REVIEW: Foundation - Isaac Asimov

• Year first released:  1951
• ISBN of the edition I read:  9780380009145 (Mine is a particularly old edition. You can get the more current, "common" edition here.)
• Publisher of the edition I read:  Avon
• My rating (out of 5):  4

I know I'm late to the ball game on this one. Now sixty-seven years old, Foundation has been one of the most highly-regarded novels in all of science fiction. Better late than never, I suppose.

It's a bit of a stretch to call Foundation a novel, though. It is actually a series of five novellas, placed in chronological order, each of which takes place at least thirty years after the previous. Character names and points in the universe's history are referenced as the novellas progress, but they don't, per se, tell one cohesive plot. They are, rather, fragments from the history of the decline of the Galactic Empire, snapshots of events which ultimately add up to the empire's fall.

Though I have nothing against this sort of arrangement, there is a bit of a problem built in to it by default: each of the five stories is quite compelling, but needlessly brief. Overall, Foundation almost reads like an encyclopedia with only five entries. Sure, each novellas has a plot, characters, twists, etc., but all of these things are merely used to illustrate the encyclopedia-like entries, each of which effectively says, "Here are the events and key players around this moment in time, which play a part in the inevitable decline of the Galactic Empire." (A decline, by the way, which is not fully realized by the end of the book - not really a spoiler, so don't be concerned.)

That said, now that I've finished reading the book, I'm left feeling as though I haven't even scratched the surface of Foundation's universe. The characters stay only long enough to amplify their place in the historical timeline. There is virtually no backstory to any of the places, technologies, cultures, or ideals that come together to create the Galactic Empire, and precious little of these elements to indicate the empire's unavoidable decline. Foundation gives us these fragments, and very little else. In this way, we might even say that it reads like a scripture.

All of that sounds like a complaint, I'm sure, but I'm not certain if it actually is.

It's true that the fragmentary nature of the book as a whole left me feeling incomplete. The reason I felt this way, though, is because I knew there must be so much more to the story. And though I wish on the one hand that Asimov gave us this "more;" on the other hand, it says something profound about the writing and the universe-building that I can have such a longing for all of the missing pieces.*

This approach actually gives the story much more credibility than a book which seems as though it was built from the ground up. Foundation feels as though it was, instead, simply pulled out of a much larger, greater story that was already out there, waiting to be told, like Asimov is simply the one who happened to notice it and write it down for us. Certainly this is a powerful way to craft a story, one which is quite rare in literature.

Overall, the complaint is its own antidote, I think. Do I wish there was more backstory and development? Partially, yes. I was especially fond of the first of the five novellas - The Psychohistorians - and would love to read an entire novel based solely on that epoch of the Empire's history. And the wit of Salvor Hardin (the main character of the third novella, The Mayors) was so enjoyable that I'd like to read more of his antics.

Then again, Michael Angelo once said, "Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish.” Sometimes the longing is better than the completion. Sometimes knowing that there's more to be known is more profound than knowing everything. Foundation is a great example of this ideal.




(*Of course Foundation is only the first in a series. And though some parts of this nebulous "more" are bound to appear in other volumes, I believe that the point still stands - particularly if the other entries are told in the same fragmentary, encyclopedic fashion.)

REVIEW: Stories of Your Life and Other Stories - Ted Chieng

• Year first released:  2016
• ISBN of the edition I read:  9781101972120
• Publisher of the edition I read:  Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• My rating (out of 5):  technically, 3.5625 (you'll see why in a moment...)

You might remember from my blog on types of short story collections that Stories of Your Life is the example I gave for a collection of unrelated short stories.

It's actually rather difficult to give a fair rating to a collection of unrelated short stories. The stories are all so different. In this case, they're all sci-fi-ish, but that's really the only connection between them. No frame story, no recurring characters or themes, etc. How do you rate that overall? It wasn't so hard with The Stories of Ibis, because, even though that was a series of short stories as well, there was a gravity to that book which tied everything together. No such gravity exists in Stories of Your Life (which isn't a bad thing, of course: this is simply a different type of short story collection, one which doesn't call for such a gravity).

