http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/ Lots of words about even more words. en-us http://www.davidchess.com/dc_small.gif http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/ 40 40 Don't know who keeps bringing them in here http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/oldtwentieth.html Ruined by a cop-out ending http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/algebraist.html Solid Banksian (non-Culture) SF http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/goddam.html Don't start here http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/econat.html Fun speculation, but no more than that http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/dinf.html Far from his best http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/mvsm.html Wow, mediocre (two stars / five) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/cawe.html Classic (1951) SF http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/tcotk.html 70's Gothic Romance, with archaeologists http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/oneday.html Mildly funny once in awhile http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/ninehundred.html Great lunatic SF short stories from the '60's http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/skippingc.html A light story with a yucchy subtext http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/gelegies.html Interesting and valuable, if wrong, worries about technology http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/betpla.html Solid early-50's SF; Heinlein! http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/newtonswake.html Solid (and standalone!) Singularity SF http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/stayingdead.html A fun romance, with modernday magic http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/chpride.html More good space-lions SF http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/digfor.html Real junk-food fiction; page turner with numerous winces http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/ftower.html Another good Darkover novel http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/twotoconquer.html A scoundrel makes good. Twice. http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/hawkmistress.html Good escapist fantasy on Darkover before rediscovery http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/slipstreams.html Miscellaneous reasonably okay anthology http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/mrandmrssmith.html A waste of a perfectly good premise http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/hardcorezen.html Good down-to-Earth sensible Zen words http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/gunwith.html Surprisingly good noir PI SF http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/onzen.html Quite a few words on that which no words can capture http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/gurpscabal.html Rules for secret-magic and Heremetic role-playing http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/zenbeat.html Six classic Watts talks on Zen http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/historian.html Odd rich literate vampire novel http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/mzlb.html Light paperback murder mystery; some interesting characterization http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/stations.html Nice rich surreal controlled-ultratech novel http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/oracle.html Space-toughguy potboiler with a little twist http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/sevenclues.html Amusing and readable book about what the first replicators weren't, and might have been, like http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/whitemists.html Mostly Generic Medieval Fantasy novel with some unusual touches http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/accelerando.html Impressive hard-SF epic, from near-future Europe to posthuman space http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/orbit19.html Great mix of 1977 SF short stories http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/emptymirror.html Straightforward unassuming account of a year or two in a Japanese Zen monastery http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/mmmg.html Good strange (short) fantasy novel http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/buddhist2005.html Good (possibly not best) Buddhist writing (mostly from 2005) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/blackbrillion.html Impressive and enjoyable channeling of Jack Vance http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/ironsunrise.html Another solid post-cyberpunk SF novel in the world of the Eschaton http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/darkcity.html omg http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/highjinx.html Disposable commies-and-good-guys spy fiction http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/brethren.html Eh http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/aandd.html Too long, gets too many things wrong, but a fun ride http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/contentooc.html Very important; I don't know how true http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/fthef.html Just a bit too implausible http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/greatexplosion.html Middling classic SF novel built around a classic novella http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/ntreasure.html Utterly implausible but fun movie http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/creation.html Historical fiction about Greece, Persia, India and China in the Vth Century http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/boftherose.html Routine spy/assassin thriller with annoying errors http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/patience.html Light Carr locked-room http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/specimendays.html A lovely quirky novel of past, present, and future http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/saturn.html Big slow SF novel about an expedition to Saturn http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/caught.html Light reading http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/regals.html Eight pretty much ordinary fantasy short stories http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/diamondroach.html Lectures on Tibetan Buddhism motivated by the Diamond Sutra http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/codex.html Uneven but enjoyable novel about text and reality and stuff http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/onbullshit.html A little gem of a book http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/boymeetsboy.html Cute teen love story in a queer utopia http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/intuitionist.html Enjoyable surreal fiction about race and elevators http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/moneywas.html The Memoirs of a Bank Robber; wonderful Willie Sutton autobiography http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/zfzb.html My favorite essential Zen source materials http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/raids.html Minor but worthwhile Merton miscellany http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/ymcatkm.html Fluffly but fun adventure set in the 1920s http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/nothinghidden.html Good Zen stuff: Dogen's "Instructions for the Cook" and commentaries http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/longquiet.html Introspective life story of an American student of Zen http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/nobuddha.html Idiosyncratic essays by a Western Buddhist; ranting but redeemed http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/millionopendoors.html Solid interstellar-culture SF http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/metropolis.html A classic (very classic) movie http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/lizard.html Six lovely stories http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/soz.html Very early Watts on Zen; somewhat dated, but endearing http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/wrongaboutjapan.html Short and somewhat frustrating book (but a good data point) about the