Like Science Fiction, Love Analog

Advantages: A steady stream of reading for hard SF fans
Disadvantages: Not easy to find for the casual reader

...I have been a subscriber to the US published Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine for several years now (this is short compared with many subscribers, its readership is typically very loyal), and have never had an overall bad issue. -- Overview -- Despite the title, the magazine is mainly science fiction. I will cover a breakdown of contents below. The science fiction is of the 'hard' variety. This means that the science is an integral part of the story. In 'soft' SF the story could effectively be set anywhere- it 'just happens' to be set (for example) space. In Analog the vast majority of the stories are firmly based on what could potentially happen (i.e. the science is realistic) - this is definitely not a fantasy magazine. However do not be put off by this; the characters, plots etc are not reduced in quality because of this...

Petros471 29.07.2005 · Read review
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Review of Analog Science Fiction Magazine

Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction

Advantages: Some real gems
Disadvantages: Some dross

...The book, The Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction is edited by David G. Hartwell. It boasts on the front cover: that it is: "The biggest and best science Fiction Anthology Ever Published". And there, as they say, is the rub. Is it? Although I acknowledge that there are a great many good science fiction stories in this anthology, I would have to argue against it being the best. And as for the biggest? Well, Asimov's Before the Golden Age (volumes 1 to 4) is a worthy contender for this title, I would have thought. And the best? It cannot be. Why? Because as Hartwell states in the introduction: "I would like to acknowledge the significant presence of John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke and all the other science fiction writers who are not reprinted in this book." Therefore the correct...

Martinscholes 12.11.2005 · Read review
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Review of Mammoth book of 20th Century Science Fiction Volume Two

India's Science fiction film..

Advantages: Actor Hrithik Roshan and some well picturised songs....
Disadvantages: It could have been better made, had a lot of potential...

...KOYI MIL GAYA ( I Met Someone) is one of India's rare science fiction films.It is no doubt a thoroughly entertaining film , has some melodious and well picturised songs and importantly it has Handsome Super star HRITHIK ROSHAN in the lead role, but all said and done it is an innocuous and mostly forgettable film drama... However the Indian audience loved it, because it appealed to the children,and the subject was different, had never been tried by Indian film makers before. It is a take off on ET, a much loved Hollywood film, with some very good special effects and technically this is a superior film... KoiI Mil Gayaa borrows elements mainly from"ET" and a little from "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind " and mixes them with some more typical hindi filmi conventions to create a Indianised version of ET ... THE STORY ROHIT...

kiran8 31.08.2008 · Read review
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Review of Koi Mil Gaya (Hindi Language) (DVD)

Superior Science Fiction

Advantages: Fantastic plot, great characters
Disadvantages: None!

...years have passed in Earth time. When the Challenger (and its sister ships) failed to return from their missions, technology had advanced sufficiently that it was now possible to move the entire planet to a new solar system. Sounds impossible and slightly implausible? Yes, but for Science Fiction a fair amount of belief is needed, no matter how skeptical you may be. From the Moon, they set off in a search for the Earth, encountering many problems along the way. There's the at-first unfriendly Zelda Five, a human colony ruled by Thorden. It is here that our four characters realise that they look different from normal humans, due to the suppression of puberty by the Angels. Unbeknownst to Telson et al, Thorden brings the unfriendly killer robot Fagor aboard; whose presence could prove disasterous. They also encounter the wreck...

amytheduck 13.03.2007 · Read review
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Review of Earthsearch (Audio Book) - James Follett

The Matrix - a true science fiction achievement

Advantages: great special features, excellent plot and thought provoking ideas
Disadvantages: you will never be able to see all the special features!

...alive? What are the limits of our universe? and many many more. There are commentaries for each movie with philosophers that talk about the complex problems in the matrix. These two men deffinately know their stuff and help to solve some of the most mind-blowing problems! The extras There is no way to see all of the special features this box set comes with. With 3 different comentaries for each movie, 35 hours of bonus behind the scenes features and a whole collection of animated movies called the animatrix, it is truely mind boggling. I still have yet to see all of the special fetures in this box set. Conclusion If you like fantasy, romance, science fiction, and box sets, you have to have this item. Nothing expands your DVD library like this Matrix Box Set! BUY IT TODAY!!! You'll be glad you did!...

matt4630 10.08.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Matrix - The Ultimate Matrix Collection (Box Set) (DVD)

One of the greatest Science Fiction novels...

