Bookish Thoughts

I liked Isaac Asimov's I, Robot even more than Foundation , though I'm actually less excited to read the rest of the series. I remember reading somewhere that I, Robot and Foundation actually take place in the same universe, with one set in the near future and the other in the far (very far) future. I definitely had this impression reading the books, especially by the last chapter which seemed to be putting human civilization on track to achieve the Galactic Empire that's falling at the beginning of Foundation . But that could also just be Asimov's voice shining through when creating his version of a utopian society. I, Robot is somewhere between a novel and a collection of short stories. Each individual story is self-contained, but they're tied together by the advancement of robotics through the years and Dr. Susan Calvin's own life as a robopsychologist. The stories are ordered chronologically, and I really enjoyed seeing the scientists work ...

Mostly Harmless is the fifth and final book in Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy. Which means I finally finished it! I enjoyed this book a lot, but I have to say that I think I would have enjoyed the entire series more if I hadn't spread it over nearly two years. I kept forgetting plot details and trying vainly to remember what had happened in the previous books. Was Arthur still stuck in the past? Did Trillian die in the other timeline or just vanish from the story? Is Zaphod even relevant anymore? So I think a complete re-read is in order at some point. The books are short enough that I can't imagine it taking too long. Maybe once the weather warms up and I can spend my afternoons lazing outside with a book, I'll revisit this series as a whole. Overall, the plot of this book seemed way more cohesive than any of the previous books. That may be due to lack of memory, or it may be because this book was headed, inevitable, for a very definit...

I've been meaning to read Asimov's work for a while now. Ever since I read his autobiography a couple of years ago, I've wanted to dig in to his fiction. So when my brother got me Foundation  for Christmas and my book club chose I, Robot  for March, I had the perfect opportunity to sample some of his work. Foundation  is truly epic in nature, following a civilization across several planets and over 100 years. I wish I'd had more time with some of the characters, but overall I liked the small glimpses we got at various points in human history. It's always interesting to read older science fiction, because it's fun to see what has and hasn't come to pass. In the case of this novel, humankind has achieved interplanetary travel and has managed to both terraform and settle most of the planets in the galaxy. But they never bothered to archive their knowledge in an easily accessible and searchable place. Looking at it today, it's a bit funny tha...

The Farthest Shore  is the third book in Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea  cycle. It's also probably the weakest, which is sad. In reading this series and talking to other people, I'm discovering that LeGuin can be a bit hit or miss. She has some great books mixed in with some not-so-great books. This book really suffered from uneven pacing. Like the first book in the series, there were entire chapters devoted to sailing between islands. Action scenes seemed to come out of nowhere. At one point I had to re-read a page three times before I was satisfied that I hadn't missed anything; an chase had just started without warning. I also had a hard time accepting the philosophy of this book. Ged, the old, wise wizard, spends a lot of time trying to teach his young charge, Arren, that action is bad because it tends to upset the balance. Ged is a very passive character who mostly strives to be rather than to do. This is entirely at odds with the saving the world p...