The problem with books like this is that they so quickly go out of date, a particular shame in this case, where Tribe has assembled in internal chronological order all of the stories of New Who up to Last of the Time Lords (ie starting with The Fires of Pompeii and ending with Utopia) including Attack of the Graske and The Infinite Quest, and brief explanations of Old Who stories which are mentioned in New Who (plus a few other tantalising references, eg to the Animus on p 7), but no coverage of Torchwood, the Sarah Jane Adventures or the New Who books and comics (let alone the Australian K9). For the diehard fan, or the TV Who fan who wants to explore more of the Whoniverse, Lance Parkin’s Ahistory has more to offer, but this is beautifully produced and comprehensive for what it covers. (And I realise that I have not actually seen The Infinite Quest.)
Monthly Archives: August 2012
Links I found interesting for 09-08-2012
- What will you have: tea or chai? « Cultural Geography « GeoCurrents
- Doctor Who: Fifty Stories For Fifty Years: 1978
Andrew Hickey’s tribute to Mary Tamm.
- BBC News – Website warned over MMR claims
ASA stands up for science.
August Books 8) The Public Prosecutor, by Jef Geeraerts
A rather nasty thriller about a senior Flemish legal official whose estranged wife is being exploited by Opus Dei, filled with cynicism about the Francophone gerontocracy which supposedly runs the country, boosted by authentic flashes of local colour (notably the expensive restaurants which are all real). None of the characters is at all attractive, and the author gives no indication that he does not share their sexual and ethnic chauvinism.
August Books 7) Heir to the Empire, by Timothy Zahn
This was recommended to me by
August Books 6) The Portable Greek Historians, ed. M.I. Finley
A Penguin collection of extracts from Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon and Polybius, showing the start and early evolution of historical writing. As I am less familiar than I would like with the historical background, a lot of this sailed over my head (I would have liked more footnotes and maps), but I appreciated the raw approach of Herodotus, the critical attitude of all of them to other writers (not that this stopped them making stuff up themselves) and the closing passage from Polybius comparing the Roman constitution with the constitutions of less successful states (he singles out Rome’s institutionalisation of religion as a key factor).
Links I found interesting for 08-08-2012
- The four things you need to do right now to avoid getting hacked.
Read it. Do them.
- How Apple and Amazon Security Flaws Led to My Epic Hacking | Gadget Lab | Wired.com
Read this. Awful warning for us all.
- Who Is Really Doing Russia’s Bidding in Tbilisi
Measuring outcomes rather than rhetoric.
- Readercon: Public Statement
How to apologise.
- It’s a rich man’s world: How billionaire backers pick America’s candidates—By Thomas Frank (Harper’s Magazine)
The USA’s democratic deficit.
- The Elephant in the Map Room
The Border Between Israel and Palestine – a short history.
August Books 5) Watchman, by Ian Rankin
Now that I’ve finished the Rebus books I am working through Rankin’s other stuff. Watchman starts off very John Le Carré, with the dejected middle-aged spy protagonist in a dead-end career and failing marriage, and then lurches rather unexpectedly into an action adventure in Ireland with a rather implausible IRA plot thread (this is 1988 or so). Rankin is not really at his ease when playing away from home, and the best bit of the book is the final dénouement set in Edinburgh (for no terribly good plot-related reason). Minor stuff really.
August Books 4) Spectrum IV, ed. Kingsley Amis and Robert Conquest
A collection of 14 sf short stories, published in 1965; all of them are by men, and most are from the early sixties, but the two standout pieces, “The Marching Morons” by Cyril Kornbluth and “Barrier” by Anthony Boucher, are both a bit older (1951 and 1942 respectively). It may just be the editors’ taste, but an awful lot of these seemed to be set in future dystopias with a strong distrust and dislike of the common herd. The collection is prefaced by an interview with C.S. Lewis conducted by Kingsley Amis and Brian Aldiss.
