The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov

Note: This review is part of a weekly book review column that I write for City Journal, an English newspaper based in Thrissur, Kerala.

Published on 27/10/2012

Publisher – Random House; Year of Publication – 1954; Pages – 270; Cost at the time of purchase – Rs 244

Today we look at another detective novel, but not a run of the mill one. It is set in the future, a thousand years from now. A noted roboticist is killed and detective Elijah Baley is summoned to solve the crime. The dead roboticist is also a noted diplomat and his unnatural death is ripe for chaos in the interplanetary relation between Earth and its colonies in space.

As a pure detective fiction, “The Caves of Steel” has its good moments, but it is not enough to enthral the reader. What makes the novel exciting is the portrayal of the future Asimov has done. The noted science fiction writer constructs an agoraphobic society who has isolated themselves into massive super cities protecting themselves from the elements by massive caves of steel. Ironically it has a shadow of the present world, where connected by the internet, people very rarely have to leave their homes to get their work done or even do shopping (The only difference would be that companies like Amazon, flipkart and Dominos would be driven by robots).

The Caves of Steel is the first novel of the Robot series, a set of detective space fiction novels Asimov wrote in the 50s and the 80s. It is here he introduces R Daneel Olivaw, a humanoid robot, who would play a central role in many of Asimov’s later works. One of the thought provoking aspect of Asimov’s writings is its connection with the everyday world. The author is well versed in history and copies liberally from historic situations in many of his novels putting new meaning to the phrase “history repeats itself”.

Adding to the agoraphobia, xenophobia is also driven into the novel. The people on Earth do not get along with the people in space. While the former are many in number, they have to live in a meagre manner because of limited resources. The latter, on the other hand, can afford to be lavish with the resources at their disposal. But driven by their agoraphobia, developed after living for generations in a secluded environment, they are incapable of moving to a different environment. This has also an interesting take in today’s society. While migration has been common among humanity from the invention of the wheel, there is a noted resistance for migration in subsequent generations. So today you are more likely to see migrants coming from people who for generations have not migrated, than from second generation of migrants. The underlying theme of the book is to make a way to reengineer the pioneering spirit among humanity to forge ahead in evolution.

The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton

Note: This review is part of a weekly book review column that I write for City Journal, an English newspaper based in Thrissur, Kerala.

Published on 20/10/2012

Publisher – Random House; Year of Publication – 1969; Pages – 288; Cost at the time of purchase – Rs 225

I have reviewed a few mystery novels in this column so far, but none like The Andromeda Strain. There are many gruesome deaths, but not by the hands of man. A mystery disease has run amok in the streets of a quiet village in Nevada leaving most people dead and driving the surviving few crazy, homicidal and eventually dead.

While the disease left a devastating trail to follow, it also left another trace, the most confounding of clues. Two people miraculously survive the massacre; two people with no similarity whatsoever – a new born baby crying its heart out for its mother and an old drunkard almost blind from methanol. Jeremy Stone and his team of scientists have to figure out what the disease is, find a cure and stop it before it reaches the nearby city of Las Vegas and spread across the world.

And to make things worse the disease turns out to be from outer space, from a space mission gone wrong.

Michael Crichton weaves a tale of suspense and horror keeping an impending event of doom omnipresent in the reader’s horizon. Written during the height of the space race between US and the Soviet Union when space ships and aliens were very much in vogue unlike today, Crichton is able to capture the reader’s attention and sustain it till the end. There are twists and turns that mutate the story in an exciting manner.

It is commendable that the author has managed to write a very believable science fiction story based in the present. He gives the novel a realistic setting, quoting fictional reports and even setting up fictional acknowledgements to make the reader believe the story depicted in the book actually happened. There is a general feel of government secrecy and cover up across the book which makes it appear plausible.

Although Crichton gained world-wide fame with his later science fiction works, “The Andromeda Strain” was his stepping stone to fame.  The novel raises a very intriguing question about space exploration and disease control. It was the first work of fiction that Crichton wrote in his own name and has been made into a movie twice (in 1971 and 2008). It is also a nod to the author’s medical background, Crichton having completed his MD the year this book was published.

