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Editor's Choice

Absolute Friends

Absolute Friends John le Carré Little Brown; ISBN: 0316000647 The friends are: a lanky, jocular Englishman, but born in Pakistan to an army officer and his Irish nursemaid wife, and so Mundy is always, especially at Oxford, a bit of an outsider; and Sasha, energetic, charismatic, the son of a German pastor whose politics and demeanor are abhorrent to him. Both lost their mothers early on. It is a professor of German literature at Oxford, whose enthusiasm for his subject fires up Mundy's interest, who connects the two when Mundy decides, that fateful year of 1968, to do a term in Berlin and ends up at the Free University. They circle each other warily for a few days but trust grows between them that will survive the vicissitudes of their lives over the coming years, Mundy's apparently utterly mundane—wife, charming cottage, arts council job, child; Sasha's mysterious, scarcely illuminated by occasional letters. In the course of the next years each discovers his father's secret and each becomes involved in intelligence work. The fall of the Berlin wall puts an end to that, or seems to, and the friends lose sight of each other for a decade, but Sasha's letters from exotic places eventually reach Mundy, and then Sasha himself arrives, to propose a new direction that will allow them to work together on a great project that links back to the ideals of their student days. Le Carré's sharp wit and sense of irony enliven every page and the details—basic rules of intelligence work, the tour guide life, the side-effects of Mundy's falling in love with a Turkish woman—add texture to this brilliantly-wrought story, which is like a slow fire that finally reaches white heat, fueled by the author's palpable anger. [CW]

Science and Technology

Exploiting Software: How to Break Code

Exploiting Software: How to Break Code Greg Hoglund, Gary McGraw Pearson Higher Education; ISBN: 0201786958 One of the essentials in designing secure software is knowing how the bad guys find and exploit flaws. Sadly, the average programmer has only a cursory understanding of the often creative ways in which crackers try to break his code. The goal of this book is to educate programmers about common techniques such as reverse engineering, privilege escalation, server/client exploits, crafting malicious input, the theory of rootkits, and the old favorite, buffer overflows. While the book has plenty of theory, it's also full of concrete examples that use a wide range of free and commercial tools easily available to the motivated bad guy. Creating good code is difficult, so it should not be surprising that breaking code is equally hard. This is reflected in the content of this sophisticated book about a technically complex subject, which is ideal reading for advanced programmers or those who aspire to that status. [AB]

Curve Ball: Baseball, Statistics, and the Role of Chance in the Game

Curve Ball: Baseball, Statistics, and the Role of Chance in the Game Jim Albert, Jay Bennett Copernicus Books; ISBN: 038700193X The beauty of this book is that even if you know nothing about the game of baseball, it is an indispensable guide to how statistics can be applied to the analysis of all kinds of sporting events. The most obvious application of this statistical analysis is to improve your odds in gambling. It turns out that baseball is one of the more chance-influenced games and any edge you can obtain from analyzing statistics is rather slim. Other games, such as basketball and football, are much more predictable. Beyond the gambling applications, this book could easily be used as a textbook in how to use and present statistics. It's full of clear explanations of how real-world data maps to the common tools of statistics: equations; graphs; models. Serious baseball fans with some mathematical aptitude should be in heaven here as the authors revel in the minutiae of the sport. Less fanatical readers will find it full of ideas about how to analyze any series of sporting events, or indeed any number of non-sporting events as well. Grab your data from the Net, use the methods from this book, and dive into some geeky fun. [AB]

Femme Digitale

Femme Digitale Michael Burns AAA; ISBN: 0823016536 One of the truisms of technological evolution is that every new technology will be used for sexual gratification. Photography - naked pictures; batteries - the portable vibrator; atomic energy - the bikini; biotechnology - cloning sheep. So it is with digital imaging. One of the inevitable uses of the technology is to create virtual naked women, mostly because it's guys who are using the sophisticated digital imaging tools. To be fair, the examples of naked women in this book are quite stunning to look at, and not just from a prurient point of view. And the book is not just naked women. This is basically a book about how to use sophisticated tools like Photoshop and Poser to create photorealistic - or, for that matter, utterly fantastic - naked women, or other images of people. It just so happens that all the people in this particular book are women, but hey - you have to start somewhere. Let us disabuse you of the suspicion that we are making fun of the book; nothing could be further from the truth. The glossy illustrations are absolutely stunning and the instructional quality of the book is very high. This sophisticated manual shows sophisticated digital artists how to push their tools to the max (heh heh heh) to create every conceivable variation of the virtual female form. Informative and beautiful, and very much in the spirit of our earlier recommendation Digital Beauties and all its descendents. [AB]

