POS on the Page - Going Clear

I have never used my blog to discuss religion before, but it is something that I enjoy studying in my spare time. One religion I was always curious about was Scientology, not from a standpoint of wanting to join that faith, but from the standpoint of wanting to know how and why a science-fiction author was able to create a religion, a religion that many view as either a) a cult or b) a scam. One of my earliest exposures to Scientology was the epic South Park episode, Trapped in the Closet. It did such a great job skewering the religion that it made me want to know more. Then along came this book, and I strongly encourage everyone who is curious about Scientology to read it. One of the best endorsements for this book is that the Church of Scientology is pissed off that it got written.

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, & the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright. 2013, 448 pages (hardcover)

Lawrence Wright is a respected journalist, and one of his prior books on the origins of Al-Qaeda won the Pulitzer prize for nonfiction. Going Clear started as an article for The New Yorker magazine, from his interviews with former Scientologist and Hollywood director Paul Haggis. For the book, Wright expanded the scope to delve deep into both the history of the faith's enigmatic founder, L. Ron Hubbard, and the faith that he created. The book comes about from interviews with over 200 current and former Scientologists, and it contains some pretty explosive allegations of abuse within the church, some of which have played out in courtrooms around the world.

Reading through this book, I was blown away by the scams that L. Ron Hubbard pulled off as he built his faith, preying on the weak and insecure for money and status to build his cult. He was a con artist and liar with a P.T. Barnum level of hucksterism. Questionable labor practices, child abuse, sexual impropriety, financial scams, cutting members off from their families (just like a cult), and many more allegations get revealed in all their sordid details. It also reveals some of the core teachings of the church, teachings that are usually only presented to those that have given hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more, to the church (although you can find them online now thanks to Google). There are teachings that show the clear sci-fi origins of the faith, including their belief that aliens are real and that all humans are infected with alien souls that cause us problems in our lives. Reading this book leaves you wondering how anyone could possibly believe in this religion, much less think it is a religion at all. As Paul Haggis says: "I was in a cult for thirty four years. Everyone else could see it. I don't know why I couldn't."

For a taste of what the book covers, here is a link to the original The New Yorker article that started it all, based on Wright's interviews of Haggis. I strongly encourage you to check it out. LINK  Overall, if you've ever wondered how a cult can flourish in this society, or are just looking for an interesting read, I encourage you to check out Going Clear. You'll never look at John Travolta or Tom Cruise the same way again.

PCP on the Page - John Grisham & Stephen King Go Back to the Well

Recently, two authors I really like, Stephen King and John Grisham, released sequels to books they had written many years ago. This was a new thing for both of them. While King has written direct sequels before, specifically with his Dark Tower series of books, and has linked the locations and events of his books together, he hasn't really written a direct sequel to one of his "standalone" novels. Likewise, outside of his series of young reader novels set around the character Theodore Boone, John Grisham had never written a direct sequel to one of his books either. So, I found it interesting that both authors had direct sequels to two of their most popular novels come out right around the same time as each other this fall. I guess that I have gotten used to Hollywood's endless sequel machine, because I'm actually somewhat surprised that these two authors hadn't done this before and waited so long to do so.

For John Grisham, the well that he goes back to is the character of Jake Brigance, the southern lawyer from Grisham's first novel, A Time to Kill, published back in 1989. Set three years after the trial that freed Carl Lee Hailey who killed the Klansmen who raped his daughter, Brigance is desperate for a flashy case and eager to fight a tough fight. He gets one when a wealthy local recluse kills himself, but right before doing so mails Brigance a brand new, extremely controversial last will and testament. Brigance has to figure out why this multimillionaire is leaving 90% of his estate to his Black housekeeper, instead of to his children and grandchildren, and to defend this will in court from the legal challenge by the man's family.