A History of South India by KA Nilakanta Sastri

Note: This review is part of a weekly book review column that I write for City Journal, an English newspaper based in Thrissur, Kerala.

Published on 13/10/2012

Publisher – Oxford; Year of Publication – 1955; Pages – 481; Cost at the time of purchase – Rs 295

I have covered a few books on history in this column, but none on Indian history. The history of the subcontinent often saddens me because as one of the oldest civilizations in the world, we have done very little to do justice to our longevity. For most of our history since the time of Asoka, North India had been easy picking for any conqueror that crossed the Khyber Pass. Similarly, we have done very little to contribute to the advancement of humanity the past two millennia, especially in comparison to the western upstarts who dominate the world today. Most of the western world are descended from Germans who were nomadic tribals as recently as 1600 years ago. Of the other ancient civilizations, only the Chinese still persevere and they are well ahead of us both societally and economically.

KA Nilakanta Sastri is one of the better recognized historians of India. “A History of South India” recounts the history of the Indian subcontinent south of the Vindhya mountain range from prehistoric times to the fall of Vijayanagar in 1646. The geography it covers also includes Goa and parts Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha that we do not normally subscribe to be South India.

The book does well as an introduction for South Indian history. The chaos of infighting within nations dominates most of this time period, painting a rather diminishing view of the people of the time. Belligerency seems to be the favourite hobby for every relative of a ruler, with rebellions and backstabbing very much common place in the palace. The most notorious among these nations were the Bahmani Sultanate who, in their two centuries of existence, ran through eighteen kings, many of them murdered.

But amongst all this chaos, the society developed with reasonable prosperity. Maritime trade remained strong despite the loss of European trade, with merchants from around the world frequenting the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The author has delved deeply into the art and literature of the regions and has brought out the quality of work on display. Unfortunately there are very few historic records. It is a field that we have fallen behind very badly from the rest of the world; that we have failed to record our history through time.

One of the primary reasons I purchased this book was because I was looking for pointers to the history of Kerala. However, Kerala gets a sparse mention in the book. Having separated from our Tamil ancestors around 6th century AD with an independent language, there remains very little documented history of our people. Regrettably, the book ignores the early colonial overtures in the subcontinent because of its strong interconnection with the later British colonialism (Which the book does not cover). So, even the documented part of Kerala history gets left out.

Along Came a Spider by James Patterson

Note: This review is part of a weekly book review column that I write for City Journal, an English newspaper based in Thrissur, Kerala.

Published on 06/10/2012

Publisher – HarperCollins; Year of Publication – 1993; Pages – 433

“Along Came a Spider” is my favourite novel from the Alex Cross series of books that I have read. Alex Cross is perhaps the most recognizable fictional detectives in the world today with nearly a score of books and two movies (third is pre production). However, the Cross novels rely more on detective work than the classic whodunit scenarios.

In “Along Came a Spider”, two children from wealthy families have been kidnapped by their teacher. In another part of Washington DC, two black prostitutes meet a horrific death with their breasts cut off with a razor, the second set of such murders in the space of two weeks. Deputy Chief Alex Cross and his partner, John (John) Sampson have to catch both the criminals before the fatality count increases.

But increase it does.

One of the kidnapped children turns up dead and a teacher at his school is killed in the manner similar to prostitutes. Both Cross and Sampson have to use all their wits to catch this serial killer before the other kidnapped victim, a young girl, is also killed. They have Secret Service agent Jezzie Flanagan for assistance as the kidnapping story becomes a darling of the media.

James Patterson tends to adopt a flashier type of writing. The success of Cross is perhaps an indication of the preference of writing style of crime readers, especially in US. However, it teeters towards behavioural psychology than forensic research. For making a good detective novel imbibed in psychology you need to have a crazy villain which Patterson delivers exceptionally well by pouring down enough ounces of dementia and fanaticism into his story. There will be blood and gore, but also good detective work. “Along Came a Spider”, which was the first of the Alex Cross novels, is fortunately less on gore and violence than the later novels.

