25. Dominion

Dominion – J.L. Bryan

I stumbled upon this book while searching for something else on the internet. I had heard the name once before through some US Marine Corps friends. Supposedly this book has or had some kind of a cult following with US Marines deployed in Iraq. When I stumbled on it I remembered that and decided I wanted to read it. That worked perfectly for me since I had just gotten a kindle for free and this book was in that format. That is how I read this one.

This is my first time reading a book that the author does not sell at all. It was written and given away freely. The book is “licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License” (creativecommons.org). The author says “this means you’re free to make copies of this book and give them away. Hey, why don’t you give away a copy right now? Thanks!” I have never heard of this before. Get the book for free in .pdf format HERE.

I think musicians should do this online. Give away the music content and earn money on merchandise, concerts, etc. Adapt to the 21^st century and stop worrying about anti-piracy. The more people hear, the more junk they will buy.

Anyway, this book is about America in the future. Terrorists have detonated a nuclear weapon in Columbus, Ohio and killed millions. The government has drastically changed to protect the citizens. They now have a Dept. of Terror and have a state sponsored and run Dominionist Church. Child and Family Services mean something entirely different. The state run news agencies manufacture news to form opinions in the population that they wish to see. Non-conformists are eliminated through mass hangings at sporting events. Lots of stuff like that. It is a very interesting and unfriendly world.

The story is full of adventure and discovery as a man’s eyes are opened further as events unfold. The ending is pretty decent too. It was a fun read and has some pretty good potential to be a great action adventure movie. I am thinking along the lines of Mad Max meets Diehard.

1. Warlord Of Kor

Warlord Of Kor - Terry Carr

Humans travel to a distant planet and explore the primitive civilization. Interesting Sci-Fi published in 1963. Nothing special, but it was fun.

Welcome to 2012.

82. The Machine Stops

The Machine Stops - E. M. Forster

This was an excellent little science fiction novel first published in 1909. What a crazy world.

People no longer live on the Earths surface. They live in isolated "cells" beneath the surface. They stay within these cells all the time and communicate with each other and interact with the rest of the world through a world-wide network that supplies all their needs. This network is called "The Machine".

Travel is permitted, but is very rare. Usually it is only used to fill vacant cells when people die. But, Vashti (an older woman) gets a call on the machine from Kuno (her son) asking her to make the two day journey to visit him because something magnificent is about to happen. After much convincing she agrees and travels by airship to Kuno's home on the other side of the planet.

During the trip Vashti is forced to actually interact with other people without using the machine. That whole sequence of events is quite interesting.

She arrives at Kuno's place to find that he is some kind of rebel now. He leaves his cell and has visited the surface without permission or authorization from the machine. Vashti is angry that Kuno would go against the machine in this way. Kuno insists that the machine is breaking down and that the world needs to prepare. Vashti calls him a lunatic and returns to her own home/cell.

Needless to say, Kuno is correct. The machine slowly breaks down until there is nothing. No lights. No food. No air circulation. No communication. Vashti must once again open her cell and sees that the outside world has gone crazy. People are dying all around her. Kuno comes to try and save her.

What they realize before they all die is that man must be connected to the natural world.

It sounds stupid, but it is a pretty darned good story.

75. The Ethical Engineer

The Ethical Engineer - Harry Harrison

Another old sci-fi novel.

As a science fiction book it was pretty good. A couple of space travelers end up stranded on a primitive planet. These guys are light years ahead of the natives as far as knowledge and scientific discoveries go.

The two progress through parts of the primitive civilization beginning with a slave camp that forages for food all day, to a group that inefficiently pumps crude oil from the ground, to a group that is capable of manufacturing very basic steam engines, to a group is capable of generating electricity and using radio communication in Morse code. Eventually they are rescued by the spacemen in orbit awaiting their signal.

Anyway...that was all interesting and a good story.

The problem for me with this book is it wasn't just a science fiction story. It was a propaganda piece. It was riddled with moral relativism being far superior in every possible way to Judeo-Christian morality. The "ethical" engineer was constantly pointing out how different situations called for different actions. The other guy with him had morals based in his religious faith.

First of all...the religious moralist was WAY over the top. Nobody goes as far as this guy. The author took some serious liberties with this character to make his case against faith based morality.

