Heaven's Reach

I've just finished Heaven's Reach, the final book in the second Uplift trilogy by David Brin. This is the second time I've read it and it's just as good as I remember. Better, even.





This final book follows the continuing adventures of the Streaker crew and the other characters that they met on Jijo. It brings the whole series to a conclusion, full of surprises and suspense right up until the end.

I have to admit that I liked it better this time around. The first time I read it I enjoyed the pace of the story but got a bit lost. Brin has introduced a lot of new ideas that expand the reach of his Uplift universe far beyond anything mentioned in the previous books. There were hints, but in this book he lets loose and takes us on an adventure well into a transcendental future, where evolution takes some very strange turns.

In the end, most of the loose ends are tied up although some of the big questions don't get answered. The big question about the Progenitors and their return is never really answered, but there's nothing wrong with that. Life doesn't always answer your questions, does it? Sometimes you have to live with the unknown, and that's made clear in this book. People are parted without warning at a moments notice, there is death and sorrow, but also joy and adventure.

It's a good book. A great read - as I said, I had to re-read it to really enjoy it. But it is a fitting conclusion to the Uplift series, and leaves room for further adventures in the future. I'd like to see more books set in this universe sometime in the future!

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Infinity's Shore

I've just finished re-reading Infinity's Shore by David Brin and I still love it. It's the second book in the Jijo/Uplift trilogy and is just as good as any of the previous books he's written. Brin is one of my favourite science fiction authors and he doesn't disappoint with this book.






This is the second book in the trilogy and it continues the story started in Brightness Reef. Streaker, the dolphin-crewed starship, is still stuck on Jijo and is being hunted now by the Jophur. In this book the familiar characters from Brightness Reef (Alvin, Huck, Sara, Lark and Dwer etc) are joined by the dolphin crews, neatly tying this book in with the previous Uplift trilogy.

Brin obviously has a knack for creating believable characters, alien species and cultures as well as settings. The Uplift universe is in my opinion one of the best fictional universes. The writing is excellent and the characters believable and interesting. This book, and this series, just drew me in and captured my whole attention.

The alien species and characters in this book seem real to me, and don't feel like dressed-up humans which unfortunately is the case with a lot of science fiction.

For a start, I think the basic idea behind the series is a great one. Uplift involves older intelligent species deliberately genetically engineering pre-sapient species so that they also become intelligent beings. In this series, humans have uplifted dolphins and chimpanzees to full intelligence, while thousands of alien species have also gone through the same process and created a galactic culture based on this idea. It's a fascinating concept and one that I would like to see happen in real life, eventually.

The other main idea is that humans are only a minor, weak and persecuted race in the wider galaxy. This seems like a pretty realistic idea to me, too, assuming that we ever do get off this planet and into space.

Overall I think this is one of my favourite science fiction series and this book is a great addition to it.

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The Unconscious Civilization

This is one of the books I picked up at Bookfest this January. It's been on my list of books to read for a few years now, so when I saw it on the table I grabbed it. I also grabbed "On Equilibrium" which is now on my to-be-read list. I'll get around to that book one of these days...

I find these types of books to be pretty challenging books to read. It's a book of political philosophy dealing with the history of democracy in Western countries.

John Ralston Saul, the author, seems to be saying that democracy is in trouble. He is saying that Western countries in particualar have allowed themselves to be changed from true democracies into corporatist states - run for and by the big corporations. His main idea, if I've understood this correctly, is that we've done this more or less unconsciously without actually thinking or caring about the consequences.

The evidence seems to be pretty clear. A lot of political effort over the last couple of decades (this book was released in 1996) has gone into economic reform, and the main beneficiaries of that reform seem to be the big corporations and businesses. Governments, elected and otherwise, have handed over a lot of their economic power to these businesses in the name of efficiency and free trade and globalisation.

He also argues that our education systems have been corporatised, too, with the effect that education now is mostly technical. It's aimed at turning out people with good technical skills that are useful to business rather than turning out people with a general education - the focus is on the immediate task in hand rather than the broader goals of equiping people with the skills to be able to think through the consequences of their actions.

Maybe he's being a bit alarmist, maybe I've just misunderstood him. After all, my education is puerly technical - and IT degree with basically no units from the Arts or Humanities faculties. I'm one of the people who haven't been equipped with the intellectual tools to fully assess the state of our society. In general though, I'd agree with a lot of what he said in this book.

As I said, it's the kind of book that I find hard to read and understand in one go.I will have to re-read this, maybe after I've read "On Equilibrium" so that I can get a better handle on his style of argument.

4 stars (provisional on re-reading)

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Hells Gates - holiday reading

I picked up Hells Gates by Paul Collins while I was in Hobart. I really do love a good second hand book shop, and the Imperial Bookshop in Collins St, Hobart, is a good one. I picked up this book to add to my collection of books about Tasmania, and Tasmanian history. This one tells the fascinating story of the convict, Alexander Pearce.