Although “Along Came a Spider” is a crime novel, it pulls off a masterpiece by having the criminal captured midway through the book very much against normal convention. However, the fate of the other kidnapped victim is left untold and the readers are left with the sneaky suspicion that things are not what they seem. There are twists and turns from then on and what appeared to be straight forward plot would prove to be anything but.

The movie had veteran actor, Morgan Freeman, portray the role of Alex Cross and while there are some minor plot changes, it still manages to extract the level of suspense presented in the book.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Note: This review is part of a weekly book review column that I write for City Journal, an English newspaper based in Thrissur, Kerala.

Published on 29/09/2012

Publisher – Picador; Year of Publication – 2002; Pages – 328

A rape and a murder, that too of a fourteen year old girl, is a very unconventional way to start a novel, but Alice Sebold has managed to strike an emotive chord doing just that in her “The Lovely Bones”. Susie Salmon meets her unfortunate death in the early pages of the novel, but instead of lingering on in the coldness of the crime, the author allows Salmon to transcend her earthly abode and move on to heaven where she sits and watches over her family, friends and, at times, her murderer.

“The Lovely Bones” is about the Salmon family who have to cope up with the sudden loss of a daughter. The death leaves the family with an irreparable scar; guilt driving the father into depression and the mother away from the family. Lindsey, Susie’s younger sister, has to now nurture her family back to health and also look after her younger brother, Buckley. The novel is high on emotions, but not on drama, which makes it a better read. There are also flashbacks from Salmon’s life which help us better relate to these characters and develop concern over their personal angst.

Inevitably, the book has a sad theme, but embedded with hope.

The portrayal of heaven in the novel as a very subjective world also adds an interesting dimension to the story. There is a certain perverseness to the idea of watching people without their knowledge like Susie does from heaven, but it does have its advantages.

As the story unfolds, more is revealed of the villain’s murderous past and his schemes for the future. Although, we (along with Susie) watch in vain as Harvey, the villain, carries on his undertakings with certain impunity, there is hope that he will slip up in the future.

Other characters like Ray Singh with whom Salmon was involved and Grandma Lynn, Susie’s grandmother, who comes to rescue her other granddaughter’s attempt in saving her family, also brings additional themes to the story that could have been explored a bit more.

The movie based on the novel was released in 2009, directed by Peter Jackson of the LOTR fame and starred Stanley Tucci who received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of the man who murdered Salmon.

Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson

Note: This review is part of a weekly book review column that I write for City Journal, an English newspaper based in Thrissur, Kerala.

Published on 22/09/2012

Publisher – Penguin; Year of Publication – 1992; Pages – 350

Neal Stephenson is an author who has the habit of writing very long complicated multi threaded novels. Most of his works will have an average of thousand pages with at least five story lines running parallel to each other with no apparent interconnection. But the plots would be so fantastically set and high tech that it will be difficult for an avid reader to not finish his books once started. So instead of scaring you from Stephenson, I will review one of his simpler yet path breaking novels.

I am sure most of us have had the misfortune of facing the Blue Screen of Death while working on our computer. Snow Crash was the term the author used to describe the crashes on his Apple Macintosh. It is a screen that many of us have seen as well – only on the television though, when there is no signal. Snow Crash is a book about a computer virus that can cause your brain to crash.

Neal Stephenson churns out a tale immersed in ancient Sumerian mythology and biblical stories bridging it with hacking (Both with computers and with swords) and internet avatars. The protagonist of the novel, aptly named Hiro Protagonist, is a pizza delivery man during the day and a computer hacker by the night. He is also an expert swordsman having acquired a set of samurai swords from Japan. It is up to him to unravel the mysterious virus that is leaving everyone in its way, be it virtual or real, as blabbering idiots. Helping him in his quest is a courier girl who goes around on a rocket powered skateboard and stopping them in their way is a psychotic Eskimo whose harpoons are as deadly as the nuclear bomb he carries around.

