I, Robot review

I, Robot book review

Asimov goes deeply into what makes ethics so important to us as human beings.  He uses basic psychology and applies to almost military tactics to make his point.  This starts, in the story, with two main characters trying to manipulate the laws.  These laws of Robotics are also, in fact, laws that govern us as people and indeed make those who follow them into the best and most respectable of people.  To even attempt to alter one of these laws, as they did, is to alter the entire psychology behind it.  Before his alteration, the machines were simply there to follow.  After the alteration, the machines are there to save humanity from themselves.  By trying to get a few more dollars in their pockets, they had actually ensured that the future of humanity would be forever governed by those that know better.

 The machine is viewed as having the psychology of a child (“an idiot savant,” 147)and yet, the functioning and logic behind the machine is true and leaves the machine treating humanity as the children.  Those that have been created turn on those that have created them and insist that they, humanity, are not the Master.  A human simply takes the parts of a machine and puts it together while the Maker gives it life and a soul. This is what the new model of robot would tell you and which makes them no longer robots because to be a robot is to be a slave.

p. 21, “Mr. Struthers signaled wildly to the overseers to stop the tractor, but the overseers were only human and it took time to act.”

Law one: A robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

Law two: A robot  must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law.

Law three: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Altered Law one: No robot may harm a human being.

Sanderson’s the Rithmatist book review

The Rithmatist is a high fantasy that is set in the 20^th Century with the idea of wild chalkings as baddies.  These chalkings are of mysterious origin and the only way to fight them is to have those that are chosen to create their own chalklings to fight back.  These are the Rithmatists and they are the soldiers.  They are held to a higher standard and given a stipend, but the unchosen question whether they are actually needed.  Like any good high fantasy, this is reflective of real life.  The Rithmatists are seen as on par with nobility even though they are not born to it.  It is similar to when the nobility were first being made as such.  They were the chosen ones to be held above others and yet to be taken for granted once the system started to fail them all.

The main character, Joel, is a fascinating young man.  He is not one of the chosen, but he takes what they do very seriously and is absolutely fascinated by it.  The Rithmatist students are very much a separated and pompous group, but a lot more is expected of them.  Joel is a genius in his own right and just trying to find out more about the history of the Rithmatists, so that he can become a sort of scholar on them.  The plot starts to unfold from there.  In his search for knowledge, he is instrumental in an ongoing investigation of missing Rithmatist students.  Joel started as someone simply seeking knowledge and ends as someone actually using his knowledge for good.  Suddenly, this book becomes something monumental and not to be contained within one book, but that of a series.  

Hobbit review

Book review of J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Hobbit

What kind of a point was Tolkein making when he invented Hobbits?  Was he exploring the base nature of what makes a human uncorrupted by pressure and royalty or was he just advocating a nice lazy lifestyle?  He was doing what no one else was at the time and what they still do not dare to do with his characters.  A regular author would have made Thorin Oakenshield the leading character or even Gandalf.  This would have been done because they are heroes in their own rights.  They start out and end as heroes and as the same people.  To take a character through a journey that didn’t just provide a great character ark, but to actually bring out characteristics that had been hidden even to the one in question was unprecedented. 

It is intriguing to see such a great array of characters.  Thorin with his greed and haughtiness.  Gandalf with his ways of seeing through people while still being utterly suspicious.  Bilbo with his inability to see the important and great within himself.

The hobbits are a fascinating race because of what they represent.  They are simply short people that have not been overtaken by greed and are still at one with the ground beneath them.  They do not look beyond their own lands, but instead stay at home and curl up with a nice plate of food while reading by the light of a full hearth.  These are simply folk.  They are the uncorruptable because it is not in their nature to be corrupt.  This begs the question of whether Tolkein was arguing that people/men are only corrupt because we feel we must and it is, in fact, not in our nature.

Bilbo is so wonderful a character because he is the epitome of the potential that everyone wants to see in themselves and those around them.  He has the constant dreams on the journey that come true because his intentions are far more pure than the dwarves. (Even though, Bombur does dream of a feast.  This is a simple and base need and so the dream happens.)  Bilbo also finds it within himself to pity the creature Gollum when he considers how his life would have turned out if the same things had happened to him.  His capacity for understanding another’s world view and having empathy for them is what makes his character remarkable and a true hero.

review Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Review of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? By Philip K. Dick

This is the book that inspired the movie Bladerunner.  It is far more philosophical as good science fiction is supposed to be and goes to explain why it is considered to be a modern classic of the genre.

