THE DRAGON AND THE GEORGE by Gordon R. Dickson
The title stemmed from the
fact that dragons are upset
with us because we keep
calling them all "dragons",
even though they each have
their own proper names.Interestingly, they call all
humans "George", because
the very first human that they
ever encountered was...Saint
George, who introduced
himself as such before
slaying a dragon —
the very first to be killed
by a human.Due to a science experiment gone horribly
wrong, the hero — an American grad
student of medieval history — gets
teleported along with his fiancée into
England...that's England, as in: back-in-the-
Middle-Ages, England. An alternate
Middle Ages, in fact. One where they have
a wizard that's walking around,
constantly-annoyed and yelling at everyone
he comes across (he has an ulcer, which
was why he was easily irritable), along with
dragons with thick hides and huge wings
flying around. And it just so happened that
he seems to have turned into one, as well.So now he has to use his wits, his
newly-found dragon abilities, and
knowledge of history (some of which still
applied even in this alternate universe) along
with a couple of friends and animals he
befriended along the way to try to rescue his
love (who has remained human throughout
all this time) and save her from the clutches
of the bad guys who happens to have their
own set of dragons, along with other evil
sets of creatures arrayed against him... oh,
and they also happen to have an Accounting
Department, as well.
FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON by Daniel Keyes
An adult with the mental capacity of a child
was given an experimental treatment that
succeeded in raising his intelligence quotient
not only back to normal range, but in fact
helped shoot it waaay upwards into the
stratospheric realm of the super-geniuses.
Algernon is a lab rat that had received the
same treatment as part of a control group.Initially, things seem to be going well, but
when Algernon showed alarming signs of
regression the patient must now use his
immense (albeit apparently only temporary)
intelligence at his disposal to try and find a
solution and reverse the destructive effects
that are taking hold before it sends both
their mental capacities back to where they
started from.And all throughout his battles and struggles,
his teacher had been by his side through
thick and thin, offering her assistance to the
best of her abilities, her companionship, her
unwavering support, and her deep
affection.
MARLEY AND ME:
Life and Times
with the World's Worst Dogby John Grogan
A very funny, poignant, and touching book
about the crazy exploits of one Marley
Grogan, a goofy yellow Labrador Retriever
who happens to not only drive the author
and his wife absolutely nuts with his endless
exploits and madcap adventure, but also
through his own unique way, provided
support and love to these same people
during those times when they needed it the
most.I was so impressed with this book that once
I finished it I immediately fired off a note to
Mr. Grogan congratulating him for his fine
piece of writing, and for having such a
wonderful, incredible, and unforgettable
friend as Marley. I was so stoked when he
actually took the time to respond! To me!!!
Wow, Mr. Grogan is one cool dude.
SKIPPING CHRISTMAS by John Grisham
John Grisham decided to switch gears and
write a story that had absolutely nothing to
do with the legal profession. I like reading
his "typical" books, but I love this one the
best out of all the works of his that I've had
a chance to read, so far.People told me that the movie Christmas
with the Kranks (2004) was loosely based
on this book. I've also heard reviews of
that movie from said people that included
words like "terrible", "awful", and
"forgettable", along with other
unmentionable ones.Having never seen the film, I'm guessing that
maybe the film makers just didn't do a good
job of translating it into a screenplay — or I
suppose I could be an oddball that just
happened to like reading terrible, awful, and
forgettable stories.I thought it was neat how Mr. Grisham used
the theme about the spirit of Christmas to tie
everything together in the end, kind of like
how a pretty little red bow gives a nice gift
that finishing touch that makes it all the more
appealing and desireable come Christmas
morning.
THE WORLD'S WORST AIRCRAFT by Bill Yenne
Here's an example of one of
the planes profiled in the
book: the Blohm & Voss
BV-141, "the world's most
assymetrical aircraft". The
dark area is where all the
people ride in while the
middle section is where the
engine and single propeller
is located.This book said that despite its
unorthodox appearance, it
was actually very stable in
flight and considered solid
and airworthy. But because
it was so funny-looking, lots
of people were hesitant to fly
in it and so was quite
unpopular.This is a coffe table book that lists lots and
lots of different types of aircraft from the
very beginning of manned flight, all the way
up to the era of the stealth fighters.The photographs were quite amusing and
informative. Without even looking at the
description one can even tell the "fatal flaw"
in a lot of them. Some were built, like the
BV-141 on the left, looking like either they
came from some dropout at a design
school, or was part of an engineer's
nightmare that somehow managed to sneak
itself into production.Others were more traditional in appearance,
but were either so underpowered or poorly
designed that they could barely manage to
stay in the air. There was one where it was
impossible for the pilot to see the ground
when landing! — think vertical landing
backwards...tail-first.Still others were built with no intention at all
of making them get off the ground: either
they were part of an elaborate hoax, or
used simply as a way to weasel themselves
out of government contracts. Even so, they
were built, and they got flown...for as long
as the wings would hold out, in the case of
the alleged hoax aircraft.The most ghastly ones were planes that
were built with the express intention of
killing their pilots!
I, ROBOT by Isaac Asimov
A series of related short stories
encapsulates this book, placed some time in
the future when robots are considered
commonplace and interacting with us on a
daily basis.Because of their physical superiorities to
humans, several safeguards were put into
place in the form of rules that robots are
required to follow and so those concepts
are hard-wired into their programming and
behavior.They are not allowed to harm human beings,
or by not doing anything cause humans to
fall into harm; they are not allowed to follow
orders that would cause people to be
harmed, and finally; they are required to
keep from harming themselves as long as it
doesn't conflict with the first two rules.The story is quite different from the 2004
movie of the same name starring Will Smith
and Bridget Moynahan. It looks like the
scriptwriters for the movie used the rules
above as a starting point, and then built their
own action-oriented film around it.