About Face 2.0: The Essentials of Interaction Design

About Face 2.0: The Essentials of Interaction Design Alan Cooper & Robert Reimann Bantam; ISBN: 0764526413 Alan Cooper made quite a contribution to software interface design nine years ago with his book About Face. The primary concerns of that book were thorough initial assessment of software interaction requirements instead of last minute addition of user interface and specific techniques for improving interaction with graphical user interfaces. The new edition does far more than update the original. About Face 2.0 illuminates the abundant practical experience and methodology developed at Alan Cooper's software design consulting and training company. Of particular note, Cooper and Reimann explain the use of context-immersed user research to generate Personas. This approach emphasizes user goals' central role in the definition of requirements to best shape enjoyable and useful software. The bulk of the book contains comprehensive and detailed instructions for effective use of all common mechanisms employed in contemporary graphical user interfaces. Additional chapters consider web browser-hosted interfaces and embedded systems. Presented as a series of practical topics, this may serve either as a reference or a penetrating collection of pragmatic essays and aphorisms. Anyone working in the business of producing software would benefit from the insights and practical techniques in About Face 2.0. [EG]

Silent Witness: How Forensic Anthropology Is Used to Solve the World's Toughest Crimes

Silent Witness: How Forensic Anthropology Is Used to Solve the World's Toughest Crimes Roxana Ferllini Firefly Books; ISBN: 1552976246 If Nielsen ratings are any indication, America has developed a fascination for forensics. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and its spin-off CSI: Miami routinely top the charts as the most-watched programs on television. (There's also talk of another spin-off in the near future with CSI: New York to further expand the franchise.) The original series' hero Gil Grissom is a crime scene investigator who uses the science of forensics to resolve the circumstances of one mysterious death after another. Rarely is reality so nice and tidy. In her book, Ferllini presents an accurate and compelling description of the true science of forensic anthropology, and how it has been used to investigate some of the most (in)famous historic cases of human death. The first chapter describes forensic anthropology, its relationship with other sciences and how it is used to both identify remains and the cause of death. Subsequent chapters focus on technique and usage in such wide-ranging categories as bones, exhumation, air disasters, fires, explosions, genocide and others. Each chapter is punctuated with many full-color photographs and three or four case studies describing the specifics of application. Truly fascinating reading, but not for the faint of heart. [GB]

How Things Are Made: From Automobiles to Zippers

How Things Are Made: From Automobiles to Zippers Sharon Rose, Neil Schlager Black Dog & Leventhal Pub; ISBN: 1579122744 The clever cover is a real attention grabber: authentic blue denim (that's right, the cloth), complete with a double-stitched pocket on the front. Of course, the manufacturing process of such blue jeans is included as well as a veritable cornucopia of other items large and small, both low and high tech. How Rose and Schlager chose what subjects to cover remains a mystery, but there is no longer anything mysterious about the products in this book. The text organization is encyclopedic, with articles arranged alphabetically describing many objects from the mundane to the exotic. Each entry includes a short history of the item, its function and application, how it works and the complete manufacturing process. The accompanying diagrams are in monochrome (leaving most of the creative artistic merit in the cover), but the level of detail is quite adequate to illustrate the textual description. In addition to automobiles and zippers, you will find bar code scanners, cheese, the helicopter, optical fibers, rubber bands, salsa, tires, and watches. There are 34 articles in all, enough to satisfy the curiosity of those who may have always wanted to know such things, but aren't quite sure why. Sure to generate many "so THAT'S how they do that" comments. A great little book to dip into for one-article-at-a-time enjoyment. [GB]

History, Biography, Society

Antiquity: The Civilization of the Ancient World

Antiquity: The Civilization of the Ancient World Norman F. Cantor HarperCollins; ISBN: 0060174099 A couple years ago I committed myself to becoming certified as a history teacher in the state of Massachusetts, which required hard-core cramming of the entirety of world history for a certification test. I wish I had read this book then. The author's goals are nothing if not broad. He sets out to review human history from the beginnings of modern humanity (about 2.5 million years ago) to the fifth century AD, all in 227 pages. He largely succeeds, although he focuses exclusively on Western or European history, and mostly ignores the rest. He specifically focuses on Egyptian, Greek, Jewish, and Roman culture, what would be considered "classical" culture. Cantor first provides a narrative thread, and then goes back and discusses various cultural themes. His approach is scholarly and humanistic and his treatment of religious philosophies, themes, histories, and mythologies is rather dry-eyed. He dismisses the enslavement and escape from Egypt of the Jews, and treats the resurrection of Jesus as mythological. Indeed he rather brusquely knocks over several cherished historical icons in the name of accuracy, which keeps the book interesting but may distress some readers. Any book which attempts to cover so much territory in so few pages must reflect, at least in part, the author's own conclusions. Read this book, and use Cantor's conclusions to help draw your own. [MA]

