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For some reason I expected this to be a more modern take on Mars and the Martians than what was widely common around the time of its release. This led to the naive descriptions of Mars and Martians being hard to take seriously. But as the book progressed I realized that this is not a book that is loved today for being naive and old fashioned. It's a book that's written in its time as a clear warning against what is happening around it, just as the best science fiction is. The anti-science standpoint it takes in the introduction (and throughout) makes complete sense just after a destructive world war. It's not about going against knowledge, it's against technological advances happening without proper reflection.

I really loved the structure of this book. It's really (and obviously) a series of short stories pieced together to a whole, with some minor links between them. A few characters shows up (or are mentioned) in several chapters, but most of the chapters offers its own unique perspective on humanity. And it covers racism, love, technology, fear, isolation and several other themes in unique ways.

This is a brilliant collection, obviously put together by fans of Don Rosa's work. It not only contains the complete set of Pertwillaby Papers-comics, but also interviews, ads, fan drawings and other material related to the comic and Don Rosa's life at the time. It's a big, beautiful book that gives Rosa's often very detailed art the space it deserves. When it comes to the publication itself, I would have liked to have a longer, more thorough introduction to the different chronicles of Pertwillaby by Rosa. From the preludes, introductions and interviews, you still do get his input.

When it comes to the stories themselves, the quality varies quite a bit. The first stories, told in a very episodic way, and published in his university paper, are a bit crude. They're obviously work by Rosa, but he's still very much finding his way, and limited by the restrictions of the format. In the end of that run, and in the later stories, the stories turn more into the grand adventures that he is known for. (And the book does not miss the chance to point out that he was telling these stories before Indiana Jones existed.) Several of the story elements later show up in his Duck-stories, where he (often) puts them to better use. They're still lots of fun in these stories, though the characters he is working with are all a bit dull. The Nazi villain is not that interesting any more, the blonde bombshell sidekick is very dated by now, and the villain's sidekick doesn't really seem to serve any purpose at all. Each story also have pages upon pages of exposition, running through the concepts (time travel, black holes, the position of the north pole) in way more detail. The concepts are fun, though, and it's obvious that he likes to think his ideas through. He just doesn't manage to convey them all that well. (And he is very aware of this, as he mocks himself in the comics itself, warning against the boring pages coming up).

tl;dr: This is a younger Rosa that had not perfected his story telling yet, but the stories are still a lot of fun, and the collection is really well put together.

I almost read this book in one sitting. It's very readable, and at times really exciting too. There are some slow parts, but they do not stop the narrative enough to make you want to put down the book.

This book a dystopian look at a near future where real world problems are being shoved aside, while people focus more on the ongoings in a virtual world called OASIS. The VR-technology presented is plausible, and as are many of the uses of it presented in this book. While the book does have some heavy handed moral lessons about seperating reality from the virtual world, it never really delves into what this really would mean. The few times its mentioned, it feels more like an afterthought.

The big "gimmick" of this book is its focus on 80s popular culture, something that I was afraid would be a bit too much. It actually does work, and also serves as an excuse for not having to predict future trends in culture. One could also read this as a comment on the current obsession with popular culture, but the book never really goes there. It's an uncritical love and passion that's shown, and one that's not really argued much for or against.

I can't really fault the book for what it is not, but I really do wish that the book would have grappled more with these themes.

The book also has a tendency to serve big info dumps about the world, which some times feels more motivated by the story than others. Because the world is fun/interesting it works, but I do wish that he would have solved it differently.

But! Despite all this, I did enjoy the book alot. The world was interesting, some of its predictions about technology probably hits more close to home than we would like to imagine, and it's often quite heartwarming.

Bret Easton Ellis is a good writer, something I feel is obvious from this book. Had he not been, I would never have finished it. Ellis seems to have several ideas for this book. The false autobiographical story, the meta perspective, the Stephen King-homage, the father and son theme, the satirical look at the direction that modern society. I don't mind any of these, and some of these ought to be rigt up my alley. But to me, the book just didn't work.

It starts of in a really interesting way, and I was curiously tagging along with it, looking forward to where it would take me. But as the story (slowly) progresses, my interest starts to fade. Perhaps it was because he didn't manage to combine all the elements in a satisfying (to me) way? The father/son theme is perhaps the most interesting part of the book, and you could easily remove it and have the story work about just as well (maybe then only as a horror/satire). Looked at in isolation, the horror elements could have been form a Goosebumps novel, and somehow I feel Ellis could have solved it all in a more clever way. The description of the parties and the lavish lifestyle was most likely satirical, but maybe I just don't know enough about Ellis to get any joy out of them.

Towards the end of the book, it almost feels like Ellis is as bored with the story as the reader is, just checking off the last pieces on the check list before he can call it quits. Going all meta, sentimental, tying up plot elements in a bow, leaving a little bit of mystery and then paint a nice picture. Though I did actually enjoy the last couple of pages of the book. But it was despite the rest of it, not because of it.

I might be a bit harsh here. I did not like the book, but Ellis is talented, and this book probably deserves the love it gets. Just not from me.

This book is fantastic for people like me, who has a big awe for the natural sciences, but knows way to little about them. Bryson does two things really(!) well in this book. Everyone has an interesting story, and he uses these to their best effect when describing the scientists. In that way, it's not only easier to remember them, it's very enjoyable reading about them. (Though an argument could be made against reducing people to their quirks.) The other thing he does really, really well, is making a coherent narrative where there isn't necessarily one to begin with. By doing this in both a small level (indivdual chapters) a and a big one (the entire book), it feels more like a proper journey through (nearly) all that we know and how we know about it.

The book is already a bit dated, but I am sure there will be updated editions of it, if there aren't already.

Gjennom brenningen er ikke noe mesterverk, men det er ei fin bok. Jeg var ikke kjent med boka eller forfatter før jeg begynte å lese den, alt jeg visste var at mine besteforeldre hadde den i bokhylla, som en av (få) romaner. Boka omhandler en familie i nord på ca. 1600-tallet, og konsekvensene av at familiens far, Jon, dør på sjøen og mister all last. Jeg kan ikke nok om den historiske konteksten til å vite hvorvidt den er realistisk i sine beskrivelser av livet på den tiden, men det samfunnet den beskriver er troverdig.

Historien handler om å komme seg "gjennom brenningen", og å stå oppreist gjennom stormen for å komme seg over på den andre siden. Vi følger en håndfull karakterer som på ulike måter påvirkes av Jons død, deriblandt hans to sønner Rasmus og Anders, hans enke og hans bror. Bokas største svakhet er kanskje at ikke alle disse karakterene har en skikkelig avslutning, noe som nok skyldes at dette er tenkt som starten på en lenger serie av romaner.

Det verste med boka er nok den nokså uheldige og svært stereotypiske fremstillingen av samer. Måten de viser hvordan overtroen (rundt samenes magi) påvirker samfunnet er spennende, men dette kunne han oppnådd uten å karakterisere samene (i sin helhet) som usympatiske villfolke. Jaja.