Antimatter Blues

Antimatter Blues: A Mickey7 Novel, Book 2 by Edward Ashton

The Mickey7 series continues to show it's Ender's Game influence. The first book witnessed contact and "victory" over the hive-mind aliens. In this second one, the hero attempts to better befriend and understand the aliens.

Mickey had told the gruff colony leader that he had made a truce with the aliens and given them the antimatter bomb. This has bought him his freedom and the end to "death missions" as an expendable. However, he didn't mention the whole story. While he had given them the bomb, he later asked for it back and then hid it under a rock in one of the alien caves.

Two years later, the colony runs into energy problems. He is asked to get the bomb back from the aliens to use as a power source. He is conflicted. He feels he could go pick it up, but this will reduce the leverage that he has. He and his girlfriend eventually decide to get it, however it is not there. They reach out to the aliens and finds they have traded it to another group to the south. After negotiations (which go south in due to the forwardness of his girlfriend), they  get one alien to come with him to try to get it back.

Half the novel consists of the quest to get the bomb back. They get a few people from the colony to accompany them. Mickey's friend Berto has a paragliding device that comes in handy. They try negotiations and eventually use warfare to defeat the aliens and get the bomb back. Mickey is willing to be an expendable again to inject the bomb's fuel into the power reactor. However, before he can do it, the colony leader loses his life doing it.

The "fights" are fairly typical. The sentient life on the planet are two primary species. One is the friendly aliens that adapt to many different shapes using metal and other sources. The others are parasitic and have adapted to the lifestyle of the friendly aliens. They are both "hive"-type live forms that think of most of their members as ancillaries that are somewhat expendable. They also have fairly developed technology and are able to learn human language by monitoring radio transmissions. However, they do have difficulty understanding concepts that are foreign to them.

The Last Shadow

I had gone through most of the original Ender's Game series pretty close together. I wasn't super engaged with the first book, but I really liked were things went with the end and into the other books in the series. The post-formic wars exploration of the universe made for great stories. I also enjoyed the Ender's Shadow. Recently, I've listened to the new Formic Wars novels. However, it has been a while since I've listened to the core series. These events were not very familiar to me. I had some trouble getting engaged with this novel.

In this book, humanity, despite being spread across multiple planets, finds itself in danger of extinction. There is a virus that can do bad things. The progeny of the original heroes are here to save humanity. A computer version of the former battle school leader is also here to help. They travel to a planet with sentient birds and underground humans. Eventually they discover more about the virus and with the help of the hive queen's slugs, are able to recover from it. 

I had trouble getting engaged with how all the plot points tied together. On one hand, it was said to be something of universal importance. But on the other hand, there only seemed to be a small number of people that cared about what was going on. I was most interested in the relationship with the different sentient beings on the planet that they were visiting. My favorite part of the book was Card's afterward. I love his behind the scenes look at how and why he wrote it and what interested him. The audio production of the audiobook was also excellent.

The Hive: The Second Formic War, Book 2

The Hive is the second book in the second Formic War series. This is yet another "Ender's Game" book. Card has really milked his seminal work for all it has. (Though it would be nice if he would actually finish some the series that he has left hanging, such as Alvin Maker.) There are a number of subplots floating around. There is the pirate who gets captured by the Formics and is then used as a science experiment. (I could just see this going bad.) There is the young married couple zipping off separately in space to help with the war effort. Then there are the military people. We have a lunar refugee crisis. And then there is bureaucratic incompetence. A central theme is that military and political people can be good, but most of them have their own motives that are not necessarily in the best interest of the organization as a whole. Chain of command can often separate those with needed information from those that act on it. The "hegemone" seemingly knows everything. He and his song both have the best interests of themselves and the world at heart, though they sometimes seem corrupt. They also seem to magically know exactly how things are going on. The "good guys" always seem to have just a little more brains and intuition than would be humanly possible. The book also devolves at times into long political episodes before picking up again. It wraps up a lot of the key plot points, but leaves open plenty more for the next book.

