{"id":4417,"date":"2008-05-06T19:07:00","date_gmt":"2008-05-07T01:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/?p=4417"},"modified":"2010-02-22T17:39:02","modified_gmt":"2010-02-22T23:39:02","slug":"book-report-space-wars-worlds-weapons-by-steven-eisler-1979","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/2008\/05\/06\/book-report-space-wars-worlds-weapons-by-steven-eisler-1979\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Report: Space Wars: Worlds & Weapons by Steven Eisler (1979)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In retrospect, Tamara K. was not recommending<\/a> this book at all. She mistook it for something else. This is not a Stewart Cowley book, this is a Steven Eisler book. I didn’t expect Tam would remember fondly a book that called Robert A. Heinlein a fascist.<\/p>\n

Okay, here’s what we have: a book of unrelated space paintings with essays about the evolution of science fiction stories. Within these texts, we discuss how some science fiction is juvenile (that is, the right-winged stuff). Also, the first half of the Fantasy chapter is about sex, not, you know, fantasy<\/i> fiction. It’s hard to square elitist academic posturing with space paintings, but even demigeeks can get tenure, I guess.<\/p>\n

Then, within the captions, we have the schtick that this is some historical document from millenia hence with a history of mankind’s space travel. Each disparate painting is worked into this timeline, including the images from obvious fantasy novels.<\/p>\n

It was meh. Coffeetable art book for science fiction geeks from the 1970s. Even though I’ve read some of the novels the book refers to (mostly in a derogatory light, since if they were enjoyable, they were right-winged Power-Is-Truth stuff, unlike Solaris<\/i> which was mind-broadening, man).<\/p>\n

But it counts as a book that I’ve read this year, and I did it during a baseball game. Woo.<\/p>\n

Books mentioned in this review:<\/b><\/p>\n