Friday, January 21, 2011

Jim Hooper

The following was posted as a comment. I'm not going to let it through. As such because it contained multiple links.  I don't need the search engines thinking I'm a link farm.  Also it was posted to the wrong review. I do feel that I have to address it though.  For those of you playing at home Jim Hooper is the author of  A Hundred Feet Over Hell: Flying With the Men of the 220th Recon Airplane Company Over I Corps and the DMZ, Vietnam 1968-1969.  Which I reviewed back on March 22, 2010.  Since the following was posted as a comment for public consumption I don't feel any obligation to keep it confidential.  This is the complete text minus links.  I've broken it up to make commenting on it easier for me. 

Interesting that of the 70+ reviews across a range of media, yours is the only one lacking a 5-star rating or that recommends it to readers
Actually I did recommend it.  "if you have an interest in an unusual facet of the Vietnam War give it a look."

But among those to whom you wouldn't recommend it are half-a-dozen female bloggers born after Vietnam and with no military or aviation background at all, who gave the story their highest marks, too. You really know who likes what. I'm impressed.

Cordially,
Jim Hooper
Guess what?  I'm here to give my personal review.  Take it or leave it.  They liked the book good for them.  I don't think less of them because they do.  I do think that a book on an obscure topic, artillery spotting discussing a certain geographical area within a conflict is going to be of limited outside interest.  For the casual reader of military history or the Vietnam war.

Instead of sniping at me [seriously that review was posted 10 months ago and now you're upset?] perhaps you would be better served by taking this opportunity to go write your next book.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Vulcan 607: The Epic Story of the Most Remarkable British Air Attack since WWII by Rowland White

Vulcan 607: The Epic Story of the Most Remarkable British Air Attack since WWII by Rowland White come to think of it there's only a slight hyperbole in that title. Covers the Stanley airfield attack although mostly talks about the frantic planning and training that went on. The aircraft were actually being phased out and they had to relearn a bunch of things including aerial refueling. Popular history that at least tries to demarcate between dialog he knows took place because of transcripts and dialog he's made up.

Recommended.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Best of the Best, Volume 2: 20 Years of the Best Short Science Fiction Novels edited by Gardner Dozois

Best of the Best, Volume 2: 20 Years of the Best Short Science Fiction Novels edited by Gardner Dozois contains 13 novellas. Unfortunately the only criteria for selection was if Dozois enjoyed it. Like most people there's a particular type of story he enjoys. There's a lot of the same here. Themes of extended life span and perception of reality. I'd be OK if they at least treated the themes differently but they often use the same plot devices (alien biological material invading humans is probably the most glaring). LeGuin's hand wringing about gender roles in Forgiveness Day was almost a relief. There is some great stuff here Sailing To Byzantium by Robert Silverberg, The Hemingway Hoax by Joe Haldeman and Mr. Boy by James Patrick Kelly. Beggars In Spain and Oceanic by Greg Egan both completely failed to work for me. For different reasons. By the end the repetitiveness was taking its toll. I'd probably think better of New Light On The Drake Equation by Ian R. MacLeod and Turquoise Days by Alastair Reynolds if I had got to them earlier. If I would have it to do over instead of reading it all in two weeks I probably would have read one novella every week.

Recommended with caveats.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Band of brigands: the first men in tanks by Christy Campbell

Band of brigands: the first men in tanks by Christy Campbell superb history written by as far as I can tell a layperson. Campbell is a journalist. The story is mostly about the development of the tanks and it's deployment. What I especially liked was that he's not looking forward to WWII so he doesn't overemphasize the rather limited success they had.

Highly recommended!

Saturday, January 01, 2011

Happy New Year

Happy New Year let it be better than last.  Didn't really do enough reviews here to make it worthwhile to do a best of post.  So this is more a placeholder to remind myself that I did read 218 books in 2010.