gulfs between cultures http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/cloudatlas.html A novel in six nested stories http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/amatw.html Luminous short stories http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/shadowsend.html Nice social-philosophical SF with a rather deus ex ending http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/zmbm.html Essential reading http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/dshai.html Good fantasy / mystery story with an interesting take on magic http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/chlegacy.html Solid aliens-and-starships SF, with lots of plot and character, and a rather abrupt ending http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/pigeonwars.html At least it's different... http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/barnattheend.html The Apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/tehran.html A book everyone should read, about literature and culture and... http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/sf9.html Some SF short stories http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/darklight.html More of the complex but interesting "Engines of Light" series; some halfway revelations http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/belowsuspicion.html Murder and Satanism and mostly fun Carr http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/pirates.html Extremely silly, but short http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/sadness.html Brilliant http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/palaceofeternity.html Vintage Ace Paperback SF, circa 1969 http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/manifoldtime.html More cosmological / philosophical speculation, with an imperfectly-attached story http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/deadknock.html A self-parodying Carr mystery; I didn't like it http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/atabet.html A puzzling novel about a man with mystical powers. Or not. http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/collisions.html Fascinating first-person account of a unique spiritual, or neurological, experience http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/anubisgates.html Historical fantasy and non-cliche magic http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/shadowbefore.html An intriguing start, but rather tails off http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/atar.html What's more horrifying: eldritch brain-eating demons from another dimension, or office bureaucrats? http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/litv.html Gloriously silly adventure in Victorian Egypt http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/chosen.html A deep and interesting book, about timely and timeless things http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/est.html Good (short) jittery near-future wired-style SF http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/singsky.html Solid singularity-flavor hard-SF http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/marnie.html Alfred Hitchcock's Suspenseful Sex Mystery! http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/ccupid.html Utterly classic Perry Mason http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/nightin.html Unremarkable, if somewhat appealing, 1300's murder mystery http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/holes.html Another children's book that all adults should read; complex and tragic and happy http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/wanton.html Great 1960 he-man shamus story, with adorably innocent sex http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/twisted.html Short stories with surprises inside; trying too hard http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/burr.html Diverting alternate-worlds story centered, casually, on the Hamilton-Burr duel http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/gfs.html Lovely short stories; read them http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/gasping.html The author had a lousy time being on Saturday Night Live for two seasons; I had a lousy time reading his book about it. http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/rack.html Alien love and tragedy and vintage 1972 SF http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/blinddate.html Intense vignette-style dark biographical fiction http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/war.html A powerful and unsettling book about the reality of war http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/salome.html What's the fuss? http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/neverness.html What's this obsession with the primitive? http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/nofuture.html Random Brunner SF shorts from the 50s and 60s http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/time.html Priceless British philosophizing from the Roaring Twenties http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/noflowers.html Unremarkable group-authored English murder mystery http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/crimcoast.html Unremarkable group-authored English murder mystery http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/nightflight.html Good short YA novel about growing up and being able to fly and all http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/angelfact.html Protagonist discovers his parents are aliens http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/austerny.html I'm not smart enough to appreciate this book http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/muller.html Early seventies swinging-hipster stream of consciousness farce. Or something. http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/dracula.html Classic (actually classic) horror / adventure stuff http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/revspace.html A slow start and an deus ex machine ending, but some good stuff; solid ultratech SF http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/cosm.html One neat idea wrapped in an uninteresting novel http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/compcon.html Stoned SF lunacy from the 70's http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/brothel.html A fascinating and sympathetic look inside one of Nevada's legal brothels http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/blackcoffee.html Unremarkable novel based on a Christie play http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/earthweb.html Fun near-future-tech SF around a rather silly plot device http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/degeneres.html She's funnier with video http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/oval.html A long dream http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/gargren.html Read this http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/psycri.html An entertaining adventure, set (roughly) in the galaxy of Asimov's Foundation; but way too long. http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/go.html Beautifully written tragedy about the Sino-Japanese war http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/dotd.html Good European fantasy http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/pond.html Slightly clever but unremarkable stories http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/nofd.html Tough private eye (or is he?) explores the mysteries of epistemology http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/infcage.html Pure nerd wish-fulfillment in a 1972 SF paperback http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/mylifa.html Intrigue and mystery in Malaya; a spy-story about poetry http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/relowo.html Jet jockeys lost in space; a miniature Odyssey with a surprisingly dark ending http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/doorts.html Good swashbuckling space-opera, with hints of the Darkover to come. http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/burkip.html Lightweight but fun gentleman-burglar murder mystery http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/hos.html YA dystopian novel about conditioning and the Human Spirit http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/leviathan.html Blegvad is a flippin' genius