I thoroughly enjoyed Sycamore Row. It had a crackling energy that had been somewhat lacking Grisham's work of late, perhaps because he was going back to a highly popular character. Unlike A Time to Kill however, I don't see them adapting this one into a film, even if Matthew McConaughey wanted to reprise the role. The book doesn't lend itself to a film the way some of Grisham's earlier works did. That doesn't mean it's not a good read, because it is, it just doesn't have as many thrills or the life and death stakes of some of his other works.

Continue after the jump for the review of Stephen King's Doctor Sleep -->

PCP in Theaters - Ender's Game

My wife and I are good friends with another couple, Ryan and Amber, and they reached out to us about going to see Ender's Game in theaters. They are both big sci-fi and fantasy fans (and Ryan has a similar but geekier blog called Skillpoint Station which I encourage you to check out) and had bonded over their enjoyment of the book. Meanwhile, my wife and I hadn't read the book, but we were always up for a fun night out, so we agreed. I read the book rapidly in the week before we saw the film, so I could judge the film while having the book fresh in my mind. I wonder if that made it better or worse?

Ender's Game - 2013, rated PG-13. My rating: 7 out of 10.

Ender's Game is set in the future, on an Earth different from ours. Humanity has defeated an alien invasion, and are working towards preparing for round two of the war versus the alien invaders, the bug-like Formics. Humanity has started a program of testing of their children to find those that have tactical & strategic genius, and then shipping them off to a special school called Battle School to hone their combat abilities. Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) is our protagonist, a super-genius that the leaders of the school Col. Graff (Harrison Ford) and Major Anderson (Viola Davis) believe may hold the key to humanity's survival versus the Formics, a species that vastly outnumbers humanity.

Ender's studies in the school consist of tactical games in the zero-g battle room, which was pretty nifty to see on the big screen. He learns to deal with frustration, learns even more brilliant tactics, makes friends with most of his peers, and learns to lead on the battlefield. Before long he is graduated to the Command School, where he now commands fleets of ships in a virtual reality simulation against the Formics. As he faces ever more insurmountable odds, he has to find more ways to win, lest he flunk out and fail his teachers. In terms of the plot, I'm going to stop there until later in this post in the spoilers section, so as not to give anything away now.

Having the book fresh in my mind, I was slightly disappointed in the film, but I also had low expectations. I knew that there was no way the film would be able to show all of the battles that the book contained, without being significantly longer than its two hour running time. In the book, Ender went through some 50 odd battles, but in the film he has only a handful, which really doesn't give the audience the chance to see just how outside the box his ideas were and how much more advanced than his peers he really was. I think if the film was maybe about 20 minutes longer and had a few more battles then it would've been better. Also, I didn't like that the film (or the book for that matter) didn't really comment on the idea of training children for war or have anything to say about just how awful of a thing that is.

Visually, the film was pretty well done, with great visual effects including the zero-g combat of Battle School, and the immersive virtual reality of the massive battles of Command School. The effects were better than I expected them to be, with the film only having a budget of $110 million. Overall though, the film is a lot of flash and not a lot of substance, and I thought it was good but disappointing. I think I would've liked it better had I not read the book. Of the four of us that saw the movie that day, my wife was the only one that hadn't read the book and she liked the film the best. So, when this film comes out on blu-ray, rent it from your local library or Redbox now that Blockbuster is toast, or stream it. It's still worth seeing, but you don't need to rush out and see it while it's still in theaters.

Ok if you don't want spoilers, stop here. After the jump I'm going to be talking about changes from the book to the film and discussing some of my beefs with the plot of the film in greater details. So again, from here on out, SPOILERS AHEAD after the jump! --->

PCP on DVD - Jack Reacher

Prior to seeing this film, I had never heard of the character Jack Reacher or read any of the novels by Lee Child that the film was based on. So, I walked into the film with zero preconceptions about the character, which probably helped.

Jack Reacher - 2012, rated PG-13.  My rating: 7 out of 10.

To some people he isn't.

