Tracy Kidder, writer of award-winning books like The Soul of the New Machine, House, and Among School Children and his long-time editor, Richard Todd (not the Jets QB) write about their writing relationship. Topics include style, grammar, memoirs, essays, and the editing process. Tracy Kidder shows how he takes a book from idea to published text. Richard Todd shows what editors really do (at least, what the good ones do). If you’re interested in improving your writing skills, Kidder and Todd provide valuable commentary. There’s also a nice appendix of useful writing guides. GRADE: A

Plenty of my health-conscious friends recommended that I try Fage (pronounced Fa-yeh) Greek yogurt. I did and came away impressed. There are only 6 grams of carbohydrates per serving. The texture of the yogurt is smooth and creamy. I jazzed the Fage yogurt up with some peach slices and walnuts. Yum! Yogurt has been shown to lower blood pressure when eaten regularly. And, the active cultures in the yogurt keep your digestive system in tip-top shape. If you’re a yogurt fan, give Fage Total Greek Yogurt a try. GRADE: A

This collection is worth the money just for The Cherry Orchard with Judi Dench. Astonishing performance! All of Chekhov’s major plays are here: Platonov, The Wood Demon, The Proposal, The Wedding, The Seagull, An Artist’s Story, Uncle Vanya [1970 and 1991 versions], Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard [1962 and 1981 versions]). If you want to understand the Russian soul, these plays reveal it. And, yes, this is another prelude assignment to my reading Stella Adler’s book on classic playwrights. A review on Adler’s insighful book is in the works…I’m working as fast as I can. Teaching eight courses this semester is slowing me down! GRADE: A

This 1999 version of Miss Julie delivers a contemporary performance of August Strindberg’s 1888 play about sexual repression and class warfare. Miss Julie is an aristocratic young woman who decides to seduces her father’s valet. After the sex, Miss Julie and the valet find that they have nothing in common. They begin to despise one another. Strindberg’s claustrophobic setting and the noir perspective on relationships between members of different social classes may grate on some viewer’s sensibilities. But the play and the movie show that women’s options a hundred years ago were bleak. I liked the performances of Saffron Burrows as Miss Julie, Peter Mullan as the valet, and Maria Doyle Kennedy as the valet’s girl friend. This is another movie I watched in order to understand Stella Adler’s analysis of Strindberg’s work.

Paul Tough’s How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character is a book parents, grandparents, and teachers should read. Paul Tough argues the context that learning takes place is at least as important as the child’s IQ. Tough shows that discipline, focus, and someone saying “No” to kids boosts educational performance. “Kids who do well in school tend to do well in Life,” Tough says. It’s also true–and I’ve seen it first-hand–that kids who don’t do well in school tend to struggle to find and hold jobs. Parents, grandparents, and teachers can help kids gain grit (not giving up), curiosity (motivation to explore and learn), and character (building relationships that last). Our educational system is addicted to testing and political garbage like “No Child Left Behind.” Instead of forcing teachers to “teach to the test,” our school systems should be helping teachers to work with students individually to build their strengths. GRADE: B+

As a diabetic, I’m always on the lookout for low carb products that taste great. I’ve been eating Bob’s Red Mill Golden Flax Seeds for years (great source of Omega-3!). But now I’ve discovered Bob’s Red Mill Lo-Carb Baking Mix. It makes delicious pancakes with just 7 net carbs! And, what would pancakes be without pancake syrup? My favorite low-carb pancake syrup is Da Vinci Sugar-Free Pancake Syrup. Zero carbs! And it tastes just like real pancake syrup. Try this tasty combination and you’ll end up with a happy tummy and a smile on your face!

