Synopsis [Warning: Spoiler]: This book focuses in the later days of Winston Smith, a member of the party which own thoughts makes him to reconsider the world that has been put in front of his eyes. In a future where the World is divided into three massive countries, each of them has established a totalitarian control of the population to ensure that the status quo remains the same. Winston’s country, Oceania is ruled by the big brother who watches everyone and controls their lives and though.
The strategy followed by the big brother to prevent any revolution from happening is based in changing the past, stopping science, keep a war always going on, constant surveillance, and fear. The main idea is that any of the 3 countries can win the final war, hence there is no point in winning the war, however, war makes industry useful, because only by destroying the production of the industry it can keeps working. The point about controlling though, historical data, and fear, is that nobody will trust anybody else and also they will not trust themselves, because… how many times history was changed?
Living in this world, Winston starts to hate the big brother because he has become aware that everything is a lie to prevent a revolution. Free from the control of the big brother, Winston starts to think and wander around the city. That’s how he meet Julia and fells in love with her. As lovers, Winston and Julia start to unfollow the rules and soon they are caught by the party.
Captured they are tortured to the point where they hate themselves, they hate the big brother, and also they betray each other. After that moment they are re-educated again and let free, because now they love the big brother again and they will come back to ask for execution as punishment, because now they hate everything that is against the party and the big brother.
Personal Review: Nineteen eighty four represents a pivotal point in science fiction because it shows us what can happen if we transfer too much power to the government. Ironically, it was written after the WWII, in 1949. Orwell, who was British was fearing that British democracy could not survive a world where people will fear the A-bomb and where the influence of the government made WWII happen. I said ironically, because Orwell was inspired by WWII, but what happened in the soviet union was pretty much what Orwell depicted in his novel… and it started before his novel was published, and last for another 40 years at least.
Despite I knew the plot of this book and I watched the movie, it is the first time I read it. I have to say that the movie is a very good adaptation (but as a movie is a bad movie). The best part for me was when Winston reads Goldstein’s book and learns what his world is about. The second best part is the torture, and it is good because it really made me pass through an internal reflection. The point where Winston is scared about the rats eating her face is… how can I explain it, because of that experience, he betrayed Julia, he asked them to put Julia there instead of him just to escape from the rats. I have though a lot about that scene and I can only come to the conclusion that it is the ultimate torture, because they took from him the only thing that he cared for, his love for Julia, moreover, they took from him the only thing he though cannot be touched by them.
By the way, this book makes me think of Fahrenheit 451 , the novel by Ray Bradbury.The sense that both novels aim to control population toughs by controlling their access to culture. Both authors feared a similar future, and they made it realistic enough to actually think that one day it can happen. It is interesting now, with many years from the novels, to think that we are on the other side, everyone has several copies of a book, there is media in millions of serves, computers, hard drives… and so on and so on. So it is very difficult to alter something that actually happen. However, there is a tendency to store media in a single master file and instead of each one owning a copy, stream the data from one master copy to all the users. That can be the beginning of something like what these books propose. But I’m not that pessimist, I think that culture will never again be controlled at that level and in the future we will see an even bigger diffusion of media, culture, and ideas.
Prizes: Mr. Toad was voted Number 38 among the 100 Best Characters in Fiction Since 1900 by Book magazine in their March/April 2002 issue (Wiki).
Synopsis [Warning: Spoiler]: Mole and Rat enjoy their life by the river. Taking picnics, row in the river, and stay by the fireplace in the winter, that’s all their life. On the other side, Mr Toad, rich Mr Toad, likes new adventures. That’s why Mr Toad has been trying motor boats, mobile houses… and now motorcars. Because Mr Toad is obsessed with cars, Mole and Rat have to call Mr Badger to chase Mr Toad and make him a good citizen again. But Mr Toad, refusing to give up cars, scape from his friends custody and steals a car, putting him into prison for it, and letting the Weasels into Toad Hall. The story ends by the 4 friends retaking Toad Hall and coming back to their life as it was before Mr Toad started to be a car-addict.