I hadn't really heard too much about this film before it came out, aside from a lot of complaining from fans of the book series that Tom Cruise is the wrong guy for the role. I can definitely sympathize with that feeling, as I mentioned in my Alex Cross review earlier this week, the casting there was terrible. I also hated the casting in the Dirk Pitt movie Sahara a few years back, so I get their complaints, especially since the character of Jack Reacher is supposed to be 6'5" and 250 pounds of solid muscle, something Tom Cruise definitely isn't.

Casting complaints aside, the film is actually a pretty decent movie.  It was definitely a lot better than I thought it would be. The film is based on the novel One Shot, which is the ninth in Lee Child's series of novels. It is about a sniper shooting spree, and Jack Reacher is brought in to get to the truth. Reacher is an investigator, a former military policeman who now wanders the U.S. and sets wrongs to right. He has a connection from his military past to the accused sniper from this shooting, so he is motivated to get to the truth.

For an action movie, this one is very low key and grounded in realism. No sky-high monsters or aliens here, this one takes place in the real world and mostly obeys real world physics. The fight sequences are well done and in one case very funny (in a confined space two characters learn that swinging weapons isn't the best idea), as are the other action sequences and shootouts. The truth behind the shooting is also a good and twisty conspiracy, which heightens the film above just a straight shoot 'em up. Cruise is also actually pretty great in the lead role here, in a performance that reminds me of his incredible role as a hitman in Collateral.

Overall, this film inspired me to go and read the book series from the beginning. As of this writing (in the beginning of July, I'm writing ahead for my blog), I'm reading book # 10 in the series which has 17 books and counting. I've now read One Shot, the book that this film was based on, most recently. I don't have any complaints with how they adapted the book to the film. Basically they streamlined things a little bit, eliminating minor characters to cut down on the film from being bloated.

I'll be adding Lee Child to my list of authors that I read everything they write, that's for sure. The book series is excellent and I highly recommend it to all. On top of the books, the film is pretty good too, so go check it out, especially if you're a fan of Tom Cruise.

PCP on DVD - Alex Cross

The character of Alex Cross, as conceived by James Patterson in his popular book series, is one of my favorite characters. I've read every book in the series, and I am always game for a big screen adaptation. I was curious to see how this film would be, with Tyler Perry taking over the titular role from Morgan Freeman (Along Came a Spider, Kiss the Girls), not an actor I usually associate with an action film.

Alex Cross - 2012, rated PG-13.  My rating:  3 out of 10.

Wow, this movie was weak. It's not as bad as my rating of 3 indicates however. It would have a real rating of 5, were it not for the fact that it ruined the canon of a great character. If this film had been a generic cop thriller by any other name, or were I not familiar with the character of Alex Cross, it would've gotten a 5. However, I have read all of the books in the Alex Cross series. And the character portrayed in this film is not Alex Cross.

Here's a sampling of some of the many ways the film deviated from the canon of the books: 1) It is set in Detroit. Cross grew up in and operates in Washington DC.  2) Cross' best friend and partner in the film, Thomas Kane, is a white guy played by Edward Burns. In the books, his best friend and partner is a 6'8" black man named John Sampson.  3) While he's gone over the line towards questionable ethics in the books before in the name of justice, here Cross goes full on vigilante in the film, which feels like a major departure from the character.  Those three changes are just a small sample of the departures from the book series (I found one website that had 25 differences between the two), but they irked me greatly. Again, had the film had any other sort of title and name for the main character, it would've been a five, because it was a moderately entertaining cop thriller. But since it tarnished the name of a popular character I rather enjoy, I'm downgrading it to a three. Either way, this film isn't particularly that good, so don't waste your time.

PCP on the Page & on DVD - Savages

When I first saw the trailers for Savages last year, I was excited to see the film. Oliver Stone directing a violent action movie? One that reminds me of Natural Born Killers? Sign me up! Then I found out it was based on a book, so I decided to read the book and watch the film, and do a comparison review for the first time here on the blog.