War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning

War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning Chris Hedges Anchor; ISBN: 1400034639 This unflinching examination of warfare exposes many uncomfortable topics, especially the addictive attraction of combat to participants and the propensity to deny reality to satisfy nationalist myths during wartime. Moral attitudes of those generally opposed to war and foreign intervention may be overcome when it comes to such questions. For example, those who harbor a romanticized view of militant left-wing movements are often inconsistent. Hedges shows that in war, including modern war, there are no 'good guys,' though it would be equally incorrect to imply that every side in a conflict is 'equally bad.' This book delivers clarity and concreteness to such subtle ethical topics through sensitively-rendered anecdotes and probing literary citations. Chris Hedges served as a front line reporter during many of the most brutal conflicts of the past two decades. Hedge's background uniquely prepared him to assess the role of war in contemporary society. He studied English literature and Catholic theology before his intimate experience of embattled regions, soldiers, and journalists on the edge. Though the topic and insights have broad significance to the modern world, their treatment and focus specifically appeal to the American reader. Hedges shows us where bellicosity in state rhetoric leads; a worrisome reminder given developments in American society since September 11, 2001. [EG]

Annals of the Former World

Annals of the Former World John McPhee Farrar, Straus and Giroux; ISBN: 0374518734 John McPhee has written twenty some books of nonfiction and quite a few lengthy New Yorker articles in which he has broken down some big and complicated matters into conceptual chunks and language understandable to everyday dolts like you and me. This is his magnum opus, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1999. It is probably the best work of popular science written in recent years. Its 696 pages comprise four of his previous books, Basin and Range (1981), In Suspect Terrain (1983), Rising from the Plains (1986), and Assembling California (1993), all heavily revised and updated, plus a shorter new book titled Crossing the Craton, some other new material and a fat index. In summary, all of this is a very personal history of what McPhee learned about North American geology while on five road trips along Interstate 80, which crosses the continent between New York and San Francisco, and many side trips bouncing across the countryside in 4-wheel drive vehicles, each trip in the company of a very eminent research geologist: Anita Harris of Brooklyn, David Love of the U.S.G.S. in Wyoming, Kenneth Deffeyes of Princeton, Eldridge Moores of the University of California-Davis, and Randall van Schmus of the University of Kansas. He learned why geologists love road cuts and oil well drill cores. He learned something about the difference between 'field geology' and 'black box geology,' and a bit about 'plate tectonics.' He learned to tell granite from schist from gneiss. He fell in love with such good and useful terms as 'Stable Interior Craton,' 'Laramide Orogeny,' 'Franciscan melange,' and 'Mogi's doughnut,' 'sheepherder anticline,' and 'supergene enrichment,' and especially 'the principle of least astonishment.' He was surprised to learn that the west coast of North America was once about where Salt Lake City is now, that the equator once ran near where Salt Lake City and Minneapolis are now, that the Rocky Mountains were once buried under about 45,000 feet of volcanic ash, back when they were much higher than the Himalayas are now. You may be too. Good book. [WW]

Being Good: Women's Moral Values in Early America

Being Good: Women's Moral Values in Early America Martha Saxton Hill and Wang; ISBN: 0809016338 Historian Martha Saxton compares the values and moral referents of 17th- and 18th-century Puritan women with those of women in the Virginia colony and the 19th-century French Catholic community of early St. Louis, the latter two regions including slave women. The book examines the degree of autonomy experienced by women in these communities, the obedience expected of them to fathers and then to husbands, and the different expectations by the white population for the behavior of black women, who were even less able to act for themselves. Saxton draws on primary documents—letters, journals, legal records—to provide stories of these three communities of immigrants to America, including interactions between Indians and colonists and their attitudes towards each other. She concludes that the tendency to define a morality for middle class white women—chaste, submissive to their male relatives, focused inwards on the family—distinct from the morality expected of men or of blacks militated against women being able to develop a mature moral code relevant to the complexity of the environment in which they lived. The text is enlivened by quotations such as Puritan preacher Cotton Mather's consideration of the question of whether a Christian is obliged to"pay his whore or no." His decision: no, since "no man thinks himself bound to pay a witch that has enchanted him; and this business is pretty much akin to that." The double standard has deep roots. [CW]

Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor

Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor Paul Farmer University of California Press; ISBN: 0520235509 This is a passionate book by a doctor who considers equity to be the primary challenge for the future of medicine and public health. For 20 years Paul Farmer has lived in two very different worlds, as Professor of Medical Anthropology at Harvard Medical School and in rural central Haiti as a physician to the poor, and he sees the health consequences of the widening gap between rich and poor. His long experience in Haiti is of particular interest now, and he's the subject of a best-selling biography by Tracy Kidder. Farmer wants to see a new commitment to equitable distribution of the results of scientific research and the provision of medical care as a basic human right. He has visited Russia to assess the widespread tuberculosis in the prison system there, verified the high incidence of deaths in Chiapas due to such treatable diseases as tuberculosis and malaria, and examined Cuba's successful approach to AIDS treatment. Through his organization Partners in Health, he works to assess the needs, find the resources for proper treatment, and train local health care workers to provide effective treatment for those suffering the growing incidence of TB, AIDS, malaria, and other treatable diseases widespread among the poor in countries around the world. The good news here is that there are affordable treatments for most of the health problems suffered by the poor. What Farmer urges is a global commitment to effective medical treatment for all at the most basic level of prevention and cure of treatable illness. A compelling book by an admirable, realistic, dedicated physician. [CW]