Personal Review: This book is a real classic among literature for kids, and most of the people I know read it while they where in the school. I don’t remember reading it completely at school, but I do remember parts of the story. That makes me enjoy the book even more, because as I was reading it, coming to a chapter I knew triggered memories of things that happened in my life while I first read it. That’s why I recommend adults to read some of the books they read as a kids, as it will be a good experience.
A part from the previous toughs, I would like to comment that this book has become such a big classic, that it has several TV adaptations. I have seen some of them, and they always focus on Mr Toad and cars (forgetting for instance some very nice adventures like Mole and Rat looking for a lost child in the river, or visiting Badger the first time). Other versions turn the Weasels into more dark characters that trick Toad in order to get the control of Toad Hall. It is not bad, but have in mind that it is not the story as it is told by the book.
I also want to comment that despite the book is fantasy, it has some elements of science fiction. There is some passages where Badger speaks about men and how they came and go and how animals are always there. In particular, Badger house connects with old human tunnels. So… what’s going on here? In other parts of the book Mr Toad interacts with several humans…. so can this be a world where some type of war or catastrophe turned animals into superior lifeforms? Did part of the humanity disappeared? How good/bad is relation between humans and animals? Do they share the same laws? More important, is it ok to eat other animals, and if so, are they intelligent as well or not? I think that if somebody wants, it is possible to turn this into a post-apocaliptic world (like Adventure Time for instance). On the other hand, Mole/Rat/Badger/Toad can be humans whose behaviour imitates those of the corresponding animals, and the authors, instead of dealing with long descriptions, simply characterise them as animals to speed up the storytelling.
Title of this edition: Bartleby and Benito Cereno.
Author: Herman Melville.
Gender: Fantasy.
Saga: …
Editorial: Giunti.
Edition year: 1, 2014.
Prizes: …
Synopsis [Warning: Spoiler]: This book is composed by two stories, Bartleby, which is about a man that starts working as a copyist and who is suddenly living in the office and whose boss is not able to take him out, even by selling the company. The second story is about Benito Cereno, a Spaniard captain that is held prisoner in his own ship by the slaves he was carrying. The book narrates an encounter with an English captain and how he became aware that the other captain was being held prisoner.
Personal Review: I brought this book a couple of months ago when travelling from Italy to London. I was too early on the airport and I was finished the book I had for the flight. Not having anything interesting in the shop, I decided to go for this one (other option was re read Frankenstein or Moby Dick).
I would say that the first story, Bartleby, is quite easy to read and interesting at the same time. It is narrated from the point of view of the boss. He is naive and surprised at the beginning, but quite good person at the end. This is because at the beginning he doesn’t understand Bartleby, he thinks he is only a bad person whiling to take advantage of the boss, but little by little he realises that Bartley is a dysfunctional person who needs help.
The second story, on the other hand is not interesting and difficult to read. This is because it is over saturated with adjectives and descriptions (using not common words), which makes its reading difficult and annoying. The story itself… basically there is no story told, just a ship full of slaves, two captains and descriptions on how captain Benito misbehaves.
Synopsis [Warning: Spoiler]: This book, despite the selected title, is in reality a selection of short stories written by Philip K. Dick.
Minority Report: The pre-crime department uses 3 mutants that are able to see the future to predict crime. This has taken the control of the security from the military, although the pre-crime reports are simultaneously presented to the pre-crime headquarters and the military base. The story starts with the pre-crime director finding that the next report predicts that he is going to kill a general. Not knowing what to do and fearing treachery, he escapes. In order to clean his name and recover freedom, he finds that the prediction process involves comparing the predictions of the 3 mutants. The first report is matched against the second report. In case of a disagreement, both of them are matched against the third one. If 2 reports match, it is a majority report, but if all of them disagree, then a minority report is being created where only the third prediction is taken as valid. In this case, since the director has access to the prediction, he has able to change the future and hence any of the predictions were correct.
Imposter: War! A scientist, developing weapons for the war, goes hiking for the weekend. In his walk, he is caught by a landing spaceship. The objective of this spaceship is to replace people with robots and then bomb specific facilities. The robot success in replacing the scientist… in fact, it does it so good that the robot itself doesn’t know he is a robot. He only discovers it in the very end before exploding near the spaceship and landing site.