Savages - by Don Winslow.  2010.  320 pages.  My rating:  A.

Savages is a crime thriller from Don Winslow, an author I had never heard of before learning about the film being made on his work. Having read the book, I am glad that I read it. He has an extremely unique narrative style, changing up the formatting of the chapters between traditional narration and more interesting forms of writing. For example, characters imagine what the scene would be like as an email, or as a screenplay for Hollywood. It is not a narrative format that I have seen before, but it worked with the source material here, making the story come to life very vividly. The story is about a pair of pot growers and dealers in California, Ben & Chon, who have a Mexican cartel encroach on their turf to violent ends. Their girlfriend (it's complicated) is kidnapped to try and force them to sell out to the cartel, and the two retaliate in a series of raids to raise money to pay her ransom. Of course though, things are far more suspenseful and intense than I could hope to describe here. It is a crackling read, and at only 320 pages it is also a very fast read. I highly recommend this book to all.

Savages - 2012, rated R.  My rating: 6 out of 10.

Unlike the book, I cannot recommend the film as strongly. Despite having a stellar cast, including John Travolta, Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro, and one of my all time favorite actresses in Salma Hayek, the film just doesn't crackle with as much life and wit as the book. The film also has a lot less action, condensing multiple raids against the cartel into just one shown on the screen. The film also changes the ending from the book, probably to appease the Hollywood studio bankrolling the film. In fact, the book's original ending is filmed as an ending in the movie, and then the movie goes and pulls the "it was just a dream/vision" stunt and then shows us the Hollywood ending. I like the book's ending better, plus a lot of the best parts of the book just don't translate well to the silver screen.

Overall my recommendation is to skip the movie and just go read the book. You'll enjoy it a lot more. The movie isn't terrible, so if you will never read the book, then go watch the movie, you'll have fun. But if you read the book first, you will likely be disappointed by the film, as I was. I probably would have given the film a 7 instead of a 6 had I not read the book first.

PCP on DVD - The Lorax

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax is a classic fable about the dangers of environmental destruction in the name of greed. The hour long animated movie version from the 70's is still shown in schools today as a teaching lesson. The modern update is more of a corporate cash-in, ironically, given how it was used in advertising for a number of real-life corporations.


The Lorax - 2012, rated PG. My rating: 6 out of 10.

The new version of The Lorax features more musical numbers (which makes sense given stars Zac Efron and Taylor Swift) than the original, but despite the flashiness of the updated animation, the film feels hollow and empty. Unlike many animated films, there is also less here for adults than for kids.

While the film still has the message of environmentalism is good and corporate greed and destruction of the environment is bad, the film just lacks a lot of the heart and joy of Seuss' original work. I'll still show this to my son Jackson when he gets older, but I'll make sure to show him the classic 70's version first.

PCP on the Page - Robopocalypse

I hadn't heard of the book Robopocalypse until I heard that Steven Spielberg had acquired the rights to make it into a movie, and in January this year he announced he was halting production on the film so they could work on the script some more before it goes into production (if it ever does).  The fact that Spielberg was even attached to a project with such an interesting and scary sounding title got my attention, and made me want to check out the book.

The author of Robopocalypse, Daniel H. Wilson, has a PhD in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, so he is able to write this book from a position of knowledge and authority about what could potentially be possible with robots in the future.  This enhances the novel and in fact makes it scarier as the gloomy future described in the book could be more likely than many realize.  He also wrote previously the tongue in cheek survivalist book How to Survive a Robot Uprising (which I have not yet read).  So clearly this is something he has given a lot of thought.

The story is similar to that of many other robot uprising films: an artificial intelligence becomes smart enough to be self aware, and it turns on humanity by taking control of many of the technologies that humanity had come to rely on and using it against them, including smart cars and military robots.  The war goes very poorly for humanity in the beginning before they are able to rally and fight back.