The Great Movies

The Great Movies Roger Ebert Broadway; ISBN: 0767910389 Every so often I go to Roger Ebert's page in the Chicago Sun-Times to read about the movies. I find his essays a pleasure to read, even apart from whatever guidance they offer for my movie matinee habit. He has in this book collected and revised one hundred reviews of what he considers to be "Great Movies" (which is also a section of the site). He does take some pains to point out that these are not "the one hundred greatest movies," but rather simply movies he considers great, and it is hard to take exception to his choices. Spanning the the history of cinema the essays cover silent films, foreign films, science fiction, noir, romantic comedy, and pretty much every type of film. I've personally seen a little more than half of these movies, and felt guilty at missing many of the early, black and white, and foreign films he praises here. It's debatable whether it's more enjoyable to read about why it was that one enjoyed a particular movie, or to read about a movie one has not seen but now feels compelled to add to one's rental queue. Buy this book for a movie-loving friend, or buy it for yourself. Read it with a pencil in hand and check the movies you've seen and make notations when you see them again, or when as a result of reading it you see one of these movies for the first time. [MA]

Punk Rock Aerobics: 75 Killer Moves, 50 Punk Classics, and 25 Reasons to Get Off Your Ass and Exercise

Punk Rock Aerobics: 75 Killer Moves, 50 Punk Classics, and 25 Reasons to Get Off Your Ass and Exercise Maura Jasper, Hilken Mancini DaCapo Press; ISBN: 0306813394 Is there anything more inspiring than watching two formerly decrepit, lazy, cigarette-smoking, beer drinking, aging punkettes in hilariously mismatched punk-aerobic outfits demonstrating the "slut butt"? Maybe watching a Ramones concert from a structurally unsound auditorium balcony, but that would be about it, and you can't see the Ramones anymore anyway. This is an absolutely hilarious book, which, wonder of wonders, contains pretty sound exercise advice. The pictures of Maura and Hilken as they demonstrate the moves in their punk outfits are worth the price alone. Naturally, there is also a controversial list of 50 classic punk albums you can use in your routine - don't forget to turn up that volume. Visit Maura and Hilken's Web site for some outrageous merchandise and goofy photos of their classes in Cambridge, Mass. The whole thing remains true to the punk DIY ethos and looks like way too much fun. To quote from their trademarked (oh, sweet irony!) mission statement: "Free your mind and your ass will follow." This is the funniest and most inspired book to cross our path in a long time, and it upped the humor quotient around here considerably. Buy it and up yours! [AB]

The Trans Fat Solution: Cooking and Shopping to Eliminate the Deadliest Fat from Your Diet

The Trans Fat Solution: Cooking and Shopping to Eliminate the Deadliest Fat from Your Diet Kim Severson; recipes by Cindy Burke Ten Speed Press; ISBN: 1580085431 If you pay attention to nutrition research and the growing problem of obesity in the U.S., you'll be aware of concerns that the virtually ubiquitous partially-hydrogenated vegetable oils, called trans fats, not only load American diets with artificial saturated fat but also may cause cell malfunction, making cells resistant to insulin and so leading to obesity. The increase of Americans who are overweight coincides with the rise in consumption of fast food, much of it made with or fried in partially-hydrogenated vegetable oils. At the same time, the average diet has suffered a reduction of fresh fruits and vegetables, and many Americans get little or no exercise. Trans fat was introduced in 1911 (first marketed as Crisco). It was cheaper than butter and proved to be useful as a preservative, so it became the most-used shortening in baked goods, candy bars, packaged cereals, peanut butter, microwave popcorn; once you begin to check package labels you find it even in self-proclaimed health foods. Due to lobbying by food manufacturers, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been slow to require listing of trans fats on food labels, let alone to restrict their use as some other countries have done. But one can ferret them out by checking the total amount of fat listed on nutrition labels against that listed as saturated and unsaturated; if the fats don't add up, it's the unlisted trans fat that's missing. Award-winning San Francisco Chronicle food reporter Kim Severson lays out the issues in a short, enlightening book and chef and food consultant Cindy Berke provides enticing recipes for trans fat-free staples and goodies. [CW]

Bradbury: An Illustrated Life: A Journey to Far Metaphor

Bradbury: An Illustrated Life: A Journey to Far Metaphor Jerry Weist, Ray Bradbury William Morrow; ISBN: B0000A09DX One cannot say enough about one of the most beloved and revered science fiction writers of all time. He has received every accolade in the genre for such well-known titles as Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Illustrated Man, I Sing The Body Electric!, Dandelion Wine and many, many others. His works have touched generations of readers and inspired movies, television programs and countless imaginations. Along the way, Bradbury's works have aroused the creative talents of a huge body of other artists to create illustrative accompaniment. This coffee-table-formatted book is filled with lavish full-color images of classic pulp magazine cover designs, a wide variety of book cover art (many with multiple illustrations for the same title), movie and stage theater stills, behind-the-scenes production photographs, concept sketches, and movie promotional and poster art. As if the images weren't enough (and they are), Weist includes essays, interviews, histories, artist profiles and much, much more. This is truly a must-have tribute that you will always keep close. Wow, indeed. [GB]