Stephenson traces the stories about the Tower of Babel and glossolalia practices of certain sects of Christianity to add a historical touch to the novel, but it is the author’s work on the metaverse and avatars that makes it a path breaking novel. In fact, the usage of avatar as a representation of your internet presence gained popularity because of its use in this novel. The Snow Crash metaverse is a virtual world where users interact using avatars in a manner akin to the real world, even if they are separated by vast distances in reality. This theme was later used by the website Second Life, to develop a considerably successful online world.

Another interesting theme of the novel is the breakup of USA into a private enterprise and development of sovereign residential enclaves with their own laws and security forces. Even the Mafia is a sovereign nation. Private enterprise is the king and everything from the army to postal work is done by private entities.

The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien

Note: This review is part of a weekly book review column that I write for City Journal, an English newspaper based in Thrissur, Kerala.

Published on 16/09/2012

Publisher – Random House; Year of Publication – 1977; Pages – 442

The Silmarillion is for the ardent Tolkien / Lord of the Rings fan. As you may well know, Lord of the Rings is one of the most sold books in the world ever. What propelled the popularity of the book is the JRR Tolkien’s enchanting ability to weave his own fantastic universe – the Middle Earth, albeit with some help from Peter Jackson and New Zealand in the movies. But reading only LOTR or The Hobbit will not give you a complete idea about the effort Tolkien had put into developing Middle Earth. For that you need The Silmarillion.

The Silmarillion provides an extended backstory to Lord of the Rings trilogy and explains many of the unsolved mysteries about the book like how did Sauron become so powerful or what happened to all the elves that fought Sauron the first time or where do Frodo and company leave for at the end of the movie. It encapsulates the history of the Tolkien universe until the War of the Ring and the scenes depicted in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit in book half the size of LOTR. Tolkien has allowed himself to depart from his normally very descriptive style of writing (made familiar in Lord of the Rings) for this book, perhaps because of the longevity of the era he has to describe.

But the book is primary focus of the novel is on the millennia long battle between the elves and Morgoth, an evil god who was once the master of Sauron. Humans play a limited but important role in this battle, somewhat mirroring the role of the elves in Lord of the Rings. It is in the latter chapters of the book that we learn about Sauron and the Numenoreans (The people of Aragon from LOTR) and their rivalry.

As a stand-alone novel, it is the story about a battle build on greed and revenge, with an unnecessary “extended epilogue”. Both the elves and Morgoth have a desire for power and they compete against each other with no sense of morality which eventually leads to their undoing. There are lessons to be learnt on virtue and honour, but as the book extends beyond the battle, the novel loses its sheen. The extended epilogue, which features Sauron and the Numenoreans, provides the setting for the Lord of the Rings and so recommended only for the Tolkien faithful.

Ice Station Zebra by Alistair McLean

Note: This review is part of a weekly book review column that I write for City Journal, an English newspaper based in Thrissur, Kerala.

Published on 09/09/2012

Publisher – HarperCollins; Year of Publication – 1963; Pages – 392; Cost at the time of purchase – Rs. 150

Ice Station Zebra is a book that evokes a childhood memory. It is one of the few books that I had read in school and liked, that I reread a decade later and still liked. Written by Alistair MacLean, it is an espionage thriller with a mix of adventure and a dash of mystery.

The story starts off with an adventure – a race against the clock to rescue intrepid scientists trapped in the open ice of the Arctic with no communication. They were part of a British meteorological team stationed near North Pole to study the weather. The plot thickens as a Russian icebreaker and an American submarine race against each other to reach the British ice station.

But as they head north, more is revealed.

The station was a covert listening post, part of an anti missile defence against Russia, and there are suspicions of foul-play in the sudden peril of the station. The departure of the Russian icebreaker towards the station only enhances these suspicions. After a hair-raising voyage beneath the Arctic ice, the submarine finally reaches the ice station. But all is lost. The station is gutted by fire leaving many dead. Was it arson or just an accident? With inclement weather conditions, the chances of survival for both the remaining scientists and the sailors are decreasing with time.

