Why don’t penguin’s feet freeze? (and 114 other questions)

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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.

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Bolos 2: The Unconquerable

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This is another collection of short stories involving Laumer's Bolo artificially intelligent super tanks. None of these stories are written by Laumer, but they are written by some very good SF authors. I enjoyed the collection, although I do think Honor of the Regiment was marginally better.

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Bolos 1: Honor of the Regiment

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I'm quite partial to the idea of artificially intelligent super tanks. I think they'd simplify my social life quite a lot, for example. I'm also partial to short story collections, and this book is both of those. The short stories are written by some excellent authors as well, which certainly helps. This book continues on from The Compleat Bolo, although Laumer didn't write any of the stories in this book. The stories follow two main patterns -- long retired tanks which the locals don't trust until they save the day; and stories about active combat. I guess that means you have to like war stories for these to work for you -- the stories are quite similar to David Drake's in that regard. Excellent, quick read.

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A Time of Omens

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This is the sixth book in the not-very-finished Deverry celtic fantasy series. This one is pretty good, especially because it has several subplots, which makes it feel more like a few shorter books in one volume. That means you don't lose your place in a 400 page story line as you go along. I'm a fan of the intermingled plot lines style (Tom Clancy does it quite well too), and it works well in this book. This book follows a subset of the usual characters, although some of the older ones have moved on, so to speak. [isbn: 0553290118;0586211969]

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Galactic Dreams

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This is a relatively short collection of Harry Harrison short stories. They are: I always do what Teddy says: what happens when we abdicate teaching our youngsters moral values to machine, and then don't test that the machine is working correctly? A short story about unit testing? Space rats of the CCC: this story is just silly. Its a little bit like Bill the Galactic Hero in style, but also a little bit annoying. It didn't really work for me. Down to earth: I'm sure I've read this basic plot line about a billion times, for example Hawk Among the Sparrows being just one example. This one didn't even have a good twist at the end. A criminal act: Harrison feels strongly about population grow (see also Make Room, Make Room!). Its pretty obvious in this story, although its not as preachy as Make Room, Make Room. Famous first words: I actually really liked this one. The Pad - a story of the day after the day after tomorrow: seducing women is hard work for billionaires, apparently. If: a pretty standard "don't alter the time lines" tale, with a small if predictable twist. Mute Milton: what important discoveries have been…

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Deathworld Three

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I thought this one didn't sound as good as the others, but I was wrong. Its quite different from the other two in its setting, but its still the same romping Harrison style that I like. A little bit unlikely, quite sweeping in scope, and interesting. I liked it. [isbn: 0722144180;B000OFKKP6]

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Dragonquest

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This is the sequel to Dragonflight. To be honest, I think Dragonflight is a better book, although this one is by no means bad. I suspect part of my problem with this book is that I found Kylara insanely annoying (which I was meant to). Every time her character popped up it made the book hard to read until she went away again. This is a good interesting book, and I'm looking forward to the later books in the series when you find out more about the settlement of Pern. [isbn: 0345284259] [award: nominee hugo 1972]

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Dragonflight

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This is the first book in the Dragons of Pern series, which I read a small part of as a child. Given that they're still being written, its not surprising that I'm pretty out of date on this series. This book is excellent for a few reasons -- the idea is unique and well implemented; its an amazing mix of fantasy with science fiction style justifications for the way things are; and its well written. The underlying premise is that a planet named Pern as a nearly neighbor on an eccentric orbit. When that neighbor comes near to Pern, spores from the other planet try to land on Pern. These spores breed by eating organic life, so they need to be neutralized or life on Pern will cease. There are however a few patches I had to re-read to make full sense of. I really liked this book. [isbn: 0345335465] [award: winner nebula 1968; nominee nebula 1967]

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Deathworld Two

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This book is possibly better than Deathworld One, although I find Mikah's character intensely annoying. That's probably ok though, because he's meant to be annoying. Oh $DEITY is he successful. This was another good fun light read, the kind of Harrison I enjoy. [isbn: 0722144849;B000OFKKP6]

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