Cameron Recommends: Top 3 Non-Fiction Books of 2015

Everyone, hello! As promised here are some lists to cover some of my favorite things from 2015. I'll be beginning with non-fiction. I have in the last few years begun to read more non-fiction releases. So to begin with, here are my top 3 favorite non-fiction books I read from 2015:

Number 3 - How Star Wars Conquered the Universe by Chris Taylor

This was a very, very comprehensive look at George Lucas and Star Wars. The first 30% of the book is mainly about George Lucas' early life and the many sources that influenced the creation of the greatest science fiction franchise ever (sorry Star Trek fans). The next part of the book goes into the actual making of all the Star Wars films and cartoons. It goes into the selling of Lucasfilm to Disney and the beginning of production on The Force Awakens. Throughout the book, the author goes into the influences Star Wars has had on fans, culture and Hollywood. I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially where the author summarizes early drafts of the scripts.

Number 2 - You're Never Weird on the Internet by Felicia Day

I absolutely loved this book, 5 stars. I listened to this one (Felicia Day narrates it herself and she is hilarious). Felicia Day has had an interesting and pretty remarkable life. From being home-schooled, to being accepted to a University on a full-ride violin performance scholarship at the age of 16, to being the mind behind one of the biggest youtube channels there is. What I loved most about this book (other than Felicia's charm and humor) was her honesty. She candidly talks about video game addictions and the harm it had on her. She talks about what got her out of that and how she accepted it. She then talks about the mental health issues she experienced and how she got help for those. Her candor on these topics, mixed with humor, is refreshing and encouraging. I recommend this to anyone and everyone. 
One content warning, there is a chapter in the book on Felicia's experience with gamergate. In it, she reads some of the messages that were sent to her during this time. They are disgusting, and consequently full of terrible language. I feel the chapter is important, as it shows one of the uglier sides of the internet, but more sensitive people may want to skip it. 
If you know anyone who is or who has struggled with video game addiction, or mental health/anxiety issues I would recommend you gift them this book. It is funny but I believe it could help. I was lucky enough to get a signed copy of this from Felicia Day herself at SLC Comic Con 2015 and couldn't be happier about it.

Number 1 - What If? by Randall Munroe

If you haven't been to XKCD the website you are missing out on some very funny and nerdy stuff. (Though I'd say only about 60% of his comics actually make me chuckle) This book, by the author of XKCD, is fantastic. Using his very popular website, Munroe has gathered several absurd, science-based questions, like "How much force power can Yoda produce?" or "What if a rainstorm dropped all of its water in a single giant drop?". Munroe answers these questions using his background as a physicist at NASA and the help of many different professional sources. A lot of the answers result in the end of human civilization, which is fun. But it makes for an interesting and awesome read. I would recommend this to anyone who has ever wondered "What if . . "

Have any of you read these books?

A quick update and plans for the future

Hello readers both old and new, how've you been?

I know it's been over a year, again. I'm just not very great st keeping up with this blog. It's not like I haven't been writing reviews, I have but I've been writing them over at Goodreads. I'll post a bunch of post a bunch of these kn here, I'll probably do a post here soon on my best/worst books, movies, and games of 2015. Hopefully, that'll make up for my absence.

I've also got a draft of an obituary for my beloved dog Kramer that I'm still working on (that's been emotional and difficult to write). The nostalgic, journal-ly side of me still wants to write a series of blogs on important people, places and events in my life. I want to be very candid in these, write about both the very good and bad. This has the potential to offend some people. But I want to be honest about these experiences. It's not like a ton of people are reading this blog anyways.

I want to keep the focus of his blog on things I am passionate about, so I'll keep doing Cameron Recommends and Cameron Doesn't Recommend posts. But I want to use this as a pseudojournal too. I know my writing isn't poetic or really all that great but I'd like to have a place to point loved ones too who want to learn more about me. Anyways, that's all for now. I'm going to start drafting some posts.

Cameron Recommends: The Lathe of Heaven

Wow, I'm back after a very long hiatus. I know, I know I promised that this wouldn't happen anymore. Well sorry, it did. Life got busy. Anyways, I'm back. I'll try to get on here more regularly, probably twice a month with new recommendations, and possibly a new segment entitled "Cameron's Cooking Recommendations".  Be excited. For now we'll go with the old standby, reviewing books.

I would probably give The Lathe of Heaven 3.5 stars. It did keep my attention really well. It is considered by many to be a classic science fiction story.

The main idea of the story is the ability of George Orr. He can change reality, retroactively, with his dreams. This idea is explored throughout the book. I would have liked to see more of the actual dreams, but we never got those really, just brief descriptions of them. I did enjoy the main story though and thought that it was well written. I have a few complaints though.