The novel builds momentum early, starting with the high speed and nervy chase. But it is able to sustain this momentum till the end as more keys to the story are slowly opened. There is an overhanging feel of the traitor in the midst as more people die under accidental circumstances. Once the submarine reaches the Arctic the story turns it to a classic whodunit novel with a closed loop of participants and suspects.

The Cold War era background adds to the interest. The Cuban missile crisis was very much in everyone’s memory and the race between US and Russia was about to peak. Written before the moon landing, spy satellites and anti missile defence systems were not as common as they are now. So, covert operations like the one described in the book were very much relevant.

While Ice Station Zebra acts well as a mystery and adventure thriller, there are some issues with the narration. This was the last book by MacLean to have a first person narrator, but it is his unreliable narration that helps the mystery sustain itself till the end. While the book comes off as excellent, the window dressing done takes some of the credit away.

Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis

Note: This review is part of a weekly book review column that I write for City Journal, an English newspaper based in Thrissur, Kerala.

Published on 02/09/2012

Publisher – Random House; Year of Publication – 1989; Pages – 298; Cost at the time of purchase – Rs. 250

Many of us have heard about the subprime crisis that broke US housing and propelled the world into an economic crisis. How US bankers would give housing loans to low creditworthy individuals and then sell these loans to other banks bundling them with more creditable loans and how these bundles were then insured and then reinsured and resold and again insured and so on, creating a huge corpus of assets in banks and insurance companies across US and Europe.

All this is well and good since all the banks and insurance companies got their commission on the number of transactions that happened and so long as the loans kept getting sold and insured they were minting money. Until the people who took the original loan stopped repaying the loans since they could not pay it back in the first place (Hence they were low creditworthy individuals) making entire corpus non-performing for all parties involved. With such a huge amount taken out of the economy, banks did not have money to lend to businesses, which needed it to employ and pay people thereby leading to a global economic crisis.

Of course, I have put it in very simple terms, but the actual crisis is much more complicated than that. But what is tragic about the subprime crisis is that it was merely a reflection of what happened twenty years earlier when US mortgages had similarly collapsed on the weight of banking misuse done on housing and car loans.

Liar’s Poker is an autobiographical account of an investment banker with Salomon Brothers, the leading investment bank in the US in 1980s. The 1980s saw Salomon Brothers specialize in mortgage based securities which were based on mortgage loans given by thrift banks in US to buy cars and other personal loans. These securities were traded with the clients of Salomon with Salomon profiting on each transaction.

But these mortgages were given out without proper analysis and credit checking. Many banks got into trouble for this and had to sell their loans at steep discount. As a result, many banks collapsed and US government had to bail them out. What we saw in the last decade was an amplification of what happened in the 1980s with a bit more of financial “innovation”. It shows us how history’s lessons remain unlearned.

Michael Lewis gives an excellent review of the bond trading market of the 1980s US. He also gives a very revealing insight to the behaviour of the investment bankers (stock brokers in local parlance) as they lie to their clients and cheat them so that their company can maximize their profit. His former employers had to deal with criticism because of the revelations in the book but not much, since it was a widely known industrial practice. So, there is little surprise when twenty years later, thanks to similar opportunism by investment bankers the world economy again had to go through another upheaval at the cost of public money.

Liar’s Poker works well as a tell-all book about Wall Street of the “Greed is Good” era. Lewis leaves out nothing about the underhanded dealings of the investment banks laced with a mix of the internal politics and sarcastic humour to come up with an entertaining autobiography.

The Enemy at the Gate: Habsburgs, Ottomans and the Battle for Europe by Andrew Wheatcroft

Note: This review is part of a weekly book review column that I write for City Journal, an English newspaper based in Thrissur, Kerala.