August Books 3) The Battle for God, by Karen Armstrong
I was really impressed by this historical account of religious fundamentalism (well, of Christian, Jewish and Islamic fundamentalism) over the centuries up to 1999. I have not always been convinced by Armstrong’s approach of parallelling changes in different cultures that happened at the same time, but this worked really well for me, disposing breezily with the importance of balancing logos and mythos, tracking the different religions’ responses to the Enlightenment and modernisation, and then exploring the parallel rise of hardline fundamentalist reaction in all three traditions during the late twentieth century. For the most recent period, Armstrong also restricts her geographical focus down to the USA for Christianity, Israel for Judaism, and Egypt and Iran for Islam, which means of course that all kinds of interesting material from elsewhere is simply omitted. But those are all fascinating countries, and I found her analyses of the religious politics of Israel and Iran particularly illuminating.
Writing in 1999, Armstrong thought that fundamentalism was establishing a new equilibrium after a period when it had appeared insurgent and had then suffered a series of defeats in the 1980s and 1990s. I think she would now agree that we have seen a distinct rise in the strength of fundamentalism in all three traditions in the years since. In the last few pages she looks at how the rest of us should deal with fundamentalism. Repression does not work, she points out, and indeed makes these movements stronger; we must remember that they are based on fear and incomprehension. Rather we should challenge fundamentalists on their own ground, on their lack of compassion for their fellow human beings; this is where they miss a crucial core value to all three of the religious traditions. Definitely worth reading if you are interested in understanding the extremists.
August Books 2) Dark Horizons, by J.T. Colgan
This is another welcome manifestation of the new BBC policy of commissioning Doctor Who books from authors who are well known outside the sub-genre. Colgan is the author of a dozen or more chick-lit novels (I think I actually have read her first, Amanda’s Wedding), but here she has served up a tense and well-written story of Eleven-on-his-own landing in the tenth century in the north of what we now call Scotland, and encountering a fiery alien menace as well as Vikings. There are some brilliantly vivid descriptive passages and some nice character moments for the Doctor, as well as a decently handled romantic subplot which is not allowed to take over the story. In general the new run of Who books by other authors is proving pretty successful.
“Everyone thinks that. They are quite wrong.”
C.S. Lewis: “The starting point of the second novel, Perelandra, was my mental picture of the floating islands. The whole of the rest of my labours in a sense consisted of building up a world in which floating islands could exist. And then of course the story about an averted fall developed. This is because, as you know, having got your people to this exciting country, something must happen.”
Kingsley Amis: “That frequently taxes people very much.”
Brian Aldiss: “But I am surprised that you put it this way round. I would have thought that you constructed Perelandra for the didactic purpose.”
C.S. Lewis: “Yes, everyone thinks that. They are quite wrong.”
(From a fascinating discussion between the three a few months before Lewis’s death in 1963, published as “Unreal Estates” in the Spectrum IV anthology. As the fiftieth anniversary is coming up, perhaps someone might reprint it in full?)
Links I found interesting for 02-08-2012
- Trivial Fact of the Day with Olivia Newton-John
Max Born and Rudolf Hess.
- I’m breaking up with eBooks (and you can too)
A librarian’s perspective.
- The writing of E. Nesbit, by Gore Vidal
From the December 1964 NYROB.
- Ari Ratner: Can Lessons From the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Help Solve Washington’s Deadlock?
Short answer: probably not. “…conditions on the ground continue to deteriorate, the world grows ever more tired of our endless fighting, and hope for a solution grows ever more dim.”
August Books 1) Gold from Gemini, by Jonathan Gash
First, a PSA: I have very poor internet access at present, haven’t seen LJ since Friday (posting from my phone) and am well behind on emails. Hope to catch up soon.
My current run of Lovejoy books continues with another story in which he is pulled from cosy East Anglia to wilder climes, if the Isle of Man counts as wild. This is an earlier book in the sequence than Paid and Loving Eyes; Lovejoy is even more obsessed with antiques here, and slightly less with women, in that his affections are concentrated on Jane Felsham (played by Phillis Logan on TV, who like Ian McShane was about ten years older than the characters in the books). We also have the gormless Algernon as Lovejoy’s apprentice, slightly posher and stupider than his sidekick Eric on TV. There is fun lore on how to fake antiques, and stay within the letter of the law; there are also horrible things done to Lovejoy’s budgerigars, and (rather implausibly) no hint that the police are set onto the most likely suspect. And there is loving description of the scenery of the Isle of Man, and discussion of how the Romans invaded; a scenario not supported by mainstream history, but this is a work of fiction. Generally good fun, apart from the budgies.