Books read in July 2009
Bolos 5: Old Guard Why do men fall asleep after sex?
Why do men fall asleep after sex?
This is the second medical trivia book by The Leyner and Goldberg duo. The first was Why do men have nipples, which I read in June. This book suffers from the same flaws as the first -- its light weight and doesn't take itself very seriously. That means that often they avoid answering serious questions, and just make a twee joke instead. It also has those annoying IM transcripts, which appear to just be a way to fill up space. Then again, I did finish the book, so it can't have been the worst book I have ever read.
Bolos 5: Old Guard
This book is similar to the previous Bolo anthologies in that it is written by a number of different authors, but utilizes Laumer's Concordiat universe. Contrary to another LibraryThing review, all of the stories on this book don't occur on one planet. All but one of them occurs on Delas, and the final one is on another nearby Concordiat planet. However, all of these stories do revolve around engagements with one enemy, and follow on from each other. This is something which hasn't occurred in other Bolo anthologies. I enjoyed this book, although it took longer to read than I would like because of other things happen in my life.
Books read in June 2009
Bolos 2: The Unconquerable Why don't penguin's feet freeze? (and 114 other questions) Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Alliance Why do men have nipples? The Book of General Ignorance Bolos 3: The Triumphant Bolos 4: Last Stand
Bolos 4: Last Stand
This book continues on from many of the previous short stories, which is a nice touch. It also starts to fill in some of the historical gaps between the collapse of US society (night of the trolls), to the Concordiat Empire, to the Melconian wars. I found one story in this book pretty hard to read, but that's mainly because its about a small child risking death from basically crazies. That story was good, just a bit close to the bone for me. I liked this book, which isn't a surprise because I have liked all the others as well.
Bolos 3: The Triumphant
This book is a little different from Bolos 1 and Bolos 2 in that it is several short novels instead of a collection of short stories. On the other hand, they're very good short novels, and I quite liked Nike's character. I'm glad I read this book.
The Book of General Ignorance
I seem to be on a bit of a trivia book kick, which is at least partially motivated by getting through all my Christmas presents so I can pack them into a box and move to a different country. This book was written as part of the production of the very excellent BBC quiz show Quite Interesting and is quite a contrast from the extremely average Why Do Men Have Nipples that I just finished reading. This book feels well researched, and is on par with Why Don't Penguin's Feet Freeze, although the style is quite different (the New Scientist book offers multiple answers for each question, and is written by real scientists in the fields discussed, this book flows as one manuscript). I suspect it helps here to have seen the quiz show, because many of the other reviews I have seen online complain about the style of the book, which reads in much the same manner as Stephen Fry's commentary during the program. If you're familiar with the format, then the book flows quite nicely (whereas if you haven't, you might end up why the book jumps around so much). I really liked this book. [isbn: 0307394913]
Why do men have nipples?
This book is pretty light weight. The font is big, and there is lots of "chrome" on the pages, which conspire to make a book which would probably be only 100 pages in a normal font more like 200 pages. The book also suffers from trying a little too hard to be funny, with numerous interruptions for the authors to tell you how terribly clever they are. Its annoying quite quickly. The answers also aren't as detailed and believable as those found to similar questions in "Why don't penguin's feet freeze? (and 114 other questions)", the New Scientist book I just finished reading. I'd say go with the New Scientist book if you're buying something, but read this if you're given it.
Isaac Asimov’s Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Alliance
Given how disappointed I have been in other books in this series, I was pleasantly surprised by this one. The style is very readable, and the content is interesting. The plot seems more nuanced than some of the others in the series, and the characters aren't as one dimensional either. This isn't the best book I have ever read, but it was surprisingly solid, especially given some of the poor ground work it had to deal with.
Why don’t penguin’s feet freeze? (and 114 other questions)
This book was really fun. Its a collection of 115 questions sent into New Scientist magazine, and the answers provided by other readers. Sometimes the answers and sarcastic or funny, and sometimes they are incredibly detailed. I found this book really interesting to read, and I certainly picked up some trivial to annoy my wife along the way. Excellent.