[ Home | Articles | Account | People | Projects | FAQ ] Caves of Steel
Caves of Steel is interesting because it is a murder mystery set in the future, which at the time this book was written was a novel concept. It also presents an interesting almost-communist view of the future, where individual liberties are surrendered one by one in order to improve economic efficiency in order to support Earth's ever growing population. Implicit in that is the assertion that capitalism is inherently inefficient, but I'll leave that discussion alone.
) Isaac_Asimov()
Blathering for Tuesday, 13 May 2008
15:05: The new Qantas A380s have the worlds worst color in economy class: pictures)
Discovering the CASE statement
In an effort to speed up my database updates, I've been looking for ways to batch some of my updates. CASE seems like the way to go:
mysql> create table bar(a tinyint, b tinyint);
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.02 sec)
mysql> insert into bar(a) values(1), (2), (3), (4), (5);
Query OK, 5 rows affected (0.00 sec)
Records: 5 Duplicates: 0 Warnings: 0
mysql> select * from bar;
+------+------+
| a | b |
+------+------+
| 1 | NULL |
| 2 | NULL |
| 3 | NULL |
| 4 | NULL |
| 5 | NULL |
+------+------+
5 rows in set (0.00 sec)
mysql> update bar set b = case a
-> when 1 then 42
-> when 2 then 43
-> when 3 then 44
-> else 45
-> end;
Query OK, 5 rows affected (0.00 sec)
Rows matched: 5 Changed: 5 Warnings: 0
mysql> select * from bar;
+------+------+
| a | b |
+------+------+
| 1 | 42 |
| 2 | 43 |
| 3 | 44 |
| 4 | 45 |
| 5 | 45 |
+------+------+
5 rows in set (0.00 sec)
)
I, Robot
The 1950s must have been a great time to be a science fiction author. WW2 was finally over, and seemingly massively stupid ideas like mutually assured destruction, nuclear rifles so powerful that they were as much a danger to those firing them as those who were on the receiving end, and Brylcreem were all the rage. Into this atmosphere of run away idiocy comes Asimov's I, Robot, the book which defined the three laws of robotics, and some how managed to not suggest that humanity should nuke each other all into submission. This book is still an excellent read almost 60 years later, and I think still shows us some of the future. Its a little depressing to think how little we've achieved towards Asimov's proposed future world, given the time line laid out in this book.) Isaac_Asimov()
The Stainless Steel Rat Series
I am increasingly becoming obsessed with science fiction from 1950s and 1960s. Again stolen from Wikipedia, here is a list of all the Stainless Steel Rat books:| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1985 | A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born | I got this one from powell's |
| 1987 | The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted | |
| 1994 | The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues | |
| 1961 | The Stainless Steel Rat | |
| 1970 | The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge | |
| 1972 | The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World | |
| 1978 | The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You | I got this one from bookbuyers |
| 1982 | The Stainless Steel Rat for President | I got this one from bookbuyers |
| 1996 | The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell | I got this one from bookbuyers |
| 1999 | The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus | |
| 1993 | The Golden Years of the Stainless Steel Rat |
) Harry_Harrison()
11 May 2008 (updated 12 May 2008 at 02:04 UTC) »
Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series
I'm getting really into reading second hand science fiction from the 1950s onwards. I read a few (but nowhere near all) of the Foundation series as a child, and I remember liking them a lot. Stolen from Wikipedia, here is a list of the books in The Foundation series in Asimov's suggested reading order:| C | Year | Title | Notes |
| 1950 | I, Robot | Robot short stories. First collection, which were all included in The Complete Robot, though it also contains binding text (Mind and Iron), no longer in The Complete Robot. Bookbuyer's | |
