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\author{David Golombek}
\title{Summaries for Readings \#3}
\date{\today}
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{\large Alpha Ralpha Boulevard}

Although the world this story was set in seemed interesting,
especially the social structure of true men vs hommunculi, and the
thoughts on people {\it wanting} to die, for the thrill of it, there
were several points that I didn't like.  First, I didn't like the
characters, which seemed overly shallow and blase.  Second, the
writing seemed overly broken up, such that the story was hard to read.
What bothered me most is how the interesting topics were brushed
over in the beginning, and the story branched off into what I found to
be a less interesting sub-plot of love and fortune.  

{\large The Warlord of Staturn's Moons}

On it's own, the Warlord subplot of the story was pretty boring, and
not particularly well written.  However, the samples of what I presume
to be what an author might think while writing such a story were
fairly amusing, not to mention the other snide comments inserted about
society.  Although certainly not a classic, I enjoyed this as a short
read. 

{\large Genesis}

This story perhaps shows the essence of the novella format; it goes
into far more depth than a typical short story is able to, but is
still short and to the point, when compared to a full novel.  Anderson
takes enough time to create full fledged, interesting characters, a
wide variety of interesting worlds (or variations on the same world,
as the case is), and a strong plot to tie it all together.  By not
expanding the ideas into a novel, he retains the short, hard hitting
nature of a short story, and avoids the problems of keeping excitement
up over a longer period.  I especially liked his alternate earth's,
and his treatment of how apparently good changes could have such bad
long term effects, a favorite theme of mine.

{\large The Death of Captain Future}

I've always been a sap for well written space operas, and this
definitely qualified as well written.  Although none of the characters
were particularly inspiring, the overall story turns out to be very
good, mostly due to the quality of the writing, and the pretty decent
conclusion.  



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{\large The Island of Dr. Moreau}

In Chapter the Fourteenth, Moreau says:
\begin{quote}
``To this day I have never troubled about the ethics of the matter.
The study of Nature makes a man at least a remorseless as Nature.  I
have gone on, not heeding anything but the question I was pursuing,
nad the material has ... dripped into the huts yonder.....''
\end{quote}

The morality of scientific discovery has been a constant subject of
discussion, and in a lot of ways, \underline{The Island of
Dr. Moreau}, is a long morality play.  Although this may not have been
the original intent\footnote{Without the inclusion of the fourteenth chapter,
which was previously published separately, the book changes
drastically in character, and becomes largely an action novel}, the
quote above gives an entirely different nature to Moreau in my eyes.
Where without this discussion, I would have seen Moreau as a man so
wrapped up in his work that he never pondered it's morality, this
forces me to see him as one who is avoiding it.

To me, this morality discussion is the main idea posed by the novel in
modern times, now that we know the essential impossibility of it's
central premise.  In modern times, we have seen many scientists so
blinded by the pursuit of knowledge that they have, to quote a common
phrase, ``never paused to consider whether man could handle such
knowledge''.  While I tend to lean more towards the knowledge seeking
side of things, I think the moral implications should always be
considered, and that scientists must at least ponder the social
implications of their research.  Given the wide variations of human
moral standards, there is no common standard to which scientist may be
held, nor do I believe there should be.  However, I believe that
consciously ignoring such thoughts, as Moreau does, is the worst
choice, far worse than picking a choice of action I happen to disagree
with.

The rest of the novel is ok, although it didn't seem particularly well
written to me; perhaps this is it's datedness showing up.  The
characters were mediocre, the science unplausible, and the action
poorly described, but the moral questions posed by the story make it
interesting, even this long after it's original publication.






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