Lock In

#1129
Title: Lock In
Author: John Scalzi
Year: 2014
Publisher: Tor
Pages: 336

Best preceded by Scalzi's novella Unlocked, a Working/World War Z-style prequel that provides the history on which this novel rests. Lock In is in the style of his The Android's Dream and Agent to the Stars--clever badinage and snappy repartee dominate the dialogue, and characters work together with a synchrony that reminds one of Heinlein's ex-military men.

I read this in conjunction with articles on HIV, Hepatitis B and C, and Ebola, which was a good set of reflective readings. I recommend Sacks's Awakenings as a companion piece for heightened pleasure.

Legend (Legend, #1)

#1128
Title: Legend (Legend, #1)
Author: Marie Lu
Year: 2011
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Pages: 305

In the words of a different dystopian novel, doubleplusungood. Flaws include flat characters, continuity errors and omissions, action and plot points unbelievable even within this world's rules, sudden halts for staring at the beloved while bullets whiz past, and a peculiar obsession with silver buttons.

Instead of enumerating the problems with specific spoiler examples, though, I'll instead share the reading strategy that worked best for me: Think of this as a comic book. In comic books, people can indeed drop several stories or get "deep gash"es without death or deformity. Characters' actions occur because they do, and not necessarily in ways that are consistent with their personalities. The bad guys are caricatures, and stupid. However, the good guys' stupidity rarely registers as a problem, even if they're 15 years old and each thinks the other is bee-yoo-ti-ful. Plus, every silver button gets its own sparkly neoflect. 

Rendezvous with Rama

#1127
Title: Rendezvous with Rama
Author: Arthur C. Clarke
Year: 1973/1974
Publisher: Ballantine
Pages: 276

Old-style male-type hard SF (which I like as a genre because there are so few female characters to be depicted stupidly). Rama is a gigantic Space Thing to be explored. Entertaining serious problems occur and clever solutions are found. The action moves along to a pleasing resolution that wraps up the story but leaves our frustration intact by not answering certain important questions about Rama. And a great punchline.

The Double Comfort Safari Club (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #11)

#1126
Title: The Double Comfort Safari Club (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #11)
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Year: 2010
Publisher: Pantheon
Pages: 211

Although there's more literary subtlety to this one, I was more disappointed in it. I was ultimately puzzled by the title. "Double Comfort" suggested that the Safari Club might have something to do with Phuti Radiphuti's furniture store of the same name, but there is no connection. Nor are either of the camps called "Double Comfort," nor is there really either a safari or a club. In fact, little of the novel has anything to do with a safari or a safari club. At the plot level, it's more of a mishmash of little stories than anything else. Oh, and Phuti has a terrible accident, but it's treated with as little emotion or focus as... well, as these orphans who do so little and mean so little through so many installments.

Gorillas among Us: A Primate Ethnographer's Book of Days

#1125
Title: Gorillas among Us: A Primate Ethnographer's Book of Days
Author: Dawn Prince-Hughes
Year: 2001
Publisher: University of Arizona
Pages: 153

Though many of the events are presented again in Prince-Hughes's Songs of the Gorilla Nation: My Journey through Autism, it's still enjoyable to read this less-polished, less-personal account of her time as an intern observing gorillas at the zoo. For a better picture and deeper narrative, read Songs of the Gorilla Nation as well or instead. 

The Demon Under the Microscope: From Battlefield Hospitals to Nazi Labs, One Doctor's Heroic Search for the World's First Miracle Drug

#1124
Title:  The Demon Under the Microscope: From Battlefield Hospitals to Nazi Labs, One Doctor's Heroic Search for the World's First Miracle Drug
Author: Thomas Hager
Year: 2006
Publisher: Harmony
Pages: 352

An interesting and useful account of the discovery and history of the sulfa drugs. It suffers from three major flaws: Skipping around in time, which makes the sequences hard to follow; repetitive information; and an overly dumbed-down presentation of not-very-technical material. It's also vague on the extent of IG Farben's Holocaust atrocities--they're mentioned in brief, but the overall attitude seems a bit apologist and dismissive.

The Chrysalids

#1123
Title:  The Chrysalids
Author: John Wyndham
Year: 1955
Publisher: Michael Joseph
Pages: 200

 A reasonably interesting post-apocalyptic novel, set in Canada for a change of scenery. One must accept the premise that the presumed nuclear devastation could cause many non-fatal mutations, but that's the starting point for many books in this genre.

I enjoyed the culture and world building, though Wyndham seems not to have made the best use of it. For example, I would expect a protagonist, or at least a foil character, to experience more moral qualms about the group's actions, which would have increased exploration of the idea, and the internal threat. Several characters appear to be simply discarded when no longer useful to the narrative.

The Wikipedia entry currently identifies "Sealand" as New Zealand. Unless Wyndham has confirmed this, I would have thought it was Zeeland. The Netherlands makes more sense for the distance traveled in a helicopter, though New Zealand's anti-nuclear policies make it culturally plausible.

A brief speech near the end caused me serious deja vu, since Jefferson Airplane cribbed/paraphrased it in "Crown of Creation":

In loyalty to their kind
They cannot tolerate our minds.
In loyalty to our kind
We cannot tolerate their obstruction!