In fact, it's been a few weeks now since I've read Stories of Your Life, and I've tried more than once to sit down and attempt to write a review for you. I just couldn’t figure out the right way to do it, though. 

Now I decided I'll just start by saying that. 

The only things I can really say about the collection as a whole is that Ted Chieng is incredibly imaginative. His stories are highly unique and generally well-written. And, of the two stories that had unique settings (rather than, say, everyday modern cities), I quite enjoyed those settings.

That said, here's just a quick rating and glimpse of each individual story:

• Tower of Babylon - 3.5. Very cool premise, and the setting was positively outstanding. The ending was just a bit too vague to really drive the point home, unfortunately. (I had to read the last page about three times before I fully grasped the point/what was going on.)
• Understand - 2. Definitely the least interesting and inventive of the collection. It's basically Chieng's version of the 2011 Bradley Cooper movie Limitless (which isn't really a good thing - although, to be fair, Understand first appeared 20 years before Limitless).
• Division by Zero - 3. The way the pieces of the plot weaved in and out of each other was an interesting approach (and, personally, I love when authors use complicated mathematics in stories), but ultimately it felt a bit too unfocused to really be great.
• Story of Your Life - 4. This is the short story that the 2016 Amy Adams movie The Arrival is based on. Loved the ideas, and the word play was great. It didn't really prompt much of an emotional investment in the characters, though, which made it feel just a little bit more hollow than I would have liked.
• Seventy-Two Letters - 4. Steampunk meets Kaballah? - yes, please. I loved the premise and the setting. Overall a great idea, but it felt unnecessarily long.
• The Evolution of Human Science - 3. Actually a short essay (a very short essay) rather than a story. Though it was expounded decently, it didn’t cover any ground that was altogether that new.
• Hell is the Absence of God - 4.5. Definitely my favorite of the collection. It had a terrific theme and resolve, and touched a couple personal chords in me. (I'd consider explaining what those are, but they'd involve spoilers.)
• Liking What You See - 4.5. The most unique story of the collection in its tone, structure, and theme. The entire story reads like a documentary of a controversial - but clever - new technology, with various people and companies from all sides debating it. I appreciated how realistic the entire thing was - I could absolutely see this being a real documentary.

How can I give you an overall review of this? If I come up with the average score of everything, it comes out to 3.5625 – so there's that, I guess. But of course a review is much, much more than just a number. 

I could say something like, "Read all the stories that I rated X or higher," but that doesn't feel right either. On the one hand, I'd say that you'd be missing the least if you skipped Understand, but I also don't think it's reasonable to say, "If you only read one story out of this collection, it should be Absence!"  Partly, I'm suspicious that Absence is my favorite from the book precisely because I felt a personal connection to it, for my own reasons and experiences. And very likely you won't feel that connection. Also, I certainly wouldn't say that Absence is the most representative of the collection as a whole. Therefore, even though it's my favorite, it's not necessarily the one that I'd feel the most comfortable driving you towards, at the cost of the others. (If you're wondering, I'd say that Story of Your Life is, appropriately, probably the most representative of the book overall.)

At any rate, I enjoyed my time with Stories of Your Life, and could, in fact, see myself coming back to it down the road - even if I only pick out certain stories next time around. There are lots of great ideas in here that are worth spending time with. I'll certainly be happy to check out more of Chieng's work in the future.

REVIEW: The Stories of Ibis - Hiroshi Yamamoto

• Year first released:  2006 (Japan), 2010 (US)
• ISBN of the edition I read:  9781421534404
• Publisher of the edition I read:  Haikasoru
• My rating (out of 5): 4

When Ray Bradbury decided to pool a bunch of his already-published short stories together to give us a compilation, he picked 20-something of his stories that take place on Mars, gave them just a hint of an overarching story, and called it The Martian Chronicles. The problem with Chronicles is that it felt like exactly what it is: a bunch of disparate, older stories which Bradbury tried to tie together in a cohesive way. The stories are all good. The binding of them – the new frame story – was a mess, and didn't actually bring the pieces together in a meaningful way. 

