The G-Sphere Sounding Booth

reflections, ruminations, ramblings and rants on music, books, beer, politics, technology, media, family, etc, etc. from a retired old man, music collector, librarian, political observer, technology geek, veteran, history buff, beer enthusiast, sci-fi fan, obsessive mixtaper and former DJ. I've also gathered writings from the past several years posted in various social media platforms. This blog has become an editing tool for my writings and everything here is a work in progress.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Medusa's Gaze and Vampire's Bite

Medusa's Gaze and Vampire's Bite: The Science of Monsters by Matt Kaplan, 2012

Read in January 2014

This book was a fascinating history and tour through the world of legendary monsters and the science and culture that spawned them. It ranges throughout history and provides entertaining story telling speculation with scientific research.

As a fan of science fiction and horror novels I found this book to a wonderful read.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

The Commissariat of Enlightenment

The Commissariat of Enlightenment by Ken Kalfus, 2003

Read in January 2014

A fascinating novel about the Russian Revolution. I had recently read a couple of books on Russian history and it was interesting to follow them with this novel. The story focused on an early film company cinemaphotographer in 1910 who goes on to use the power of the new media to document the revolution.

Basically the book is about the birth of propaganda filled with brilliant passages of observation and descriptions. It is a novel of ideas.