Children of the Fleet

Children of the Fleet takes place after the conclusion of the formic wars. The world is celebrating a great victory. However, they are still not sure if another onslaught is coming. There is some effort made to colonize other planets as "insurance policy". However, most of the world is more concerned about internal affairs. Dabeet Ochoa is child prodigy in the vein of Ender who wants to finagle his way into the "fleet school". He learns that being the smartest kid around will not get him anywhere. He needs to learn how to work with others, both accepting their instructions and helping them to achieve on their own. He eventually gets to prove himself in a real life situation. Like other Card books, the characters just "know" what needs to be done and have elaborate plans to help get other people to do it. It makes for good entertainment, but sacrifices believability. Perhaps as a payback, we get to know about Dabeet's parentage while he has not yet figured it out. (But if he can figure out everything else, why can't he figure this out?)

The Swarm: The Second Formic War (Volume 1)

I didn't realize this series of books could fit in the Endger's Game timeline. I had thought that the first Formic War was immediately followed by Ender's Game. However, there is the matter of Mazer Rackham having been traveling through space to be able to talk with Ender, so I guess it makes sense. This books feels like the previous Formic War series. There are some people that see what is going on. Those with power don't believe them and dilly dally until it starts to get too late. Most leaders are greedy and really in it for their own benefit. They feel threatened by people that are more capable precisely because they are more capable. The "heroes" are crazy smart, but suffer from self doubt and can be a little bit too humble. (And how is it, that the Aliens always happen to be near mining ships that know how to identify them?) Mazer is ignored and in trouble with the military. Young Jukes is working hard and tries to do the right thing, but not ruthless like his father. Victor can fix anything and is brave enough to go into space. His fiance enlists in the military and soon finds herself in command of their now commandeered mining ship. Everyone seems to understand the political reason for their actions - except for the politicians themselves.
The author's seemed to go all George Lucas on the story. In the afterward, they acknowledged that there was not a whole lot of detail on Mazer in Ender's Game. Thus, they got to make an entire backstory to fulfill a couple small, nearly throwaway lines. It must have been a lot of fun to write the story. In reading it, you know how the main arc will turn out, but there are still plenty of sub-plots to keep things interesting. There are obviously going to be a few more books in this series.

Earth Awakens (The First Formic War)

Two gung-ho youth bankrolled by a billionaire's son infiltrate an alien ship and make a plan to defeat it. Through the help of a crack military team (MOPS), they are able to go back and use the ship's weapons and some A-team type ingenuity to defeat the alien formics.

Like the other books in this "first formic war" series, this is all action with just enough plot and character to cause conflict and keep things moving along. (This just leads itself to a Jerry Bruckheimer/Michael Bay summer action flick.) And in the action vein, it ends with a character discovering that this alien ship was only a scout ship that split off from a huge armada.

The "good" characters in the book always seem to know what to say and how to lead the other characters. The only real growth in character we see comes from the billionaire's son. He wants to be appreciated and wants to help, but he has trouble distinguishing between friend and enemy (and acting appropriately.) It is almost painful to watch him because we always know who will be good or bad (because the other characters are so black and white.)

The story is a fun quick read, but not something worth investing a lot of time.

Earth Afire

This is the second of the Ender's Game prequels. Very little attempt was made to make this book "stand alone". It starts with the attempted warning of the Formic invasion and continues on with the invasion, ending on a cliffhanger with an attempt to stop the Formics.

The novel follows a few distinct characters. We have Mazer Rackham in China. He seems to be near death a few times, but we know from Ender's Game that he will survive. We also have Victor Delgado and his attempt to fight through red tape to warn the earth. He only succeeds by working with the evil conglomerate that helped destroy his livelihood and kill a family member. The story pulls in a few tear-jerkers as well as a nuanced social relationships. (Good guys show their bad parts, and bad guys show their good sides.

I wonder how much each of the authors contributed to the story. Usually, when a story is credited to a famous author and a not-so-famous co-author, I assume that the co-author did most of the work, with the author merely lending their name and perhaps the "big idea" for the story. This story does, however, seem to adhere closely to Card's writing style. Perhaps Johnston is really good at mimicking, or Card really did have a lot of involvement in the writing. I just wish they would finish the whole thing, rather than leaving it on a cliffhanger with a "yet-to-be-released" next book. (And Card has the nasty habit of losing interest in his series before tying things up. (cough) Alvin Maker.

