reading (Stand On Zanzibar)

I finished "Stand on Zanzibar" a while back, a week or more ago I guess. It is a sizeable book. My edition is 650 pages of fine text. The content is sometimes a challenge to navigate because in some chapters Brunner likes to deliver the experience of an accelerated, overstimulated, video oriented culture. Sound familar anyone?

The insight that Brunner showed in this book is at times amazing. Some of the aspects of the society he built were so spot on I didn't even notice that we was making a significant leap from 1968 because I was already standing in his post-millennial world. His extrapolations are perhaps least accurate in terms of race and women's roles. I'm not sure whether Brunner was trapped in his time or if he simply believed attitudes would not change in those two areas.

This is a dystopian vision. Brunner does a wonderful job of making you forget that at points, but don't be fooled into thinking he sold his plot to Disney for the price of a 3D TV. This book isn't an upper, but it is well written, well put together, and insightful.

35. John Brunner "Stand on Zanzibar"

reading (The Hostile Hospital)

I finished "The Hostile Hospital" last Wednesday, I think. It's obvious that I won't STOP reading this series of books until they reach their very final end. Any review I can give at this point is spurious, because if you've read the first seven books, you know what to expect and you're probably not going to STOP until you've reached your the final end. I don't know why you continue to read any more of my reviews, when you know nothing good could ever come of them and you could be out playing cricket, or eating an icecream, or trying to balance a typewriter while hurtling down a ski slope on one ski.

36. Lemony Snicket "The Hostile Hospital"