We're Just Like You, Only Prettier: Confessions of a Tarnished Southern Belle

We're Just Like You, Only Prettier: Confessions of a Tarnished Southern Belle Celia Rivenbark St. Martin's Press; ISBN: 0312312431 "You don't have to be Southern to be white trash, but it helps, mostly because Southerners know the beauty of a potted meat and mayonnaise sandwich better than most." Any book that has such a statement in its first paragraph is going to be fun. A cross between Jeff Foxworthy ("you might be a redneck if you've been married three times and have the same in-laws") and "Hee Haw," Rivenbark takes us where many have been, but few will admit to: our Southern roots. Her unfathomable understanding of human nature will tickle your funny bone whether you're from the Deep South or Southern California. These essays run the gamut from couples therapy— "men simply can't resist watching big screen TV or Anna Kournikova eating a banana" to the workplace—"by the time you finally get out of the (weekly staff) meeting, your clothes are out of style" and the true meaning of the Southern family where they might "put off their kids immunizations so they could use the money to buy more icicle lights at Wall-Mart." Described as "best enjoyed with the Allman Brothers Eat a Peach album playing in the background," this book is guaranteed to give you a chuckle or two, even if you recognize your own relatives...or yourself. [GB]

Conversations with the Dead: The Grateful Dead Interview Book

Conversations with the Dead: The Grateful Dead Interview Book David Gans DaCapo Press; ISBN: 0306810999 "If you have to ask, you probably wouldn't understand." This cryptic response often accompanies "I don't get it..." when discussing the merits of the Grateful Dead. Even if you are not a hard-core Deadhead, you still must agree that they were a seminal musical influence as America tripped out of the sixties and into the seventies. Pungent smoke wafting over tie-dye clothing and veggie burritos in the parking lot was but one facet of the experience that was the Dead in concert. You didn't just listen to the Grateful Dead, you lived with them in your own little microcosm for the duration of a heartfelt jam. Many books have been written by aficionados, describing the Dead experience from the outside. Gans grants us an insider view from his perspective as a journalist/musician intimately familiar with their work and allows the band members to share their experiences with their own words. The interviews cover the years 1977 through 1991 and include conversations with Bob Weir (guitar and vocals), Robert Hunter (lyricist), Phil Lesh (bass and vocals), Dan Healy (sound design), John Barlow (lyricist), Steve Parrish (equipment manager), Mickey Hart (drums and percussion), Owsley "Bear" Stanley (sound design and acid connection), Ned Lagin (keyboards), and of course, several with Jerry Garcia (guitar and vocals). This is the Dead first-hand and unadulterated. This well- researched and entertaining read is a must for every Deadhead, even if you have to read each paragraph three times to get over the short-term memory loss. *Cough* [GB]

Fiction

The Well of Lost Plots: A Thursday Next Novel

The Well of Lost Plots: A Thursday Next Novel Jasper Fforde Viking Press; ISBN: 0670032891 Anybody who really likes to read can't fail to be captivated by the wacky and delightful world of Thursday Next, SpecOps Literary Detective, expectant mother, covert agent of Jurisfiction, and sworn enemy of literary nemesis Aornis Hades. It's exhausting to keep track of the literary allusions in this world where literary characters come to life, where time travel plays havoc with familial relationships, and where memory is not always reliable - but it sure is fun. In this one, a very pregnant Next is hiding out inside a particularly boring volume when she's called upon to avenge the death of a friend and sort out the chaos of the literary underground. Don't try to understand the plot, just go with it. This is the third Thursday Next novel, with a fourth on the way - certainly a tribute to the popularity of the series. If you're new to Next and her literary universe, start with the first book, The Eyre Affair. We're fairly sure you'll come back for more. [AB]

Broken Angels

Broken Angels Richard Morgan Del Rey; ISBN: 0345457714 Richard Morgan's first book, Altered Carbon won him many SF fans with its hard-boiled, Raymond Chandler-inspired prose. In this equally good second outing, Morgan follows Takeshi Kovacs, back from the first book, to another world and a shady expedition to recover an alien star gate. The planet is in the middle of a deadly civil war in which Kovacs serves as a mercenary commander. Kovacs gets sucked into an opportunistic plot to secure the rights to the gate and to the secrets that lie beyond it. The usual cast of deadly characters have overt and covert agendas, a number of exciting combat set pieces take place on and off the planet, and, of course, the legacy of long dead aliens looms. Morgan's trademark grit is as much in evidence here as in his first book. Reading "Broken Angels" reminds you of savoring a rare and bloody piece of steak - satisfying in a very visceral sense. The book stands on its own, but reading Altered Carbon first will help fill in background. Fans of the earlier book will not be disappointed with this sequel. [AB]