Shadows in Flight

Three kids are in a spaceship with their dad. They find an alien spaceship. The "domesticated animals" on the ship have gone wild and most of the aliens have died. The humans make peace, eliminate the wild animals and settle on the nearby planet with the aliens. The dad dies.

Pretty simple, eh?

Things get more interesting. The kids are 6 year-old super-geniuses. Dad is a super genius himself, who will die from gigantism in his 20s. The alien race had attempted to take over the earth. The humans, in turn, had wiped out nearly the entire alien race. Dad had participated in the war hundreds of earth years ago. They have been traveling at relativistic speed for a few years as earth has aged significantly. They are trying to find a cure for their gigantism, while still preserving their super intelligence.

Did I mention this fits in with Card's famous Ender series?

This is a shorter novel that is fast-paced and psychological. We see the "formics" as being subservient and gunning. The "queens" can choose to produce workers or drones. The workers seem to have no mind of their own and to follow the queen blindly. (This was the message that they first gave the humans.) However, they do have independence. However, the queens have altered their cellular structure to cause them to die if they dare try to separate from the queen (or even offer a differing opinion.)

The children are stuck in an awkward position. Mentally, they have intelligence that exceeds that of most adults. However, they are still physically and emotionally children. They may even "know" of proper emotional response to situations, but doing it can still be a challenge.

Earth Unaware

If you try to read Earth Unaware as a stand-alone book you will be disappointed. It ends seemingly in the middle of a great invasion of earth. There is an entire subplot about ultra-special military commandos that has absolutely nothing to do with the main plot.

Yep, this is obviously the first in a series. From the author's web site, the sequel has been completed for sometime, but is just waiting for a later release.

This is also geared at fans of the Ender series. We get the first look at the "Formics" and their invasion of earth. We also view a young Mazer Rackham. He would later go on to be a mentor and an important figure in the formic wars in Ender's Game.

The story in this book centers around a "free mining" ship that is mining an asteroid. They happen to spot something unusual in the distance that looks like an alien spacecraft. However, they just sit on the information. It just so happens that some evil corporate types want to test some of their weapons by blowing up the same asteroid. They bump the miners off the asteroid, destroying their communication equipment and hurting a miner in the process. The miners are now drifting through space, trying to rendezvous with another ship. However, when they get there, they find the ship is destroyed. They hunt for survivors (and find a few). They also have a live encounter with some of the formics. Now, they really need to tell the world. To do so, one boy goes back to the moon in a cargo ship, while the main ship eventually hooks up with the evil corporates and some "nice corporates" to try to battle the formics. They are not successful, with one ship destroyed and the others leaving. Eventually, the boy (Victor Delgado) makes it to the moon, but gets caught in bureaucracy. He tries to post the "alien video" on the nets - but we are shown lots of "fake video" making it seem unlikely they will succeed.

The book centers primarily around Victor. However, the most interesting character is Lern Jukes, the nominal captain of the corporate ship. He is the heir to the corporate fortune. However, he does not feel respected by his father. He wants to show a successful mission. However, he is constantly torn between doing what is "right" and what will bring "corporate success". He finds himself often justifying behaviors that he knows are "wrong". Yet, he has difficulty bringing out a full justification. He is upset that the crew seems to disobey his orders, often killing people or letting men die in the name of his safety. (However, it usually turned out that if they wouldn't have done that, everyone would have ended up dead.) In the end, he discovers that he is not even in control of the ship - his father had set up the security officer as the one ultimately in control.

All in all it is a good "first act" of a thriller. There is not a whole lot of "deep meaning" here. For the first part in a trilogy, there are not a whole lot of loose ends. (It seems the formic ship does a good job of blowing away potential loose ends.)

I wonder how much of the book was by Card, and how much by Johnston. My gut says "This is Card's Universe", so Johnston probably wrote the majority, with Card only helping out to give it some credibility. I can see him saying. "Yo! Scott! This Ender movie is coming out, and you have people hungry for more, and you are stuck creating new universes. Here is my idea for the prequel. You make some edits and lets release it." Card then rewrites a few sections and the book fits in with his style and it gets released in a hurry.