The Stories of Ibis follows a similar structure: seven stories total, five of which were already published (two written newly for this book), with a narrative thread in between each that ties them all together.

Unlike The Martian Chronicles, though, Ibis comes together brilliantly. Reading through each of the stories, we can easily believe that each of them belongs in this collection, and that each of them actually holds weight in the frame story. Yamamoto accomplishes this through a deceptively simple means: rather that trying to pretend that each of the short stories is a literal, historical story for this universe, they are pieces of fiction which one character - an android named Ibis - tells to a human wanderer. Then, in between each telling, Ibis and the wanderer discuss the stories - their themes, their implications, how they would work (or not work) in their current reality. 

Is it cheating for Yamamoto to have approached it this way? Maybe. But it absolutely works. 

Each of the seven short stories – as well as the overarching thread – deals extensively with the theme of Artificial Intelligence: What is it really? Is it even worthwhile? Will we ever be able to create it? If so, will it be our undoing?

Yes, the topic of AI is one of the most oft-tread grounds in sci-fi. Despite this, Yamamoto’s humanistic approach and broad-reaching empathy give us a fresh perspective on the matter, with a plethora of insights - sometimes wonderful, sometimes tragic - along the way. 

Of course, as with any short story collection, some of the stories hold up better than others.

• The first story in the collection, The Universe In My Hands, is an intriguing beginning to Ibis' nights of storytelling, with a fun, meta- setup. 
• In its pure form, Black Hole Diver is probably my favorite of the collection, considering its beautiful imagery and philosophical depth. 
• The Day Shion Came (one of the two new stories) unfolds the most slowly, but about halfway through we realize that it's one of the most important pieces of the collection. 
• And, as might be expected, the final story, AI's Story (the other of the two new stories), displays the heaviest implications of the collection, tying all the pieces together in a moving, meaningful - and surprisingly optimistic - way.

Though I'm not often a fan of sci-fi, Ibis hit all the right notes for me. It is sci-fi in its most ideal form: here are stories with a purpose that wrestle with ideas beyond mere alien invasions and laser swords. Yamamoto has given me much to think about - more so than most other books I've read recently. 

REVIEW: The Martian - Andy Weir

• Year first released: 2011
• ISBN of the edition I read:  9781101903582
• Publisher of the edition I read:  Crown/Archetype
• My rating (out of 5): 2.5

The chronology of my experience with The Martian went something like this:

1. By the end of the first page, my impression was “Andy Weir likes his f-bombs.”
2. Around page 10, I was thinking, “I kind of wish Weir would dial back the non-stop jokes.”
3. 20 pages in, I was already telling my wife all the horrible things about Weir’s writing style.
4. …then somewhere around page 100 or so (which was not long at all later), I…got something in my eye…ahem…
5. …then, coincidentally, I kept getting things in my eye here and there throughout the rest of the book, and for some reason my heart was beating a little extra fast…
6. …and, finally, once I finished the book, in between sniffles (I mean: things in my eyes), I thought “Oh, thank goodness! 
7. …but Andy Weir sure likes his f-bombs.”

So then.

Ultimately, The Martian is a very exciting, suspenseful story – about our hero, Mark, trying to survive alone on Mars for a year and a half until rescue can finally come – mixed with a really off-putting style of writing. Oh, and lots of f-bombs* (have I mentioned those yet?) and exclamation marks.

Yes, on the whole, Mark’s incessant humor was a good counterbalance to the reality of the story. Without it, the book would have been a hopeless slog of grimness. On a more page-to-page level, though, the individual jokes definitely overstayed their welcome. 

Of course this begs the question: was Mark’s character just really consistent, or can we expect this style of humor in all of Weir’s novels? (Since this is his first, we can’t know the answer to this yet.) If this humor was designed specifically for Mark's character, I can accept that. It wasn't ideal, but we certainly don't have to like every aspect of a persona for it to be a well-crafted character. But if this style of humor is actually more Weir than Mark, I’m, frankly, going to shy away from Weir’s forthcoming books.

