Fall 2009 Books
4:38 pm November 18th, 2009Several of these are from the science fiction course my partner Jesse is teaching this semester; I decided to read along with the syllabus. Getting (back?) into scifi has been really rewarding so far, and I feel inspired to check out more science fiction writers (suggestions? leave a comment!).
- The Soloist - Steve Lopez - For book club. A Los Angeles journalist’s true account of his friendship with a schizophrenic homeless man who is also a brilliant musician. Brings up a lot of difficult, unsolved issues about the best ways to help people who are severely mentally ill.
- Galatea 2.2 - Richard Powers - A sci-fi novel about creating a computer program that can read and understand literature. The book itself is fairly literary in style — and occasionally a little overwrought (the protagonist is kind of emo, and named after the author(!)) — but does pursue some interesting ideas about the role of literature in the formation of a personality. As with most sci-fi that deals directly with Artificial Intelligence, I was irked by the implausibility of the programming process; I know I should be able to suspend my disbelief, but for some reason I have a hard time with that.
- Orphans of the Sky - Robert Heinlein - Is this Hisland?? Women are basically invisible in this young adult adventure story set in a society (in space!) where women are literally property. This book is kind of hilariously bad, actually.
- Nudge - Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein - A sensible, engaging economics text. The basic premise is that many economists analyze the world as though everyone always acts totally rationally — but in real life, humans don’t think through every decision that carefully, and are influenced by default options/where on the shelf a product is/what it seems like everyone else is doing. The authors propose a philosophy of “libertarian paternalism”: they believe people should be able to make their own choices about almost everything (hence libertarian), but that since people will be influenced by the way the choices are framed and structured, governments (or other organizations) should try to structure the defaults and the presentation of the options so that people will be more likely to choose a “good” option (hence paternalism). I like their combination of sensible economic analysis with acknowledgement that people are human and influenced by subtle “nudges” whether they consciously realize it or not. And it’s always fun to read books by University of Chicago economists who use restaurants I know in their examples :).
- Her Smoke Rose Up Forever - James Tiptree Jr. - OK, so this is a short story collection, and I’ve only gotten to a few so far. But so good. Tiptree was actually a woman writing under a pen name, and her stories have something of a feminist slant. They combine imaginative explorations of gender, sex, and technology with emotional nuance and an incredibly compelling writing style.
- Gateway - Frederik Pohl - From the seventies. Alternates the protagonist’s space explorations (using an ancient technology that humans don’t understand) with his sessions with an electronic psychiatrist; explores issues of choice and agency.
- Engine Summer - John Crowley - This book is a lot of fun! Like Gateway, it depicts a society of humans making use of technology left over from a more advanced civilization; however, the tone and attitude are completely different. Where Gateway depicts a barren earth and a bleak future focused on capitalism and scarcity, Engine Summer describes a happy group living commune-style, who have forgotten what money even is, and traces the protagonist’s coming-of-age journey in lyrical terms. This book really draws you into its world — and its world is a fun place to be!
- Murder Yet to Come - Isabel Briggs-Myers - A mystery novel written by one of the originators of the Myers-Briggs personality typing system. It’s fairly cheesy — almost a parody of the traditional British country-house mystery — but includes some fairly sophisticated fleshing-out of the characters’ personalities, which makes it a pretty good read. It’s fun to guess the characters’ types, and their respect for each others’ differing skills and interests links thematically to the objectives of the Myers-Briggs system (Gifts Differing is Briggs-Myers’s most famous book).
- Neuromancer - William Gibson - Ick. I know I’m supposed to like this book — it’s cyberpunk! I’m a hacker! — but this is the second time I’ve read it, and I just can’t get into it. The technology is inconsistent, and the author fails to explore its potentially interesting social ramifications; the characters are bland, and their motivations uncompelling; and the plot, which is supposed to be epic, just didn’t seem to mean much.
- Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ichiguro - Another sci-fi book. I loved this! This is a gripping, suspenseful, emotionally powerful tale. It’s really well-written, and it’s a subtle take on some very interesting and difficult social and ethical issues.
- Skinny Legs and All - Tom Robbins - For book club. As a story, it’s a fun read, with some magical realism thrown in (like a can of beans that ponders religious history). But it’s a little overwritten, and longer than it probably needs to be. Robbins explains his metaphors in detail and tries to use the book to convey some somewhat dubious philosophical ideas, saying that a lot of what humans do is just a “veil” over the real truth. (Not very pragmatic of him!)