It does fit well with Card's style. I like almost everything that he has written, but love very few. He is a good "safe" author. I'm not likely to be overly disappointed. While I read plenty of science fiction in the 80s and 90s, I never read any of Card's SF work. However, at the time, I had known of him well, and read many of his works. I remember a Mormon humour book and a few good articles in Commodore 64 computer magazines like Ahoy! It wasn't until a few decades later that I heard somebody mention "Orson Scott Card" as one of the science fiction writers they really loved. Hmm... (However, the person wasn't somebody that I tended to have common tastes, so I brushed it aside until later.) Ender's Game was ok. It wasn't awful, but didn't drive me to read more. However, Speaker for the Dead was great, and that got me on the whole kick.

At the end of the Earth Unaware audiobook, there is a brief interview with Card. He mentions that he is a huge fan of audiobooks. (I share that with him.) He also mentioned that his favorite authors are Jane Austen and J.R.R. Tolkien. (I definitely don't share that with him. Those are the two most sleep-inducing authors I have attempted to read.)

Shadow of the Giant

As a teenager, it seems that the whole world revolves around your personal relationships. What if it really did? What if teenagers did control the world? What if the smartest kids in the world were all identified ("nature") and then given specialized training ("nurture"). And after that, they all go on to save the world before hitting puberty.

What would their life be like as teenagers? They know they are smarter than their elders. In war, they even have more experience than their elders. But, they still lack some of the experience with personal relationships. They can find themselves manipulated by others that seem to be working in their best interest.

But what about a chance to just have fun?

In Shadow of the Giant, Card continues the Ender's Shadow series with a story of great world wars. Nearly all major leadership positions are held directly (or indirectly) by teenage graduates of "Battle School". They all seem to be "perfect" in their military thinking (unless they let things get to their head.)

In the end, the eruption of war is the impetus needed to create a global overseer ("The Free People of Earth") that creates world peace. (Though, perhaps having colony ships being sent out could serve as an even more important factor in enabling them.)

The most significant fault in this book is the "perfection" of the Battle School grads. They all know they are the best, and their plans just don't fail. On the other hand, they are idiots. Petra gives birth to a child, and finds two of her kidnapped in-vitro infants. She is extremely attached to them. However, when they find more of their children and their husband leaves, she stays away from her infants for a year. How can somebody be that vindictive?

Bean's departure sets out a scenario for a potential sequel. He goes on a long near-light speed voyage in an attempt to prolong his life. He has a genetic defect which causes him to be extremely intelligent and keep growing, but also die around age 20. Thus he traveled with their children that had the defect in an attempt that there would be a cure in the 'relativistic time' that he was gone.

On a side plot, the evil scientist that "created" Bean was also attempted to create a virus that would inflict everyone with Bean's "symptom". That could create the ultra-teenage world. Everyone would be super intelligent, but would die at the end of their teenage years. Society might actually gain intelligence, while limiting population. Hmm... A world of kids and teenagers. I guess that would make the 19 year olds the "geezers" in the society.

Shadow Puppets

Shadow Puppets has a much better story than its predecessor (Shadow of the Hegemon), however, it suffers from a weak points.

In this novel, the world Hegemon (Peter) kidnaps the villain Achilles during a prison transfer in China. However, bringing him on board causes most of his closest allies to depart. He thinks this is fine because he thinks he can "control" him, and has plenty of network monitoring software in place. However, it turns out that Achilles is really controlling them psychologically and using the position to his benefit. In the end, however, with some help, they are able to cause Achilles to overreach, leading to his isolation and eventual downfall.

Meanwhile, our hero, Bean, aligns himself with the Arab Caliphate in the planning for their war against the Chinese empire. He also gets married and attempts to have "normal" babies through in vitro fertilization. One is implanted in his wife (Petra). However, others are stolen by those allied with Achilles.

Its not that bad for a storyline. However it is the details that bring the book down. At one point Bean is described as having a child's ability to absorb new languages. However, despite living in Damascus and hanging out with Arabs, he does not seem to understand a lick of Arabic. The initial encounter between Petra and Ali (the Arab Caliph) also comes across as somewhat unbelievable. Then there is the final scene where Bean kills Achilles. Ugghh. The violence and fast pace help to bring down Bean's character (though it does eliminate a character that has become annoying.) Bean and Petra's willingness to trust a doctor they both know is a scoundrel is far fetched. (Especially since the trust is in place in part to overcome a marital disagreement.) There are also a lot of dumb luck that helps our "heroes" get out of quandaries. (For instance, Bean happens to prefer an Indonesian cabbie over a smoking Dutchman)

On the positive side, there is significant growth in the relationship between Peter and his parents. The parents finally come alive, showing their intelligence, and playing a key role in getting Peter out of a mess. Bean and Petra have one of the first "youthful" romances in the series. (Though of course it is very cerebral, and they seem to suddenly end up married.) Overall it works fairly well, and seems to have plenty of threads left open for a sequel.