Second Variety: War on earth has lead to the development of killing robots. Machines that go below the surface and strike when you are unaware. For this reason, the opposite sides live in bunkers. Mutual annihilation is close, so when an emisary appears proposing a meeting, the Americans agree to send a group to discuss the stop of the war. On his way to the Russian base, the American base commander Hendricks, finds that there is no Russians but 3 survivors. All killed by a new class of robots that resemble kids. One of the survivors was killed due to them suspecting he is a robot (he isn’t). The other one is killed when arriving the American bunker (which was destroyed by robot-kids entering it. Alone with the Russian girl and with no other place to go, Hendricks’ only chance is taking the rocket out of earth. Unfortunately, once he reaches de rocket, he discovers that the girl is a second variety robot… and she manages to scape earth in order to find more humans to kill.
War game: War is over, and now it is time for peace and commerce… however, every imported item has to be carefully checked, specially toys. The toy under observation is a set of soldiers that has to assault a tower. The game runs smoothly for a while, but after a long time a soldier disappears into the tower, then a second one, a third… fearing of a bomb being built, the game is banned from earth. However, the real dangerous game was allowed to enter… one where kids learn to sell all they have and get mortgages from the enemy.
What the dead men say:Dead is not the final station. Once dead, brain waves can be amplified and the dead body can think and communicate for a while. However, this communication is limited and used wisely. One of the biggest millionaires on earth has died, and his niece takes control of the company and tries to control the presidential elections. It turns out that this technology never worked on the millionaire and the visions her niece had were all fake.
Oh, to be a Blobel!: Blobels are amoeba-like extraterrestrials, and like typical human race… we have been in war with them. Veterans from that war struggle to survive on earth. Especially those that went into spy missions. Both humans and Blobels developed a technique that allowed spies to transform on humans or Blobels, however it happens only half of the day and the spy has this “disease” forever. Living with this disease, a human spy and a Blobel spy decide to marry each other, since they will be the only one able to understand each other. However, the couple comes to an end when the kids start arriving, because some are half/half, others completely Blobel and other human…. In the end, the man turns completely into Blobel and the woman completely into human and they cannot be together any more.
The electric ant: One man discovers that he is a robot, an electric ant. A pierced strip in his chest determines the stimulus that he is able to perceive. Modifying it changes his perception of reality… or does it changes reality itself? Experimenting with it leads to the most bizarre experiences. Eventually, the robot decides to remove the strip and see what happens… all disappears.
Faith of the fathers: The world is ruled by an authoritarian government. Daily broadcast messages, accompanied with drugs in the water, induce the population to obey. One man, selected by the resistance, is allowed to visit the leader and see its true nature, an extraterrestrial being trying to take control over earth.
We can remember it for you wholesale: A secret agent sent to Mars in a mission, has his memories erased and a new personality being implanted in other to forget his mission, however, his visit to a company that creates memory implants makes him remember everything. Being chased by the government, he agrees that the only way of having a life after this is allowing them to put a second fake memory in his brain. The second memory involves an alien race coming to exterminate earth and making a deal with him. As long as he stays alive, earth will be safe. The only problem is that this fantasy was also real.
Personal Review: This book was published shortly after the Minority report movie appeared on the theatres, hence it was an obvious choice for the title, however, it is misleading, as the Minority report story is only a few pages of the book. After saying that, we have to recognise Philip K. Dick genius as up to 3 stories here have been on the cinema.
Minority Report: This is the story which title was selected to be in the cover of the book. The reason? Quite obvious, Hollywood movie:
Which is now being expanded with a series.
To be honest, the movie is quite similar to the book in this case, however, in the movie, the crime is against a killer while in the book is against a general. The reason for the change? Quite obvious, create more drama and engage the audience.
Coming back to the book, I think the 3 mutants with 2 for prediction and one for checking is quite good. In fact, it is what happens in most of the computers, the most of the process are calculated more than once in order to double check. The only error is accepting the last prediction as correct when all of them disagree. I think in those cases the crime should be investigated instead of assuming it is real. This lead us to the next point, isn’t it too hard to punish people for things which haven’t happen yet? Even in the actual justice there is difference between achieving a crime and just planning it.