The title, Hells Gates, refers to two things. First, Hells Gates is the entrance to Macquarie Harbour on Tasmanias west coast. It's a narrow channel, and the tide roars in and out through it, across a series of shallow sand bars. It's a very dangerous crossing for any ships and so early sailors christened it Hells Gates.

Inside the harbour, though, is Sarah Island. This was the site of a convict station that imprisoned the worst of the worst convicts. It was one of the harshest convict regimes in colonial Australia, and the convicts called it a hell on earth. So Hells Gates was an appropriate name for them too.

The book follows the life of Alexander Pearce, from his early life and conviction in Ireland, through his transportation to Van Diemens Land and his continuing troubles with the law, to his exile at Sarah Island and eventual escape, recapture and execution. Along the way the author shows what life was like in colonial Tasmania. For convicts like Pearce, who could not adjust to the regime and serve their time, it was a very harsh existence.

The main event in the history is Pearce's escape from Sarah Island, a place that was supposed to be completely secure and isolated. The rainforests and mountains of the west coast of Tasmania were supposed to be uncrossable, and so provided the best prison walls available. But Pearce and his companions proved this to be wrong. But to do this, we also see what it cost them - they descended into some of the worst possible human behaivour. Only Pearce survived the escape attempt, and only by turning murderer and cannibal.

That's the heart of this book. It shows us how the worst of human nature can be brought out in people. It also includes a fascinating comparison between colonial and convict attitudes to the local environment compared to contemporary attitudes. The convicts and early settlers saw the pristine rainforests and rugged mountains as hostile and imprisoning, unnatural. Today we look at the same landscape and see beauty, unspoiled wilderness that inspires us. It's still the same place, almost unchanged, and still just as harsh, but how we look at it has changed dramatically. It's an interesting conclusion to the book, making us think about how society and people do change through time.

I think this is a good book, and I will be re-reading it at some point. It's a fascinating story in itself, and it combines that with being well written. Maybe it's just because I enjoy reading about Tasmanian history that I think this is such a good book, but I do think other people would enjoy it too.

3.5 stars, I think.

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Say It Out Loud

I finished reading "Say It Out Loud" just last night. It's a biography of Adam Sutton, described as a gay Australian cowboy.


I'm not usually a fan of biographies. My non-fiction reading is usually historical or religious. This book appealed to me, though, and when I saw it on sale at Borders I decided to pick it up. I guess my first interest came when I saw Adam interviewed for Australian Story last year.

Both the book and the tv program tell the story of Adams life so far. It's told in Adams voice, giving it very personal feel. In some ways it's an easy book to read - the language is plain spoken and straightforward. But in others it's quite hard - it's the story of his pain and confusion while growing up and coming out. In the process he's led a pretty amazing life, and it sounds like quite a rollercoaster.

Part of the reason it was so gripping for me was that I can relate to parts of the story. Mostly the parts about being gay and coming out. Apart from those struggles, his life makes a much more interesting story than mine does, that's for sure.

I think this book is worth at least 4 stars. Definitely worth reading. His life story is interesting in itself, and the courage Adam has displayed in living his life and then sharing it with everyone like this is pretty inspiring stuff.

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Stamping Butterflies

This book was my holiday reading on the trip through Vietnam and Cambodia. Mostly it was for reading while on planes or in airports, since I didn't plan on having a lot of downtime while over there. But a day or so by the pool in Mui Ne saw me get through it all.

The book is by Jon Grimwood - an author I hadn't heard of before. I came across him while browsing through LibraryThing and saw some good reviews. I'm glad I did, because I thought it was a pretty good book.


The story is convoluted, so may not have been the best choice for a relaxing holiday novel. On the other hand, these are the sorts of books that I find really interesting to read, so it still worked for me. The story is told in three parts. There's one stream set in Marrakech in the 1970's. Then there's one set in the current day or very near future, revolving around an assassination attempt on the most popular US president in history (that's not GW Bush, obviously enough, even though the book was written in 2004). And finally there's the story set in the far future in an empire of 2023 worlds.

I thought all three parts worked well. The first two streams became linked fairly early on in the book, sharing characters and history. It was well written and realistic in describing its events and locations. His writing style is descriptive and detailed, while not slowing down the pace of the book. The link with the third, future, stream wasn't obvious until very close to the end of the book. Hints were dropped before then, of course, but the link wasn't obvious to me until the end. The suspense was maintained very well right to the final pages.

Overall, I thought the first two story streams were the best. I couldn't relate quite as well to the future stream or characters. I think that was because they were the ones I felt the least sympathy for - particularly the Emperor. They just didn't seem as realistic as the others.

I enjoyed this book. I will be looking for other books by the same author now, as I think he's definitely one to read more of.

Stamping Butterflies, by Jon Courtenay Grimwood

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Diaspora

I picked up this book by Greg Egan at a second hand bookshop last weekend in Maleny. I've read books by Egan in the past and, while I can't remember them in any great detail, I do remember enjoying them. This one followed the same pattern. I enjoyed it, but I can see why I find them hard to remember.


