reviews

Didn't You Get the Memo? Author: Scott Adams I have as yet to experience the work world sans a sardonic Dilbert cartoon pinned up by the overwhelmed helpdesk or a joking reference to the importance of trendy terminology over logical viability. Now as a worker for the federal government, I see Dilbert cartoons flying around in chatty emails and appended to the lunch board, once having my boss ask me to work some Dilbert into a modernization presentation. Wouldn’t Scott Adams be so pleased at the sheer irony! Deciding that there must be something in these seemingly dry cartoons that [...]

Lunar heroics... Author:  Andy Weir It’s humanity’s first lunar city.   Constructed in the latter half of the 21st century, the titular Artemis is home to a couple thousand residents who subsist in a network of five partially buried domes.  Nearly self-sufficient, the colony is experiencing a surge in tourism, but it’s also suffering from some significant growing pains.  It’s into this challenging environment that science fiction novelist Andy Weir has thrown our hip young heroine. A harsh home... Jasmine “Jazz” Bashara has spent most of her life on the moon.  Having moved to Artemis when she was just [...]

Rocks and isolation... Author:  Adam Nicolson It’s known as “The Minch”.  It’s a strait that separates the Scottish Highlands from the northern Hebrides to their west.  In local folklore it’s the home of mysterious blue men who lure sailors to their death in the forbidding seas.  If you look for the Minch on a good map, you might see a trio of tiny islands smack dab in the middle of it.   Known as the Shiant Isles, they total just 600 acres in area.  But even though they may seem insignificant on a global scale, they hold remarkable secrets.  Purchased by [...]