Whatta Fiasco

Steven Weinberg talking about why and how physicists are searching for a grand unified theory (GUT) aka theory of everything (TOE). There’s a nice introduction to quantum mechanics and how it fits into the history of science, a decent explanation of symmetry breaking, and a heart-breaking recap of the history of the Superconducting Super Collider. (The book went to print just before the project was killed for good.) I was a little annoyed by the digression into the religion question, but I understand why it was included, and it wasn’t the waste of time I had expected it to be. Most of the information presented in this book is also covered in the recent “Warped Passages”, by Lisa Randall, but it can be helpful to have difficult ideas presented in more than one way.

[powells]

Steven Brust’s rendering of the war in heaven. It took about thirty pages before it really grabbed me, but then it didn’t let go, up until nearly the end, when my interest wavered a bit. Ho hum ending, but still a good read. When I found it becoming tiresome to resist the theological/political mappings, there were always great characters around to distract me. And I’ve developed a wholly unsupported theory that characters who speak in rhyme when all about them speak in prose are doomed to a bad end. Poor Ariel, who will always in my mind be the Harryhausen clockwork owl from “Clash of the Titans.”

[powells]

This Korean film is a romantic drama about a young woman who comes from China in search of remaining family. Instead, her life crosses the path of small-time hoodlum. The young woman (Failan) is played by the lovely Cecilia Cheung, but it’s Choi Min-Sik as the gangster that makes the film for me. The ending is worthy of any Greek tragedy. No happy endings here, but the emotional impact doesn’t pull punches. (I’ll be tracking down some more Choi Min-Sik performances.)

A Cuban exile returns thirty-two years later as a middle-aged man in search of the mother who stayed behind and to rediscover his home land. He tracks down a cousin, but from there things start going wrong in increasingly frustrating ways. The ending manages to be happy and depressing at the same time. My favorite thing about this film is that there are no unequivocal good guys or bad guys. It’s a story of flaws and being human.

If you want a peek into the world of what it’s like to be an obsessed knitter, and how one gets to that point, this is a quick, joyful read and gentle humor. For more knitting fun, check out her blog, Yarn Harlot, as well as her other books.

[powells]

I had expected this to be a book about natural history, and in a sense it was. But this book is really a love poem to running written by a naturalist who applied what he learned about endurance from studying animals to training for an ultramarathon. It wasn’t at all what i was expecting, but I learned some things (an insect that sweats? thermoregulation via regurgitation?) and the stories were amusing. (Most people aren’t quite crazy enough to down an entire quart of honey before running, with predictable results, and then follow it up by trying an equal amount of olive oil. Aiyee.)

[amazon]

A deceptively simple little book about alien contact from the point of view of aliens who have managed to become thoroughly othered. I wish I could explain better exactly what’s going on in this book, but it’s just not quite happening. But in an odd way, I’d put this book in a threesome with Jay Lake’s “Rocket Science”, and Brian Slattery’s “Spaceman Blues”. I can’t quite explain that either, but if like any one of the three, do consider reading the others.

[powells]

A failed mental health system and a failed justice system collide in all too familiar manner to put an innocent main in jail for twelve years. Very depressing.

[powells]

A nice bit of murder mystery set among Tibetan Buddhist monks dealing with a crushing Chinese regime. Entertaining.

[powells]

Given that this one is categorized as horror, I likely never would have picked it up if it hadn’t been written by Sarah Monette. I’m glad I did, as it’s a wonderful collection of related and creepy ghost stories featuring Kyle Murchison Booth. Yum.

[powells]