Reading

My review of 3 books that I read recently

Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke

This is my first book by the famed sci-fi author of 2001 space odyssey. Having seen it in my scifi recommendations, I found this book in my library. It is not very long(at ~250 pages)

The premise is benevolent aliens landing on the earth, and the aftermath. A major theme is the degradation of human creativity in the lack of conflict/competition.

The book is divided into 3 generations starting from the arrival of the aliens, to the next centuries. I found the first part to be the best, as it imagined the complexities of the human race reacting to the aliens arrival. From then on the book delved into more and more supernatural elements, which were interesting but not as compelling.

Under the hood, there are many brilliant arguments being made. Due to the vastness of space, any alien specie that contacts us would be very advanced, and their technology would seem magic to us. It would be like a bewildered caveman when teleported to the 21st century. And such an advanced specie would eventually dominate, and domesticate other alien species(kind of how humans domesticated animals).

A slightly similar book(that i have read) would be The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula LeGuin, which is, what happens when humans try to imagine a utopia. It wrestles with our interpretation of utopia.

Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott

A very short read, classic short story of dimensions in space. Entertains by personifying the different shapes and imagines how a society in lower dimensions would function.

The core of the book is how we might be trapped in our own dimension. There are physical limits to what can be perceived by our senses, and some things would always be incomprehensible to us. And it’s better to acknowledge this limitation, than to fight against it.

Feynman by Ottaviani & Myrick

This is a graphic novel on the life of Richard Feynman. Having read “Surely You’re Joking”, a lot of stories are the same, but the full colour art is awesome and makes it refreshing. Perfect for light reading; better if consumed in short doses.

I am currently reading Red Mars, part 1 of Mars Trilogy by Kim Robinson. Apart from a  professor’s recommendation of the trilogy, the recent SpaceX announcement, makes it more exciting to read :D