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It was an unscientific survey, but the results were fairly interesting.

1. The HitchHiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — Douglas Adams 85% (102)
2. Nineteen Eighty-Four — George Orwell 79% (92)
3. Brave New World — Aldous Huxley 69% (77)
4. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? — Philip Dick 64% (67)
5. Neuromancer — William Gibson 59% (66)
6. Dune — Frank Herbert 53% (54)
7. I, Robot — Isaac Asimov 52% (54)
8. Foundation — Isaac Asimov 47% (47)
9. The Colour of Magic — Terry Pratchett 46% (46)
10. Microserfs — Douglas Coupland 43% (44)
11. Snow Crash — Neal Stephenson 37% (37)
12. Watchmen — Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons 38% (37)
13. Cryptonomicon — Neal Stephenson 36% (36)
14. Consider Phlebas — Iain M Banks 34% (35)
15. Stranger in a Strange Land — Robert Heinlein 33% (33)
16. The Man in the High Castle — Philip K Dick 34% (32)
17. American Gods — Neil Gaiman 31% (29)
18. The Diamond Age — Neal Stephenson 27% (27)
19. The Illuminatus! Trilogy — Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson 23% (21)
20. Trouble with Lichen – John Wyndham 21% (19)

I consider myself a fair expert on geek novels, so I have tons of quibbles with the list. First, 1984, Brave New World, and American Gods aren’t geek novels, at least not by my definition. From the books that I know on the list, apparently, “geek” only means scifi, which rules out a ton of books that would have displaced others here on the list. American Gods is a vastly inferior novel to Gaiman’s own Neverwhere. I’m assuming The Color of Magic is meant to represent the whole of Discworld, since it is not the strongest entrant in that series by a long shot. Microserfs is a geek novel, sure, but in my not humble opinion… it sucked major donkey balls. It’s like listening to a 15 year old talk about their self-obsessed life and how hard they have everything. Oh, and I’m assuming the I, Robot votors are doing a name recognition thing, since it’s really a collection of short stories and not overly compelling short stories at that.

20 is a lot to come up with, but my personal geek list – and here, I’m defining geek as the non-pop-culture normative societal misfit geek. So… fantasy as well as tech. Also, only one entry per author, will note if I mean for the entry to stand for the author’s whole ouvre or that series.
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Harper Collins is altering ‘Goodnight Moon’ into a smokeless version

In the great green room, there is a telephone, and a red balloon, but no ashtray. “Goodnight Moon,” the children’s classic by Margaret Wise Brown, has gone smoke free.

In a newly revised edition of the book, which has lulled children to sleep for nearly 60 years, the publisher, HarperCollins, has digitally altered the photograph of Clement Hurd, the illustrator, to remove a cigarette from his hand.

This is smart, because… because… pretending something doesn’t exist means that no one will ever find out about it and you’ll totally be safe from it. This is worse than Ted Turner colorizing the classics. This is worse than Lucas modifying the original Star Wars so that Greedo now shoots at Han first. This is worse than the Black Knight in Python’s Holy Grail. This is worse than the administration’s ever-changing rationale for an elective invasion of a sovereign nation. No, wait, not so much on that last part.

For those that were waiting for the new Martin book, it’s out. He had to excise certain story arcs to get this book finished and under 1200 pages. I figured that meant this book would either be the mainland or danaerys/outland focused and… it’s mainland.

So for the Danaerys fans out there, you’ll have to wait for the sixth book.

Bummer, huh.

Love All the People: Letters, Lyrics, Routines – 4/5

I wish I had been turned on to Bill Hicks when he was still among us (he died of pancreatic cancer in 1993), because he was very, very funny. We would have been great friends had we met, but since we didn’t and since he’s dead, I’m totally stealing his best lines and calling them my own. At least, the ones that I heart Huckabees didn’t already steal.

This book is a collection of articles about him and scripts of his stand up routines, so it’s not much as a book per se, but it is still a worthwhile read. Hicks was taken from us too soon, but he believed we were all part of the same whole and life was just a momentary illusion, so he’d probably say he wasn’t taken anywhere. Bill, if you can reform in this reality, I’d like to say that your “wisp of cotton candy and a papercut” line was pure poetic genius. Also, outrageous. Which is what makes for good comedy.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore – 4/5

First, Christopher Moore has to usurp my name. Then he has to go and compound this transgression with evidence of actual talent and tremendous humor.

Bitch.

Whether or not you believe in Joshua of Nazareth’s existence, this is one of the better myths about his life. Biff (real name: Levi, “biff” is the sound a fist makes when it hits him upside the head) is Josh’s smartass pal. Joshua’s moral anticompass, really.

Biff tells the Gospel (he’s resurrected in modern day and stuck in a hotel with Raziel the angel, who is addicted to soaps and wrestling shows) of him and jesus. Together, they get into scrapes, fall in love with the same girl (Mary of Magdala, well, Josh loves everyone) and go on a trek so Josh can learn how to be the Messiah. Along the way they meet the three magi, learn Chinese, Daoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, the Divine Spark, meet a Yeti, meet a demon or three, learn about sin, go to Afghanistan and India, and learn kung fu. Among other things.

To give an example of the humore of this author, kung fu is too violent for Joshua and he refuses to strike anyone. So they come up with a new form that uses the opponents own energy against them. It’s called “Jew-do”.

Yeah, yeah, groan away, but that’s the kind of humor I love. Weird that this CMo would be just like me in the witty wordplay department. Weird, I say. It would be really weird if I wrote a novel, because then you’d have competing CMo’s in similar genres with similar styles and that would… well, he’s just going to have to get a psuedoname, that’s all there is to it.

In sum, they go do a bunch of things, you’ll laugh out loud multiple times, and Joshua gets crucified. I hope that didn’t spoil the ending for anybody. Heartily recommended.

The Dresden Files universe is a quirky, inviting, fun place. The protagonist is a gumshoe… who happens to be a wizard. A wizard who has trouble with women, trouble with the law, trouble with his wizardly parole officer, trouble with money, and trouble with his car. Oh, and vampires, mafiosos, and rampaging toad demons too. His cat’s fine, though.

Imagine if Raymond Chandler and Terry Pratchett had a love child, and you’ll be in the right ballpark.

No good in love, circles of thieves, always in trouble from every angle… Harry Dresden’s got his work cut out for him. I found the first book utterly charming; the universe is enjoyable and strange enough to keep me coming back for more (ordered the other six in the series today).

If you like noir or like quirky fun titles, this may be right up your alley. About the only thing missing from the classic noir formula in this book was the femme fatale, but I’m sure one will turn up shortly.

If you like noir in non-mid-20th century/our universe settings, I would recommend Gun, with Occasional Music before Storm Front, but I would recommend them both.

4/5 stars

Man, I really need to catch up on my reviewing here.