Eastern Standard Tribe

Eastern Standard Tribe Cory Doctorow A Tor Book, Tom Doherty Associates, LLC; ISBN: 0765307596 Published this month, this is a rather endearing little science fiction novel in the cyberpunk vein. Some of you may be familiar with Doctorow's work with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, his articles in Wired magazine, his Web log at www.boingboing.net, his nonfiction books on techie matters, or the equally endearing little science fiction novel he published last year, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. His new novel is set in the very near future, next month or year maybe, when ubiquitous computing really has become ubiquitous, when everyone has a wireless hand held "comm" which has a whole lot of computing power and memory and can reach anyone in the world who is awake and receiving calls. There is the conceit. Folks are losing connection to their families, employers, countries, etc., and forming friendships and loyalties to "tribes" of other folks readily accessible by "comm," folks who share interests and are on the same sleep cycle, have the same circadian rhythm. Art, the young male protagonist, a user interface designer, is a member of the Eastern Standard Tribe which is having problems with both the Greenwich Mean Tribe and the Pacific Daylight Tribe. Art can design interfaces which are really creative, easy to use, and open new possibilities, or, on demand, interfaces which are so counterintuitive and user-hostile that they are almost impossible to use. He has techie sorts of adventures featuring business scams, a bit of sex and violence, mental institutions, and a whole lot of electronic communication. If you are that sort of person, you can download the whole text of this novel at craphound.com/est. Entertaining. [WW]

Darkness at Noon

Darkness at Noon Arthur Koestler Bantam; ISBN: 0553265954 Koestler draws you back to the grim days and moral crisis of Stalin's purges in the 1930s. Rubashov, a highly-placed government minister, has been imprisoned as this novel begins. While the drama unfolds in the confines of a cell and interrogation rooms, the scope of the story includes the protagonist's varied and troubling recollections. He, among other characters the reader encounters, has run afoul of the outcome of the Russian communist revolution. Despite a lifetime of service and playing by the rules, Rubashov now stands accused of treason. The brutal self-righteousness of an ideologue crumbles, to be replaced with something much darker. The story plays out in a series of reveries, diary entries, and especially interrogation sessions. Though at times somewhat chatty, Koestler richly conveys the totalitarian consequences of Bolshevism. The merciless pursuit of idealistic ends through any means catches up with everyone in the book before it concludes. This fine psychological thriller is also one of the greatest indictments of cynical politics ever written. [EG]

The Heat's On

The Heat's On Chester Himes Vintage; ISBN: 0394759974 What, you haven't read Chester Himes? You say you've read Elmore Leonard, James Ellroy and Dennis Lehane ? Well you need to go back to the roots, and read the man who put the grit in urban crime drama. I happened to pick up The Heat's On at the library in a display of African-American writers during Black History Month. He's writing about Harlem in the middle last century, as a man who knew the streets. His police detectives "Coffin Ed" Jones and "Grave Digger" Johnson share the stage here with drug-dealing faith healers, miscalculating safe crackers, and a giant painted albino. This isn't a novel about how the black community is oppressed by the white community; it's a novel about how the black community takes care of itself. For those of us outside of that community these novels give a little peek into that time and place, at the same time as they are plain old terrifically entertaining. And if some of Himes' novels seem a bit cinematic, perhaps it's because you've seen the movie. [MA]

Mr. Paradise: A Novel

Mr. Paradise: A Novel Elmore Leonard William Morrow/ HarperCollins Publishers; ISBN: 0060083956 Here's a new one for all of you Elmore Leonard fans. And, if you're not already an Elmore Leonard fan, you are doubly lucky because you can not only read this fine new crime novel which is typical of his best work, but then also look forward to reading his forty or so previous books. As you might expect from Leonard, this crime novel is not a "mystery" novel since you and most of the characters in the book know from the onset "whodunit." The suspense that drives the plot is whether the perps will get themselves killed, or at least safely locked behind bars, before they do it again. One of the minor characters in this novel says, "Listen to some of the Dumbest Criminals I Have Ever Known, and learn something." That about sums it up. Mr. Paradise is set in contemporary Detroit. The title character is an 84-year-old crooked defense attorney and a bit of a pervert. His girlfriend is a $900-an-hour prostitute. Her best friend is a Victoria's Secret lingerie model whose suitor is an honest cop. He is trying to jail several young black and chicano gangsta drug dealers, who sort of slide into the plot sideways, and yet another crooked defense attorney. This defense attorney, in his spare time, manages the procurement of contracts for a pair of excon hit men who shoot a lot of folks. They are finally... well you get the idea. This is a near perfect novel to take on a long plane ride, to the beach, or for a night home alone. [WW]