The book follows a more unique structure than your traditional novel.  Rather than sticking to one or two character's point of view throughout the entire conflict, the book acts as more of a chronicle of the robot war.  In the opening chapter it is explained that the humans have discovered a memory core computer that has surveillance footage of the incidents that the novel relays, so they are chronicling the wider war for future generations to learn what happened, based on the facts recorded by the machines.

It actually reminds me quite a bit of the novel version of World War Z, in terms of its structure and pacing.  Just like how WWZ was a chronicle report written by a UN employee, here the book is a chronicle written by a soldier in the aftermath of the war.  And given the production difficulties that World War Z faced in adapting its massive structure to a feature film, I can understand why Spielberg put this one on hold in order to get the script right before beginning production.

Overall, it was a pretty interesting read, one that might give you some chills if you fear where technology is going in our world.  If you like your sci-fi with a side of cataclysm, then go check out this book.

It is Sci-Fi week here on the blog

This week is going to be Sci-Fi week here on the blog.  Why?  Because I feel like it.  Also, with Man of Steel coming out this past Friday, and World War Z dropping this coming Friday, this is the perfect week to fill with sci-fi content.  There will be a fresh post every day this week covering something having to do with science fiction, including reviews of the films a few films and books, as well as a top 10 list.  So check back daily for fresh material!

POS on the Page - Bailout by Neil Barofsky

So in my MBA program, we were discussing the sorry state of the economy and who is to blame for the mess our country still is in, 6 years after the housing bubble burst and wrecked things. This book came up in the conversation as a great read, so having read it I thought I'd share my thoughts.

Bailout by Neil Barofsky.  My recommendation: Must Read!

Bailout is an inside account of the TARP program and what went on within the Treasury Department in the waning months of the Bush administration and the beginning of the Obama one. The author, Neil Barofsky, has a unique insiders perspective as to what went on in that time. He was appointed to be the Special Inspector General in charge of Oversight of TARP, aka SIGTARP. In his role as SIGTARP, he was supposed to monitor how Treasury was using TARP monies to help the economy and to protect the money from fraud. During his time in DC, he saw how programs ostensibly designed to help those of us down on Main Street instead wound up helping Wall Street while screwing over the rest of us.

This book will make you angry, very angry, at the massive incompetence and blatant asskissing of Wall Street by those in power in DC. It makes me want to grab a torch and pitchfork and form a mob to storm the Treasury in protest and outrage. The book pulls no punches, and regardless of your political affiliation you have to read this book. Just like I recommended the works of Matt Taibbi in a post a while back (which you can read here), I absolutely recommend this book for all to read. (Additionally, you can read Taibbi's thoughts on the book at this link here). It really helps to explain the financial crisis in clear terms, and it also makes you realize how another financial crisis wrecking the economy is not a matter of if but when, thanks to the government's continued worshiping of Wall Street.

PCP on the Page - The Gods of Gotham

The Gods of Gotham is another book I picked up on a whim from my local library.  What caught my attention was the quote on the cover from an author I like, Michael Connelly, so I decided to give the book a shot.

The Gods of Gotham is set in the early 1840s in New York City, a time of incredible social pressure and massive unrest in the city.  Think the time period of the opening of the flick Gangs of New York, where there is massive violence and rage between the nativist Protestants and the newly arrived Irish Catholics that bubbles from time to time into all-out open warfare.  A new police force has just been founded, and the protagonist of the book, Timothy Wilde, is a member of the newly formed "copper stars." 

Wilde is investigating a series of murders of young children that has ties to the massive immigration of recent Irish to the city during the 1840s Potato Famine.  He's a noble hero and a pretty good cop considering he's just been on the job for a few weeks. 