Published on 26/08/2012

Publisher – Random House; Year of Publication – 2009; Pages – 339; Cost at the time of purchase – Rs. 887

The year was 1683. Europe was in the middle of a political and religious upheaval. The Thirty Years War of 1618-1648 between the Catholics and Protestants had redrawn many political boundaries. The notably Protestant Netherlands had finally gained their independence from the Catholic Spain. Spain also lost another key territory – Portugal (and by extension Brazil), which it had inherited in 1580. It was a defeat for the Catholics with Pope Innocent X openly stating his discord with the outcome.

The Thirty Years War was also a battle for supremacy of the two powerful Catholic families of that era – the Bourbons, who ruled France, who sided with the Protestants and the Habsburgs, who ruled most of Western Europe except for Scandinavia, British Isles, the Papal States and of course, France.

While the Europeans struggled to get their house in order, another nation was gradually developing the means to knock them out. The Turkish Ottoman Empire had consolidated their European possessions over the past century and was slowly gaining resources to siege their western rivals while they killed each other. They had come a long way in Europe after another battle of Adrianople in 1365 when they gained their first significant foothold in Europe in 1365. Over the next two centuries, they conquered Greece, Albania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. But it was in Vienna, Austria, that their onward progress in Europe was brought to a halt, in 1529.

Unlike these days, Vienna was one of the most prominent cities in the world in the seventeenth century. As the historic base of the powerful Habsburg family, it was in effect the premier city of the Holy Roman Empire, which covered Germany, Austria and Slovenia. Situated on the banks of Danube, it had significant strategic value for the Turkish nation. Control over Vienna would give them a better hold in the trade between Europe and Asia. It also had a huge symbolic importance.

The Turks looked upon the ancient Roman Empire with esteem and had set their eyes on its conquest. In fact, the early nation of Turks in what is now Turkey was named the Sultanate of Rum because of its association with Rome, rather than of rum. When the Turks finally conquered Constantinople, the last city of the Roman Empire, they had claimed suzerainty of the other chief Roman “capital”, Vienna, which had become the newly formed Holy Roman Empire. The repulsion of their first siege of Vienna in 1529 made the Ottomans more motivated for another siege. But due to internal politics it took them much longer to raise the necessary resources.

Andrew Wheatcroft describes the second Siege of Vienna of 1683 in excellent detail. Supported by diagrams of the fortress protecting Vienna and other maps and illustrations, Wheatcroft portrays the battle with the precision of an astute observer and the taste of an artist. He overviews the military force available with both the armies in a knowledgeable manner identifying the strengths and weaknesses of each style of soldier. The most noted were the winged hussars, the Polish heavy cavalry who would later uproot the Ottoman forces.

For most of the siege, the wall guardians of Vienna had to deal with the massive artillery of the Turkish army from sapping their defences. The Turks had drained the region between Istanbul to Vienna to support their expedition and heavily outnumbered the city dwellers. For Vienna, it was defend till help arrives or die.
Wheatcroft also gives sufficient detail to give the context of the war. Fearing a rise of Islam, Pope Innocent XI would raise and fund a Holy League to combat the Ottomans. The funds raised by the Pope went a long way in driving back the Ottomans in Europe. The most noted absentee of the Holy League would be the Catholic France. By 1699, Habsburgs had taken Hungary from the Ottomans and the Poles had made significant progress in Ukraine keeping the Ottoman allies in Crimea at bay.

The significance of the siege can be seen from its effect on its participants. From 1683, the Ottomans would begin a slow decline culminating in their fall after World War I. They gradually lost regions and in another two centuries they had very little influence outside Turkey. For the Habsburgs who had largely relied on marital relations and diplomacy to win their large empire, it would be a start of a set of military successes. Following their success in Hungary, they would look to west in Spain after the extinction of the elder line of Habsburgs that ruled Spain. In a fiercely fought War of Spanish Succession, they would defeat France and become the most powerful rulers in mainland Europe.

The Enemy of the Gate is a book of military history. It enables the reader experience the battles of times long gone by.