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l Gravity
Tess Gerritsen
Published by Pocket Books
With the release of The Andromeda Strain,
Michael Crichton lured the novel-reading public
in a web of fear emanating from the possibility
of an invasion by a space-born virus. While this
scenario may seem like unrealistic science fic
tion to the science-savvy public of today, the idea
was so intriguing and was displayed in such a re
alistic fashion that it is still known as a bench
mark in the medical-suspense genre.
With Gravity, the bar has been raised.
Gravity, set in the near-future in the complet
ed international space station, is the horrific tale
of a space crew trapped in the claustrophobia-in
ducing confines of a space station with an air
borne, highly pathogenic disease.
What makes this novel especially frightening
is the realistic manner in which it is told. Gerrit
sen has undoubtedly done her research. Her list
of resources range from the top NASA flight sur
geon, to a decompression chamber specialist, to
Jim Reuter — the real technician behind the in
ternational space station’s life-support systems.
This technical knowledge, paired with Ger-
ritsen’s knack for creating vivid pictures in her
readers’ minds, pulls this novel from the realm
of science fiction into the realm of science pos
sibility.
The only downside to the constant realism
employed in the novel is the dialogue that in
corporates the slang and technical jargon of
NASA and medical personnel. However, Gerrit
sen included an appendix in the back of the
novel for readers who are not rocket scientists,
and if the readers pay attention, they just might
learn something.
For the romantics, the author manages to in
corporate a well-developed love story between a
husband (who is stuck on Earth) and a wife
(trapped on the space station with the disease)
who are going through a divorce.
The movie rights to this book have already
been sold to New Line Cinema, so headers who
like to read the book before everyone begins to
rave about the movie should rush out and grab
this gem of a thriller right now. (Grade: A+)
— Stuart Hulso:
Diamonds and
more
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Dear Alice ... Rejected Let
ters to Advice Columns from
Completely Insane Idiots
Steven Ryniak
Published by Muse World Media
This book is tiny — only the
size of a common pocketbook -r-
but it crams in more humor than
most stand-up comedians manage
in a lifetime.
The book is a parody of letters
written to advice columnists from
writers who have problems, from
using too many steroids to turning
into “weresquirrels.” The jokes are
lewd and the profanity is plentiful,
but this is definitely one of the fun
niest books since A1 Franken’s first
foray into writing. This humor is
not nearly so high-brow as
Franken’s, with much of the humor
centering on profanity and slap
stick — like “South Park.”
One letter is written by a man
who describes his problems going
through the drive-thru of a fast
food restaurant. He describes curs
ing at the attendant, and beating
him unconscious while using ex
pletives after every other word.
Expletives actually take the place
of proper nouns, to the point that
everything is a “f-—k.” Needless to
say, this humor is not for the faint
of heart, but for those with the
stomach, it is laugh-out-loud fun- I
ny. This story is surrounded by
tales of weed-wacking squirrels to |
death and going to the most back-1
water sky-diving school in the
world.
The letters are short, one to two
pages at the most, which means this
book is easy to pick up and put
down for short humor breaks
throughout the day. However, it
should not be taken to church, as ex
pletive-filled laughter is never
looked on kindly by God. (Grade:
A)
— Jason BennyhoffI
Eat the Rich
(Abridged Student Edition)
By P.J. O’Rourke
Published by Cato Institute
If only economics classes could use this as a
textbook. Eat the Rich is a humorous examina
tion of what makes some nation’s economies
successful, and what makes some nations’
economies (and people) eat dirt.
Because O’Rourke uses some economic theo
ry, only those who have taken some sort of
macroeconomics course will be able to fully ap
preciate the book’s look at economies from
around the world. However, enough principles
are explained, that even readers who have no
clue what the gross national product is will be
able to enjoy the general ideas expressed.
Unfortunately, O’Rourke writes solely from
an extremely laissez-faire (capitalist) viewpoint.
While capitalism is decidedly the general eco
nomic winner at this point in time, the author’s
continual slander of socialism (O’Rourke even
tually gets to the point where he leaves the cate
gory of humor and enters insulting vulgarity) be
comes tiring by the third chapter.
The book also bogs down in irritating succes
sions of platitudes. Lines like “China stinks,”
and “{economics} is like a tricycle from Santa”
are mildly humorous at first, but tire quickly.
Considering that every page has at least three or
four of these “pearls of wisdom,” reading the
book can get tedious quickly. Luckily, there are
only 48 pages of this.
The book is short enough that any annoying
characteristics do not have enough time to get
under the reader’s skin. The length also makes
this the perfect book for a short night of reading
before falling asleep to a night of capitalist
dreams. (Grade: C)
NCAAMM
National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness
WeeK-Ccteber f6>2C