First Meetings in the Enderverse

First Meetings contains four novellas related to the "Ender" saga. The first two are stories about Ender's parents, the third is the original "Ender's Game", while the finale describes Ender a few centuries after Ender's Game.

I liked the Ender's Game novella much better than the original Ender's game. This is somewhat surprising, since the short story leaves out all my favorite parts of the novel. However, the short version is fast paced, and doesn't have the excessive violence of the novel.

Ender's home and family life and his relationship with the "buggers" are completely absent in the short version. Thus, without reading the long version, it would be difficult to place the 4 stories here together.

The first two stories about Ender's parents do flow together nicely. In the first one, we meet Ender's father as a precocious five year old. In the next one, "Teacher's Pest", his father and mother meet as a anti-establishment geniuses at college. This contains some interesting ideas on population control. In the story, limiting family size is seen as a way of encouraging instability in governments, even though it is outwardly proclaimed as a way to preserve resources. Ender's parents also realize their meeting may be a part of a government plan - but they don't care.

The final story deals with Ender and his sister Valentine as Ender becomes a "Speaker for the Dead" and meets Jane. This story alludes to many of the events in the full Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead.

The pacing of the short novellas seems just right. Card seems to be perfectly in his element here, getting his point across without getting bogged down with detail. While these stories could stand alone, they really require knowledge of the other novels in Ender's Game series to be fully appreciated.

Ender's Shadow

Ender's Shadow tells the same story as Card's earlier Ender's Game, only much better. I liked Shadow a lot, while I didn't care much for the earlier book. Perhaps part of it has to do with Card developing greater writing skills or having more time to think about his universe.

However, I think the characters are much more believable here. In Ender's Game, we are suppose to believe that Ender is a god-like five year old that seems to do everything right and save the world. His character always seems just a little too perfect to be a regular kid.

In Ender's Shadow, Bean is not a regular kid. He is the result of a science experiment gone awry that resulted in a child with superior intelligence (but a limited lifespan). It is much easier to identify with the super-intelligent escapades of a child that has been "enhanced". Furthermore, some of his activities (such as the choosing of Ender's "Dragon Team") help to better justify Ender's success.

The novel has its violence, but does not dwell on it, and the story is very well paced. It also does a nice job setting up some of the other books in the main Ender series (especially Ender in Exile.)

Ender in Exile

Over time, Orson Scott Card has become a much better writer. Ender in Exile elaborates on events that were described briefly at the end of Ender's Game. However, the storytelling and quality of writing are far better here.
Card's Ender series somewhat parallels the life of Ender himself. It started crude and violent, but then managed to twist itself in to a good caring story.
Ender has a few flaws in this book. However, it still portrays Ender as a little bit "too" good. He always seems to see exactly what needs to be done and how to do it. Other people's interference sometimes gets in the way, but it is often expected. How could a teenager (even a specially trained genius teenager) be this perfect? How could he not let his hormones get the best of him?
This novel also brings out further discussion of the concept of "age-prolongation". Ender's Battle-school leader had attempted to prolong his life and career by going in to 'stasis' for 10 months out the year. (However, it backfired in that he lost his position by being absent for so long.) People also make rounds at relativistic speed to prolong their lives. It seems that the ability to "live" for longer periods of time is well known, yet still seemingly not significantly acknowledged by the general public.
The "Gold Bugs" that are discovered on the Shakespeare planet also present some interest possibilities. Why not just "build" animals for all tasks that need to be done. Could people simply engineer more animals to do the work they need to be done. (Hmmm... We do have cows that mow and fertilize our lawns as well as providing milk. And when they are ready to die, they provide meat and leather... Maybe we already have come up with this.)

