3/5/03
Via The Most Significant SF & Fantasy Books of the Last 50 Years, 1953-2002 (according to Sci Fi Book Club)

I've put a 0 to 4 Star rating beside the ones I've read, according to the amount of enjoyment I got from them. One star is worth an eyeball, anything with 2 stars is good, 3 very good, and four is "What? You haven't read it? Hop to it!" I imagine many folks will disagree with me on a few of my feelings, so I'm going to stress that it's simply my opinion.

Your Mileage may vary... as might mine in current time. (I've not read some of them in over two decades.)

1 The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien ****
2 The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov **
3 Dune, Frank Herbert 0
4 Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein **
5 A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin ****
6 Neuromancer, William Gibson 0
7 Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke *
8 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick ** (Blade Runner, the movie, was far better.)
9 The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley *
10 Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury **** (Bradbury can do no wrong, as far as I've seen)
11 The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe 0
12 A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr. ***
13 The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov **
14 Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15 Cities in Flight, James Blish
16 The Color of Magic, Terry Pratchett **
17 Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison **
18 Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison ***
19 The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester **
20 Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany *
21 Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey *
22 Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card ***
23 The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson * (very nearly a 0)
24 The Forever War, Joe Haldeman **
25 Gateway, Frederik Pohl 0
26 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling ***
27 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams ****
28 I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29 Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice **
30 The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin *** (redundant with the earthsea above, though)
31 Little, Big, John Crowley
32 Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny **
33 The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick ***
34 Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement **** (The short story)
35 More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon **
36 The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith (a real mix and match. a bunch of short stories, some good, some not so much. No rating.)
37 On the Beach, Nevil Shute ***
38 Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke ***
39 Ringworld, Larry Niven 0 (So much potential... great author, idea, horrid book.)
40 Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41 The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien * (I know... sacrilege. Full of great stuff, but it's very slow going)
42 Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut **
43 Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson **
44 Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45 The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46 Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein ***
47 Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock **
48 The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks 0
49 Timescape, Gregory Benford *
50 To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer ****

And to play the meme card, and complete the SF dork entry, (in all honesty, I was borderline 10/11 on all the answers. I suspect more questions might be needed to get a better reading)

Star Trek Personality Test --
Myers-Briggs would say that you are an ENFP (Extrovert, Intuitive, Feeler, Perceiver). In Star Trek language, you share a basic personality configuration with James Kirk and Julian Bashir.


People like you are generally great problem-solvers. You're highly innovative, creative and unique. You're optimistic by nature, which may make others believe you're naive, but actually you're full of energy, very clever, and determined not to be stopped. You're outgoing, curious, and extremely playful. Others are sometimes taken aback by your enthusiasm, but it keeps you going after others have dropped.

You're deeply caring, sensitive and gentle, which, combined with your need to solve problems, may make you a little too eager to give others advice. You also process information very quickly, which may make others believe you're not listening to them. Before you share your feelings, you have to have time to process them.

You're adaptive and resourceful, but sometimes highly disorganized. You dream of having the perfect assistant. You respond best to people who encourage your unique viewpoints and insights, help you maintain harmony, and want to play and explore with you. You don't respond well when you're overwhelmed with details or when you're in a rigid situation.

Your primary goal in life is freedom to see possibilities, make connections, and be with a variety of people. Your reward is having spontaneous adventures.

Good careers for your type include being an advertising account executive, starship captain, career counselor, developer of educational software, actor, graphics designer, corporate team trainer, psychologist, inventor, medical pioneer, and child welfare counselor.

Pick up line for Island boy to use next route out- "Does my tongue taste funny?"

Discovered this morning that I do a really good rendition of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" when singing in the shower.

Speaking of love, here’s some doodles drawn thinking about my sweetheart:



Swinging by Pinnacle Friday morning at 9am. We'll see what they have to offer. Upside, they're on Cypress Creek, about a half-mile south of Kev and the gang, which means visits and lunches and stuff might be possible.

Only a week or two behind on this one...

Prof. Dave Farber sent an e-mail to his Interesting People list about how under Code Orange it is, apparently, illegal to take photos of transit facilities. http://www.interesting-people.org/ At a faculty meeting at Bryn Mawr College, the attendees were informed that a student from Haverford College was arrested for taking photographs of trains in Philadelphia. The student was detained and questioned for a few hours and eventually released. http://lists.elistx.com/archives/interesting-people/200302/msg00118.html

This struck a chord with me, as I like taking little travel pictures, many of which might take place in a bus, or at the station. I'm especially prone to take shots with my palmtop "spycam", though the pictures from that are weak, at best.

Fortunately, Farber also posted an item from a Portland, Ore. attorney who has posted a briefing paper about what your rights are as a photographer. http://www.krages.com/ThePhotographersRight.pdf