Remember?

Remember The Elephant Show? I somehow remembered the song today but didn’t remember what show it was from. And then there’s Google. :P

Skidamarink a dinky dink,
Skidamarink a doo,
I love you!

Two Books

It took me a long time to finish reading The Malay Dilemma, finally. It’s not that the book was difficult to read at all. Instead, it was quite boring since having grown up in the Mahathir era the book – what’s in it – was everywhere in the public and official spaces. It’s boring to read stuff you already know. In the meantime, people will continue to argue about the book, just as people will continue to argue about the former prime minister’s policies and legacies. I’m just glad that I’ve finally read the book.

On the other hand, it took me only a few short days to finish reading The God Engines. The novella was sold as John Scalzi’s first attempt at fantasy – unlike anything he had written before – and the result was, WOW!

We have a spaceship, a warship by the name Righteous that runs on a god. The god sustains the ship, powering its weapons and takes it across the stars. It is a defeated god, dark and sinister. The gods are at war, and captain the Righteous, Ean Tephe, is given a mission to find a new planet to convert to give his God the edge above the rest.

Though set mostly on a “spaceship”, the book was all about religion, faith, and the ending was mind-blowing! Too bad The God Engines is only a novella.

RM211.77

After about two and a half years, my contour bottle bank was finally full again so I had RM211.77 of change deposited into my savings account last week.

That’s RM25.56 more than the last time, YAY!

Book Review: The Walls of the Universe

As an exercise, I need to start writing better book reviews. :P

The Walls of the Universe is the second novel by Paul Melko. I haven’t read his first novel, Singularity’s Ring, but now I definitely want to. The book reads like one of the classic science fiction novels from the 1950s or 1960s with its simple language, fast pace and straight forward plot based on the multiverse (or parallel universes).

[SPOILER ALERT]

John Rayburn grows up in a farm in Ohio and dreams of going to college and study Physics, until one day he stumbles upon his analog, who calls himself John Prime. Prime comes from another universe, quite like John’s own “Universe 7533”, through use of a device strapped to his chest. With promises of adventures and riches from “interdimensional trade”, Prime lures John into trying out the device to travel to “Universe 7534” for a day.

In 7534, John discovers that he cannot go back to 7533. Prime has tricked him and stolen his life! After jumping through universe after universe, John finally settles in “Universe 7650”, where he resolves to study the device hoping to one day return to his universe and reclaim his life.

He enrols himself at a local university, where he reluctantly makes new friends Grace and Henry. After accidentally mentioning them the pinball machine, which does not exist in 7650, Grace and Henry pressure John into helping them build it. John agrees, originally only so he can gain access to the Physics lab, but the pinball machine turns out to be a huge hit.

The pinball venture attracts the attention of some highly secretive investors, who turn out to be exiles from another universe, the bad guys. Things quickly turn bad when they discover that John is in possession of a functioning transfer device. In desperation, John successfully builds a device that allows him to travel back to 7533 and enlist the help of Prime.

Blah-blah-blah...

The Walls of the Universe is a very easy and fun read, and definitely far from a hard science fiction novel. I read it in just two days. Not much is explained of the multiverse, how interdimensional travel works, etc. In the end, the book is a fine nod to the Golden Age of science fiction, full of optimism.