Second...the moral relativist was always shown to be absolutely right in every single instance...but he really wasn't. That was ignored in the book. For instance...he has always said that  we are innocent until proven guilty. We, as human beings, should not condemn others for their actions until we understand the entire situation. But, he himself justifies his condemnation of a man based on his own perceptions of what is right and correct within that man's own society. He says that since the dude could be expected to kill because that is what his culture would normally do then he is justified in preemptively killing the man himself. So, what was his proof that the man would be expected to kill? He asked a third party what they thought the man might do...they said he might kill...therefore he is guilty!  That is total crap and can be used in a thousand other situations where someone wishes to make their own actions "morally relevant".

One line I did like very much. The two space travelers, Micah and Jason, are arguing about what to do in their current situation. They have become slaves. Micah yells "Live free or die!", or something to that effect. He is prepared to go fight the slave master for his freedom right away. Jason tells him to "shut up!" He says they should wait. They should be slaves until they can make a plan to escape or kill the slave master. He says it is "better to be alive-free than dead-free!" That made a ton of sense and I agree. I liked the quote, but once again, it was an example of the moral Micah taking a ridiculous false position based on morality so Jason could argue it into stupidity.

The book was good if you can look past all the moral relativist argument garbage.

Armageddon's Children

Armageddon's Children: Genesis of Shannara - Terry Brooks

I hate this book. I hate it so much I can't continue. I made it about a third of the way in and just can't go on. I usually like dystopian stuff. This fits that category in some way. It is a future world that has fallen apart. I like that part. It is all the other junk that makes me want to puke.

For instance...what future world that has cars, flying machines, guns and all kinds of cool gadgets...yet also has magical staffs that can put up a force field type shield that makes you bulletproof? Stupid!

The mixture of future technologies, old world mysticism and native American earth worshipping naturalist crap made me want to puke.

If you ever need to find the direction you need to travel throw these human finger bones on the ground. All five will point to your destiny every time you need them to show the way...blah blah. Hate it!

42. 43. & 44. Cowboy Bebop Vol 1, 2 and 3

Cowboy Bebop Volumes 1, 2 and 3 - Yutaka Nanten

Manga.

Intergalactic bounty hunters.

Stupid.

Comic books with curses and skimpy clothing. Wow! Who cares?

Why do I even try to give this junk another shot?

36. Ender's Game

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

The best science fiction novel I have read in a long time. Weird enough to definitely be called science fiction. Normal enough to be semi-believable in the future.

I liked it from start to finish and had no idea that it would end the way it did. It was excellent.

24. Red America

Red America - Doomsday Warrior Book 2 - Ryder Stacy

Defiantely not as good as book one, but I enjoy these books. What a ride.

See also Doomsday Warrior.

9. Weapons Of Choice

Weapons Of Choice - John Birmingham

I thought the idea behind this novel was very interesting and could not wait to read it. I found out it was the first part in a trilogy and got even more excited about it. The other two are already on the shelf and waiting to be read.

This is a story about a multi-national military task force from the year 2021 that is headed on a peacekeeping mission to Indonesia where Islamic extremists have seized Jakarta. Due to some unrest in the region a research vessel working in the area is also being protected by the task force. That vessel is conducting experiments to create small stable worm-holes. The experiment goes awry and the task force is absorbed by a huge worm hole and transported in time.

They arrive in 1942. Pearl Harbor has already been attacked. Admiral Spruance is in charge of his fleet and headed to Midway for an infamous battle with Yamamoto.

That alone was interesting enough to get me to read the book. Imagine what having weapons systems even a decade more advanced that the ones we currently have and using them against an enemy from the 1940s. The advantage would be overwhelming. Rockets, jets, helicopters, radar, computers, communications equipment, stealth, automatic rifles, night-vision technologies, infra-red, hovercraft, laser-guided technology, body armor, etc etc etc. All of these things did not exist at all in the 1940s.

So, I read the book thinking that all these advantages would lead to an easier war for Americans and possibly a Japanese surrender without having to actually using nuclear weapons. I thought it would be a fun little jaunt for our superior forces onto islands that were in real history some bloody and costly battles with tremendous casualties on both sides.

