John Brunner. Time Jump (1973)

     John Brunner. Time Jump (1973) Brunner specialises in SF satire. Like Pohl, he has a sharp eye for ironic miscalculations, such as the Martians in The Warp and the Woof Woof. They are so sure of their mental and technological superiority that they fail to realise that they are much smaller than humans, whom they despise as semi-intelligent primitives at best. They make nice mouse-sized snacks for the “most intelligent” dweller at the house of the astronaut who is scheduled to arrive at their planet pretty soon. They also failed to pay enough attention to the habits of humans, so that they pick up the dog instead of the man, who has gone out with his wife for a farewell celebration. Darker miscalculations drive the plot of Nobody Axed You, in which a gruesome TV show inspires people to kill each other, and so helps reduce the population. A nice collection of bite-sized tales. **½ (2010)

David Sumner. High Rails over Cumbres (1976?)

     David Sumner. High Rails over Cumbres (1976?) A lovely little pamphlet summarising the history of the D&RGW narrow gauge lines in Colorado and New Mexico, and the saving of the section over Cumbres Pass as a tourist railway. The railway still exists, although it has been overshadowed by the Silverton Railway, which preserves the southern section of the line. Old and new photographs, a page from a timetable, but no map. Two photos show the original timber trestle over Toltec Gorge and the later masonry embankment that replaced it. Good little book. *** (2010)

Frederik Pohl. The Abominable Earthman (1963)

     Frederik Pohl. The Abominable Earthman (1963) Pohl is one of the greats of the Golden Era of the commercial short story, those two or three decades of pulp fiction that began just before the second world war and petered out when TV displaced cheap fiction and the general interest magazines in the 70s. This collection shows the range and the limits of Pohl’s art. He liked to write stories of how humans, despite their obvious flaws and weaknesses, nevertheless manage to win against beings that seem overwhelmingly superior, as in the title story. Here a lazy petty crook of the most pathetic kind discovers that the Sirians get drunk on CO2, which leads to their eventual defeat.
     Pohl also has a knack for thinking through the consequences of different cultural assumptions. In “The Martian Stargazers” he combines this skill with historical speculation in an elegiac tale of how myths can become lethal when taken literally, The Martians called Sirius the Sleeper, and when a nova appears near that star, they imagine that the Sleeper has awoken. In a frenzy of fear they destroy themselves. Sometimes the irony is darker: in “Punch”, an advanced race suffering from terminal ennui has given humans their technology, so that they may become game clever enough to provide a real challenge to the hunters. Punch goes hunting with some humans, and discovers that they, like him, do not like to shoot sitting ducks.
     Pohl’s general attitude is ironic: humans (and other sentient beings) hold solipsistic views of the world that as often as not lead to their undoing, or shift the balance of power in unexpected ways. One could say that he specialises in the tale of the unintended consequence. His stories are well done, and often forgettable, but loads of fun to read. *** (2010)

Garrison Keillor. A Christmas Blizzard (2009)

     Garrison Keillor. A Christmas Blizzard (2009) James Sparrow hates Christmas; his wife Joyce loves the season and the feast. Sparrow flies to N. Dakota because his uncle’s health is failing. There a blizzard prevents his return to Minneapolis, so he spends some time in an ice fishing hut. He’s visited by various visions, or maybe angels, or maybe ghosts, which, like Scrooge’s Marley, teach him to be a more tolerant and loving human being. They also tell him that his wife is pregnant, which is something of a miracle after many years of marriage. So all’s well.
     Garrison Keillor is a wonderful story teller. This novel is very like his News From Lake Wobegon in tone and structure. He rambles, and it seems the story is about to get away from him and end up nowhere in particular, but like a walk in the bush on a winter’s night it bends back to where it started, a place that has changed in unexpected ways. Or perhaps it’s we who have changed, and see the old familiar places as the miracles they are. Worth another read. ***½

Henry Petroski. Remaking the World (1999)