THE MISTS OF AVALON by Marion Zimmer Bradley
A story told at the age of Camelot, but from
a woman's perspective. Quite inspiring and
a good read.The movie version is pretty good also. It
starred Julianna Margulies of ER, and there
were a few other unknowns (to me)
appearing there as well at the time which I
now do recognize like Joan Allen of the
Bourne trilogy, and Michael Vartan of
Alias.If you like the Arthurian legends and enjoy
seeing Morgaine, Merlin, and Vivianne
come to life once again then this is one of
the truly enjoyable books to read through,
at a crossroads in time when magic and
religion coincide — one at the ascent, ready
to supplant the other.
MOTHER TONGUE
English & How It Got That Wayby Bill Bryson
The contents of this book is grounded
on several disciplines including syntax,
morphology, semantics, linguistic
anthropology, and so on.But what makes this remarkable isn't the
fact that it comes in quite handy as a
reference material for those that are so
inclined to look for one — there's a dozen
or more of those out there — but because it
manages to convey everything in an
engaging and conversational manner,
completely free of the technical lingo and
academic terminology that would normally
scare away the casual reader.There is a chapter on the historical changes
to a language as it moves forward in time;
another chapter on swearing; a chapter
devoted to anagrams (e.g., RONALD
WILSON REAGAN = INSANE ANGLO
WARLORD; WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
= I AM A WEAKISH SPELLER) and other
word games. Another chapter deals with
names across different languages.A fun way to get a general overview of the
English language based on different
disciplines, all of them based on solid
research but presented in an easygoing
way.
SEABISCUIT by Laura Hillenbrand
In the early 1930s, The Great Depression
was in full swing and became one of the
defining moments in American History.
Countless families were experiencing
difficulties and the entire country was in
essence looking for a hero or some sort of
inspiration to look up to while they struggle
to hold on to their lives the best they can.This is a real story of a small group of
people during that time whose lives would
forever be changed by their direct
interaction with this little horse whose
hard-luck upbringing struck a chord with a
lot of people, and so they in turn were able
to associate with Seabiscuit whenever he
went out on a race, and became the
working-class horse: the horse of the
people, wherever he went.Racehorses have their own line of royalty.
The Blue Blood lineage apparently runs
strong in Kansas and surrounding areas.
Seabiscuit was from California, and so right
off the bat is considered an inferior and an
outsider. He was small, didn't particularly
win in the races that he ran, and was
actually getting to the point of becoming
quite old to keep racing. The owner, trainer,
and jockey all have their own personal
demons to fight, and yet with the magical
combination of all four of them put together,
their own unique set of talents and resources
have managed to find a way to bring out the
best — not only in the horse, but what's in
deep within themselves, as well.And in the end, it didn't really matter that
much what Seabiscuit did, or how fast he
ran. It was how he managed to capture
people's imaginations and changed people's
lives, and how he gave them the inspiration,
enjoyment, and distraction during those
dark and dreary days when food was
scarce, and jobs were nonexistent.The 2003 movie version was also good,
although one significant difference that it has
with the book was that the former has a
"happier" ending while the latter actually
followed the main principals to the very
end of each of their natural lives, and
so the hard copy would naturally tend to
have a bit of a bittersweet finality to it all.
MYTHOLOGY
Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroesby Edith Hamilton
This was the book that introduced Greek
mythology to me while I was still little.
Legendary, larger-than-life mythological
Greek heroes like Achilles, Ajax,
Odysseus, Hercules, and Perseus. Beautiful
Helen, vain Paris, the original Trojan
Horse, the pure Pegasus. Minotaurs,
centaurs, Cerberus, the River Styx,
mysterious Charon, evil Medusa. Oedipus
and his complex, Midas and his gold.From this book I found out about the story
of the The Trojan War, The Odyssey, The
Golden Fleece, The 12 Trials of Hercules,
Atlas and the weight of the world on his
shoulders, Sisyphus and the boulder,
Persephone and Hades.And of course, there are the personification
of the gods: Hephaestus the blacksmith of
the gods, Athena the warrior, Ares the bully
(he likes to start wars, and is the God of
War. But if injured, he runs away crying
like a sissy), Hera the indignant wife, always
on the lookout for Zeus' indescretions, and
Aphrodite, the sweet goddess of love.Of course, there are also the Roman
equivalents, and so Aphrodite became
Venus, Hephaestus became Vulcan, Ares
became Mars, and so on.The final portion of the book touched briefly
on Norse mythology; about fatalism and the
importance of courage in spite of the
inevitability of what lies ahead....all of which — and more — presented in
a well-written, and very entertaining manner.This is a very good book for those looking
to get a basic feel or a starting point from
which to learn about Greek / Roman
mythology.
< Any book compilation
based on the "Get Fuzzy"
comic strip >by Darby Conley
For those that are unfamiliar with the comic
strip, "Get Fuzzy" contains three main
characters: a dementedly psychotic young
male Siamese cat named Bucky Katt; a
constantly-befuddled Shar-Pei / Labrador
mix named Satchel Pooch; and their
long-suffering human, a bachelor named
Rob Wilco.There is also a set of recurring characters
that show up from time to time like Mac
Manc McManx, a distant relative of Bucky
from England that speaks with a Cockney
accent; Shakespug, a neighborhood dog
that communicates solely by Shakespearean
verses; and Fungo Squiggly, a ferret that
lives next door who happens to be a mortal
enemy of Bucky but a good friend of
Satchel.Almost all the time Bucky is hatching some
sort of hare-brained scheme that blows up
in his face and victimizes Satchel in one form
or another, leaving Rob to move in and
clean up the inevitable resulting mess.
Hilarity ensues.