What I got was different. The naval battle at Midway didn't happen after Spruance's fleet ran into the task force that suddenly appeared. The personnel on the task force were all rendered unconscious for a period of time after the "transition". The task force ships recognized this fact with the sensors and computers on the ships and entered an auto-pilot program. While under auto-pilot is when the 1942 folks located the 2021 folks...and they were multi-national...and there were ships flying the flag of Japan. So, needless to say, despite being like "What the heck is that thing?" the 1942 Americans freaked out and attacked the 2021 ships. The 2021 ships on auto-pilot defended themselves. Both sides take a bunch of damage and history is changed in that instance. No more battle at Midway.

What is so different about that? Nothing. It came after that. About 75% of this book had nothing to do with war at all. It had to do with fitting thousands of people from 2021 into a 1942 world and making it work. Imagine the differences. Racial equality was tremendously different. Women's rights...very different. These two social differences were huge parts of the story. Imagine a black lesbian female being the commander of an American aircraft carrier. No big deal today, but it sure would have been in 1942. Any one of those adjectives (black, lesbian or female) would have meant she would not only never command such a ship, but that she would never even serve on one in any capacity at all.

Those kinds of interactions between peoples of both times were very interesting. Then there was some pretty cool stuff that comes with knowing what would happen before it happens.

For instance, there was a meeting where Admiral Kolhammer (2021) was briefing President Franklin D. Roosevelt and other cabinet and military on the capabilities of his forces. Present at the meeting were folks like Admirals Halsey and Nimitz, General MacArthur, and many others. One of them was general Dwight D Eisenhower. Eisenhower was to become President one day. Since the 2021 folks had all this history in their computer libraries President Roosevelt and General Eisenhower both knew that this was to happen in the future. When Eisenhower disagreed with something Roosevelt said at the meeting Roosevelt said to him "You are not president yet!" That was hilarious to me. Those kinds of things were quite funny.

Another quite funny interaction was when Kolhammer was visiting with Albert Einstein. The conversations were pretty cool.

I was also glad to see that despite all this hardware popping into a world that preceeded the technologies by 80 years that the charachters all realized that they would not suddenly start cranking out tons of cruise missles from American factories. They knew that even with the knowledge they suddenly acquired it would take decades for the undustrial aspects of that technology to catch up to the knowledge they now had.

I figured this would be a fun book to read where the technology would be the star. It turned out that the characters stole the show. It was quite good and I am looking forward to reading the second and third books in the series.

Oh, I almost forgot. The biggest baddest aircraft carrier of them all, the flagship of the multi-national task force...it is the USS Hillary Clinton. It is explained that she was President, a champion of the Navy, and brutally assassinated. Before her death the world had learned not to mess with her because she unleashed the military force upon her enemies ruthlessly. That was an interesting little tidbit from the future that tramsmitted to the past. :-)

Something else I found to be very cool was that there was no Bataan Death March. The tens of thousands of American POWs that actually died horrible deaths in Japanese prison camps were rescued by the multi-national task force. That was the one and only mission performed by the task force against the Japanese forces. The 2021 folks knew it was going to happen and it was important that they prevented such suffering.

Next stop...Auschwitz? I can only hope

92. Amnesia Moon

Amnesia Moon - Jonathan Lethem

This is an excellent novel. 250 pages of writing that I just could not put down. It had me running with it from the very first page and I could not stop until it was over. It took less than two days. I could not stop. What a wild ride!

It is a dystopian novel, which is a big plus for me. I love the genre.

This one actually had a number of dystopian worlds within it's own world. As Chaos (the protagonist) and Melinda (a mutated teen girl with fur like a seal) travel from Wyoming to San Francisco they run across many different places.

Each place is different. One has a green fog that blinds everyone. They said it was like having green paper covering your eyes. Opaque, but you could actually see nothing. That was interesting.

Vacaville, California was too. The entire social system is based on a persons score on a test for having good or bad luck, and everyone is in love with the government television stars. That was a particularly nasty place.

Los Angeles is in a perpetual war with aliens. The humans must always be in flight. If they land they become slaves to the aliens on contact with the ground.

All the while the dreams of certain people are transmitted to others and are used to alter realities, change memory, and to control people. Each place uses this function in a different way. All are used to establish tyrannical controls, of course.