And speaking of characters: the protagonist is the only especially strong one (his humor aside). The others all seem to blend together a bit; I found the population of Mission Control especially hard to keep apart.

That said, there are a few things that Weir does right, and I don't want to ignore those. For example:

• The book is highly thrilling and very well paced. I was rooting for Mark all along, desperately wanting this to end well for him. 
• It's clear that Andy Weir is a literal genius, which is fun to be around (even if only vicariously, via a book). The situations he creates - and the solutions to them - are sheer pleasure for the intellect. This might have been my favorite aspect of the book, in fact.
• Some of the jokes are legitimately quite funny. Probably no more than half, but they're there. 
• And, importantly, it's incredibly rare that sci-fi is handled this realistically, which makes me appreciate The Martian that much more. (Not that sci-fi needs to be realistic, of course, but it's certainly a nice change-up to have on occasion.)

That said, it wasn't all bad. It was a fast read (because of its well-played tension) and kept me glued to the page all throughout. I'm glad I read it. If I'm going to check out any of Weir's future books, though, it'll definitely be from the library, or else in a nice comfy chair at the bookstore (before putting any money on the line). 

*By the way, apparently there's a "classroom version" of the book which features "classroom-appropriate language." I can't vouch for it (since I read the regular version), but that might at least take away the sting of Weir's over-the-top use of profanity.

REVIEW: Ready Player One - Ernest Cline

• year first released: 2011
• ISBN of the version I read: 9780307887443
• publisher of the version I read: Crown/Archetype
• my rating (out of 5): 3

If you’re interested in reading Ready Player One, the best thing you can do for yourself, first of all, is forget all the hype.

Yes, Ready Player One is a very fun book. Certainly it has the potential to make an amusing, bombastic sci-fi movie. (Generally we can trust Spielberg for this, so I’m going to assume the movie will be worthwhile.)

Is it a great book, though? – no, not especially.

The plot is really just a steroided, nerdfest mix of two tropes you’ve already heard:

1. The world has turned to garbage, so everyone lives inside a mondo virtual reality simulator with limitless possibilities.
2. An eccentric billionaire doesn’t have any heirs, so he sets up an enormous quest: whoever completes the quest first gets the money.

On top of this, Cline’s writing is perfectly average. Nothing about his style – his word choice, sentence structure, use of analogy and metaphor, etc. – is in any way outstanding. There’s nothing, per se, wrong with how he wrote this book. It’s fine. It won’t leave you in awe of his skills as a writer, though.

The biggest selling point to Ready Player One is clearly its overwhelming dose of 80’s nostalgia. If you loved it in the 80’s, you’ll find it in this book.

Or so I’m told.

The problem for me, personally, is that I was born halfway through the 80’s – which means that the nostalgia part of my brain kicks in sometime in the 90’s and, subsequently, only a fraction of the pop culture references that absolutely flood the book resonate with me. Yes, I’ve seen Back to the Future. I’ve played Pac-Man. I know what tabletop RPG’s are. I’m familiar with the original Atari – and am basically aware of its importance in the video game industry – but I’ve never actually put my hands on one.

I suppose if you were born in the 70’s – or just earlier in the 80's than I was – Ready Player One might hit you in all the right warm fuzzies. But for someone like me – born just a bit too late – I think much of the effect is lost.

That said, I don’t want to belittle how entertaining the book is. It’s certainly a fun way to spend a few hours, so long as you are willing to settle for perfectly average writing. The puzzles are entertaining. The minor contradictions are forgivable - though there are many of them. I was sincerely rooting for the main character and his friends. If you're hoping for sci-fi with more "literary value," though, you're better of sticking with Clarke, Heinlein, or Bradbury. 

(Let me point out: If you read my post Books v. Movies, you'll see that this book will probably make a better movie than a book. Frankly, I suspect strongly that this book was always destined to be a movie. I'm definitely going to check it out, when the time comes.)