     Henry Petroski. Remaking the World (1999) Jon gave me this book for Christmas. Petroski wrote historical essays for American Scientist, a magazine that appears to carry on the original intent of Scientific American, which was much more focussed on technology (and even DIY) than the current version. His essays are very much like Gould’s, but the style is somewhat more neutral and pedestrian. I get little sense of Petroski’s personality, which is a pity, since his choice of subjects indicates a lively mind and wide range of interest.
     His emphasis on the non-technical aspects of engineering is important. Most people lack scientific and technical insight (we need a word like “illiteracy” for this), which means that the context of engineering works is often incomplete. The yearning for quick fixes prompts politicians and their constituents to trust the technocrats too much (see the “heightening” of “security measures” at airports recently). On the other hand, nimbyism and paranoid Ludditism result in know-nothing rejection of economically viable and ecologically effective solutions (see the resistance to H1N1 vaccination).
     All in all, a good book, with useful nuggets of information here and there. For example, “bug” as a glitch or unexpected flaw in design predates computers. Petroski quotes a note in Edison’s diary, in which Edison refers to “Bugs – as such little faults and difficulties are called –”. I’ve suspected that the “insect in the electronic works” was a story a little too pat to be true, and am happy to have my suspicion confirmed. *** (2010, previously posted)

William L. Shirer. The Rise and fall of Adolf Hitler (1961)

     William L. Shirer. The Rise and fall of Adolf Hitler (1961) This little book is aimed at school children, which means it’s simplified, and in places simplistic. It also affirms some of the post-war disinformation, such as that Austria was conquered by Hitler. In fact there was plebiscite, and 98% of those voting wanted Anschluss. And over 95% voted. The movement in favour of Deutschösterreich (German Austria) was strong even before Hitler moved to Germany. This movement originally wanted the “real” Austria to secede from the Hapsburg empire and take its proper place alongside or even as part of the German hegemony. When Hitler referred to the “mongrel” Slavs, he was merely repeating some of the attitudes of this movement.
     Shirer describes Hitler’s legal manoeuvres as trickery, rather than stressing that Hitler learned the lesson of the failed Putsch: that he would achieve his aims only if he could get hold of the legislative levers, and change the laws so that everything he did was legal. That includes the Holocaust. He saw the law as a tool for providing the legitimacy (same root, BTW) he needed. I can’t think of a single modern dictator who operates otherwise. Even the ancient Roman tyrants acted within the law – they just made sure that the Senate voted them the right to do as they wished.
     Shirer claims repeatedly that the story he tells is based on documents and other evidence, and as far as I know the facts are all true. This is a book that middle school children should read, I think, especially with a teacher who can help them see its implications for today’s politics. Saviour politics are a threat to democracy that never goes away. We live once again in a time when too many people are hoping for some powerful leader to keep them safe, and the same mixture of political ignorance, apathy, fear, and cocooning that brought Hitler to power is once again strong. So also is the polarisation: when people see nothing but disaster around them, they focus on a single, simplistic solution, and demonise those who disagree with them. People like me, who were more or less successfully inoculated against the delusions promoted by a wannabe tyrant, and can see the signs of creeping tyranny, are often seen as extremists. **½ (2010)

David Popp, ed. 102 Realistic Track Plans (2009)

     David Popp, ed. 102 Realistic Track Plans (2009) Track plans have a fascination out of all proportion to their significance. Their appeal is universal. Whether a model railroader is a novice dreaming of the ultimate layout, or a seasoned builder, a track plan attracts the eye and mind, and everyone that studies one will think of ways in which it could be adapted to his or her space and preferences. When the plan shows a layout that was actually built, so much the better. That means that at least one person knows it works.
     All the plans in this book are of actual layouts featured in Model Railroader and Great Model Railroads over the last few years. The smallest ones will fit on a card table if built in N or Z, the largest ones fill half a basement or garage. Some have strange alternative routes, or favour one direction over another because of poorly planned reversing tracks. But all of them work, in the sense that their builders operate trains more or less prototypically. All of them have a good balance of landscape, townscape, and track. Many exhibit ingenious ways of arranging staging yards, or draping a multi-lap mainline around the room so that the scene does not look too crowded, or adaptations of real track arrangements. All were planned as layouts rather than as track plans, but “track plans” is the term familiar to novices, who are a large part of the target audience. Short articles on track planning (measuring the space, drawing the plan, devising a general scheme, etc) give the novice reader the advice (s)he needs.
     What’s missing are the names of the original builders or planners, IMO a major omission. The captions could be a little more informative in terms of hints for operation, for example. Other than that, this is a very good book. If it’s reissued as a trade paperback, it may eventually replace 101 track Plans, Kalmbach’s best selling book ever. *** (2010)