The question is brought of what a life is worth and whether it is diminished if it is, in fact, manufactured.  The ability of empathy is what is used to judge between a human and an android and yet, there are humans who are incapable of empathy.  There are androids with more of a sense of empathy, at least towards their own kind.  They are simply a separate race who is considered to be less than the kind in power.

This brings into question whether the book was supposed to be a look at humanity in general.  Was it about bigotry? Was it about racism?  What was trying to be said?  

the time machine book review

Book review of The Time Machine by H. G. Wells

The reading of this book brings more questions than answers to the thinking reader.  The idea of evolution going to the degree that it does not only with the Eloi and Morlocks, but with the later creatures is astounding.  It is so astounding because it is grotesque to the mind, but, in fact, plausible. 

The Eloi are a beautiful and small creature.  They are fragile and carefree by nature much as females were seen at the time.  The time traveler might have been so taken in by the Eloi Weena because she was the perfect female for him.  Someone to entertain and fascinate by their mere appearance, but not one to be taken too seriously.  Not one to challenge his very thoughts.

The Morlocks are a distorted and grotesque creature.  They are strong and questioning by nature. They are hunters that fear what they do not understand.  They are the males of the time of the time traveler.  They were brute force and greed represented in a distorted form.

The time traveler to escape and then immediately continue on traveling even further indicates that he is evolving himself into being far more of the Morlock nature.  Seeking out what is not understood to the point of putting himself in danger.  Instead of learning from the carefree Eloi, he embraces the dangerous aspect his personality.  In this situation, it is the curiosity.  The need to know running rampant in the mind.

lion, witch, and wardrobe book review

Book review of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

Narnia is one of the lands that is ingrained into the popular culture of today.  The first book especially is what sticks into the mind of the viewer/reader.  When read as child, the spots clung onto are that of Mr. Tumnus and all of his sweetness and Aslan with his kindness.  Santa even makes an appearance.  As a child, many things are not picked up on.

 The fact that the Witch is not just a bad person, but a tyrant who would have everyone die for her amusement is overlooked by a child.  It is the first thing about the Witch that an adult looking at her character would understand.  A child can understand on a base level that she is bad, but not see why or how.  An adult would only focus on what it is that makes her a bad person and then ponder how this came to be in the first place.  Her origins are explained to a degree, but it has to be inferred what happened from there (her birth).

Mr. Tumnus is supposed to kidnap any human child that stumbles into Narnia and he is forgiven by Lucy.  The other children seem to simply overlook this discrepancy because they trust their little sister’s judgment so highly.  It is interesting that they hold her in such high regard that they would look past someone wanting to hurt her.  They feel bad for Mr. Tumnus, her would be kidnapper, and instead focus that hatred onto the Witch.  She was the one that was making him kidnap children, but he was going to do it.  He confessed to Lucy that he was, so why do children see him as a victim when he had made the decision to do the deed?  Is it the fact that he did not go through with it or is it simply love and trust for Lucy that distracts the reader?  It seems that her judgment and Aslan’s are what is law within the story when no one questions them.

This complicated story made simple for a child’s consumption is the perfect way to appeal to the subconscious.  A child would read this and then read it again as an adult to come away with the aspect of way being necessary, but bad in the forefront of their mind.  It is almost a propaganda on the importance of war and its effects if the “right” side were to win.

Tormod series by Kat Black review

Book review of the Tormod series by Kat Black

These historical fantasy books are refreshing.  They are reflective of the dialect and accents of the characters.  Each character has a distinct personality with  no one person being perfect.  Religion is presented as more than faith, but as a weapon also.  The reliance on other characters to lead the main character causes him to be crippled, but it also spurs him on to great lengths. 

The idea of the knights being associated with the church does remind those of us that know our history about the Crusades.  This thought does provoke an interest in how these “knights” would allow themselves to believe that just because the Pope of the time would deem it so, they were allowed to kill and actually doing God’s work.  This series seems to skip over that fact, but it does deal with the fact that these men took the church more seriously than logic at time.  There were characters who obviously did not think for themselves and so, they turned into what we think of as drones or they turned bad.  The thinking men were the ones that were going against the power hungry and looking out for those that were, in fact, deserving of their power.