I'm 8-10 books (at least) behind in my book blogging and fearing I might not ever catch up, but I'll try this weekend. One of the reasons I'm so far behind in my blogging is that vRusczyk and I took a 5-day vacation in Wyoming this week. More on that, with pics, later. But now, back to books. Four 2-hour flights and two 3.5 hour layovers gave me lots of time to read.

Among a few other books, I read the first three Charles Stross Merchant Princes books, which reminded me a lot of what I like and don't like in science fiction writing. Back in middle and high school, I read a lot of science fiction, and I'm guessing more than a few AoPSers do, too. I read it because I liked new ideas an alternate possibilities. I still like science fiction for these reasons, but not that many of the ideas are new for me, anymore. Moreover, the writing quality in science fiction is rarely high, even though the stories themselves are quite compelling. (This goes for some of the scifi TV shows, too, like Battlestar Galactica, though Firefly is a notable exception.) In addition to the writing, well, Gregg Easterbrook noted that in order to watch/read science fiction, you have to be willing to overlook at least a few plot turns in every story that involve a person acting in a way no real person ever would. I think that's a pretty accurate observation, and I've seen few exceptions. But I still like a good sci-fi story every once in a while, maybe because I need a light story to enjoy, but probably mainly because it's fun to be engaged by different possibilities that are very far from our own reality, but still based in a somewhat internally consistent logic.

I had an interesting conversation with Sandor once about science fiction. Specifically, he made a claim along the lines that an adult who reads science fiction exclusively should raise red flags to potential employers. It wasn't something I had ever thought about, but I think he's right. An exclusive reader of science fiction is very likely someone who is so immersed in what might be or what they think should be that he can't ever work with what actually is. (To all you middle and high school students who read only sci-fi, no worries -- I did the same. To those of you who are older and still only reading sci-fi, it's time to expand your horizons into the real world. There's some good stuff out here.)

Oh, and for what it's worth, the Merchant Princes books are a good beach read, even if the writing is sometimes ridiculously over-the-top (almost film noirish at times), and I could imagine its commentary on economics as being extremely illuminating when I was in high school, if only because they never taught anything remotely interesting in high school (and, I confess, college) econ classes.