War of Gifts

"War of Gifts" is billed as a short novel in the Orson Scott Card's Sci-Fi Ender series. While Ender does play a role, sci-fi is fairly non-existent. Instead it is a simple human story of the longing for cultural and religious symbols. Ender himself is fairly cardboard, seeming to know exactly what to say and when to say it. The main thrust is the development of the character of Morgan Zeck, who grew up getting bit by his dad, a firebrand preacher. Morgan is on a quest to "purify" the battle school, and does so by an attack on Dutch Christmas traditions. The other Christians respond by giving gifts, and the Muslims respond by praying. The adults quickly bring a halt to all this, leaving Morgan even more isolated than he was before. At the end he confides in Ender and seems to have a more stable worldview. (The story abruptly ends here, so we are not sure exactly how it turns out.)

This book has a smidgen of additional background on some of the characters in the Ender series, however, it is mostly forgettable.

Children of the Mind

Orson Scott Card's Children of the Mind is the direct sequel (and second part) of Xenocide. It starts of pretty much right where the previous novel left off. The story seems to be brings the series in to an even more philosophical and moralistic vein. However, it is still full of good sci fi adventure and comedy. We have adventures with boisterous Somoans, spontaneous teleporting, corporate Japanese influencers, and souls popping out of bodies.

However, the human relationships are what really drives the book. The "science" allows exploration of avenues that would be impossible to truly know otherwise. What if you could only do what your subconscious truly desired? Would the love shown be enough to truly do what the conscious brain says it would do? Is it justified being cruel to somebody for their own benefit? What does it mean to love someone?

With the heavy character development and the worry about the death/rebirth of computer/human Jane, the potential annihilation of the planet by a startship fleet is given short shift. It seems to be tagged on to the end to bring some closure and feels somewhat artificial in its resolution. (However it does provide for a Dr. STrangelove-esque bit of slapstick.)

Xenocide

Orson Scott Card: Xenocide
Xenocide picks up right where Speaker for the Dead left off. The story telling is improved, and the content goes heavily in to science, religion and personal relationships.

Its interesting that this world, 3000 years after the first book is still substantially recognizable to people that were around thousand of years before. Catholicism still seems the same. Government has been similar for the past few thousand years. Even technology has not been significantly changed. Now imagine if we went back just a 1000 years. We would hardly recognize it. Go back 2000 years, and two of the largest religions do not even exist. How could these last for so many thousand years?

Though perhaps the stability of instantaneous communications along with the relative difficulty of long distance travel can serve to stabilize. The "life extended" power of near light-speed travel is known to everyone. However, nobody thinks that Ender would really be the same person from 3000 years previous. I wonder what would happen to ship captains and traders? They would travel a lot, and could easily come home to see their great great grandchildren. Were these so rare that they were not readily considered?

Though perhaps they can serve as a stability factor. A ship of people coming from another planet would have their time period in mind. They could help mix the past and the present together. The Beatles could go on a "worlds tour". However, while they might do home in 60s, they wouldn't get abroad until the 2010s. This could help reinvigorate the future and tie it more closely to the past.

The instantaneous worldwide communications could have a similar stabilizing impact. This could help keep a stability across all worlds. Since travel is difficult and time consuming, there would be a strong incentive to keep plugged in to the world and thus cultural evolution would be slowed.

These travel themes are in both this and the previous books. This book, however, goes in more detail to the binding of people, things and world. Different views of the creation and evolution of life are explored along with cultural tricks to encourage subservience. Ethics of species annihilation (xenocide) are explored. Is it ok to wwipe out an intelligent virus?

The end of the novel fairly nicely wraps most points up. It would almost seem to be a nice self-contained work if it weren't for a few key strands that were left open. These strands provide some of the greatest "weirdness" of the book, and also set it up for its second part. (The next book in the series, which was created by "chopping" what was a 300,000 word novel in to two.

Misc. Books: Salmon of Doubt, Waiting for Aphrodite, summary of Das Kapital

Sue Hubbell - Waiting for Aphrodite: Journey into the Time Before Bones (1999). This is part nature book, part narrative of life changes. She has intriguing account of a number of 'less-studied bugs' (such as rolly pollies and centipedes.) Parts of the book get a little slow. However, it does open up interesting questions about the interrelations in the ecosystem and the presence of 'superfluous' living things that are not needed for the survival of other species. She guesses that there may be very few of these, with perhaps man being the most notable. I would think otherwise - man's absence would surely have a negative impact on many of the domesticated plants and animals that would not be able to survive without his intervention. (Not to mention the many microorganisms and bugs that depend upon him.)