It's a science fiction book, set in a distant future when humans have split into different species. Some have migrated into space and have created robot bodies, others have uploaded themselves into computers known as polises, and others have remained in physical bodies and are known as "fleshers". They've taken to genetic engineering in a big way and have improved their body types in many ways, so there's very few "classical" humans around anymore. The three types of humanity have very little to do with each other.

The plot follows the citizens of a polis. The earth faces a catastrophe on a galactic scale, that can't be avoided. It's the story of how they discover and cope with this catastrophe.

It's a hard science fiction book, and contains a lot of physics and computing information. Most of this went straight over my head - I found my eyes glazing and skipping ahead until the technical terms were over. In a way these details are important because they are part of the response to the catastrophe and do drive the story forward. Without them it wouldn't be the same book, and the story wouldn't work so well. I have no way of judging if the physics discussed makes any sense, though, so disregarded most of it.

But they're also irrelevant, too. The story works because I found the characters interesting. The way they coped with strange environments and challenges was fascinating. Living in a virtual world, such as a polis, would be strange in ways I can't imagine, but Egan makes the experience believable. Exciting, even. There are so many ideas included in this book - different ways of being human, post-human, what it means to be and intelligent and conscious being, identity. There's a lot of food for thought here, if that's what you're looking for.

So, overall, it's a good book but with lots of eye-glazing moments. Mostly one for the fans of hard science fiction, though.

Diaspora, by Greg Egan.

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Eucalyptus

I took Eucalyptus with me to Hobart over the weekend, and managed to finish it off last night after I got home. It made good airport and plane reading.

Written by Murray Bail, it won the Miles Franklin award in 1999. I picked up this copy at the Lifeline Book Fair here in Brisbane earlier this year. I'm glad I did - it's worthy of the prize, and the $3 I paid for it.


It tells the story of Ellen and her father, and how she finds her husband-to-be. A love story, in other words. On the face of it, it doesn't sound like a story that I'd normally be interested in, but when I saw it on sale I thought I'd give it a chance.

Bail's writing style is beautiful. He never names an actual location, but just gives a general location somewhere west of the mountains in NSW. The way he describes it, the town and property could be any typical small town in the bush. The river, the town, the people, are all described briefly but at the same time he manages to catch the atmosphere of rural Australia - slow-paced, open, barren yet fertile at the same time. He hangs the whole story on the many species of Eucalyptus, which uniquely places the story as Australian.

The characters are curious - they manage to be convincing, while at the same time being little more than caricatures. Ellen is beautiful, but passive, doing almost nothing to control her destiny. Her father, Holland, only appears to have a passion for his trees. The fact the he decides to marry his daughter to the first man who can correctly name all the trees he's planted sets him out as odd. It also suggests that the story is set in an earlier time. Just as with the location, there's no actual date set, but some of the stories told suggest that it's set in recent times - definitely post-war. Anyway...

The story winds on, passing quickly over early suitors. It slows down as Mr Cave appears and starts slowly and deliberately working his way through the trees, just as Ellen meets someone who actually interests her. As it looks like Mr Cave will succeed, she starts showing some independence finally.

The conclusion left me wondering what happened next, while at the same time it was exactly the right spot to leave the story.

It's hard to say why I liked this book so much. The writing just drew me onwards into the story. It frustrated me, confused me, made me want more, and drew a picture of an Australian setting that was recognisable without being too cliched or sentimental. Overall, it was an beautiful book to read, and certainly distracted me nicely from the airport lounges and announcements. Definitely worth reading.

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Snow Crash

Neal Stephenson is one author that I've been meaning to read more of since first reading "Cryptonomicon" back in 2000. That book was entertaining, complex, well-written and thought-provoking - a combination I like in a book. But for one reason or another I've never got around to picking up any of his other books until now. Then, the last time I visited the local library, I found a copy of "Snow Crash" on the shelves and decided this was the time.

I'm glad I did. It's not the easiest book to read that I've ever come across. The writing style varies between characters, each having their own unique way of appearing on the page. The plot jumps around quite a bit between characters, locations, ideas and action - not randomly, but it does take a bit of an effort to follow what's going on with the story. All that is obviously deliberate, and it kept me interested in reading on, to find out where it was all going.

The book draws on a whole range of ideas to create it's complex story line. There's references to ancient civilizations, language, religion, computers, medicine, politics, the environment, all drawn together to create a believable alternative world. Some of the ideas are pretty weak - the way the ancient Sumerian language is supposed to work, tied in with the computer virus that affects human brains are a stretch. But that's part of reading fiction - suspending disbelief long enough for the story to catch you. The book is written well enough so that I could get caught up in it without worrying about its use of ideas that I would normally find unbelievable. It made me think, in other words. And that's always a good thing in a book.

So - like I said, it's not the easiest read I've ever had. It took me longer to read than most books do. I will have to go out and read Stephensons other books - unfortunately I've lost my copy of Cryptonomicon somewhere along the way, so I'll be looking to replace it. Or maybe just buy his later ones...

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