"The Gripping Hand" is the sequel by the same authors, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, of "The Mote in God's Eye." The Mote is one of the most fascinating sci-fi novels I have ever read since it gives a sardonic view of what becomes of a population of whatever they are if that population cannot control its reproduction. That's accompanied by various warped ways for destroyed populations to recover from incredibly violent wars. In this company the story offers full-out schmaltzy romance with the dash of a Star Wars movie and with yet more sub-themes within the overall sardonicism. It's widely-regarded and for years as superb sci-fi.
"The Gripping Hand" is rated even higher, at least by Robert Heinlein and that counts big for sci-fi story telling with a touch of fantasy for taste. Niven and Pournelle are not given so much to fantasy but Heinlein enjoyed a sprinkle from time to time.
At first The Hand bogged with me and that stuck for a while since I don't want to get into reading multiple at once. It's flashy but not necessarily productive and sure you did it as a kid but how well did it really work. The thinking now is more toward get the complete vibe of it without turbulence from another source. Too many negative waves, Moriarty.
That got me back to The Hand with Renner hunting Snow Ghosts and learning of New Utah. That's twisted sufficiently strange to compel discovering how do they work out this angle.
Brief aside with His Excellency, Horace Bury, and his immaculate preparations for making coffee. All instruments used in the process require surgical cleanliness and his tastes are so refined he can tell the difference. The same is best for the ganja as you can still make smoke with a pipe after the bud is spent but it's not a good idea. For the supreme cleanliness a new pipe is required but this is not entirely cost-effective. Replacing the screen at least once a week will accomplish almost the same thing and they cost peanuts. That smoke is the pure bud with minimal reburn of anything you don't need anyway.
We note also the screens are made in China. Write your own editorial on how such a simple thing got away.
Percolating on a mantelpiece are "Brave New World" and others but their relative priority is the percolation. "Brave New World" gets some primacy because of the language used. Chomsky tells us language defines / confines us so the extensions from Huxley become all the more interesting.
The others are uni college texts or varied. The uni stack has a genetics survey text by my ol' Dad along with two anthropology texts, "The Forest People" and "The Fierce People" have wildly-different cultures and the texts are likely famous to many who have studied anthropology as undergrads.
For sci-fi, there's "The Mote in God's Eye" which I bypassed since I have read it previously but may yet read it another time. There's also "Otherland" which I gather has a hefty dose of fantasy. This one is for reading by the fire since it runs many pages. I'm not normally given to full fantasy but I'm open to it when the fantasy comes with great coolness. At that length it runs the risk of being too windy or too complex but there's a relatively narrow honey groove in the center which could be a smashing story. That sounded vaguely porno but it wasn't intended.
The mixed state has "WorldWalk" which is of a guy who said he would walk around the world and he really did. The spirit is there but the feets is weak for the moment so this would be mixed reading just now.
On the far pend list are "Childhood's End" for a novel treatment of autism and one of the most unusual turns possible which is all the more unexpected when Arthur C. Clarke offers such a dramatic change. The other is "Dune" and the fanatics who may have read it more than once which may bring the recollection it was highly complex but also just a wee bit wordy. The reason for reading it again is validating the thinking the movie versions didn't do such a terrible job, either the original or the SyFy Channel versions.
The far pend is an open shopping cart and that's fine just now since it may change.
"The Gripping Hand" is rated even higher, at least by Robert Heinlein and that counts big for sci-fi story telling with a touch of fantasy for taste. Niven and Pournelle are not given so much to fantasy but Heinlein enjoyed a sprinkle from time to time.
At first The Hand bogged with me and that stuck for a while since I don't want to get into reading multiple at once. It's flashy but not necessarily productive and sure you did it as a kid but how well did it really work. The thinking now is more toward get the complete vibe of it without turbulence from another source. Too many negative waves, Moriarty.
That got me back to The Hand with Renner hunting Snow Ghosts and learning of New Utah. That's twisted sufficiently strange to compel discovering how do they work out this angle.
Brief aside with His Excellency, Horace Bury, and his immaculate preparations for making coffee. All instruments used in the process require surgical cleanliness and his tastes are so refined he can tell the difference. The same is best for the ganja as you can still make smoke with a pipe after the bud is spent but it's not a good idea. For the supreme cleanliness a new pipe is required but this is not entirely cost-effective. Replacing the screen at least once a week will accomplish almost the same thing and they cost peanuts. That smoke is the pure bud with minimal reburn of anything you don't need anyway.
We note also the screens are made in China. Write your own editorial on how such a simple thing got away.
Percolating on a mantelpiece are "Brave New World" and others but their relative priority is the percolation. "Brave New World" gets some primacy because of the language used. Chomsky tells us language defines / confines us so the extensions from Huxley become all the more interesting.
The others are uni college texts or varied. The uni stack has a genetics survey text by my ol' Dad along with two anthropology texts, "The Forest People" and "The Fierce People" have wildly-different cultures and the texts are likely famous to many who have studied anthropology as undergrads.
For sci-fi, there's "The Mote in God's Eye" which I bypassed since I have read it previously but may yet read it another time. There's also "Otherland" which I gather has a hefty dose of fantasy. This one is for reading by the fire since it runs many pages. I'm not normally given to full fantasy but I'm open to it when the fantasy comes with great coolness. At that length it runs the risk of being too windy or too complex but there's a relatively narrow honey groove in the center which could be a smashing story. That sounded vaguely porno but it wasn't intended.
The mixed state has "WorldWalk" which is of a guy who said he would walk around the world and he really did. The spirit is there but the feets is weak for the moment so this would be mixed reading just now.
On the far pend list are "Childhood's End" for a novel treatment of autism and one of the most unusual turns possible which is all the more unexpected when Arthur C. Clarke offers such a dramatic change. The other is "Dune" and the fanatics who may have read it more than once which may bring the recollection it was highly complex but also just a wee bit wordy. The reason for reading it again is validating the thinking the movie versions didn't do such a terrible job, either the original or the SyFy Channel versions.
The far pend is an open shopping cart and that's fine just now since it may change.
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