For a relatively new author (GoG is only the 2nd novel from author Lyndsay Faye, she doesn't even have her own Wikipedia page yet) the book is actually incredibly well written, and it has the potential to be the start of a new series.  It is extremely well researched, especially the language and customs of the 1840s, and the book does an incredible job of transporting you back 170 years in time.  I don't want to spoil the twists and turns the book takes since it is a mystery novel, but I do encourage you to check this one out.  It is a pretty good book and I look forward to reading more from Lyndsay Faye in the future.  She's definitely an author I'll have to keep tabs on, I'll probably have to add her to my favorite authors list.  If you've read the book, let me know what you think in the comments!

PCP on the Page - My favorite authors

As I mentioned back in my review for 2312, I have a core set of current authors that I read every book they publish, or every book in a particular series.  If I find something particularly good or something I want to talk about in one of their books, I'll do a post on the book, like I did for the Game of Thrones series (technically called "A Song of Ice and Fire" but thanks to the show now better known as Game of Thrones) by George R.R. Martin.  These are those authors, in alphabetical order by last name:

• David Baldacci
• Richard Castle (Yes I know this is a fictional character and a product of the marketing department over at ABC but the books are a fun continuation of the TV show)
• Tom Clancy
• Clive Cussler
• Christopher Farnsworth
• Vince Flynn
• John Grisham
• Chuck Hogan
• Stephen King
• George R.R. Martin
• James Patterson
• James Rollins
• John Sandford
• Harry Turtledove

There may be others that I am forgetting at the moment, but those are the ones that come to mind that I read the most regularly.  Do you guys have any suggestions for me for other authors or books you think I'd enjoy?  Let me know in the comments!

PCP on DVD - The Hunger Games

Typically when a movie comes out that is based on a book, I have read the book first.  I did this for all of the Harry Potter movies, The Lord of the Rings, the Twilight franchise, and many others.  Sometimes, like LOTR or HP, I enjoyed the books and the movies.  Sometimes, like Twilight, I read and watched them to see what the fuss was about.  The Hunger Games is the first film in a long time that I have seen where I have not read the book first.  Eventually I'll get around to reading the book series, but I just haven't done it yet.

The Hunger Games - 2012, rated PG-13.  My rating:  8 out of 10.

The Hunger Games is the film adaptation of the first book from a trilogy by Suzanne Collins.  In the story, set in the future, 2 children are chosen as "tributes" from each of 12 districts to compete in a reality-TV type program where they have to fight to the death until only one remains, so basically it is a cross of Survivor and ancient Roman gladiatorial games. 
The heroine of the film, Katniss, volunteers to represent her district in the competition, to prevent her younger sister from having to serve instead, as the girl would have quickly been killed.  She and her fellow district representative, Peeta, go to the capitol city where they train and get makeovers before the games begin.

As befits a movie where the fight is to the death, obviously not all of the 24 chosen tributes will survive, thus making this PG-13 movie have a high body count.  A majority of the deaths happen off-screen though, leaving the viewer to imagine what has happened.  In the end though, the good guys prevail and the viewers are left awaiting the inevitable sequels.

As with any literary adaptation of a 374 page book, some things have to have been cut from the film.  I am not sure what exactly was cut, but the film felt like there were parts missing.  I'm not sure if this was due to bad storytelling or if maybe the screenwriters had expected all viewers to have read the books?  Either way, there were some gaps in the explanation as to what exactly was going on, and some of the jumps in time seemed relatively jerky or abrupt.  Overall though I did enjoy the film very much, and I probably would have liked it better had I read the books, but even without having read the books the film is still worth watching.

POS - You should be reading Matt Taibbi

If you aren't aware of the brilliant reporting of Matt Taibbi you really need to check him out.  He is an investigative reporter for Rolling Stone, and his pieces on politics (where he'll call out BS by politicians in both parties) and Wall Street are flat out outstanding.  His language is a bit heavier on the profanity (which he uses to express his disgust and outrage at what he is writing about), but aside from that his writing is extremely intelligent and also easy to read.  He has a great knack for simplifying a number of the complicated things that Wall Street has done in recent years that has really damaged our economy, from the mortgage crisis, deregulation, and the LIBOR manipulation scandal.   His longer articles in Rolling Stone are very in depth and detailed about some of the worst things happening in our economy, often perpetuated by firms like Goldman Sachs.