Mystic River

Mystic River Dennis Lehane HarperTorch; ISBN: 0380731851 I decided I had to see the movie made from this book since it takes place, and was filmed, about a mile from where I've worked for the last few years, on the other side of the Mystic River. My office is practically under the Tobin Bridge, whose distinct traffic noise you hear all through the movie. Despite the proximity I have no real knowledge at all of that neighborhood; it's a closed society, like so many neighborhoods in Boston. I read Dennis Lehane's Dorchester mystery over a couple of days before going to see the movie, and was fearful that the film couldn't live up to the power of the book. (It didn't quite, but was a terrific film nonetheless [but why is it so hard for actors to do a Boston accent? and what accent was that exactly that Laurence Fishburne was going for?]). This is not so much a mystery, as a tragedy in which neighborhood is as much of a character in the story as any of the people. No one in the novel has any real choices, and options they thought they had were either illusions or delusions. People are driven to their actions by blood, upbringing, and the neighborhood code. Terrible things happen, mostly as a result of attempts to escape predestined nature. Redemption may come, but it's cramped and mean, and contains the seeds of future tragedy. [MA]

The Forever War

The Forever War Joe Haldeman Eos; ISBN: 0060510862 It's been nearly 100 years since Albert Einstein first proposed that time was "relative." According to his theories, the faster you move as you approach the speed of light (300,000 kilometers per second), the more time slows down (for you) and speeds up for those outside your frame of reference. This may sound rather weird to those not familiar with the finer points of physics, but his theory has held up to scientific inquiry. All it takes is the mere suggestion of weirdness to get many a science fiction writer started, and Joe Haldeman is no different. He has taken the ideas of war, human nature, space travel, and time dilation and rolled them into an eminently readable epic tale about the (very long) life of future warrior William Mandella. As Mandella travels through space from battle to battle at relativistic speeds, he soon leaves behind the comfortable familiarity of the existence he knew. He has joined a "brotherhood" of warriors (that include some sisters, too) hell-bent on wiping out the scourge of the cosmos, the Taurans, in battles separated by decades and light-years. This printing is a new and expanded version, with material not included in the original Hugo and Nebula Award winner published in 1974. A terrific can't-put-it-down stay-up-all-night page-turner. [GB]

City of Saints and Madmen: The Book of Ambergris

City of Saints and Madmen: The Book of Ambergris Jeff VanderMeer Wildside Press; ISBN: 1587154366 Three of the four excellent stories in this collection draw the reader along with the main character deep into an exotic, dangerous, and intoxicating city. I appreciate creepy and inspired writing, especially when combined with excellent storytelling and a sense of humor. VanderMeer's tales straddle horror and fantasy genres, with a literary dimension which transcends both. Each story includes a sweeping context, including the character's past, the social peculiarities of the imagined city of Ambergris and a gripping (for the most part brutal) climax. A tourist pamphlet on the history of Ambergris is the fourth entry in this collection. A hilarious parody of scholarly writing, this also succeeds as a tale of horror. An eccentric historian relates the initial colonization of a city known as Cinsorium. Murder of the original inhabitants and theft of their land had immense and lasting consequences for the city. In many ways this tale parodies both New World history as well as its politically correct revision. Ornamented with abundant witty literary allusions and word play, vivid descriptions and complex unpredictable plots VanderMeer's work is the best new fantasy I've discovered in years. [EG]

The Stranger at the Palazzo D'Oro and Other Stories

The Stranger at the Palazzo D'Oro and Other Stories Paul Theroux Houghton Mifflin Company; ISBN: 0618265155 Here's some new fiction for all of you Paul Theroux fans. The book comprises four parts. The title story is a 108- page erotic novella, definitely X-rated and steamy, about a 21-year-old male American art student who meets and spends about three weeks at an Italian resort with a 60+ year-old German aristocratic lady, a Grafin, who is out for one good solid last fling before going home to Germany with her elderly Graf. I don't know if Bernardo Bertolucci has bought the film rights yet, but it would seem a natural move. The second story, also of about 110 pages is made up of six somewhat related episodes in the erotic awakening of a late pubescent-early adolescent male in Massachusetts back in the 1950s-60s. This is when and where Theroux came of age. Who knows? I found this both very well written and very depressing, certainly not erotic. The third, titled "An African Story" is about forty pages. It is about an older white Afrikaans rancher/farmer/writer who divorces his wife and marries a much younger black woman. It is a fine story about human desire, and folly. The fourth and final story of thirty pages titled "Disheveled Nymphs" is about an older lawyer who retires from the mainland to Hawaii and has some interesting interactions with his mother-and-daughter pair of Filipino/Chinese house maids. Possibly this is material that didn't quite fit into Theroux's fine recent novel Hotel Honolulu. In any case, it's a fine, light-hearted, mildly erotic story with a surprisingly happy ending. Recommended. [WW]

