B L

Misses its chance at greatness

Revisado: 09-16-24

"The War Below" (2024) by Ernest Scheyder was disappointing. Scheyder is a journalist who traveled around the U.S. (and occasionally to other places, such as Bolivia), interviewing people in favor of and against various metals mining projects. It is not a technical book, and mining processes are described only briefly. Instead, it focuses on the difficulties of getting new mines (and similar facilities, such as brine processing facilities or evaporation ponds) permitted and built.

The biggest problem with the book is that it feels like it's telling the same story, again and again, in each chapter. The location, the name of the proposed mine, and the names of the key players change, but every time, the efforts of local opponents combined with red tape and technical challenges cause the mining projects never to get off the ground. There is a single chapter (out of 15) on recycling these metals, and I thought it surely would be different, but it ended up emphasizing the dearth of recycling facilities and the difficulty of getting new ones built. The same story again.

It's easy for an author to point out problems in society. It's harder to come up with solutions. And Scheyder never once suggests any solutions. (Indeed, he takes a hands-off, journalistic approach where he mostly avoids directly expressing his own opinions, let alone providing original ideas.) So the book becomes a litany of problems and complaints with no solutions to anything.

After doing so much research and interviewing so many people, Scheyder is qualified. He has turned himself into one of the world's experts in this subject area. By the end of the book, he should have dropped the objective journalist persona and put on the table his unvarnished, best thinking on how to solve the problems he highlighted in the book. A series of depressing tales of neverending red tape and failure doesn't move the dialogue forward. Society needs to learn from past stumbles and determine how best to obtain the minerals it needs. By publishing a prominent book on the topic, Scheyder had an opportunity to contribute to that conversation, authoritatively and constructively. Perhaps, given the gravity of the climate crisis, he had a moral responsibility to do so. But Scheyder passes up a profound opportunity to do good in the world - to make all his years of research and interviews mean something for the future.

It's a terrible waste.

For all that, it's a solidly reported and well-written book. It is informative on the history of mine permitting challenges. So, it earns three stars for its competence and quality, even though it misses its chance to be something greater.

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Wonderful SF. Characters in shades of gray.

Revisado: 04-19-23

One of the best SF books I've read. Reminiscent of Vernor Vinge's "A Deepness in the Sky," but with more complex characters painted in shades of gray. Highly recommended.

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One-third Amazing, One-third OK, One-third Poor

Revisado: 08-06-18

"Diaspora" by Greg Egan (1997) is of mixed quality. The novel was written to fit around a short story that Egan published earlier, "Wang's Carpets." That short story appears as Chapter 11.

From the start of the book through the end of Chapter 6 (Parts 1 and 2), Diaspora offers some of the best science fiction I've listened to. It is chock full of fascinating ideas, the plot is engaging and exciting, and you care deeply about the characters.

Chapter 11, "Wang's Carpets," is another bright, high point in the audiobook.

Unfortunately, these high-quality sections only make up about a third of the novel. The remaining chapters are of much lower quality, and that quality gradually diminishes further as the end of the novel approaches. The important characters become less and less relateable, and Egan spends too much time philosophizing over fictional mathematics and physics. The last third of the book is a wild goose chase, whose ultimate conclusion is deeply unsatisfying and more than faintly ridiculous. I was left feeling cheated, as though Egan demonstrated his tremendous ideas and ability, then strung me along, promising more and failing to deliver.

It is difficult to assign a star rating to a book with both excellent and disappointing segments. I ultimately decided to award four stars, which I consider a generous rating for a book that was one-third excellent, one-third mediocre, and one-third poor.

While some reviewers complained about the narrator, I found nothing wrong with Adam Epstein's narration. It seemed perfectly normal and acceptable to me, and I found his use of voices to distinguish different characters helpful (and similar to what other audiobook narrators do).

If you wish to experience the good parts of Diaspora, you are in luck: Parts 1 and 2 (chapters 1 through 6) stand on their own as a self-contained story. You can listen to these chapters and then stop. Or, if you prefer, you can read from chapter 1 through chapter 11, which will cover all of the book's high points while avoiding the worst parts, which come near the end. If you proceed all the way through, you will find that nuggets of value become increasingly scarce, lost in a seemingly five-dimensional scape of bland text.

If you are interested in Diaspora, consider "Blindsight" by Peter Watts, a story that has a similar style but is strong from beginning to end.

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