All Consuming : Kevan

A story about "The Futurological Congress: From the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kevan) — Wed, 25 May 2005 09:11:42 GMT

The Futurological Congress: From the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy

by Stanislaw Lem

An unrelenting bombardment of social and technological fragments from an absurd nearer-future “psychemized” society.

Masses of great throwaway ideas, with a few highly powerful ones guaranteed to stick, and the lists and lists of highly-specific mood-altering chemicals are glorious.

A story about "A Clockwork Orange"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kevan) — Wed, 25 May 2005 09:11:42 GMT

A Clockwork Orange

by Anthony Burgess

Much better in print, being fully immersed in the nadsat (without even a hand-holding glossary, in the edition I picked up). The final film-ignored chapter adds a lot to it. Horrorshow.

A story about "The Conquest of Happiness"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kevan) — Wed, 25 May 2005 09:11:41 GMT

The Conquest of Happiness

by Bertrand Russell

Embarrassingly dated in places, but generally solid common-sense analysis of environmental depression and what to think about it.

A story about "Flatland : A Romance of Many Dimensions (Dover Thrift Editions)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kevan) — Wed, 25 May 2005 09:11:40 GMT

Flatland : A Romance of Many Dimensions (Dover Thrift Editions)

by Edwin A. Abbott

Dimensional geometry meets the Diary of a Nobody. Frustratingly evasive in too many places, but imaginative visualisation and horrific social comment all the same.

A story about "The Family Pack"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kevan) — Wed, 25 May 2005 09:11:40 GMT

The Family Pack

by John Hegley

(Actually only read “These Were Your Father’s”, but it isn’t in Amazon, by itself.)

Always good, the poetry of Hegley. Very funny and well-crafted “and, where possible, poignant also”. Might drop in on his current UK tour after all.

A story about "Emergence: From Chaos to Order (Helix Books)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kevan) — Wed, 25 May 2005 09:11:39 GMT

Emergence: From Chaos to Order (Helix Books)

by John H. Holland

Already read most of this, here and there. Picked it up to skim on the train over a weekend, having mislaid the rest of my bookpile. Good stuff on the nuts and bolts of emergence, modelling games as networks of input/output entities, and things.

A story about "QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kevan) — Wed, 25 May 2005 09:11:39 GMT

QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter

by Richard P. Feynman

Quantum electrodynamics! I’ve stalled. It’s getting a bit too heavy and abstract, half-way in. I’ll take a deep breath and come back to it.

A story about "LOVE CUTS (Business and the Environment Practitioner Series)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kevan) — Wed, 25 May 2005 09:11:35 GMT

LOVE CUTS (Business and the Environment Practitioner Series)

by JOHN HEGLEY

Sticking plaster poetry.

A story about "The Wasp Factory: A Novel"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kevan) — Wed, 25 May 2005 09:11:34 GMT

The Wasp Factory: A Novel

by Iain Banks

Burgeoning ritual and imagination in a highly isolated environment. Haven’t overly enjoyed Banks’ other stuff, but this is good. Better for being so focused, perhaps.

A story about "Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kevan) — Wed, 25 May 2005 09:11:33 GMT

Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World

by Kevin Kelly

Getting on a bit now, but chock full of vivid prose and memorable ideas. Nutritious brain food.

A story about "Brentford Triangle"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kevan) — Wed, 25 May 2005 09:11:33 GMT

Brentford Triangle

by Rankin

Witty incursion of the supernatural into the mundane, two reluctant anti-heroes saving an ignorant world from alien invaders. Written back in the days when Rankin was still bothering to be sharp and original.

A story about "The Omega Game"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kevan) — Wed, 25 May 2005 09:11:32 GMT

The Omega Game

by Steven Krane

Fantastic recasting of the game of Nomic into a mysterious tropical-island scenario; the author is a veteran player of Agora Nomic, and knows his stuff.

The action gets a bit airport boilerplate in places, but the basic idea and execution is solid and ingenious. Required reading for anyone who’s ever thought about trying an enclosed social Nomic…

A story about "The Day of the Triffids"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kevan) — Wed, 25 May 2005 09:11:32 GMT

The Day of the Triffids

by John Wyndham

Definitive tight-angle view of the end of the world, the monstrous Triffids being a simple loose-end tidier behind the grim social effects of mass blindness.

A story about "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: A Novel (Vintage International)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kevan) — Wed, 25 May 2005 09:11:32 GMT

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: A Novel (Vintage International)

by Haruki Murakami

Two stories intertwined, the narration chopping between a beautiful dreamlike fantasy world and a cryptoanalyst poking around grim Tokyo sewers and being hassled by hit-men. Isolation and the nature of reality. Well-crafted stuff.

A story about "Brave New World"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kevan) — Wed, 25 May 2005 09:11:31 GMT

Brave New World

by Aldous Huxley

Magnificently prescient view of a happy, controlled utopia; socially-engineered citizens pouring money into entertainment that requires spurious equipment, and never daring to be alone…

A story about "Dreams of Leaving"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kevan) — Wed, 25 May 2005 09:11:31 GMT

Dreams of Leaving

by Rupert Thomson

The story of a child who escapes to the bright lights of London, from a Prisoneresque English village guarded by all-seeing rural policemen. Simultaneously farcical and sinister, and written as perfectly as everything else of Thomson’s.

A story about "1984 (Signet Classics)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kevan) — Wed, 25 May 2005 09:11:31 GMT

1984 (Signet Classics)

by George Orwell

Bit of a clich

A story about "Puckoon"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kevan) — Wed, 25 May 2005 09:11:30 GMT

Puckoon

by Spike Milligan

Scattered with comic gemstones throughout, but it all seemed a bit to slapdash and incoherent, to be honest.

A story about "The Napoleon of Notting Hill (Dover Books on Literature and Drama)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kevan) — Wed, 25 May 2005 09:11:30 GMT

The Napoleon of Notting Hill (Dover Books on Literature and Drama)

by G. K. Chesterton

A nicely-set tale of the infectiousness (the joys and the dangers) of arbitrary patriotism.

A story about "The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship: Or the Art of Winning Games Without Actually Cheating"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kevan) — Wed, 25 May 2005 09:11:30 GMT

The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship: Or the Art of Winning Games Without Actually Cheating

by Stephen Potter

Aha, it’s been reprinted! I found the original buried in a teetering bookshop over the weekend. Light 1940s sporting humour on the surface, but a surprisingly solid look at game psychology underneath.

A story about "Trouble with Lichen"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kevan) — Wed, 25 May 2005 09:11:29 GMT

Trouble with Lichen

by John Wyndham

A bit disappointing. Some solid musing on the social repercussions of a lifespan-extending drug, but most of it’s done as hypothetical upper-middle-class soliloquys, and a lot of the tangents are dismissively sidestepped. The weakest Wyndham I’ve read.