Hot Plastic

Hot Plastic Peter Craig Hyperion; ISBN: 1401300448 I started this novel at 10:00 in the morning, and had finished it by the time I fell asleep at 10:00 at night. Do I need to write anything else? OK, then. Setting? Jim Thompson territory, almost self-consciously so, but it doesn't detract. Grifters, father and 14-year-old son, mother dead of cancer. Son falls sick so dad hires a teen-aged prostitute to sit with him. They all lam out together. Dad sleeps with the girl. Son falls in love with the girl. There's a whole series of cons, betrayals, and failures. Years go by. New relationships, new crimes, new challenges, new failures. This is a sneaky book, and it departs rather significantly from the Thompson mold. It ends up being not so much a crime novel (although there's plenty of that), but rather a relationship novel. The author Peter Craig doesn't have nearly a jaundiced enough view of human nature for the book to enter the noir territory you figured it for. Curiously enough this is all a good thing. As I said at the top I read it over the course of one day, and you can't ask more than that of genre fiction, even if at the end of it you're not entirely clear which genre it was you just read. [MA]

Children's books

Catwings

Catwings Ursula K. Le Guin; illustrations by S. D. Schindler Orchard Paperbacks; ISBN: 0531071103 Many of you doubtless know Le Guin for her adult fiction, but she has also written some wonderful children's stories.This small delightfully-illustrated book imagines four kittens born with functioning furry wings. Their distracted mother's attention is absorbed by the effort to keep them safe and healthy and to find food in a dangerous, noisy city neighborhood. But when she has a moment to consider the matter, she ascribes their wings to a dream she had before they were born, and realizes they're the means for their escape to a safer environment. At her urging, the kittens reluctantly fly off and finally reach a place where there are few lights at night. And of course they soon discover that the natural world has its dangers too, as the mother owl demonstrates when the winged kittens seem a threat to her owlets. But they have the good fortune to encounter some children who are amazed and delighted by these kittens with special attributes, and smart enough to know they'd best provide a safe place for them and keep their discovery a secret. This is clearly a book by one who has lovingly observed cats and an ideal story for a child just learning about them or for a young reader who likes the unexpected. [CW]

Finn Family Moomintroll

Finn Family Moomintroll Tove Jansson Farrar Straus & Giroux; ISBN: 0374423075 Once you have read the first few pages, you will have immersed yourself in Tove Jansson's remarkable fantastic landscape. Her charming characters each have adorable names like Snufkin and Snork Maiden. Everything from the illustrations to the plot twists obey a child's sense of right, wrong and purpose. That is to say, every page includes something unexpected, cool and yet entirely consistent with the characters involved. Though there are surprises and small conflicts, Tove Jansson offers us a gentle and kind world. There's much to remind the reader of Winnie-the-Pooh as the characters' cleverness and language often carry subtle meanings and wisdom. The dreamy pageant builds up to an unforgettable conclusion where everybody gets everything they want. There are too few books like this. [EG]

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen: A Tale of Alderley

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen: A Tale of Alderley Alan Garner Magic Carpet Books; ISBN: 0152017666 Siblings Colin and Susan have come to spend six months with friends of the family out in the English countryside. Almost immediately, they find themselves caught up in an ancient conflict. Local legends turn out to have more than a bit of truth to them. The children unknowingly have brought an artifact of great power back to a region which suddenly overflows with adversaries. The blend of mythic and modern time works remarkably well; the familiar becomes exotic and threatening. The core of the novel involves one of my favorite chases in juvenile literature. Garner wastes no time. His writing has a lean tension ideal for capturing and holding the attention of the young reader. As in his excellent novel Elidor, the bravery, sensitivity and integrity of children prove to be as important as strength of arms or experience of their elders. This book contains the message that future disasters may be averted through enduring commitment and sacrifice, essentially a parable for environmentalism. [EG]

The Boy in the Burning House

The Boy in the Burning House Tim Wynne-Jones Farrar, Straus and Giroux; ISBN: 0374408874 This is a real pager-turner, with a murder at its heart but one unrecognized by all except an alienated 14-year-old girl whose creepy minister stepfather is trying to marginalize her. We get the story from Jim Hawkins, an anxious but likable kid, as he is roused from his grief over his father's death by this girl and her seemingly crazy theories. Set in a rural area whose residents have known each other through several generations, it gains authenticity from the author's descriptions of the natural world and of the work Jim and his mother do on their farm, now in the absence of his father. Jim comes to empathize with Ruth Rose as he sees how her stepfather has kept her under control by convincing others that she's mentally unstable. In the course of the story, both children rise above their sense of powerlessness, get past their annoyance with each other, and support each other against the efforts of a powerful, criminal adult.The author does not strain credulity, he depicts the emotions felt by both kids with dispassionate sensitivity. His story is leavened by Jim's wry wit and Ruth Rose's iconoclasm and tart tongue, and the reader cheers as they outwit the unrecognized murderer by detection, determination, hard work, and bravery. [CW]