Has this become a listing of what Craig is aurding now?
Well I finished up my last books finally. Good stuff. Here's a little review:
I really enjoyed the Bill Clinton autobiography. I know autobiographies are always self-congratulatory and you'll never hear the whole “truth”, whatever that may be. But Bill was fairly forthright in his personal history, his strengths and weaknesses. He made an attempt not to gloss over some of the uglier public debacles he found himself in. Most of them were of course politically motivated but some were his own damn fault. We all fail as humans, even the president. Of course he painted the conservative political ideology and leaders as a black mark on our country. All they are interested in is power and are still entrenched in pre-civil rights white southern culture. All in all I always liked Bill Clinton, seemed like he was trying to do some good. He was dedicated to be able to last 8 years through a tough political climate. His wife on the other hand I am not a fan of. I'll leave that for another blog.
I loved the Ayn Rand book. Although it got real reptitive to the point I quit after getting 75% of the way through. That was to be expected though since it was sort of a collection of her thoughts and works. I did find it very interesting that she thought altruisim was an abused trait in people. Most of the time it's not necessary and is a way for people to ultimately control you. Altruism should come with a warning label?
The Joseph Campell book was mostly a college lecture. He wondered too much and didn't stay on topic enough for me to follow what he was trying to say. I finally threw in the towel. I'll try a more formal audio book and stay away from the lectures.
Thumbs up, way up for the Science Fiction Literature book. Great thesis on science fiction as a form of literature, it's history and meanings. Wonderful treatment of some of the classic writers like Wells, Heinlein and Asimov. I wish it had been longer, so much more that wasn't covered.
For some reason I didn't put the Michael Palin book on my player so I didn't get a chance to hear it.
New books to aurd are as follows:
Isaac Asimov - I, Robot - Finally it's been put in audio book format! Just in time to sync up with the Will Smith movie. Ugh I can't believe the publisher has decided to stick Will Smith's face on the current edition of the book. How incredibly sad. Why don't they go out and paint a mustache on Mona Lisa while they're at it. I see that amazon.com has the screenplay to a movie that Harlon Ellison wrote way back when. I've heard it was a masterful job but came to nada unfortunately. I enjoy keeping tabs on old man Ellison. An intelligent if crotchity old dude that always has an opinion. There use to be a web site that I've lost the link for where he gives 10 minute talks on whatever is on his mind. Very funny and insightful to watch. Apparently the SciFi channel in it's early beginnings gave him short spots like that and somebody taped them and put them on the internet. Was the SciFi channel actually that good at one time?
Bill O'Reilly - Who's Looking Out For You - To balance out my liberal aurding and readings of late, this hopefully will help pull me right and center me once again. My mom is a big fan of Bill. I can take him or leave him. He gets a little too preachy on some topics like illegal Mexican aliens and child protection. Almost to the point of obsession. The thing that bugs me about him is he's always saying the liberals have an agenda. Well Bill, to put it lightly -- YOU HAVE AN AGENDA TOO! I wish somebody would just tell him that to his face someday. He's well educated and has good street sense, so he's worth my time, he does have some great points. Did anyone catch his interview with Michael Moore the other night on FOX? What a hoot, like fire and ice those two.
Harlan Ellison - Repent Harlequin - Well I'll give Ellison a try. I've never read anything by him although I've seen several of his tv screenplays on Star Trek, Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, etc. The man just seems to be breaming with intelligence, it all seems misguided. I may be wrong. Oh yeah he also wrote one of my favorite B scifi movies, A Boy and His Dog.
Daniel Boorstin - The Creators - I use to have this book but seemed to have lost it over the years. I'm hoping it's similar to a favorite book of mine called The Vital Spark.
James Burke - The Day the Universe Changed - Chris claims this to have been a wonderful tv series way back when. Well I'll give it a try, I like James Burke.
Annette and I and the kid are going boating this weekend on my friend John's big giant boat. He's got 3 kids so it should be a blast. He's docked at Kentucky Lake, about 3 hour drive from here. I never realized how big that lake was until I saw it on a map tonite. I know it's man made but they really flooded a lot of land to create it. I'm sure there's a story there... Next weekend we're going boating with Annette's aunt and fiance. Woo hoo!