Wednesday is reading day - The Last Samurai

Helen DeWitt's The Last Samurai is one of my favourite books.


The Last Samurai follows the relationship between Sibylla, a single mother of severe intelligence and limited social skills, and her son, Ludo, who is a prodigy of learning, with an intellectually-detached curiosity about the identity of his father. The novel get its title from Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece, The Seven Samurai, which Sibylla requires Ludo to regularly watch, because she believes the film provides the male role models that he is missing.

The novel falls neatly into two halves. The first half describes Ludo's eduction - his search for knowledge and the pursuit of logic. The second half describes Ludo's search for his father and his application of logic to the realms of human emotion.

The Last Samurai is an amazing ride of ideas, which manages to be both profound and funny. This is a must read!

Wednesday is reading day - Interface

It's Wednesday - time to discuss what I'm reading. During the US Presidential election I picked up a copy of Interface, by Neal Stephenson and J. Frederick George (who I understand is Neil's uncle). I've read a number of books by Neil Stephenson, including the excellent Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash, so I had high expectations. Unfortunately, Interface is a poor cousin of these must read books.

The central character in Interface is William Anthony Cozzano, a popular and intelligent politician, who at the start of the book is the governor of Illinois (hence why I thought it might be fun to read during the elections). Cozzano suffers a stroke while in office, which leaves him significantly incapacitated. To try to regain his facilities, Cozzano agrees to an experimental medical procedure, which involves implanting a micro-chip into his brain. The treatment is successful and, with his facilities restored, Cozzano agrees to run for presidency - much cyber-political intrigue ensues.

Interface is a tightly plotted book, which is typically my only criticism of Neil Stephenson's writing. The prose is very glib and the plot steams along at an enjoyable pace. Notwithstanding these points, I found the story dated, a bit predictable and very light in terms of science fiction and politic analysis - the micro-chip in the brain idea is not explored in any detail and the political side of things are left very high level.

Verdict: An unsatisfying read. If you enjoy cyberpunk fiction and have an interest in politics, grab a copy for a long flight. If cyberpunk and politics are not your cup of tea, I say give it a miss - instead, re-read Cryptonomicon or grab a copy of Last Samurai, which I think I'll talk about next week.

As Margaret Fuller said: “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.”

Wednesday is reading day

It's Wednesday, which seems as good a day as any to talk about what I'm reading.

I'm currently reading Freakangels, which is a free, weekly, ongoing comic written by Warren Ellis (of Transmetropolitan fame) and illustrated by Paul Duffield.


Ellis' own synopsis of Freakangels went something like this: "I've written two hundred pages and I still have no idea what it's about ... it's retro-punk, it's near-future steampunk" and involves characters who are "living in a post-flood London that they might possibly have had something to do with." Comic-con 2007


The story unfolds through a string of tales that look into the life of each of the Freakangel characters. Ellis presents his characters in a warts and all fashion, which, for me, makes them seem more real and developed than the typical comic book protagonist. Underlying the individual character stories, is the larger mystery about what has happened to the world and what involvement the Freakangels' had in the disaster.


I read the first few issues in trade paperback form, but have since been reading it online - for free! I recommend reading it in chunks, as I find with individual issues I'm just getting into the story and it's over. Freakangels is a great read, so give it go.