Summer's a time for getting away from it all, as we all know. Beach. Camp. Mountains. Picnics. Camping. Anything but work! Personally, I've always loved to spend part of my summer reading -- history, biography, science fiction, politics (surprise, surprise), and more. Unfortunately, I haven't had a lot of time to do it recently, given the combo of a) a day job, b) RaisingKaine, and c) having a life (i.e, wife, friends, family). This weekend, though, I read a great book, one of the all time classics of science fiction, called "Star Maker" by Olaf Stapledon. Here's the book description from Amazon.com:
One moment a man sits on a suburban hill, gazing curiously at the stars. The next, he is whirling through the firmament, and perhaps the most remarkable of all science fiction journeys has begun.Even Stapledon's other great work, LAST AND FIRST MEN, pales in ambition next to STAR MAKER, which presents nothing less than an entire imagined history of life in the universe, encompassing billions of years.
Yeah, I'd have to say that exploring the entire cosmos as a disembodied consciousness from the dawn of time to its end certainly qualifies as "getting away from it all!" Here's what one Amazon reviewer (from Alexandria, Virginia, actually), has to say about "Star Maker:"
'Star Maker' by Olaf Stapledon is more about philosophy than about science fiction, but it has enough of both to make all kinds of fans happy. The author covers the history of, well, almost everything. He travels through space and time, back and forth, to explore everything from intelligent stars to the alien civilizations that rise ands fall, from simple plant-men to massive utopias. Always, he is also looking for the Star Maker, God, the Great Creator.[...]
Olaf is using wide strokes of his huge brush to build this story...I would suggest this book for both sci-fi fans, people looking for God in what seems like a godless universe and also people who just enjoy philosophy.
OK, is that "escapist" enough for the dog days of summer or what? Now, when's the movie coming out? :)
PS Any other recommendations for summer reading? Right now, I've got some heavy duty stuff, like "Imperial Hubris", "Twilight in the Desert", and "King of Bombs" in my reading queue...I need something lighter!