I loved the book and I think I will read it again in a few years. I will keep it on the shelf. Yes, it is a keeper.

74. Jennifer Government

Jennifer Government - Max Barry

This was an outstanding novel written by an Aussie fellow with some attitude.

What happens when a Capitalist society no longer has the Government keeping it in check? In this story the author calls it Capitalizm. This book is written in a world where big corporations are more like governments themselves. International borders are defined by corporate mergers and alliances more than they are by the borders of today.

People are different in this world also. They take the name of the corporation for which they work as their surname. Hence Jennifer Government. Jennifer actually works for the government. Her daughter, Kate, is not named government. She is named Mattel. Why? Her school is sponsored by Mattel, of course.

There are characters named Hack Nike, John Nike, Buy Matsui, McDonalds, NRA, Burger King, Exxon-Mobil, Shell, and every other company you could think of.

I found it very interesting how the NRA itself becomes a major player in the world as not so much a company, but as a security force. Kind of like BlackWater. The thing is that these guys have fighter jets, naval ships, and forces comparable to modern day military. They are able to get these things because they are allied with Boeing, Sikorsky, or other current government contractors.

The government still exists, but has serious limits to its powers. For instance, before Jennifer is able to investigate the murders of fourteen children as a publicity stunt by the Nike marketing department...she has to go to the victims families to raise the funds needed to do the investigation. There are no taxes and therefore no government funds to use for this purpose, or any other. Needless to say, this puts the ultra-rich corporations at a tremendous advantage.

The corporations have no fear of government at all. They eventually align into two groups of competitors trying to bring in customers. These two groups end up in a full out battle with missles and guns and all that stuff. They all get together in London with the government (President, etc) in London at Parliament. The groups make a declaration that government no longer exists and has no authority over them. Then the groups shoot down the government airplane as it flies back to Washington DC. There essentially is no government.

Well, eventually, after much action and manipulation, some of the corporations realize that anarchy is not what is best for the corporate environment and that they need some government. The world calms down and the story ends.

But, none of that is what the story is about really. It is about Jennifer, her daughter, the Nike Liaison (John) she is hunting down as a criminal, Billy NRA and his adventures, Hack Nike and Buy Matsui trying to work their way up the corporate ladder along with Violet, an unemployed entrepreneur, and Claire, a radical protestor, are sisters. All of them get caught up in a more than they bargained for.

And yes, Jennifer got a barcode tattoo under her left eye. Until the very last few pages I was wondering why and what it meant. It is kind of funny once you find out what it was for. :-)

Jennifer Government was a fascinating story that was fun to read. I liked it a lot. More Max Barry please. Syrup and Company are already on the list. Machine Man should be out soon.

FYI…Max Barry has also designed a website where you can run your own country. It is kind of interesting. I started goofing around with it about a week ago. It is called NationStates and is based on the research he did to write Jennifer Government. Check it out. I created “The Free land of Somnambulistic Peoples”. Max even had the United Nations write him a "cease and desist" letter because NationStates was able to accomplish more than they were. LOL

72. Ecotopia

Ecotopia - Ernest Callenbach

This novel is about the creation of a better place. Northern California, Oregon and Washington secede from the United States, close the borders, and create an environmental utopia.

Twenty years later the first American is allowed to enter Ecotopia and report how it is going. The man who enters is a reporter and is sent there on a six week assignment. The culture and the whole way of life in Ecotopia is very different than in America.

The book is written as a series of reports sent back to his company and a series of diary entries about his person life while living in Ecotopia. At first there is a definate bias towards how weird the reporter sees the people and the differences between the two countries. As the book progresses this bias shifts.

Ecotopia is a very envoronmentally friendly place, but it is also steeped in the culture that was California, and probably the west coast, of the 1970s. Think the Berkeley mindset. Very liberal ideas and ways of thinking. Add in a strong environmentalist theme. I thought I knew where the author was going with this book long before that was confirmed.

