Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!lsuc!pesnta!pyramid!ut-sally!topaz!caip!daemon From: ddern@bbnccb@caip.RUTGERS.EDU Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: Book Recommendations Message-ID: <1166@caip.RUTGERS.EDU> Date: Mon, 3-Feb-86 10:32:34 EST Article-I.D.: caip.1166 Posted: Mon Feb 3 10:32:34 1986 Date-Received: Tue, 4-Feb-86 05:59:06 EST Sender: daemon@caip.RUTGERS.EDU Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. Lines: 32 From: "Daniel P. Dern" Thanks to all who responded directly or indirectly to my query about Gordon Dickson's FINAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. By that point, I was already halfway into a copy. I wish to confirm, in my opinion, the book is a "good read." After reading [pause to don HEFLMP garb] ROBOTS & EMPIRE, and CAT WHO WALKED THROUGH WALLS, it was gratifying to read a book by an author I've enjoyed for ~ two decades and have it be 'up to par.' Dickson is a good writer - competant enough that he doesn't intrude. It was clear from the beginning that he knew in advance where the book was going, and by what route. And at the end, he had indeed gotten there. It doesn't hurt to have read the preceeding books; it certainly gives more context to the events. Again: a good read. And here's a new recommendation for a not new book: SS-BG, by Len Deighton. Deighton is viewed as a suspense/intrigue writer, author of FUNERAL IN BERLIN and all sorts of other neat books. This one is SF a la Phillip Dick's MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE -- a parallel world. Here, England surrendered to Germany early during World War II. The book takes place in the early 1940s. It's reasonably complex. Like many murder mysteries, it doesn't untangle until the very end. Books like this are a good example of why many people DON'T like SF, in a way -- this one is well written, well paced, with good characters, etc. It is lightyears ahead of most sf in terms of quality. Sure, it's hard to write good sf. It's also easy to write bad sf. Whether it's the genre, the tradition, or the readership, the suspense & intrigue books are on the average better than average sf, or certainly more competant, or whatever the metric is. Or else I've only been reading the better ones of this sibling ghetto/genre. Daniel Dern ddern@bbn.arpa