Jad Smith’s John Brunner isn’t a Forgotten Book (it was just published), but it does explore the impact of an unjustly forgotten writer–John Brunner–and his forgotten oeuvre of great books. Smith discusses Brunner’s early, pulpish work (still readable to me!) and the works ACE Books published for a decade. Then, Smith turns to Brunner’s more ambitious, challenging and longer works like his Hugo-Award winning Stand on Zanzibar (1968) which deals with our planet’s population crisis. Brunner borrowed narrative techniques from John Dos Passos to communicate the scope of his story. My favorite John Brunner novel is The Jagged Orbit (1969) where urban life deteriorates because of unlimited guns (sound familiar?) and increasing violence. If haven’t read any of John Brunner’s works, Jad Smith gives you a nice guide to where to start.

University of Illinois Press plan forthcoming books on Gregory Benford, Alfred Bester, Ray Bradbury, Lois McMaster Bujold, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick, Greg Egan, William Gibson, Joe Haldeman, China Miéville, and Connie Willis. If they’re as good as Jad Smith’s John Brunner I’ll be buying them all.

It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years since I was gyrating to Peter Gabriel’s SO album. I could not get enough of “Sledgehammer” which blended soul and dance music. MTV (remember them?) played the music video of “Sledgehammer” on heavy rotation. This remastered set sounds fabulous. And it includes my favorite Peter Gabriel song, “Solsbury Hill” as well. If you’re a Genesis or Peter Gabriel fan, SO is a must-buy. If you’re not familiar with Peter Gabriel’s best work, this box set is a must-hear. GRADE: A
TRACK LIST:
Disc 1
1 Red Rain (5:40)
2 Sledgehammer (5:13)
3 Don’t Give Up (6:34)
4 That Voice Again (4:49)
5 Mercy Street (6:17)
6 Big Time (4:27)
7 We Do What We’re Told (Milgram’s 37) (3:22)
8 This is the Picture (Excellent Birds) (4:20)
9 In Your Eyes (5:27)
Disc 2
1 This is the Picture (Excellent Birds) (5:57)
2 San Jacinto (7:26)
3 Shock the Monkey (6:44)
4 Family Snapshot (4:35)
5 Intruder (5:26)
6 Games Without Frontiers (5:29)
7 No Self Control (6:15)
8 Mercy Street (9:15)
9 The Family and the Fishing Net (7:08)
Disc 3
1 Don’t Give Up (8:16)
2 Solsbury Hill (5:10)
3 Lay Your Hands On Me (6:14)
4 Sledgehammer (5:06)
5 Here Comes the Flood (2:47)
6 In Your Eyes (10:38)
7 Biko (9:38)

Todd Mason sent me a link to the LOCUS lists of the best SF ever published. You can find those lists here. Todd mentioned that Ted Chiang managed to garner six spots on those lists that included Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke, and other giants of Science Fiction Land. I had read Ted Chiang’s The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate but nothing else. So I quickly acquired Stories of Your Life and Other Stories published in 2002 and Life Cycle of Software Objects published in 2010.

“Tower of Babylon” plays with the premise that miners could enter the Vault of Heaven from a tower that takes a year to climb. I loved “Understand,” a story about a man who takes the secret Hormone K and becomes super-intelligent. I did not like the ending and wish I could write a sequel that would set things right. “Division by Zero” explores the implications that arithmetic isn’t correct (I’ve secretly believed this for years). “The Story of Your Life” shows how humans process time is affected by using an alien language. “Seventy-Two Letters” is about golems. “The Evolution of Human Science” shows what happens when metahumans publish their advanced research that mere humans can’t process. “Hell Is the Absense of God” is my least favorite story. It involves angels. “Liking What You See: A Documentary” is a series of reactions by various characters to a chip that cancels out the human brain’s ability to recognize beauty or ugliness. As you can see, Chiang writes about a variety of topics.

Life Cycle of Software Objects tells what happens when a company sells virtual pets that may or may not have artificial intelligence. Like the other stories Chiang has published, there is little or no humor in these works. Chiang is big on science, mathematics, and linguistics. Do Chiang’s stories approach the classic stories of Asimov and Heinlein? This stories are good, but they’re not great. GRADE: B+