The Rest of the Robots

                                   
Not having a structured reading challenge this year (I have decided to be very whimsical about it this year), I started out by just opening up a box of books and diving in. I have over the past couple of years just placed my purchases into boxes after buying them with no effort to inventory whatever is inside, so it is a literal surprise to see what is in each box, and a great deal of fun.  This week I opened my first box and here was this lovely treat inside (admittedly every book in the box was like that but I wanted to read some Asimov right away as it has been more than a year since I have indulged).  This is my write up for Libraything:-

"I am a huge fan of Isaac Asimov, and especially of his robots. As I have noticed with some writers of short fiction in this genre, new collections almost always include favorites from previous years, so there will be some repetition (that feeling of deja vu which is hardly ever unwelcome considering the author and the stories and, in my opinion worth a re-read). His short stories often have a punchline which is uniquely typical of Asimov, and very often an amusing one. It does not matter if I have read most of these stories before, they are always a welcome revisit, and still provide for me a fascinating look into a possible future that I find myself wistfully wishing for. ( )"

Adding to all of the robotic fun, is Isaac's remarks before each storiy, which I enjoyed as I have always thought him to be such an intelligent and witty man.
This book is my first entry for January, I have opted instead of reading categories, I will just list what I have read each month, with a few extra places for particular things I would like to do this year, also with very little structure to them, like a list for Doctor Who books, one more for Neil Gaiman because I plan to binge on him this year, and for non-fiction and vegan non-fiction.  I would also like to read more of what I own (dipping into my mystery boxes), and attempting to read what is new this year.  All of which I would like to do instead of having to.  To cap it off, I want to spend more time writing, and perhaps doing things that do not involve books .  That last one I admit, was a hard one to contemplate, but I know it is important to do. 

Man Plus

This is my first book by Frederik Pohl, and I am impressed with the thought put in to this particular subject; the processes needed to adapt a human to survive on the surface of Mars.  The detailed metamorphosis is astonishing, and the whole experience is shared by the reader, the shock, the betrayal, the personal relationships and politics behind such an endeavour.  Pohl throws you through a loop at the end though…watch out!

The Dalek Invasion of Earth

Once a year, usually during winter break, this movie would be shown on television.  Not being familiar with the earlier Doctor Who’s I did not realise that the actor playing the doctor, Peter Cushing, wasn’t in fact the original doctor.  For some strange reason someone wanted to make two Doctor Who movies based on two story arcs from the television series.  Not that I am complaining… I loved those movies, I actually own them now and look forward to watching them every year or so as a winter treat.

Reading the book, was illuminating, and then watching the original television broadcast, was wonderful.  There was, of course, some slight changes from the movies, which is alright, I like them all on their own merits.  It was a great story no matter how it was told.  The Doctor’s words to Susan at the end of the television show indicate the man he gradually evolved to be in later stories.  There is a fundamental theme about the Doctor which has made him into a folk hero, and that is his curiosity and wonder at new places and new species, which, no matter how strange they looked, he would see them as beautiful.  It was an important lesson to be taught, to young and old people alike, the respect and acceptance of those that are different to you.  The books make this first doctor look so much better than he really is on the television show (a cranky old goat), but he really did shine this time.

The Speed of Dark

When you are a kid you believe everything that an adult tells you.  What happens from there on in can go two different ways.  Either you can believe it as the truth for the rest of your life, or you will see it as a lie and act accordingly.  That’s a pretty simplistic approach, I could wax poetic about the many different kinds of lies and how, when we acquire wisdom as we grow up, we learn to interpret them and realise our own truths.  I have spent a great deal of my adult life re-interpreting my past and finding new truths every year (every day!) with the changing of my own perspective.
But what if you didn’t question what you were told?  What if you lived your life with blinders on believing that what was said to you was absolute and that  there was no alternate paths to take?  I shudder to think what my life would have been like now if I had listened and followed faithfully what my own adults told me.
That is what is at the heart of this wonderful book.  Beliefs and the ability to change them when they no longer make sense.
When I first started reading this book I was a little worried that it would be like Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, the theme is similar after all.  The journey the protagonist goes through was fascinating
I loved Lou,  and, admittedly I was picturing Benedict Cumberbatch when I was reading it.  I have found this year that reading about the process a person goes through, mentally, the struggles to understand adversity, and the natural conclusions each character made to reach their own ultimate goal, engaged my interest and had me riveted to my reading chair, eager to see what the results where in each epiphany.  I loved this story and will be looking for more by Elizabeth Moon.