Think SF is unemotional? Think again!
343612
Think SF is unemotional? Think again. An Android's Smile is a surprise with an ending that captures the poignant moment in the movie Blade Runner when tears mingle with the rain falling on Roy Batty, the android played by Rutger Hauer, as he muses about all that he's seen that a human can never see and appreciate. With AI looming on the horizon and movies questioning what it means to be human, this quiet little story packs an emotional punch that will make you remember it. I liked this so I looked for other stories by Mr. Taylor. I found none, so I think this must be a debut. If so, well done, Mr. Taylor. Count me in as a fan.
4868234
I can't help but notice that the idea for this book could have been taken - at least 90% or so - from an earlier series of stories by Larry Niven.

I won't speak to the creepiness of marketing a book about salvaging biological materials from living teenagers TO teenagers, and I expect from the reviews below this might make a good read.

But if you like this, you might want to check out SF stories written years ago by a master, dealing with the same dark visions, the same dark solutions to medicine and the demand for youth/health/beauty, and then to wonder why Bioethics isn't a bigger political topic these days.

<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Long-Arm-of-Gil-Hamilton/dp/B0019719L2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Long Arm of Gil Hamilton</a>
1097975
Bad!! Stupid!! Science Fiction and bad SF at that. Can't believe that so called 'intellegent' people could fall for such foolishness. Would rate book a -10 but rating doesn't go that low.
4063335
Like many people I wanted this book to succeed so I could point to a mainstream writer (who rocks at what he does best, mystery) that has big ideas about SF. Well, Mosley does have ideas, but the book does not deliver. Rather than blend the mystery and SF genres so much, what Mosley has decided to do, more or less, is create a book that raises big questions about race in the future of this country. This would also be pretty darn great if it succeeded too, but... While the future is a frequent realm of SF, Mosley has dealt a book that feels like it was written on a bet to see if he could get a publisher to buy an SF novel from a mystery star. Hmm.
Unlike some of the better works of Delany, Butler, and newer young black SF writers, Mosley's approach lacks a critical understanding of what makes an SF novel a philosophical novel (and quite unfortunately, this is exactly what he wants it to be, very very badly). Rather than unfold the whole plot for you to explain what I mean, I will let Mosley fans and SF read it on their own to decide if they agree.
If you are interested in these issues (race in SF)- check out  "Dark Matter", an anthology of African-American SF stories. There are some stories in there which top the effect of this book in a much smaller space.
573585
Sometimes you just need fun,  witty science fiction. This is that book.

 I love serious SF but I also love characters who are clever and witty in a fun adventure. SG1 vs BSG.
Often when I'm looking for fun books I find ones that try too hard to be funny--and it shows.  Some writers create characters that are too over the top to enjoy,  or situations that are crazy for the purpose of being "wacky which doest work for me.
In this book the crazy situations seem possible,  the human motivations seem realistic.

 People make both stupid decisions and smart ones.  As someone who gets tired of characters on TV shows or in books carrying The Idiot Ball " to move the plot forward,  it was great to see the opposite happen.

This smartness of character actions are especially nice to see in the female characters.  But they aren't all knowing asexual people either.  They have libidos and issues too.
And,  as a SF fan in all its forms,  the cultural references in the are fantastic fun.

  Several of my favorite lines in the book are based on the tweaking or mentioning of famous SF and Film Noire thrillers.

 One of the nice things about this is the author  recognizing that in any future encounter with aliens,  we will all be relating it to our current frame of reference--SG movies and TV.  To pretend otherwise is to ignore the impact SF TV,  movies and books have had on our current understanding of the universe.

Is the universe more like Star Wars or Star Trek? Aliens or Dr Who? We won't know until later this century what aliens are really like.  When we do,  I hope they have a sense of humor!

Buy and read this book.  It's like a mash up of your favourite SF,  adventure and thrillers all spliced together.

 I want more from this author!
2967312
According to Tyler Cowen, it's a great time to be alive. And who could disagree with that? Thanks to the digital economy we have more choices when it comes to what to consume and what to do for our work (although others like Barry Schwartz have argued that perhaps we have too many choices now). Anyway, Cowen's book, Create Your Own Economy, is largely about how to navigate this new world and the digital economy.

The book, however, veered wildly from what I expected.  The following quote from the preface is what I thought the book would be about.

In down times people exercise more, eat out less and cook more, and engage in more projects for self improvement and self education. Usage at public libraries is up and people are spending more time on the internet; once you've paid for your connection most of the surfing is free. These trends are more important than most of us realize and in this book I will tell you why. I will tell you why they are not just short-run trends but why they presage something much deeper about our future.

