Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking was born on this date in 1942.

A personal hero of mine, he is best known in the popular culture alternately as "the Smartest Man on the Planet," the guy that wrote A Brief History of Time, and the "Wheelchair Guy" due to a lengthy and debilitating bout with ALS.

And yes, Aldo, I have read it. Twice.

So Happy Birthday, Professor, and may you continue to live a productive life (in defiance of the odds) for years to come.

Quote of the Week

"Normally seven minutes of another person's company was enough to give her a headache so she set things up to live as a recluse. She was perfectly content as long as people left her in peace. Unfortunately society was not very smart or understanding."

-Steig Larsson, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

-Or, "Why I Fell in Love Lisbeth Salander" by the Rochester Reader

Just Finished: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

Charles Yu’s How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe is the last book I finished in 2010. (Bought it on 12/26, I finished it on 12/31 with just hours left on the clock, no less! I’m not a fast reader, either.)

Like this, but with 100% fewer flying DeLoreans.

Set in an alternate universe where only 93% of the laws of physics have been installed, the story focuses on Charles Yu’s time-machine repairman counterpart, also named Charles Yu.

The first (almost) half of the book is packed with science fictional ideas, and the whole thing is written with a bold, fresh voice. There’s no technobabble doublespeak explanations here; no lame Star Trek knockoffs to be found.

The most interesting sci fi ideas in the book regard how he deals with time travel: namely, through semantics; the engine that powers time travel in Minor Universe 31 is well reasoned and well thought out; it is literally derived by the tense of language, it is not powered by some simple applied phlebotium.

Without being too direct in the area of spoilers, there are various red herrings planted about in that first half; the second half starts with one, and goes off in an entirely different direction, exploring familial themes more common to straight up fiction (or W.P. Kinsella’s Shoeless Joe). That isn’t to say I found the back nine to be boring or without merit; on the contrary, to explore these themes within a genre story makes it the more remarkable. The story's resolution is very satisfying. And there is a neat little trick at the end that reminded me greatly of The Man in the High Castle.

Fun ideas, bold new voice. Highly recommended.

From the book:

“There is just enough space inside here for one person to live indefinitely, or at least that’s what the operation manual says. User can survive inside the TM-31 Recreational Time Travel Device, in isolation, for an indefinite period of time.

I am not totally sure what that means. Maybe it doesn’t actually mean anything, which would be fine, which would be okay by me, because that’s what I’ve been doing: living in here, indefinitely.”

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien was born on this day in 1892. As you probably already know, he is the author behind The Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit.

"Pipe weed"? No wonder he was so popular in the 1960's.

My first exposure to The Hobbit came when I was very young and it was assigned reading in the 6th Grade. I read The Fellowship of the Ring shortly thereafter, but wasn't mentally prepared to understand it just then; I couldn't maintain the momentum and abandoned The Two Towers very early on.

Years later, when the films were in development I decided I needed to read them before then-largely-untested filmmaker and schlockmaster Peter Jackson committed them to film; I finally read the whole thing back-to-back-to-back in 1995. I've read the whole thing again a couple of times since then, as well as The Atlas of Middle Earth and some of the supporting books put out by Christopher Tolkien in more recent years that serve as a kind of "making of" guide. I've also read all the supporting books behind the films: The Art of..., the Making of..., etc. I thought the book on Weapons and Warfare was particularly brilliant, giving insight to the practical whys and wherefores of some of the finer details of the visual medium.

I don't want to over expose it (neither the books nor the films) by reading it or seeing it too many times like I've done with most of my childhood films. However, I have read the second chapter of Fellowship about a jillion times. It is an info dump of epic proportions, and I love it to death. It is pure genius the way they broke it up in the films between the aftermath of Bilbo's party, the Mines of Moria, and the beginning of The Return of the King.

The Silmarillion and The Children of Hurin remain on my shelf. I may read either of them this year, but I kind of doubt it. Maybe though.

Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov was born on this day in 1920. He was a 20th Century renaissance man, a real honest-to-goodness polymath of the modern age.

His short stories "The Last Question" and "All the Troubles of the World" are favorites of mine. I've owned a paperback copy of Foundation for 20 years; maybe 2011 is the year I'm destined to read it. Hari seldon would know. I'm also keenly interested in The Caves of Steel and The Gods Themselves.

Asimov died in 1992.