| 1. Galileo's Dream | 
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By: Kim Stanley Robinson Publisher: Spectra December 29, 2009
This is something of a sprawl of a book, attempting to meld two stories, that of the life and times Galileo and one of a far future battle around the Jovian moons. To connect the two, Galileo is `transported' to the future time and place via an `entangler', and returned after his visits with his memories and knowledge gained from his trip mainly erased via drugs, though with some residual `déjà vu'... more
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| 2. Red Mars (Mars Trilogy) | 
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By: Kim Stanley Robinson Publisher: Spectra October 01, 1993
I was really looking forward to this book. I was at a book store one day and for some reason Red Mars just popped out, perhaps I was already judging this book by its cover. When I brought it home I was pleasantly surprised to see it on the list I have of "must read sci-fi", so I couldn't wait to dig in.
Red Mars is a book that details the colonization and terraformation of Mars and the... more
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| 3. Blue Mars (Mars Trilogy) | 
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By: Kim Stanley Robinson Publisher: Spectra June 02, 1997
There are many things keeping this book and trilogy from being really good, but the main thing missing is an actual antagonist. What are the main characters actually trying to accomplish? From time to time, there are parts of the book that would suggest that the governments and institutions of Earth are the real threat. At other times you get the impression that the struggle may be against the Free... more
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| 4. Green Mars | 
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By: Kim Stanley Robinson Publisher: Demco Media 1995-06
Like its predecessor, this novel is an acquired taste; it assumes that the reader is interested in every last detail of a projected settlement of Mars. In this case, where attempts to render the planet fertile are starting to succeed, this means, extensive descriptions of the biology of adapting plants to an alien ecology.
My main complaints is that Robinson sometimes seems to lose track... more
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| 5. The Years of Rice and Salt | 
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By: Kim Stanley Robinson Publisher: Spectra June 03, 2003
I'm not a hardcore sci-fi reader, but I'm reasonably familiar with the genre. As my subject suggests, this book is no Hyperion, Dune or Rama - but unless you're using that as your standard for deciding what to read (good luck!), Years of Rice and Salt is a great choice. It is intellectually challenging - posing difficult questions about the nature of the soul, reincarnation, historical cycles and... more
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| 6. Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Bantam Classics) | 
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By: Jules Verne Publisher: Bantam April 25, 2006
this was the first book i bought using my kindle and i am happy to say the i made a fine choice by buying this book. it made me feel like i would want to do that for a job... more
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| 7. Forty Signs of Rain | 
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By: Kim Stanley Robinson Publisher: Spectra July 26, 2005
I read KSR's Mars books and enjoyed them, but there was nothing outstanding about them. Forty Signs or Rain, on the other hand, is one of the best books that I have read in a long time. I enjoyed his descriptions of people and places. I appreciated it more since my daughter has lived in the DC area for over 8 years and is currently living a few blocks from the NSF building.
Other than... more
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| 8. The Lucky Strike (Outspoken Authors) | 
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By: Kim Stanley Robinson Publisher: PM Press October 01, 2009
"War breeds strange pastimes," begins "The Lucky Strike," a masterpiece by Kim Stanley Robinson, which centers on the Hiroshima and Nagasaki tragedies. Robinson takes us in the mind of Captain January, who controlled the trigger that released the atomic bomb. The action starts at Tinian Island in the Pacific, where a crew testing their war aircraft crash and die on the spot, and another crew takes... more
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| 9. Fifty Degrees Below | 
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By: Kim Stanley Robinson Publisher: Bantam January 30, 2007
I hate to criticize this work because I agree with many of the author's political and philosophical observations, and I have more than a nodding acquaintance with Buddhism. And he seems to know his science. But there were too many lectures and explanations, too many sub-plots going nowhere; plus, I didn't care for Frank, who seemed very immature for his age of 43, and Charlie, the father of spoiled... more
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| 10. Sixty Days and Counting | 
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By: Kim Stanley Robinson Publisher: Spectra October 30, 2007
These are very wonderful in almost all ways.
The presentation of science and scientists, their points of view, passion, ... is the best I have ever seen.
The characters are strong, consistent. The very many social settings he puts them into are amazing in their detail, and all seem very real to me.
The systems aspects of ecology and the weather are explained... more
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