If you have trouble understanding just how dangerous an unregulated Wall Street can be, you need to start with reading his book Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America, it is a phenomenal read and also it is a fast read, despite the complex nature of some of the things he discusses.  In addition to his book (he has others as well) he regularly posts to a blog on Rolling Stone that can be found here:  http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog or you can follow him on Twitter http://twitter.com/mtaibbi 

For those of you that are in favor of the full deregulation of Wall Street I challenge you to read Griftopia.  If that book doesn't change your mind and open your eyes to just what full deregulation would do to destroy America, then you are either blind or naive.  For the record - I do not want total regulation of Wall Street, just common sense regulation such as the restoration of the Glass-Steagall Act provisions that separate securities trading from commercial banking, as the ending of that restriction directly led to the economic crash of the past few years.  Read Griftopia, I guarantee you'll wind up agreeing with me!

*****UPDATE***** updated 8/30/12
Wow, I must have psychic timing.  The day after I originally posted this (although I wrote it about 2+ weeks before that), Taibbi came out with a brand new in depth research piece on Mitt Romney's time at Bain Capital.  Make sure you read this, it is oustanding!

PCP on the Page - 2312

Despite how much TV and movies I watch, I also manage to find a lot of time to fit in a lot of books.  I typically read about a book a week.  I have a core set of authors that I read every book they publish, but sometimes I read faster than they can produce new work to keep me interested.  One of those times recently I found myself browsing the new releases section of the library and I came across a book that caught my eye.  Clocking in at 561 pages, I decided to give it a whirl and I hoped it wouldn't be a waste of my time.

I had never read a book from Kim Stanley Robinson before, but apparently he's a big name science fiction author.  I don't read as much sci-fi as I used to, in fact this was my first sci-fi novel (not including fantasy novels as I consider those a separate genre) that I had read in a couple years.

Set obviously in the year 2312, the solar system as we know it is completely different.  Earth is a mess, and terraforming has happened on many planets, moons, and asteroids throughout our system, resulting in an extremely dysfunctional political system.  The novel is a story that explores this strange solar system, finding political intrigue as well as wonder and scientific amazement. 

It is a remarkable book, but extremely heavy on the science portion of sci-fi, with a lot about genetic manipulation and the physics necessary for terraforming and spaceflight.  It drags a bit in places and I got through it much slower than a typical book of this size (it took almost two weeks, way slower than normal for me).  If you like sci-fi I do recommend this book, but for a lot of people they may find this book to be a bit boring.  It really is a remarkable world to explore though, so I encourage you to give this book a chance.

PCP on the Page & on TV - Game of Thrones

If you haven't been watching or reading the Game of Thrones series, you are seriously missing out.  The TV Series Game of Thrones airs on HBO and has run two seasons so far.  I've only seen the first, as the 2nd isn't on DVD yet and I do not have HBO.  The show is outstanding, and a rather faithful adaptation of the book series.  The best way to describe the show is it is kind of like the Sopranos in terms of the drama, with a dash of True Blood's sex and violence, but set in a medieval fantasy setting - a world with magic and dragons (though that is more of an important issue in the books so far than the show).  The book series by author George R.R. Martin is 5 books and counting so far (he is planning for 7 total), and I cannot recommend them enough.  They are long (some hit the 1000 page mark) but they are outstanding, some of the best fantasy writing I have ever read.  If you haven't already watched the first season or read the books, I highly encourage you to go out and do so as soon as you can.  The seasons of the show are 10 episodes each, and although the first season is a little slow in starting, once it gets going, it is just a phenomenal show.  It has been heavily decorated by the Emmys, and for good reason.

For those of you that have read the books or watched the series, I leave you the below .gif image of probably my favorite moment of the first season.  For those of you that haven't watched the show, once you do you'll understand just why this is so awesome.