I think some of the ideas were really good, though not scientifically plausable. Biodegradable plastic? Extruded plastic biodegradable homes? Harvesting the methane from your own cesspool to cool your refridgerator (you better poop a lot)? Almost all cars have been eliminated and people use publicly provided bicycles and magnetic trains. The nuclear family has been done away with and a communal/tribal existance is in effect. There are no guns or war and men release their agression in some sport-like war game. The people are all encouraged to show emotion and crowds gather to watch and essentially cheer for the participants of heated exchanges, all to help each other deal with percieved problems. There is only a 20 hour work week because production of anything at all is not very important.

I am sure you get the idea. I don't need to explain all the peace-love-dove that is obviously the influence for so much of this book.

What kept bothering me while reading it was the same thing over and over. When Ecotopia seceded from the United States, where were the problems? Where is the dissent? It never happened. The author wants us to believe that everything was so wonderful that all the residents of esentially a three state area were just happy as pigs in shit to change their entire way of life. I find that to be totally absurd.

The story was pretty cool. I guess as far as the utopia/dystopia novels go, this world wasn't all that bad. I have no idea how we would ever get there, but to just wake up one day and the world was like that? Well, why not?

It was entertaining, though I doubt that is why the book was written. I am sure it was an environmental political statement through fiction. Whatever. It was still pretty decent to just read it and know that the activism part of the writing wasn't feasable and therefore to be discounted. At least for the present day. Maybe some day. Who knows.

59. The Demolished Man

The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester

This may be the most enjoyable science fiction novel I have ever read. I loved it.

It was published in 1953 and was the winner of the first Hugo Award.

The year is 2301. There are no guns. There is no crime. There has not been a murder for 76 years. All this is accomplished through the use of telepaths ("Espers" or "peepers") who can read the minds of the population and detect intent to commit crimes before the events occur. The crimes are stopped before they are commited.

One man changes that. He is the richest businessman in the galaxy and only has one real competitor. He wants to own it all and will go to any lengths to accomplish this...including murdering his rival.

The story unfolds across a wide variety of places. Mostly New York City on Earth (Terra), but also Mars, Venus, Jupiter's moons, and a wildlife sanctuary built on an asteroid. The world in which these folks live is similar to what we have today, but is different in many ways. Personal cars that fly ("jumpers") for instance. Rockets to far away planets take off regularly from Idlewild (now JFK airport). They even use "computors". Interesting, since in 1951 they did not have such things available to all but governments and such.

The world of Terra, where most of the story takes place, was wonderful. It was a post nuclear war world, but the devastation had limited areas. it was still inhabitable. New York City contained large old homes and a devastated city area that has been taken over by an underworld dealing in whatever people needed. The society where the use of psychics is so prevelant was interesting also. The way Mr. Bester built this universe in order to tell the story was believable and sounds like it could actually happen in 300 years.

The characters were excellent. I especially liked Ben Reich (the businessman), Gus Tate (a peeper psychiatrist that runs interference for Ben), Lincoln Powell (police prefect peeper), and Duffy Wyg& (yes, written that way)

Some of the writing itself was different. Names like @tkins, Wyg&, and others stood out as something I had not seen before. The authors technique for writing what the Espers were communicating without speech was also interesting, even if it was difficult to read it with any semblance of understanding. These "styles" were called "graphologic deviations".

The book is science fiction but was not so far out there that it felt impossible. Maybe it did feel that way in 1951. We have come a long way since then. Maybe what felt totally fictional then feels reachable today.

49. Doomsday Warrior

Doomsday Warrior - Ryder Stacy
In the year 1984 the Soviet union launched a preemptive nuclear strike against the United States. The US retaliated in like kind. The Soviets fared better due to some secret defensive weapons.

Now, it is 2089, and the Reds rule the world. They have ruled the world for over 100 years. Granted, it is a post nuclear war world that is full of massive areas that can not be utilized for anything. Massive dead zones are everywhere.

The Russians occupy America and the American people are it's slaves. America is nothing compared to what it once was, but the resistance is growing stronger and getting better equipped.

Who is the hero? Who is the "Ultimate American"? He is a man named Ted Rockson. He has mutated due to his parent's radiation exposure. He is very large, thick skinned, resistant to radiation, quick to heal...in general, he is a perfect warrior.

The story follows Rock as he and his men stage attacks and raids against the Russians. He is an awesome warrior whom the KGB and the Red Army are hunting. His adventures are quite action packed and very exciting.

