16. maj 2011

Aprilsko branje

Zombies vs. Unicorns

Holly Black, Justine Larbalestier, Zombies vs. Unicorns

»In the center of the carnage sits Flower, with what looks like leftover raccoon all over his snout, and his chain lying in crumpled chewed-up chunks at his hooves. Flower looks at me, proud as punch, and thumps his tail against the earth.
  Flower? Try Flayer.
  My killer unicorn is finally living up to the name.«

Antologija zombijskih in samorogastih zgodb, izmenično. Dobri pisatelji, dobre zgodbe, dobro branje.

Beautiful Code

Andy Oram, Greg Wilson, Beautiful Code

»To make a long story short, today's dominant technology for concurrent programming—locks and condition variables—is fundamentally flawed.«

Knjiga, ki sem se je lotil s precejšnjimi pričakovanji, pa bil zelo razočaran. Še enkrat se je izkazalo, da večina odličnih programerjev ne zna pisati, če že znajo, pa so njihova mnenja o »zanimivi in lepi« kodi taka, da to lepoto in zanimivost vidijo le sami.

Lord of Light

Roger Zelazny, Lord of Light

»Where the orange mushrooms grew taller than a tall man, and wide enough to shelter several from the rains; now, Sam had taken that branch of the roadway; here, he had stopped to fix a sandal strap; at this point, he had leaned upon a tree, which showed indications of housing a dryad....«

Na oddaljenem svetu ostanki človeške ekspedicije razvijejo civilizacijo, dobijo »super« moči in postanejo skoraj bogovi. Vsaj nekateri, večina živi v neindustrijski civilizaciji. Križanec med F in SF, znanostjo, budizmom in hindujskimi bogovi. Na trenutke skrajno zmedeno, a ker je dobilo Huga in bilo nominirano za Nebulo, mora biti dobro ;) Bral sem jo davno nazaj, pa je nisem nič dojel; zdaj sem jo bral ponovno, pa mi še vedno ni pretirano sedla, se mi zdi preveč zmedena.

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Doorways in the Sand

Roger Zelazny, Doorways in the Sand

»Because of the peculiar outline I had regarded, I was not completely surprised when I raised my head and saw a six-foot-plus kangaroo standing beside the wombat. It considered me through a pair of dark glasses as it removed a sandwich bag from its pouch. "Peanut butter is rich in protein," it said.«

Zelazny lahkotnejše sorte, z vesoljci in iskanjem izgubljenega dragulja. Napisano v enem šusu, brez popravljanja, pa se to nikjer kaj dosti ne pozna. Lahko bi bila osnova za prav dober film (ki pa ni nikoli nastal).

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Dorsai!

Gordon R. Dickson: Childe Cycle [Dorsai!, Necromancer, Soldier, Ask Not, Tactics of Mistake, The Final Encyclopedia, The Chantry Guild]

»And that's how it's been with everything else the individual, and therefore the race-animal, dreamed of—warmth when it was cold, coolness when it was too hot, the ability to fly bird-like, to cross great distances of water dry-shod, to hear and talk at as great or even greater distances, to block pain, defy disease and death. In the end, it's added up to one great desire. To be all-mighty. To be a god.«

Serija o dobi, v kateri se Zemljani razseljo na 10+ planetov in razvijejo specializirane kulture – bojevniško, filozofsko in religiozno. Začne se kot tipična vojaška štorija, pa se kasneje razvije v bolj filozofsko razmišljanje o možni prihodnosti človeštva.

Zgodba je zanimiva, še bolj pa me je zainteresiral Dicksonov razvoj skozi leta. Prve knjige (Dorsai! je bil napisan leta 1959) so po današnjih standardih popolnoma šovinistične – ženske so obrobni liki, edina omembe vredna religija je krščanstvo, znanost je v zadnjem planu. Zadnji dve (1984 in 1988) pa sta bistveno različni, še posebej opazna je močna ženska vloga; postanejo skoraj glavne akterke (z izjemo glavnega junaka, ki povezuje vseh šest knjig).

Konec žal izvisi v zraku, ker je Dickson umrl, preden je uspel napisati zaključno, sedmo knjigo.

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Še vedno berem: Beautiful Evidence

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