The book surely takes an interesting twist from the preface though. At the beginning of the first chapter, Cowen, who runs a popular economics blog called Marginal Revolution, states that a Marginal Revolution reader once asked him if he had Asperger's syndrome or high-functioning autism.

This question relates to one of the surprising, yet central themes of the book, i.e., autism. In one sense, the book can be read as a cultural defense of autism and with a focus on the general misconceptions about autism. I definitely wasn't expecting to read a book focused on autism when I picked this book up; however, I still enjoyed it. Cowen claims that autism is not a separate condition out there from which a few suffer, but rather it's one point on a scale he calls "neurodiversity". We all fall on this scale to varying degrees and I was surprised to learn that I actually have some autistic like tendencies. Near the end of the book, Cowen states, "Many autistics might in fact do better socially or in their careers if the world views them as "eccentrics" rather than autistics."

The other central theme of the book can be summed up by the claim that," Fundamentally the relationship between human minds and human cultures is changing." Cowen never uses the term, but he alludes to a world that is becoming a culturally predominant information economy. "Creating your own economy", then, is about thriving in the world of the internet and modern technology. The diversity of informational and cultural products available via technology is startling. Cowen, however, argues that this is a great thing that ultimately enhances our freedom and our experiences of being human. Of course, he also argues that the cognitive strengths of autistic individuals allow them to thrive in this environment.

This book touches on a wide gamut of topics from economics, psychology, metaphysics, epistemology, moral philosophy, and astronomy. The end of the book leaves you with an ambiguous sense of the book's ultimate purpose.
2581052
Not sure why it is, but inter species alien sex stories are not common in SF literature. Maybe the thought of doing the wild thing with bug eyed monsters scares the crap out of sedentary writers. Plus (and I include myself here), the topic is not likely to be very attractive to readers, either.

John Scalzi, rushing in where angels fear to tread, goes for the gusto in a short novella, and, you should excuse the expression, nails it. The result is very amusing and original. I periodically reread it and get just as much amusement each time as I did the first time.
3500778
Up until the 6th grade I only read biographies, fairy tales, encyclopedias,
dictionaries and class assignments.  SF was out because most SF movies of the
time were pathetic---from a science based background.  This changed when a female classmate gave a book report about "Have Space Suit Will Travel" in which she
said that the protagonists "Walked back to Earth(!)" from a crash on the moon.

I thought SF writers were dumb; but, not that dumb, so, I read my first SF novel.
My classmate was WRONG!  But, I was hooked on SF.

I read "Incredible Planet" in the 10th grade and was introduced to 'Planet
Busting' genre of SF.  I enjoyed one of the lead characters---Arn Munro---
1st human born on Jupiter with all the traits one would associate with a
human born on a heavy G planet.

Session up, gotta go.
"
277598
I found this book useful, containing some interesting concepts, but I couldn't help asking, "How could someone write a book about 'highly sensitive people' and not even mention gay people?  Was is oversight, inexperience or exclusion?
1394901
David Kirschner, Adoption: Uncharted Waters (Juneau Press, 2006)

I should probably start off by saying that this is not a book you really want to read if you're in the process of adopting at the time. Kirschner, a psychologist and expert witness in the field of Adopted Child Syndrome, looks at a number of case studies of adopted kids who kill, according to Kirschner, because they're adopted. Not a light and fluffy book by any means.

I will admit right up front that my prejudice against this book stems in large part from the fact that I am adopted myself, and that despite Kirschner's repeated emphasis that only a small portion of the subset of adopted children suffer from what he calls Adopted Child Syndrome, he seems to infer even more often that this "small subset" is much larger than we care to think. That said, I can't buy his initial premise here, which seems to stem from the old clich that blood is thicker than water-- that we have some sort of paranormal, or preternatural, bond with blood relatives. When children are placed for adoption, so the hypothesis goes, a psychic wound is created, and if it is not properly cared for, the adopted child can develop Adopted Child Syndrome, which can lead to your becoming the next David Berkowitz or Joel Rifkin (both of whom were adopted, of course).

Sorry, not buying it; family is those you choose to be with, not those you're stuck with thanks to heredity. In fact, I think that, aside from the fearmongering aspects, it's likely this book does more harm than good to its own cause; by continuing to perpetuate this idiotic "blood is thicker than water" idea, it also perpetuates the unconscious prejudice in the minds of those who still believe it, and thus furthers the continuing stigma of adoption (which Kirschner explicitly states he's trying to break down). In a society where the laws are still very clearly prejudiced against adoption, so we need more of it? Of course we don't.