At some point in the novel he needs to take a patrol group deep into the dead zones in search of a weapon created by a mutated group of humans. This weapon will help him defeat the Russians and free America and it's people from their enslavement.

The descriptions of the altered world America has become in the 100 years following a nuclear attack of massive proportions is one of the best aspects of this book. Plant life is different. Animals are different. The climate and weather is different. Even things that should be considered absolutely normal have been changed in fun and exciting ways. Whole new species and life forms have come into existance. The whole world of Doomsday Warrior was fascinating.

Overall this was one kick-ass story. It was like the old movie Red Dawn, but after a much longer period of time and with nuclear weapons.

The downfalls? Maybe the Reds were too easily defeated. Maybe they were too stupid. Maybe they were supposed to be like a big dumb bully on a playground. Nothing but brawn. Losing the battles to the much smarter, more agile and "good" kid who was supposed to be a serious under-dog. Then again, who really cares. This was supposed to be a kick butt for America book.

Also, there are like 19 or 20 sequels to this first novel. I don't know that I can dedicate that much reading to one writer, but I sure will read parts two and three for the fun of it all.

20. Sins of the Assassin

ure

Sins of the Assassin - Robert Ferrigno

Last year I grabbed a book called "Prayers for the Assassin" after reading the blurbs and the narrative on the back cover. I ended up really enjoying that book. This one is the second book in Robert Ferrigno's Assassin trilogy.

The world for these stories is in the future. 2043 for this book. America has fallen apart. Following a civil war there are two major sections and some minor territories. The main parts of the former USA are now called "The Islamic Republic of America" and "Bible Belt". The two sections spent years at war with each other, but these stories are well after that war has ended.

This is the map of the fictional world of the Assassin trilogy. This is the map from the first book. There are some minor differences in the second book, but I could not find a .jpg except for this one. Close enough.

Neither of the new countries is doing very well. There are many factions within each of them vying for power. Fundamentalist Islamics (Black Robes) and Moderate Islamics dominate to the north, with a dash of tolerance towards Catholics to prevent an uprising. In the south there are the normal differences in Christian denominations, which have become political factions in many ways.

The protagonist in this book is Rakkim (Rikki) Epps, an ex-fedayeen shadow warrior in the Islamic Republic. Since this is a trilogy, the beginning of the book wraps up a few things from the end of the last book and transitions those events into the continuing plot of the second novel.

The first novel did not have much to do with the Bible Belt at all. It was more about the different factions within the Islamic Republic. This time we go into the Bible Belt and see a very different way of life.

Rikki is assigned a very special mission into the Bible Belt by the President of the Islamic Republic, with deniability of course. Infiltrate an army in Tennessee and stop them from some dastardly deeds. The previous USA regime (before the civil war) was far more capable than the current America. They had created and hidden away certain black-ops projects. They were hidden away when the civil war looked bleak. They were attempting to keep the technologies out of enemy hands. One of these projects was discovered and being recovered by a bible belt “Colonel”. More like a war-lord than anything else.

So, Rikki is sent to the Bible Belt to seek out the weapon, steal it if possible, destroy it at the very least. This weapon is supposedly something that will shift the balance of power worldwide in a very big way.

Rikki goes on the mission and there are many events along the way. There are tremendous successes and catastrophic failures. The story is exciting. It is full of adventure and double-crossing from every direction. He is continually haunted by Darwin, the assassin from the first novel.
I liked it very much and can’t wait to get my hands on the last in the trilogy, “Heart of the Assassin”.

76. Scrap

Scrap - Lauren Stephenson

This is a novella written by a student at Wofford College. Every two years the creative writing department of the college offers this class where the students write a novel or play or poetry or something creative. Lauren Stephenson was the winner of the 2006 Benjamin Wofford Prize in Fiction for this book. The winner gets their winning book published. The copy I have is one of the 2,000 copies the college published for winning the award.

I really enjoyed the writing. It is not technically difficult or overly ambitious. I didn't expect it to be outstanding writing. I figured it is a college student learning to write fiction, so how good could it really be? I don't think it was on a level with Steinbeck, Faulkner or Vonnegut, but who would think it should be anywhere close? For a college student this was outstanding.