Louis Rekeyser - Karl Marx: Das Kapital.(1992)  This purports to be a brief summary of Marx's key work. However, it is more a critique of Marx himself and the shortcomings of his economic philosophy.

Douglas Adams - The Salmon of Doubt. (2002) The intro states that this book is essentially a posthumous dump of Douglas Adams' hard drive. The contents span a couple decades and include many great short essays. Most memorable are ones detailing the absurdity of driving law enforcement and critique of the multitude of "little dongly things (power supplies)". About half the book is devoted to the actual incomplete "Salmon of Doubt" book. This is easily the weakest part of the whole collection. Though it has funny parts, it is obviously not in a complete state and doesn't stand up to the great essays.


( These below are added to another post) 
Voltaire - Candide. Life is a Journey, not a destination. Everything that could possibly go wrong goes wrong, yet Candide remains an optimist. He even gives up on the city of gold and peace to try to find and marry the girl of his dreams. Through it all, he keeps on a face of naieve optimism. Alas, even that starts to go wrong, but he remains happy until he finally sinks in to a dull life on the farm. Finally the "lack of something bad" becomes the one thing that makes him question the "best of all possible worlds". It turns out that bad things actually kept life interesting. It is monotony that is the true bad.
Voltaire takes hilarious jabs at royalty, church hierarchy, society, and just about everybody. Its amazing that it survived all these years. As I was going through it, I kept hearing Bernstein's Candide overture in my head. So, I listened to the CD and ... well, I still don't have anything more than the overture going through my head.

Stephen E. Ambrose - Undaunted Courage. This is primarily a biography of Merriweather Lewis, with extensive coverage of the Lewis and Clark exploration. The superlatives and endless complements of Lewis get tiring. It reads more like a family tale, attempting to place the family member in the most positive light, with his adventures being the most important in the world. The laudatory prose gets very tiring.

Orson Scott Card - Speaker For the Dead
This is much better than Ender's Game. The story telling is much more "together" and riveting. It presents some interesting questions. Humans secure intergalatic peace, and in doing so bring their technological and social evolution to a veritable 3000 year stand still. When they do encounter other intelligent life, they look at it through there own condescending eyes. They don't realize that the others may have many abilities that they don't recognize. Furthermore, they also expose the futility of an "observe, not disturb" mantra in science. Any observation will lead to some change in the observed, even if the observer does not notice them.
Then there is the human interaction aspect. A quest to eliminate potential harm may bring about many external damages - while still letting the undesired harm take place.


Tom Stoppard - Arcadia
This funny play is filled with mathematical references, while at the same time taking jabs at literary critics and biographers. History is storytelling through the eyes of the historian. Their biases and time period can have a significant impact on the story that they tell. I think I'll be exploring other Stoppard plays.

Ender's Game

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Ender's Game has a great ending, which almost makes up for the rest of the book. I struggled to get through the start of this book. The writing seemed fairly vulgar and juvenile - almost as if it were written by the young children it was about. The general theme also seems overdone today. I was thinking Harry Potter as I read about the initial "trials" of Ender. He was a kid that adults expected to lead the military. However, he still wanted to find a way to make it through his youth. (To give credit, Ender's Game was written a decade before Harry Potter. Maybe it took a decade for authors to develop a more readable style.)

The part that I found most interesting was the story of Ender's two siblings. Their characters were much more richly developed. I found their subplot of attempting to take over the world through the "nets" more intriguing than the main plot of Ender's adventures in school. (The use of the internet makes this book seem like it was written more recently than 1986. However, the Soviet-American rivalry puts it squarely back in the cold war era.)

It is not until the end of the book that Ender finally starts to develop as a character. However, he suddenly seems to jump from being a young child to being an adult. (Though, I'm sure many children would love the opportunity to save the world by playing video games.)
The book does have some interesting ideas, however, those ideas may have been better off in the original short story.