Isaac Asimov died in 1992 and it’s hard to believe he’s been gone for nearly 20 years. I grew up reading Asimov’s science fiction especially his Foundation series. But I always liked the way Asimov blended whodunit plotting and SF in his robot novels. My favorite is The Naked Sun. I was walking through the North Tonawanda Library and my eye fell on the audio book version of The Naked Sun proudly displayed on one of the tables. I’m usually not a fan of audio books. I’d rather read books than listen to them. But, I checked out the unabridged audio version of The Naked Sun (6 CDs, 7.5 hours worth!) and listened to it. The narrator, William Dufris, does a nice job. If you haven’t read any Isaac Asimov lately, this is a good place to start. I also got a kick out of the fact this CD set was produced by Trantor Media, Inc.! Asimov fans will get this joke.

Robert Forster is a member of the rock group The Go-Betweens. Forster was approached by Christian Ryan, editor of The Monthly, to write music reviews of any album he felt like. Ryan wanted the perspective of a practicing member of a rock & roll group to give critical insight into contemporary music. The result is a series of music reviews that are likely to send you looking for CDs that are not in your collection. For example, Forster raves about Glen Campbell’s masterpiece: Meet Glen Campbell. Forster then boosts the Rhino Records box-set of The Monkees. Reviews of CDs by AC/DC, Bob Dylan, Nana Mouskouri, Cat Power, Franz Ferdinand, and Roberta Flack had the affect of generating an irresistible urge to drop everything and seek out this music. If you’re interested in rock and roll, you’ll find Robert Forster’s analysis unlike the typical record review. GRADE: B+

Charles Ferguson–who wrote, produced, and directed this enlightening documentary–captures the look of panic on the faces of many of the principals in the near collapse of the U. S. banking system (the heavy weights like Greenspan and Bernanke declined to be interviewed for this film). If you want to know how we got into this financial mess, Ferguson, with Matt Damon narrating, lays it all out: the drugs, the prostitutes, the pay-offs, the money-laundrying, the phony investment ratings, the “regulators” who looked the other way, the billions in executive compensation, the whole scam. Inside Job shows what I suspected: plenty of academics at our “finest” colleges and universities acting as shills for the banking industry. Ferguson makes the complicated clear and the perplexing understandable. I’m urging all of my students to see this film. You should see it, too! GRADE: A+

Sam’s Club has this 3-DVD set for the bargain price of $26.88. The Best of Soul Train features 50 classic performances from the legendary program. Highlights include -Smokey Robinson and Aretha Franklin singing a duet on Smokey’s hit ‘Ooo Baby Baby’ with Aretha playing the piano. The two also reminesce about growing up as friends in Detroit.
-Sly & The Family Stone performing two of their classics: ‘I Wanna Take You Higher’ and ‘Dance To The Music’
-Stevie Wonder performing three of his monster hits live in a phenomenal, intimate medley: ‘I Wish,’ ‘My Cherie Amour’ and ‘Sir Duke’
-Barry White on stage performing with a full orchestra
-Marvin Gaye and Don Cornelius playing one-on-one basketball with Smokey Robinson refereeing
-Ike & Tina Turner in a blistering version of ‘Proud Mary’
-Plus, The O’Jays, The Spinners, The Chi-Lites, The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Stylistics, and dozens of other performers. If you’re a fan of soul music, this is a must-buy! GRADE: A

I’m not a big zombie fan, but I watched the first episode of The Walking Dead last Sunday on AMC. The setup is basic: a police deputy wakes up in a hospital after being shot and discovers he’s in an abandoned building filled with dead bodies. He learns an illness killed millions of people and then turned them into flesh-eating zombies. The deputy decides to head for Atlanta, but when he gets there, he finds the city has been taken over by “The Walking Dead.” I found the first episode to be a bit slow. However, the apocalyptic premise is compelling and I’ll give this series a few more weeks. The constant shooting of zombies in the head (the only sure way to “kill” them) gets a bit tedious. This series is based on a series of graphic novels by Robert Kirkman and artist Tony Moore first published in 2003.

I’ve read and enjoyed Jack McDevitt’s previous books in his Alex & Chase series so I was eager to read the just published new novel in the series, Echo. Artifacts dealer Alex Benedict and pilot Chase Kolpath encounter a strange marker with cryptic lettering on it. Then, the first of three attempts on their lives occurs. That only makes Alex more motivated to track down the origin of the marker and solve the mysteries behind it. If you haven’t read the previous books in this series–A Talent for War, Polaris, Seeker, and The Devil’s Eye–you’re missing some great contemporary SF adventures. Each book is essentially a mystery so if you enjoy puzzle novels, you’ll find these books great fun, too. GRADE: B+

In a moment of marketing genius, Mark Twain declared that his Autobiography not be published until a 100 years after his death. Twain died in 1910. Now we have Volume One of Twain’s rambling reminiscences: all 760 pages. Twain decided that the best way to create his Autobiography was to walk around telling stories and having a stenographer follow him around taking down every word Twain spoke. The result is very much like a blog: subject follows subject almost randomly. Yes, there are some tedious passages, as you might expect in a book this large. But Twain’s humor and wit appear on almost every page. I’ll be waiting eagerly for the next two volumes (1200 pages!). If you’re a Mark Twain fan, the 100 year wait is over!

Jame Howard Kunstler writes survivor fiction in these two novels. In World Made By Hand we learn that Los Angles and Washington, D.C. have been destroyed by terrorist nuclear bombs. The United States has disintegrated into regional government (and there is very little of that) with citizens dealing with no electricity, no oil, and the aftermath of a pandemic flu that killed many young people. The novels are set in up-state New York town called Union Grove. Robert Earle, a carpenter, works to keep his small community functioning. But the influx of a fundamentalist religious group threatens the stability of the survivors. In The Witch of Hebron a psychopathic killer named Billy Bones casually wrecks havoc wherever he goes. The “witch” is a healer whose powers attract both good and evil. If you’re in the mood for post-nuclear holocaust fiction, Kunstler paints a very convincing picture of a grim future. GRADE: B (FOR BOTH)