ReVISIONS, edited by Czerneda and Szpindel

This is a book of alternate history short stories. One thing I really liked was at the end of each tale they discussed the revision point, the point at which the story timeline diverged from the one we learned in history class. This is good, because apparently the editors tried to pick stories that avoided the two most popular points of alternate history: the civil war and WWII. On this they succeeded whole-heartedly—I couldn’t begin to tell you what would have had to happen differently to have our world occupied by an army of cloned Albert Einsteins! As with most collected fiction, this set is hit-and-miss. Several of these sagas are pretty good (Unwirer by Doctorow and Stross tells the tale of an America that had outlawed the Internet was my favorite), others not so much (When the Morning Stars Sang Together by Szpindel wonders what would have happened if Galileo healed his rift with the Catholic church). Some of the stories aren’t even alternate history in my opinion but straight sci-fi because they postulate changes in a history that hasn’t happened yet, such as practical cold fusion being discovered today or a completed Human Genome Project. Doesn’t make the adventures less interesting, but I was geared for something else and found this a bit disappointing.

First Sentence (from the Introduction):

George Santayana, the Spanish-American philosopher and novelist, is famous for having penned the oft-quoted statement, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Love Is the Killer App, by Tim Sanders

I started this a week or so ago, but put it down and didn’t finish until yesterday. The basic idea is that smart, nice people do well in business and mean people fail. While I think there are too many examples of where this isn’t true to be considered a universal truth, it did get me thinking of some of the most enjoyable places I’ve worked and why I’m unhappy at my current employer. The anecdotes are engaging and the positive outlook is quite uplifting. There is a section on reading for comprehension that I found particularly interesting, although I could never bring myself to actually deface a book! Interestingly, one of the alternatives suggested was blogging about what you read. What a concept!

I attended a seminar based around this book which was entertaining as well, but I didn’t drink the kool-aid as much as some of the participants. At times the meeting seemed more like a revival meeting than a discussion group—I felt like jumping up and yelling, “Hallelujah!” more than once. The lady sitting next to me actually teared up during a story about the effects of hugging in the workplace (yes, hugging). Like I said, entertaining.

Love is the Killer App reminded me of Who Moved My Cheese? which was popular a few years ago. Both have some interesting ideas that can be applied to your work life, personal life, or both. For me it caused a good bit of introspection; another fellow I know said it revamped the way he approaches sales calls. All in all, I’d recommend it to most anyone.

First Sentence:

Not long ago, after I had delivered a speech on the new economy, a woman entering the job market approached me to talk about her career anxiety.

Cal-amity!

I had a great time watching the Holiday bowl tonight! Texas Tech is probably my second favorite team in the Big XII (after the Longhorns, of course) and they took care of Cal easily. I lost a lot of respect for Cal with all the whining they've done recently; I understand that they thought they deserved a BCS slot but they should have been mad at the system, not at Texas. We didn't come up with the formulas for who gets to BCS and who doesn't; hell - last year we were on the outside looking in. Tech showed the world that maybe the system isn't as far off as the west coast would have you believe! I especially liked hearing the Tech band playing some of the Longhorn band standard tunes in the fourth quarter, rubbing it in a bit. Go Tech! Go Longhorns! Oh - and ESPNHD rocks!

Blow Fly, by Patricia Cornwell

Generally, I have liked the Scarpetta books. The stories have been engaging and the characters interesting. Blow Fly, though, is pretty bad in my opinion. Cornwell spends way too much time rehashing events that happened in previous books; while this is common in series fiction, it was extremely intrusive here. The main characters are losing their uniqueness and becoming simply a group of vigilantes; there is virtually no detecting done here, just people plodding through the story. There is a lot of build-up to confrontations with the bad guys, but then they are dispatched quickly and relatively quietly. And the ease at which a villain escapes from prison is silly: a convicted killer on death row just walks out in a stolen uniform because the guards are distracted? Please.

First Sentence:

Dr. Kay Scarpetta moves the tiny glass vial close to candlelight, illuminating a maggot drifting in a poisonous bath of ethanol.

And why not?

Seeing the quality of a bunch of the stuff out there on the web, I figure I might as well add my drivel to the pile. We'll see how long this lasts.