It is a science fiction book about a guy who works as a tester for a huge pharmaceutical company. He discovers there are behind the scenes things happening that cause him to run away and for the company to hunt for him. His exploits are very interesting and the story flows very well.

The characters are interesting. Especially Vee (the protagonist), Emmy (his best friend), Abrienda (the doctor), and the the "scrappers".

I doubt you will find this book in a store or anything, but if you do see it somewhere, grab it and read it. It was a lot of fun and is worth checking out. I hope to see more from Lauren Stephenson some time in the future. Who knows if she will be a writer or not, but she has a pretty good start with this book.

75. Make Room! Make Room!

Make Room! Make Room! - Harry Harrison

This is another of those movies I remembered from back in the 70's. The film was actually called Soylent Green. This one was a Charlton Heston movie. The only thing I recall really was the scene where he was yelling "Soylent Green is people!".

I found that this book was quite good. The film I remembered is VERY loosely based on this book. It comes down to being a science fiction (dystopian) story in an seriously overpopulated New York City and the problems that creates, along with some characters that have the same names. The story is not the same. The dramatic scene at the end of the movie is nowhere to be found in the book. It is a very different story altogether.

This is one of the few times I will say this, but I loved the movie...and I loved the book.

They were so different that it is pretty easy to separate them and call them two different stories.

74. Logan's Run

Logan's Run - William F. Nolan

This is one of those books I read because I remember thinking the movie was great when I was young. By today's standards the movie sucks.

The book on the other hand does not suck at all. I think it was fun and exciting. OK, maybe there were events that were a little too convenient. Maybe the story line could get a bit choppy. Things like Logan gets knocked out...when he wakes everything is OK and it is time to move to the next scene. I can overlook those things because I really liked the story. I really liked that this novel was VERY different than the movie.

I wish the movie had some of the elements of this book. The prison called "Hell". The Crazy Horse Mountain. The Thinker. The Sky Gypsys. The Baby Home. The Civil War reenactment. The whole idea the Sanctuary is not just some place with an old guy hanging out. I liked the whole twist with Francis (the other Sandman). I loved the way Logan and Jessica become a pair much better in this book than the random hookup in the movie. I liked the whole story with the cub scouts much better. Box was much more than some robot living in an ice cave. The maze.

This book has so much more to offer than the movie ever did. It makes me regret that I did not read it 20 or 30 years ago.

I have purposely avoided specifics regarding the plot line. I think that you should give it a shot, especially if you liked the movie at all.

Is it great writing? No, not really. I do recommend it because it surprised me with the joy it gave me while reading it.

68. Anthem

Anthem - Ayn Rand

First I bought Atlas Shrugged because it was suggested to me. Then I heard that The Fountainhead was kind of a lead in to Atlas Shrugged, so I bought it. Then I read that Anthem was the predecessor to both these books, so I got it. I read it first because it was published first and because I wanted to see the progression the author makes with her ideas.

This book was only 105 pages long, but I think it is one of the most meaningful 105 pages I have read yet. I will come up just short of calling this book required reading. The only reason for that is because I think it is a subject people would need to find interesting to find it that good.

I can't wait to get into The Fountainhead now. :-)

67. Planet of the Apes

Planet of the Apes - Pierre Boulle

This is the book that the 1970's movie phenomenon was based on. I expected it to be much like the movies, which I loved.

What did I discover? The movies were based VERY loosely on this novel. Yes, there were apes. Yes, there was a space traveling man. Yes, there were chimpanzees named Cornelius and Zira. Yes, there was an orangutan named Zaius. Yes, there was a mute human woman named Nova.

That is about it for the similarities. The screenplay was obviously Hollywooded up. Not that the screenplay was bad, because I loved those flicks, but it was completely different.

I am very glad that I read this. It is one of the few books that I thoroughly enjoyed while expecting something other than what it was. Usually that is a big let down. This time I think the story was so unique that it kept me wondering what would happen next.

I would recommend this to anyone who was a fan of the old Planet of the Apes movies or science fiction books in general.

One topic for discussion with a fellow book reader at work was whether Planet of the Apes could be considered a dystopian novel. I thought it could be based on my experiences with the movies and not having read the book yet. Now, I do not think so...and then again...

Read it.