| 1 | 1982 | The Complete Robot | Robot short stories. Collection of Asimov stories written between 1940 and 1976. |
| 1986 | Robot Dreams | Robot short stories. Anthologised in a book with the same title. | |
| 1990 | Robot Visions | Robot short stories. Anthologised in a book with the same title. | |
| 1992 | The Positronic Man | Robot novel based on Asimov's short story The Bicentennial Man, co-written by Robert Silverberg | |
| 2 | 1954 | The Caves of Steel | Robot novel. Leigh's Favorite Books |
| 3 | 1957 | The Naked Sun | Robot novel. |
| 4 | 1983 | The Robots of Dawn | Robot novel. Leigh's Favorite Books |
| 5 | 1985 | Robots and Empire | Robot novel. Bookbuyer's |
| 1993 | Isaac Asimov's Caliban | Caliban trilogy by Roger MacBride Allen. | |
| 1994 | Isaac Asimov's Inferno | Caliban trilogy by Roger MacBride Allen. | |
| 1996 | Isaac Asimov's Utopia | Caliban trilogy by Roger MacBride Allen. | |
| 6 | 1951 | The Stars, Like Dust | Galactic Empire series. |
| 7 | 1952 | The Currents of Space | Galactic Empire series. |
| 8 | 1950 | Pebble in the Sky | Galactic Empire series. |
| 9 | 1988 | Prelude to Foundation | Foundation novel. |
| 10 | 1993 | Forward the Foundation | Foundation novel. |
| 11 | 1951 | Foundation | Foundation trilogy. |
| 12 | 1952 | Foundation and Empire | Foundation trilogy. |
| 13 | 1953 | Second Foundation | Foundation trilogy. |
| 1997 | Foundation's Fear | Second Foundation trilogy by Gregory Benford. | |
| 1998 | Foundation and Chaos | Second Foundation trilogy by Greg Bear. | |
| 1999 | Foundation's Triumph | Second Foundation trilogy by David Brin. | |
| 14 | 1982 | Foundation's Edge | Final chronological Foundation books. |
| 15 | 1986 | Foundation and Earth | Final chronological Foundation books. |
) Isaac_Asimov()
Bill The Galactic Hero
This book is an interesting read, but for unusual reasons. Its as if Harrison sets out to write a terrible book, and learns new techniques to achieve this terrible along the way. An example of his mastery of the art:A hundred bucks a month was good money, though, and Bill saved every bit of it. Easy, lazy months rolled by, and he regularly went to meetings and reported regularly to the G.B.I., and on the first of every month he would find his money baked into the egg roll he invariably had for lunch. He kept the greasy bills in a toy rubber cat he found on the rubbish heap, and bit by bit the kitty grew.
Bill, the Galactic Hero is a satirical science fiction novel by Harry Harrison, first published in 1965.
It is a response to Heinlein's controversially militaristic Starship Troopers. The overall plot is similar, the details rather less so; and Harrison makes the most of an opportunity to spoof the work of other authors including Isaac Asimov, "Doc" Smith, and Joseph Heller. Harrison reports having been approached by a Vietnam veteran who described Bill as "the only book that's true about the military".
) Harry_Harrison()
Blathering for Wednesday, 07 May 2008
09:16: $10 theft cost a $250,000 spill cleanup)
The Complete Hammer's Slammers Volume 1 and 2
It occurred to me over the weekend that it was odd that I was updating books I had recently read on a book site like goodreads, given that all I'm doing by entering data on their site is blogging someplace that not even I remember to read. I'm therefore going to move all of that stuff over to here, and then try to remember to blog about books I've read recently in the future. Don't worry though, I don't get much time to read in between work, study and kids, so it wont be too many posts.) David_Drake()
A Stainless Steel Rat is Born
This was another book I read as a kid and had fond memories of. When I found it at Powell's books for under $4 I just had to pick it up. Harrison seems to focus on "pulp science fiction" -- all of the stuff I have seen from him has been short and easy reading, as is the case with this book. What do you do if you're stuck on a farming planet, smart, and bored out of your brain? Apparently the answer is to turn to a life of crime for entertainment. That's what James DeGriz does, and he is a great anti-hero while he's at it. Great book. [isbn: 0553279424]) Harry_Harrison()
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