My Review of Damia’s Children

Damia's Children

Damia’s Children by Anne McCaffrey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is book #3 in The Tower and The Hive series. Damia and Afra now have brought the next generation of this talented family into being, and not a moment too soon. The insectoid invaders who like to find worlds, exterminate the life there, and replace it with their own, were previously repelled by Damia. But they are back, and think they have a strategy to defeat Damia. But her children collectively have even more power, and have been raised since birth alongside children from the Mrdini, an alien race that has been fighting The Hive even longer. The human Nine Star League and the Mrdini become allies to fight back against the relentlessly expansionist Hive.

I listened to the audio book version of this novel.



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My Review of Damia

Damia

Damia by Anne McCaffrey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is book #2 of The Tower and The Hive series, and focuses on the most talented of the children of The Rowan, a girl named Damia. But the novel is mostly told from the view-point of an older man, Afra Lyon, who has helped to raise the children of The Rowan and Jeff Raven. Damia is very powerful, but not so well controlled, and is sent to Deneb to live with her grandmother. Afra comes to realize he is in love with Damia, but given the age difference that seems like a problem. In the end, however, the two come together.

I listened to the audio book of this novel.



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My Review of The Diabetes Diet: Dr. Bernstein’s Low-Carbohydrate Solution

The Diabetes Diet: Dr. Bernstein's Low-Carbohydrate Solution

The Diabetes Diet: Dr. Bernstein’s Low-Carbohydrate Solution by Richard K. Bernstein

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I first met the work of Dr. Bernstein in an article in Diabetes Self-Management Magazine, and as a result bought his book Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution, which I have also reviewed. I consider his work something that changed my life. I was headed towards increased problems caused by my failure to get control over my blood sugar, and Dr. Bernstein showed me how to do it. Most doctors say “diet-and-exercise” as if they were one word, but in controlling Diabetes the most important thing is diet, and in this book Dr. Bernstein offers suggestions that he has found are consistent with blood sugars in the normal range, i.e., not diabetic. At this point I am in my seventh year of following this, and my blood sugars do not look like those of a diabetic (e.g. my a1c is always around 5.5). I would recommend reading Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution first, and then picking this up since the theory behind it will be clear.



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My Review of The Rowan

The Rowan (The Tower and the Hive, #1)

The Rowan by Anne McCaffrey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Anne McCaffrey first created a universe where telepathy and psychokinesis exist in her Pegasus books, and this novel is the first of a five-book series set in that same universe. The series is usually referred to as The Tower and the Hive Series. The Rowan is a very talented orphan whose talent “erupts” when the rest of her community is wiped out in a landslide. She is called The Rowan because that was the name of the mining company where her family worked, and since no one alive knows what name she was given, they just call her The Rowan. Then she gets a telepathic message from a remote colony that they are being attacked by aliens.

I listened to this as an audio book.



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My Review of The White Dragon

The White Dragon (Pern, #3)

The White Dragon by Anne McCaffrey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is the third novel in the Dragonriders of Pern series, and it was nominated for a Hugo award and placed third in the Locus award for Best Novel. Back in the first novel, Dragonflight, Lessa was fighting against the people who took over her family’s domain. But as a consequence of that fight, a young man named Jaxom becomes the Lord Holder of that domain (called Ruatha Hold). Normally a Lord Holder would stick to administering their domain and stay out of the affairs of dragons and their riders, but he manages to impress (i.e. bond with) a very unusual white dragon who has an ability to always navigate through time.

I have this as part of the three-volume set The Dragonriders of Pern which includes the first three novels in the series.



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My Review of Dragonquest

Dragonquest (Pern: Dragonriders of Pern, # 2)

Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The Science Fiction aspects begin to peek though here in the second novel of the series. But the main focus is on conflict between the Oldtimers, the Dragonriders who were brought forward in time to help deal with the threat from the thread, and the contemporary Dragonriders. So it is mostly a generational conflict, but it does help move the story along. The science fiction aspect enters when they consider the possibility of trying to eliminate the thread at its source, which is another planet in the solar system.

I have this as part of the three-volume set The Dragonriders of Pern which includes the first three novels in the series.



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My Review of Dragonflight

Dragonflight (Pern: Dragonriders of Pern, #1)

Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is the first novel in a classic series, and various books in the series have own a bucketful of awards. This novel reads like a fantasy, and you think that is what it all is about until later in the series when it becomes a science fiction theme. Dragons in this case are winged beasts who can breathe fire and burn the “thread”, a deadly enemy that periodically falls from the sky. Lessa, a young lady, has certain mental powers that she puts to work getting revenge on the people who invaded her family’s domain, and tries to use those powers on the Dragonriders when they come around. This brings her to their attention, and she become a Dragonrider herself. While I like it a lot (and so do many others when you look at the awards McCaffrey earned), I would not recommend it to someone who does not enjoy fantasy. The science fiction aspects do not come out until later in the series.

I have this as part of the three-volume set The Dragonriders of Pern which includes the first three novels in the series.



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My Review of Diction: Italian, Latin, French, German…the Sounds & 81 Exercises for Singing Them

Diction: Italian, Latin, French, German . . . the Sounds & 81 Exercises for Singing Them

Diction: Italian, Latin, French, German . . . the Sounds & 81 Exercises for Singing Them by John Moriarty

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


One of my hobbies throughout my adult life has been singing, and most of it has been in other languages. That becomes a bit tricky if you never learned to speak any of them, and that is where Moriarty comes to the rescue. He helps you learn the correct pronunciation for the most popular of the foreign languages. It won’t make you the world’s foremost authority, but you won’t embarrass yourself.



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My Review of Double Star

Double Star

Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is unusual for Heinlein in that the protagonist is not one his super-competent engineer types, but instead a down-on-his-luck actor. He is shanghaied by a spaceman, and soon find himself on Mars, being asked to impersonate a popular politician. His main qualifications for this is that a) he is an actor, after all; and b) he resembles the politician enough to pull it off. But because “The Great Lorenzo” has no technical skills at all, this book is about human nature and not science and engineering. This is middle period Heinlein, when he had mastered his trade, but before things got out of hand. This is a good read, and was the first of his books to win a Hugo award.



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My Review of Got A Revolution: The Turbulent Flight of Jefferson Airplane

Got a Revolution: The Turbulent Flight of Jefferson Airplane

Got a Revolution: The Turbulent Flight of Jefferson Airplane by Jeff Tamarkin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Back in the pre-historic period before the Web swallowed everything there was an e-mail list called 2400Fulton, named for the address of the mansion where the Airplane were based, in San Francisco. Jeff Tamarkin was one of the regulars because he is not just a writer, but a fan with a deep love for the Airplane. I also have a deep love, and while Surrealistic Pillow was my first album of theirs, I quickly got Takes Off. But then After Bathing At Baxters permanently changed my brain. I wore out several copies of the vinyl, then copied it onto audio cassette, and finally CDs came out. It is still my favorite album of theirs, and possibly my favorite album of all. So when Jeff wrote this book, I had to get it.

I have a theory that some groups have so many geniuses that you cannot keep them together for too long. The Beatles are an example in my mind, and so is the Airplane. The stretch of albums from Surrealistic Pillow to Volunteers is hard to match, let alone beat, and the shards that came out of the band had brilliant moments as well. There were some very good albums by Jefferson Starship, and Hot Tuna is still gigging and worth seeing if they come to your town. But nothing compares to the Airplane. There is a quote from Bill Graham to the effect that when they were “on”, no group in the world could beat them. I loved this book, though I imagine you have to be a fan before it will it will be meaningful to you.



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