quite a bit on the rivalry between Mao and Stalin. Neither communism nor capitalism are spared for their philosophical background.

The subjects in this book are quite diverse, they cover the globe, the Ottoman Empire, Imperial Japan, the end of the slave trade, Napoleon Bonaparte, Stalin, Nixon, World War II, the war in Afghanistan, and many other subjects are covered. He tends to focus on specific incidents where great personages are involved in conflict. This makes the story interesting. The book is meant to be an overview not in depth coverage.

The drawings are in black and white with a traditional panel layout. Many of the panels are annotated and there is a lot of dialogue between historical figures. This often includes historical quotes portrayed in a humorous manner. In addition to larger page layouts, he sometimes include smaller stretches of the panels covering a short incident during a historical time period at the bottom of the pages. Absolutely everything is backed up with an extensive bibliography which includes primary source material and classic historical texts.

There is also an extensive index. The cartooning is excellent. Between chapters he uses the device of a time machine and a professor to explain some of his decisions in cartooning each chapter. The Cartoon History of the Universe Part III won the Harvey Award for comics which is very prestigious in the comics industry. Larry Gonick has also written a wide variety of nonfiction cartoon books, The Cartoon Guide to Statistics, The Cartoon Guide to Sex, The Cartoon History of the United States, and many others. His website is at http://www.larrygonick.com/

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Leviathan combines alternate history with steampunk. It is a young adult novel which can easily reach a more general audience. It is 1914, the Britsh are Darwinists manipulators of life threads, the dna which Darwin discovered. The Austrians are Clankers masters of steam driven clockwork machinery. The world is tilting towards war between the two factions. It is a story of extremely different worldviews.

The setting alternates between a giant hydrogen filled whale airship, the Leviathan which is British and a young Austrian noble, Aleksandar Ferdinand who is on the run.

The book is beautifully illustrated with finely detailed black and white drawings. Many are full page with pictures of steam driven mecha, ladies in bowler hats, airships, and other images. The images convey a mix of the future and the past. Keith Thompson did the artwork.

The two teenage main characters are very likable, Deryn Sharp, a teenage girl disguises herself so she can be an airship cadet. When Aleksandar and Deryn Sharp meet we get an interesting clash of cultures.

The historical details mesh well with the fantasy details. There is an afterword in the book which explains what is historical and what is fantasy.

There is very wide spacing between lines, wide margins, and a non-standard font Hoefler Text. Even the chapter headings look nice. This makes the book a pleasure to read.

Scott Westerfeld wrote the Ugly series which was a New York Times bestseller. Leviathan is on the current Locus Magazine bestseller list.

I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series when it comes out.