http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/vacdia.html Fun and mostly clued hard SF, with flaws http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/ccos.html A great collection http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/aadb.html Rich setting, interesting characters, wild ideas http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/slowtomatoes.html Well-crafted, but dreary (three stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/eon.html Pretty good mostly-hard SF, slowmoving in spots, confusing in spots, fun all told. http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/tipr.html Good SF, good character twists (four stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/liwiro.html Fun and nostalgic, but the philosophical weaknesses bothered me more than when I read it as a kid. http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/starplex.html Unambitious http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/wonderboys.html Well-written and funny in spots, but rather too painful and self-indulgent http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/inversions.html Banks is a freaking genius (five stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/cheesemonkeys.html 85% of a really good book (four stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/wat.html Sort of a noir SF Matt Helm, or perhaps an SF Bond; easily worth the US$0.25 http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/complicity.html Good; valid characterizations, involving suspense, and some provoking questions underlying the action http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/conser.html Good setup, but the ending disappoints (two stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/decision.html A Very Minor Drury (two stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/magus.html Eh... (three stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/plofga.html It was very very good. You should read it. http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/enginesofdawn.html Weak (two stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/sstales.html Good solid 1900's sea stories (four stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/distraction.html Not up to Sterling's best (two stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/deepness.html Good stuff, thought-provoking as always (five stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/faces.html Myth as a light on human nature (four stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/dirt.html A good quick read (three stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/undcom.html Deep and Clear (five stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/lad.html Give it to someone you love (four stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/jaguars.html Well, three-and-a-half (four stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/ahn.html Alan Brown (four stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/apoc.html Some interesting anecdotes (three stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/bnw.html Essential (five stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/weaving.html Such a nice guy (four stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/impossible.html Not bad, but not for those short on time (three stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/ribofunk.html Not bad at all (four stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/swannlayout.html Less than useful (two stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/briefs.html Don't bother (one star) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/empsigns.html Mind-tickling. Not About Japan (four stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/exlibris.html A very enjoyable booklover's book (four stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/vicint.html One of those books that reminds me that much of my informal intuition about history, and about the history of technology in particular, just happens to be wrong http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/ackroyd.html Good solid Christie (three stars) http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/ruined.html This is another book that I will recommmend unreservedly, at least to people who think of themselves as readers: go out and get it and read it http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/rivere.html About life and evolution; valuable to long-time Dawkins readers as well as random passers-by http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/ellisi.html The same entrancing medicine as Winter's Tale http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/sudden2.html Take the first two members of this family first, and go on to this one only if you find you enjoy short-short stories and want more http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/sudden.html Deep and marvelous literature without stressing your attention-span http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/sexwise.html Your libido and your mind will both thank you for it http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/islandia.html The time spent here will be well worth it for most readers, and Wright's reflections on love are timeless and apt. http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/rib.html Anyone who loves reading, whose idea of heaven involves many bookshelves, comfortable cushions, and plenty of time, stop reading this now, and go out and buy the book http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/kigowi.html A reminder that people just living lives can be a worthwhile read, even relatively unadorned http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/permcity.html A solid, non-dark, hard-SF exploration of some of the things that may happen when we get computers powerful enough to accurately simulate intelligent systems http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/sc2kppp.html A reasonably good gamebook for this wonderful game or toy or whatever-it-is http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/proulx1.html The novel, but not the short stories, offer some hope of redemption http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/utic.html The book isn't awful, but some of the entries in its bibliography are better treatments of the same subjects http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/despair.html This isn't the perfect Nabokov book; the middle is a bit too long, and a tad too much plot has snuck in. http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/gwac.html Humorous in spots, but annoyingly knee-jerk Conservative http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/invcit.html Not the best Calvino ever, but a pleasure to dip into nonetheless http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/orsinian.html Some of the best prose I have read in a long, long time http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/sudfic.html Very short, and mostly very good, stories from around the world http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/wwn.html I would recommend the book to anyone interested in the period, the places, or adventure writing in general http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/globalhead.html Good (but not perfect) near-future SF short stories http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/toynbee.html A quirky little 1992 mass-market reprint of a good 1983 Bradbury short story http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/hsb.html Powerful and disturbing pictures of alienation of various kinds http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/gravityfails.html A good PI yarn that happens to be set in a cyberpunk world http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/aristoi.html An involving far-future ultra-tech novel http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/xtalxpress.html Tasty and elegant studies of the various sorts of express humanity is constantly finding itself on http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/blacksky.html Run-of-the-mill military techno-thriller http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/snowcrash.html A delicious first 150 pages, followed by another 300 that aren't bad either http://www.davidchess.com/words/revs/turing.html I expected it to be a really well-written novel with interesting plotting, good science, and neat new ideas. I was disappointed.