Does only obtaining 10 books (and only actually buying 8 myself) count as controlling myself in book buying this month? I’d like to think so.
Great Observatories of the World by Serge Brunier and Anne-Marie Lagrange – When I was in Paris for a conference in November in 2014, I wanted to stop in at the Paris Observatory. Unfortunately, it was under renovation at the time, so I could only see the halls that Cassini once walked from the outside. Last June, I was lucky enough to get selected by NASA for an event at Lowell Observatory, and got to visit the place where Pluto was discovered. This books covers 57 world-class observatories throughout the world (including 10 observatories in space and 11 planned for the future) that I’ll have to visit someday. Someday…
Poland by James Michener – I got on a bit of a historical fiction kick over the summer, so picking up this book is an attempt to get back into it. Michener covers eight centuries of the history of Poland, from medieval times up through the modern age, telling the story through three families: counts, nobles, and peasants.
Kenobi by John Jackson Miller – The Star Wars film universe has just a bit of a gap between Episodes III and IV, during which time Obi-Wan turns into Ben and becomes a senile local on Tatooine. Here’s a story of at least one of his adventures during those 18 lonely years in the desert, trying to keep the peace between the humans and the Tuskens without drawing too much attention to himself and his mission.
River God by Wilbur Smith – The first of two books that I actually didn’t purchase for myself (a return gift in exchange for a rubber chicken last Christmas), this book is taking that push towards historical fiction to another level, going back 5000 years into Ancient Egypt rather than just 800 years into European history. The first book of five (so far(?)) in a series set during the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel – This book got an awful lot of attention in SciFi circles last year. The members of a group of musicians and performers who call themselves The Traveling Symphony wander the world that remains following a flu pandemic, keeping the stories of humanity alive after a bacterial apocalypse.
The Day We Found the Universe by Marcia Bartusiak – This book tells the story of the discovery that increased the size of the known universe from a single galaxy to 100,000,000,000+, as well as proved that the universe is expanding rather than static. It’s a great discussion of the research leading up to this watershed moment (that’s a really weird term) in astronomy.
A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick – Yet another movie that I haven’t seen because I wanted to read the book first, this is PKD’s award-winning novel of cops and criminals, friends and enemies, and a mind-splitting drug called Substance D. Which leads into…
The Philip K. Dick Reader by Philip K. Dick – …this book, which contains the short stories by PKD that inspired five different movies: Total Recall, Minority Report, Screamers, Paycheck, and Next. Paycheck is the only one of the five that I’ve seen, so I guess I’d better hurry and read the book.
Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age by W. Bernard Carlson – Gift book #2 is a biography of Nikola Tesla, the brilliant inventor that it seems no one really knew about until he became Internet famous 10 years or so ago. Now he even has a car named after him! I like Tesla because he was brilliant but also an eccentric recluse. A perfect role model!
Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein’s Outrageous Legacy by Kip Thorne – Now that LIGO has discovered gravitational waves (sorry BICEP2), it seemed like a good time to buy and read Kip Thorne’s famous book (well, famous in physics circles anyway) that discusses black holes and all of the weird things they do. Like collide, and blast out three solar masses of energy in gravitational wave form.
But oh, wait, there are 20 more books that I still need to mention. At least they were a nice, cheap Humble Bundle deal of SciFi classics.
Arthur C. Clarke’s Venus Prime 1 and Venus Prime 2 by, well, Arthur C. Clarke – Two volumes telling the story of Sparta, the first product of advanced biotech engineering. In the first book, Sparta is investigating a crippled freighter that arrived at Venus Station with a lone survivor on board. In the second, Sparta must rescue a team of scientists trapped on the surface of the planet.
Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny – This post-apocalyptic novel tells the story of Hell Tanner, a Snake Plisken-style hero-villain who is faced with the decision of either life in prison or to drive across the country to deliver a serum to plague-ridden Boston. You know, if anybody is actually still alive in Boston.
Dragonworld by Byron Preiss – Just using the Amazon summary here, because honestly this book doesn’t really have much of my attention: “Somewhere beyond the northern mists lies a land where dreams live and dragons are real. This is the tale of the twilight of the dragons, of two nations plunged into war by a tragic misunderstanding, of a shy dreamer’s incredible voyage of peace to a long-forgotten land where nightmares are born. A magnificent creation, a sweeping epic of high fantasy set in a richly imagined world, vividly brought to life with over eighty pages of stunning illustrations by Joseph Zucker.”
Eye of Cat by Roger Zelazny – When the galaxy’s most skilled hunter is asked to use his skill to protect an important political mission, he realizes that he needs specialized aid. Thus Billy Singer must seek the telepathic creature only known as “Cat,” whom he had caught and trapped for a museum.
Redemolished by Alfred Bester – This book contains a collection of stories by Bester, including The Demolished Man, Hell is Forever, and The Four Hour Fuge.
Robot Dreams and Robot Visions by Isaac Asimov – Following the more famous I Robot, here are two more volumes of short stories and essays dealing with the future and robotics.
Roger Zelazny’s Chaos and Amber, Shadows of Amber, The Dawn of Amber, and To Rule in Amber by Roger Zelazny probably – The Chronicles of Amber is a massive series of fantasy books that detail a conflict between two major worlds (Amber and the Courts of Chaos), as well as the “shadows” between them (which includes Earth). Here are four of them.
The Computer Connection by Alfred Bester – A fight to rid the Earth of political repression in the future, while simultaneously pushing research into developing a race of superhumans and accelerating evolution.
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester – Because one copy isn’t enough apparently.
The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth by Roger Zelazny (wow, this guy wrote a lot) – Probably the strangest-titled book in the collection, it’s fittest that Amazon describes it as a collection of strange stories from across Zelazny’s career.
The Last Defender of Camelot by Roger Zelazny – Another book of short stories from Zelazny’s career, as well as by a few other authors.
The Stars, My Destination by Alfred Bester – Probably the most famous book from this collection. Gully Foyle was marooned in space for six months after his ship was attacked. Another ship encountered him after those six months, but ignores the distress signal. So he wants revenge.
George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards XVI: Deuces Down and Wild Cards XVII: Death Draws Five by George R.R. Martin – Two volumes from a scifi/superhero series written by the famed author of Game of Thrones.
Another month down, another slightly emptier wallet. Yeah, I really phoned in those last few previews, but wow am I tired.