Paperback version costs extra
One of those odd artifacts left from early education is my ability to do a “book report”. A time-filler disguised as a pedagogical exercise, the book report was a sort of penance in the elementary classroom. Even if your sins were minor, you still had to atone, through the production of an oral AND written report for the education of others. Pick a book, any book (within readability levels defined beforehand) and then (after reading the tome) play author for a day, complete with public readings.
I can’t claim that this was fun. Even though I loved reading, the report was often the hardest part of the exercise. I don’t think my reports inspired anyone else to read the same book.
However, there are now more books than time to read, and I depend upon “blurbs” from the cover, or quick reviews published elsewhere to direct my efforts. Back in late January, a post on Slashdot piqued my interest, and so I checked the availability of the book, Daemon, by Daniel Suarez/Leinad Zeraus. There was a short online excerpt available; insufficient. The first search on Amazon showed that a paperback copy would cost me as much as $263 US… used. Obviously, something out of the ordinary here. It turns out that the high price deals with the rare, self-published version of the novel, and when interest peaked, the publishing industry brought out a reprinted hardcover version which I ordered online for less than $19 CDN. Delivery in a matter of days, of course.
Well, two weeks later and I’ve finished reading what turns out to be a great techno-thriller. I’ve watched enough online gaming to have passing familiarity with the material in the book, and the story holds up well “under fire”. This IS science fiction, of course, but if you enjoy stories like Blade Runner (by Philip Kindred Dick), I recommend this one for your reading list. In hardcover, of course; paperback versions cost ‘way too much!
