The monk who sold his Ferrari

The monk who sold his Ferrai by Robin S Sharma is one of those inspirational book you are glad you read. It is a simple read in a lot of respects and the ideas are not original; but the book does not pretend that they are ( it clear says there ancient ideas) or suffer for it. The story revolves around a worldly lawyer changing his life and coming back to teach his protege the lessons learnt. It is very easy to pick holes in the story, but the story really is just a vehicle to get the concepts over and therefore perhaphs should be viewed in that light. If you like Paulo Coelho books you will like this. It is a self help/ spirituality book with a strong eastern philosophic bent, but also very accessible and enjoyable read.

The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man

The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man by Mark Hodder is an interesting book. Richard Burton the explorer as a Sherlock Holmes-style private detective is an great idea, giving the character a reason to be an action hero. What genre to put this book is curious steam-punk or alternative history (a time-traveller had previously changed history), with well-known scientific heroes revealing a darker side or alternative side.


Little touches are good here like good like the foul-mouthed parakeets who pass on messages but add their own insults to the message.I really enjoyed this book, but it is hard (so perhaps best not) to pigeon-hole this book. There are elements of steam-punk, detective story (I keep thinking Sherlock Holmes as this not helped by one of the characters being a Doyle); but also areas traditionally associated with fantasy such as jewels with power.


Well worth a look. I would be interest to know what others think.#

scarecrow and the army of thieves

Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves by Matthew Reilly is an action packed read that is hard to put down with the author's usual style of non-stop action. This is probably should be your first read of a Reilly book, may be one of his West books, but if you liked his other books you will like this one.

I am always surprised there are not more films made from Reilly's books, the fast pace would make good film topics.

Robopocalypse

Robopocalypse by Daniel H Wilson is a slightly chilling book (which I should have guessed with a quote by Stephen King) about a war between robots and humans. Ok, this is not an original idea but this book does not claim it is, in fact there are plenty of historic quotes to show this idea has been around a long time.


The book starts off at the end of what appears to be the end of a war between humans and robots; then looks back at how it all came about. There are many great characters in this book and not all the heroic characters are people who would probably want to know.


I enjoyed this book, it is well written and the different perspectives work well.


More details can be found at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Robopocalypse-Daniel-H-Wilson/dp/0857204149/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

Starman

Starman by Jamie Doran and Piers Bizony is an affectionate tribute to Yuri Gagarin; the warts are there (adultery for one) but overall a very positive image come across. What I found interesting is the interviews they managed to get with family and other cosmonauts; the quite open views that were expressed and the criticism of the system fifty years ago. The space race is not that a strong element in this book compared to the consideration of the soviet system (the race to the moon gets relatively little mention). 

I know there are a lot of these space biographies around but this is well written and relatively short. There was not a lot of extra background (this is a feature I like about this book) about his childhood and his family, though there are some stories from his childhood under Nazi occupation. The issues surrounding his death, in my opinion, are handled well and not indulging in the all the conspiracy theories that surround Gagarin's death.

I enjoyed this book and Yuri Gagarin comes out of this book as a hero. It is worth reading and another book to accompany this I would also recommend is Two sides of the Moon by David Scott and Alexi Leonov.

Ready Player One

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline --- just read this book. This is an excellent book it has been described as "Enchanting, Willy Wonka meets the the Matrix" (USA Today) but if you were a teenager in the 80s and Geeky this book will probably please you with all the references to 80s computers, films, TV programmes and games. The character Wade Watts is a star, if this is Ernest Cline's first book then I look forward to seeing what follows!

The Departure

The Departure by Neal Asher

If you like Polity Series I think you will like this. New heroes including the rapidly developing post-human Saul and his Mars stranded sister are interesting. The title for the Trilogy - Owner is clever (I won't spoil where it comes from).

I am looking forward to the next book (or Kindle version) later this year.