BooksOfTheMoon

Strata

By Terry Pratchett

Rating: 4 stars

This is one of Pratchett’s very early novels and one of his few pure SF ones. Kin Arad is a planetary engineer and when an invisible man walks into her office with tales of a flat planet on the edge of known space, she is intrigued. Along with a four armed warrior Kung and a linguist Shandi they travel to the disc and what they learn changes the universe forever.

I found myself really enjoying this book, particularly the central idea of building entire worlds with their own faked history using technology salvaged from dead alien races, each of which indelibly stamps its mark on the universe. Although the second half on the disc itself seems at odds with this, the mystery of the disc itself, and who created it is a strong one, and sustains the book until the final twist where everything comes full circle. A great read.

Book details

ISBN: 9780552133258
Publisher: Corgi
Year of publication: 1981

On The House

By Simon Hoggart

Rating: 3 stars

This is a book of political anecdotes from the 1970s and very early ’80s by the author of the Guardian’s sketch column, although the anecdotes here are from when he used to write for Punch. I enjoy Hoggart’s style, with the writing being witty and the anecdotes never outstaying their welcome. Given the time period, he obviously talks about a lot of people who I’ve never heard of, but since they recur again and again, you feel you’ve got to know them by the end, and it was nice spotting people who’d go on to make it big later on.

While some of the stories talk about practices that have pretty much died out, it’s nice (well, maybe) to see that so much hasn’t changed changed in thirty+ years of British politics.

Book details

ISBN: 9780860511588

The Earth Book Of Stormgate 3

By Poul Anderson

Rating: 3 stars

This three-volume story is a future history that put me in mind of Cordwainer Smith’s work, and part of the Polesotechnic League series of stories. It’s “written” by an an alien historian and details episodes in the history of the League leading up to the founding of a joint colony between his species and Humans. The first and third of the three volumes consisted of short stories while the second consists of one single story featuring the recurring character Nicholas van Rijn.

I enjoyed this book quite a lot. There’s a lot of detail in the future history and the stories themselves are interesting, spanning a period of human exploration and expansion, and then consolidation and capitalism before it finally starts to collapse into an empire. It’s pretty short and easy to read.

Book details

ISBN: 9780450049262
Publisher: New English Library
Year of publication: 1978

The Earth Book of Stormgate 2

By Poul Anderson

Rating: 3 stars

This three-volume story is a future history that put me in mind of Cordwainer Smith’s work, and part of the Polesotechnic League series of stories. It’s “written” by an an alien historian and details episodes in the history of the League leading up to the founding of a joint colony between his species and Humans. The first and third of the three volumes consisted of short stories while the second consists of one single story featuring the recurring character Nicholas van Rijn.

I enjoyed this book quite a lot. There’s a lot of detail in the future history and the stories themselves are interesting, spanning a period of human exploration and expansion, and then consolidation and capitalism before it finally starts to collapse into an empire. It’s pretty short and easy to read.

Book details

ISBN: 9780450048005
Publisher: New English Library.
Year of publication: 1958

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