Now that I've gotten all that out of the way, I will say that, divorced from its core premise, it's not a bad read. I'm a sucker for both case-study books and serial killers, and so there was a good deal of interesting reading here about some lesser-known cases. Even considering that, however, there is that ludicrous core premise, so take this book with as much salt as necessary. **
2212145
Of course you can't really write a review without mentioning SF, (given the history of the two bands) but give me a break, I simple can't stand Brian AT ALL. Dude sounds cheap and forgettable, as do his backing vocalists that couldn't write a catchy riff if their life depended on it. SF are nothing, I stepped in a pile of Dog crap and thought of them the other day.

ALL THAT REMAINS on the other hand are far from the pile I mentioned. I find that at anygiven time of the day, I have riffs running through my head from this new release. Not to mention that production wise this is the heaviest by far, not really too much different from the last release but it is HEAVIER-(somehow.)

As a guitarist, (which is a huge part of my beef with SF - cause again they SUCK) I find All That Remains to be on the top of their game. And the material is just honest. The stories are real and true to life, but then again SF could be, but I fall asleep before they ever get to their point.

There isn't one song on this disc that I don't love, but 1 - 2 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 9 & 11 are my favs, the rest are just my second favs.

SF is a history lesson Phil and ATR are present and FUTURE.
3495557
1. How one's credentials get you in the door, but still allow you to be fallible and self-deceiving.  That's why studies need to be repeated by others.  That's what happened with "cold fusion", and what has happened with EVERY study of ESP, precognition, and mediums. This one wasn't, and the critical independent reviews were ignored in the blind rush to publish.
2. How difficult it is to do good research.  On the surface, this looks to be a well-conducted study.  Even I was fooled, until I read the report of Ray Hyman, "How Not to Test Mediums", in the Jan/Feb 2003 "Skeptical Inquirer".  Over a dozen key rules of good research were broken.  Most telling is the failure of Schwartz's best medium, Laurie Campbell, to have greater than chance success with 6 "sitters", despite allowing the sitters to score their own readings.  The only sitter she succeeded with rejected every accurate statement in one reading that started by saying "this has female energy", not even accepting as a hit the name of his love partner who died, and accepted everything as an amazing hit in the other reading, which he assumed must have been for him, despite the fact that it contained none of the information she provided in a previous un-blinded sitting for him! Despite this negative result, Schwartz claims that the success with this one (of six) sitters PROVES his case.  Amazing!
3. The power of self-deception and self-fulfilling prophesies.  Watch how this review and every negative review of the book gets panned by other people, and every positive review of the book gets praised. Read the report of Ray Hyman, "How Not to Test Mediums", in the Jan/Feb 2003 "Skeptical Inquirer", and see how Schwartz ignores and rationalizes away all criticism of his sloppy techniques.
4. How you can't judge a non-fiction book by it's reviews.  It's so comforting to believe in an afterlife, in ESP, in fate, in external meaning to one's life, and so HARD to be a skeptic!  Do you think scientists enjoy having their work cut to shreds?  How much easier to believe your fantasies uncritically.
5. The danger of true believers publishing non-peer-reviewed books and articles, especially ones like Deepak Chopra's, who has now profited from an audiotape with Schwartz in addition to his millions from every quack therapy imaginable.
6. How true believers will ignore every critical study, including ones by scientists who STARTED as true believers and got disillusioned when they OPENED their minds, like Ray Hyman, Susan Blakemore, me, and Basava Premanand.  Mr. Premanand has devoted his career to investigating the claims of Indian gurus, yogis, and fakirs, and has found not one "miracle" that he couldn't perform himself using the knowledge of physiology, chemistry, and sleight-of-hand.
7.  How most skeptics and scientists, if given one wish, would say something like Mr. Premanand said, "I'd like to witness a real miracle before dying".  Houdini spent his last years trying to communicate with the dead, and discovered that every medium was a fraud.  Unfortunately, Dr. Schwartz has done great damage to science and common sense with this book, which only adds to the overwhelming pile of nonsense that people will read and gullibly believe.
3952156
I was very disappointed with this year's edition. Not all the stories were bad, but on average they failed, and many barely qualify for the label of "SF". Here's the stories:

"Infinities" -- supernatural math story about Hindu/Muslim relations in India
"This Peaceable Land; or the Unbearable Vision of Harriet Beecher Stowe" -- pointless alternate history story, not the barest shred of sci-fi
"The Unstrung Zither" -- fantasy story seemingly inspired by the children's show Avatar the Last Airbender
"Black Swan" -- pointless alternate history story in Italy
"Exegesis" -- great but short story about etymology
"Erosion" -- actual science fiction
"Collision" -- I couldn't actually understand what this story was about
"Donovan Sent Us" -- incredibly racist story that seems to propose that the Holocaust was good for the Jews
"The Calculus Plague" -- actual science fiction
"The Island" -- best story of the bunch
"One of Our Bastards is Missing" -- second best story of the bunch
"Lady of the White Spired City" -- actual science fiction
"The Highway Code" -- another great SF story
"On the Destruction of Copenhagen by the War-Machines of the Merfolk" -- this felt like reading some loser's LiveJournal, I hated this
"The Fixation" -- phoned in SF story
"In Their Garden" -- yet another post-apocalyptic story about something
"Blocked" -- political commentary, not SF
"The Last Apostle" -- fun nostalgic NASA-ish story
"Another Life" -- starts off like military SF then takes a turn for male prostitution, don't get me wrong, though: it's a good story
"The Consciousness Problems" -- morality story about clones, really phoned in
"Tempest 43" -- fun story offering subtle commentary on SF trends
"Bespoke" -- Decent story, but is's about time travel, and that genre is worn thin
"Attitude Adjustment" -- bland but classic-style SF story
"Edison's Frankenstein" -- terrible and pointless alternate history with a spice of unobtainium

So I have a really hard time rating a collection of short stories, because the good stories are good and should be read. But unfortunately, this collection both starts and ends with some pointless and forgettable stories, that overall left a very bad impression.

Further, I feel a special need to come back to Gene Wolf's "Donovan Sent Us", the racist and brain-numbingly bad story about an alternate version of WWII. I can't understand why anyone would include this story in any collection, it is offensive, stupid, and even without that, a bad story. Even more, it's not even slightly SF. Characters speak in cartoonish German accents, and the author's treatment of the Holocaust is insulting and racist. This story alone was enough to hurt my overall impression of this collection.
3494390
Well, at least now I know that I'm "abnormally intelligent". Evidently, "boredom" caused by the unintelligent (sneer, sneer) is my worst enemy. Evidently, to the author, running my own business is my best "salvation" to achieve "greatness" and thus avoid spasmic nihilism which comprises ineluctable Truth to us, the "abnormally intelligent". Hey, he's a "consultant" with "clients". One-note superficiality posing as superiority: feh.
4689456
After reading the back cover I was really looking forward to some SF that didn't consist of monsters, zombies, vampires and explosions.  In this respect, I was not disappointed.  There is nothing of what passes today as standard SF.  That being said, the four stories were not that good and not really all that SF per se.  I got the distinct impression of it being some film students attempt as opposed to a studio production.  The stories ended abruptly sometimes without much resolution.  The only SF aspect is that robots are featured.  I'm calling this a loss and tossing it out.
2158024
Fairly early we are treated to a feminist lecture when the protagonists meet. Then immediately find ourselves docking with an alien starship. No careful, close up data gathering, investigation, just straight to docking. During the maneuver we get to observe unprofessional behavior from NASA astronauts. This must be how a female writer imagines "drama" on a spaceship, but NASA astronauts are not bitchy women. Then we go on to a Harlequin Romance in a setting of SF cliches, with erm... different kind of "docking".

I buy SF written by Lois McMaster Bujold and Connie Willis, but "science-fiction" books by random female authors are consistently garbage. I took a chance on this book, but it reinforced my policy of avoiding female SF authors. Save your money.
2286466
I hate hipsters.
If possible I may even hate them more than hippies (I'm a metal-head from the 80's go figure.)
But I really hate the current trend of disposable celebrity, i.e. Today your as famous as Jesus tomorrow you are a nameless has-been as the mindless trend eaters move on to the next big thing.

Anyway, we are under siege by the cult of cool these days and quite frankly they are spoiling everything the world over. Being cool now over rides, common sense, responsibility and being a good  and decent person is NOT cool. Re-catagorizing the mentally ill as merely a lifestyle and not an illness, thus making their atrocious acts some how acceptable just shows how off kilter our current rating system for what is cool. Romanticizing criminals and the weasly creeps as "unique" individuals and forsaking your moral compass to prostitute your dignity is now the new cool because it's all "ironic" - get it?

I get it. I don't like it and thanks to the outspoken, gutsy verbosity of Gutfeld - my Spirit animal - I know I don't have to accept it and I can hopefully help ridicule them out of existence right alongside Greg. If not at least I can be comforted in my no-coolness and re-read Greg's soothing rant on these creeps.

 Bonus: Greg writes like he speaks so you get to enjoy his voice in your head while you read. :)