Respect to predicting the future… well, I don’t have any evidence that it can be done, so I’m just accepting it as a way of making the story funny.
Imposter: I think this story is good, but haven’t been expanded enough. A robot so committed to its task that doesn’t know it is a robot. That is a good plot. There is always the question, is it necessary such level of mimicking? Maybe a robot aware of being a robot but with the human memory can be more useful. In any case, a robot being aware of being a robot, can hide when necessary. Think about it, even a small injury will reveal its secret if he doesn’t know he has to take precautions.
Second Variety: This story has also been taken to the theatres, with no less than Peter Weller (Robocop) in the leading role:
And by the way, there is also second movie (which I haven’t seen yet).
However, in this case, the movie version changes major things in the plot, like for instance, in the movie the action happens in a different planet and the ending is different. In the movie the good guy survives (another dramatic ending).
I have to say that I like the idea behind this story, killing machines that evolve to be more efficient. But the problem here is that evolution cannot be directed without too much constrictions, and it will ended with machines competing against machines. Also, I have to point that cooperation is sometimes a better strategy than competing, hence it is expected that some machines will help humans against machines.
It is worth mentioning that evolution and game theory haven’t really advanced too much until the late 80’s and early 90’s when evolutionary strategies where studied. So it is ok if these points where not notice when the story was written.
War game: I really love this story. It is so simple, yet so interesting. Because until the very end of the story, you keep thinking there is something odd with the game. You try to discover what it is if it is not a bomb… and the you realize the big thing is the other game that manages to make it into the shops. Which by the way, is a critic to the modern consumerism and the tendency to borrow more and more money.
What the dead men say: There is things I like and dislike in this story. The things I like, enhancing brain activity and giving dead a second chance. This opens many possible applications, and in particular, allows people time to finish their things before leaving forever. The things I dislike… the rest of the book, but in particular, the fact that brain activity is both electrical an chemical, only by enhancing the electrical signal you are not able to maintain the brain activity. Most important, memories are created by creation and destruction of dendrites (connections between neurons), which cannot be done without a living being.
Oh, to be a Blobel!: I would say this story is funny. It is not believable due to the big anatomical differences described between humans and blobels, but still it is funny. There is also a whole in the plot. Because the kids follow strictly Mendel rules. One is 100% human time, other 100% time blobel, there is 2 with part of the time…. etc. Mendel rules allow to calculate the chances of a particular breed, but they don’t mean you will have a kid of eachbreed.
The electric ant: The most interesting thing here is not a robot and its not the idea that we create the reality by observing it and matching it against our internal model of the world. The most amazing thing here is that the robot is able to play around with his own mechanism. Will you do the same if you where allowed to do it? Enhancing your vision for instance, or reducing your sound perception… eliminate the pain will be useful sometimes, and night vision will be great. At the same time, imagine being able to see everything all the time, it will be boring after a while.
Faith of the fathers: This is very difficult to read and some parts don’t make sense. I mean, you miss what is going on or why the characters react how they do. However, it is interesting the fact that they use drugs to make people see strange things in the TV. On the other side, why do aliens need to appear on TV? Why not leading the world in the shadow with a fake human president? That will make everything easier.
We can remember it for you wholesale: The last story has become a classic movie of science fiction. However, the title was changed. For the theatres it is know as Total Recall:
with it’s new version wich is a complete different story which only keeps the idea of memory being erased and changed.
In this case, I think the 80’s has the best argument, even better than the original story. The original story is quite inocent, and tries to finish as fast as possible. That is why the reason for giving the secret agent a new identity is not good enough. If secret is the key… then why not killing him? In the movie at least they do it in order to pretend he has deserted but still was too valuable to be killed.
A part from the movies/book discussion, I think the real good thing here is the possibility of creating an artificial memory. Which is brilliant. Obviously you will only remember it, and not actually pass through the real experience, but imagine the training possibilities. Everybody will be able to learn anything within minutes. Relocation from one work to another can be done in minutes, and of course expertise will never disappear. With a machine like that, human race will speed up its evolution.
the Brick In the Sky 