Advantages: Fantastic vision, scarily realistic, completely absorbing. Even more pertinent in our day.
Disadvantages: Not an easy read, not really recommended to anyone under 18 due to its complexity.

..."Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley is one of the true science fiction giants. Good sci-fi is supposed to make you think; this book has the capacity not just to do that but to change your whole perspective on the human race. It concerns a "savage" being brought into the "civilised" world - by a highly intelligent but unhappy man who just cannot fit into the society around him. In this society everyone alive is a product of genetic engineering, and "designed" so as to fit and be happy about their position in life - whether scientist or cleaner. Literature that can make you think is banned, much of the happiness is drug-induced, and everybody thinks the system works because they are happy. Prejudices are pre-programmed by hypnopaedia (sleep-teaching) and morals are a thing of the past - the slogan everyone is taught from age 0 upwards...

CaptainDisaster 02.08.2005 · Read review
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Review of Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

Not Weird Science - Bad Science

Advantages: debunking some of medicine's myths & misinformations, funny read
Disadvantages: man on a mission and with an agenda but who can blame him

...Ben Goldacre is the very outspoken mouthpiece against really rubbish claims made by modern medicine or television charlatans. He is a medical doctor and journalist with a column in the Guardian newspaper with an uncanny bullsh*t detector second to none. I can?t remember when I first came across his ways of thinking but it must have been when I was looking for an answer to Gillian McKeith, a woman that makes my neck hair stand on end, someone I find appalling to the n-th degree. Lately I have seen him voice his opinion on London?s 6 o?clock news regarding LBC?s Jenni Barnett and her rather stupid musings on the MMR back in January and the other week on Watchdog when he was asked what he thought about some modern detox products. I bought the ?Bad Science? paperback when I was ordering a number of books from Amazon quite a few months back...

Tempus_Fugit 13.04.2009 · Read review
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Review of Bad Science - Ben Goldacre

Scienced Fiction that's realistic....

Advantages: a masterpiece film
Disadvantages: tedious in places

...Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) is a story told in four acts, taking place in four different scenarios revolving around the continual reappearance of an alien and eerie black monolith throughout human history. This is hard-core cerebral science fiction from back in the days when cerebral sci-fi and banal or instant gratification action sci-fi were completely separate entities. We begin with the first act: "The Dawn of Man", where we follow a pack of savage apes in the daily routine they go through. Chasing away pests, indulging in territorial roaring matches with rival packs of apes, getting picked off by tigers and other predators. This is an image of homo-sapiens before they came to dominate the planet and the food chain. Each violent encounter is portrayed as a completely natural occurance. But then one...

SnakePlissken 22.11.2004 · Read review
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Review of 2001 - A Space Odyssey (DVD)

SCIENCE FICTION OR FUTURE FACT?

Advantages: Interesting, thought-provoking, not as far-fetched as some sci-fi
Disadvantages: Some plotlines don't ring true, an inconclusive ending

...When it was made in 1997, Gattaca was simply a piece of science fiction. Now, a few years on, with cloning, genetic selection, and parents choosing the sex of their children becoming a reality, it provides a chilling insight into how life could be in the not too distant future. Vincent Freeman was born in the usual way. He was also conceived in the usual way ? or the usual way as we know it. In the future, however, the majority of babies are not conceived like this. Instead, doctors take the eggs and sperm of the parents and choose the ones that have the best characteristics in terms of life expectancy, intelligence and health before implanting these back into the mother?s womb. Vincent is therefore an ?In-Valid?, a social underclass who can hope for nothing more than a life as second-class citizens, working as cleaners...

Pumpkin 08.12.2003 · Read review
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Review of Gataca

A Sunday full of Science

Advantages: Never hearing yourself say "Don't touch that to the kids"
Disadvantages: An expensive day out and not fully functioning

...When I first moved to Glasgow just over 6 years ago and while working as a temp, I found myself working for the Director of Buildings on what was effectively the building site of the planned Glasgow Science Centre. Added to the fact that the centre was based on the science centre in Canada and designed by many of the same Canadian designers who had been responsible for the Toronto centre, I have always felt a strange sense of loyalty to what is now the Glasgow Science Centre. However, this does not mean I am blind to the defects of the project. I have decided to review the Glasgow Science Centre following several visits with my boys as a mum and a visitor and with an unbiased approach. ***First Impression*** The Glasgow Science Centre can be seen for some distance from almost any angle as you approach. The entire centre is made up...

ally2kc 23.05.2007 · Read review
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Review of Glasgow Science Centre