First and foremost, the book definitely shows it's age. The story is set in 2002, though it never states this specifically you can infer it from information in the book. The "future" (the book was written in 1971) is a bleak hippie's worst nightmare. From 1971, when the book was released, to 2002 the world has:
1) Become overpopulated (at 7 billion, our current population) making food scarce, urban populations out of control, and housing and basic utilities have become communal affairs. this also has caused temporary "trial marriages" to be the norm.
2) Been devastated by man. Greenhouse gases from cars have melted the polar ice caps, caused a permanent haze to envelop the earth and scoured the earth with barren patches. Also, San Francisco was buried in garbage before it was enveloped by the sea.
3) Been destroyed by nuclear war, before George stopped it 4 years before the story begins.
4) become drug dependent. People constantly need drugs to operate normally, there are even pharmacy vending machines in the future.
The over population thing is interesting as it has direct impacts on the story but the rest is political drivel of the early 70's. It took away from my enjoyment of the story somewhat. At times the ridiculousness of the situation the "future" is in made me laugh out loud.
George Orr's "revelation" at the end of the novel which allows him to submit to not dreaming and helps him stop Haber's nightmare doesn't really make any sense. He all of a sudden just feels right? And I guess you are supposed to infer that the aliens helped him because he learned some weird words to say just before sleeping after he got a Beatles record from one of the aliens? What? It really doesn't make much sense. Maybe I missed something and you guys can fill me in.

Cameron Recommends: Watership Down

Wait, what? Cameron is recommending something that is somewhat considered classic literature and not some weird fantasy? Yes, yes I am. 

So I read Watership Down by Richard Adams, all the way back in 7th grade. It was among the list of books I could read for my English class and this one looked like it had the least potential for becoming a headrest. 

( A sidenote here: I didn't really read much in middle school and high school I became a reader later in life. I mean I read a little bit, when I had to or when something really interested me. I wasn't against reading, it just wasn't a very high priority. I wish I had really gotten into it earlier in life. )

So I picked this one up and really ended up enjoying it. Watership Down is the story of a group of rabbits who leave their home warren, or community, when Fiver, one of the rabbits, has a vision of terrible things to come. His brother Hazel leads Fiver and their friends to leave, being unable to convince everyone else of the danger. They have a few adventures along the way before meeting up with another rabbit warren. This one has several weird customs and a twisted sense of community. I won't give away what happens but it is interesting. They leave and eventually find Watership Down and decide to settle down there. Although Watership Down is a peaceful habitat, Hazel realizes there are no does (female rabbits), thus making the future of the warren uncertain. With the help of a seagull named Kehaar, they locate a nearby warren, Efrafa, which is overcrowded and has many does. Hazel sends a small embassy to Efrafa to present their request for does. While waiting for the group to return, Hazel and Pipkin, another rabbit, scout the nearby Nuthanger Farm to find two pairs of hutch rabbits there; Hazel leads a raid on the farm the next day, returning with two does and a buck. When the emissary returns, Hazel and his rabbits learn Efrafa is a police state led by the despotic General Woundwort, and the four rabbits dispatched there manage to return with little more than their lives intact. While there they found a group of does who desperately want to be free of Efrafa and they decide on a daring rescue/escape plan. 

I know, I know, it sounds weird but it is really good. I highly recommend it! One thing though, don't watch the movie. It is creepy and weird. originally it was marketed as a 'family film' but it is actually somewhat bloody. Skip the movie, just read the book. 

Cameron Recommends: Coraline (The Book and Movie)

Wow guys, I was doing really well there for a while, posting every 2 weeks. Now this will be the first post in just over a month. I'm sorry, more to myself than to anyone else. I really do enjoy writing these posts.

So this time I am writing about a book I just read, Neil Gaiman's Coraline. Coraline is the story of a little girl that has recently moved into an old house that has been split up into several different apartments. Downstairs are two old ladies you used to work on the stage. Upstairs is a strange man that is training a mouse circus. And next door is an empty apartment. In Coraline's apartment there is a parlor that her parents use to put their late grandma's fancy (and uncomfortable) furniture in. In that parlor Coraline finds a door that used to go into the rest of the house, but now just opens to a brick door. Later, Coraline wanders out to find that the door opens up into a replica of her own home, well almost. The replica seems better, more fun, but there is something . . . off about it. There she meets her Other Mother, a more beautiful version of her mother but with buttons for eyes. After that she embarks on an adventure to save her real parents, the souls of three lost children, and herself.

This book is short, you can read it in a single sitting (I read it in two sittings). I really liked it. I had seen the movie that was based off the book years ago and could remember a little bit of it and that I kind of liked it. I ended up finding the movie for really cheap and bought it. I loved the movie this time around. It has a very different feel to it. Some people have criticized the book and the movie as being a little bit too scary for kids. I disagree. I watched an interesting interview with Neil Gaiman where he talked about the reception of the book and the movie. He said that in England it's been a huge success and people have loved it. In America, he receives a little more criticism about it being too scary. He attributed it to a fundamental difference in culture, stating that in England there is a tradition of scarier fairy tales and things for kids. In his opinion, kids like to be a little scared, because it gives them the opportunity to reach and grab their parents hand and know they are there for them. I like that reasoning. The image of holding my future child during a slightly scary movie or story is something I look forward to. This is definitely a book that I would read to my child and then let them watch the movie. I really liked it.

As for book versus movie. I actually think this is one of those rare occasions that the movie does it a little better. The book is rather short and if you translated everything from the book to the movie, it would only be 45 minutes long. So the movie adds a character, embellishes some of the scenes and adds a little to the story line. The one thing that the book does better is showing that Coraline is afraid, but decides to act anyway. That is the real moral of the book, that it's okay to be scared but don't let that stop you from acting. The movie still portrays this but since we don't have the internal thoughts of Coraline it isn't as apparent. My friend also made an interesting observation about the movie. In the movie, Coraline keeps going through the door, even though things don't seem quite right. My friend likened this to addiction, any kind of harmful addiction, how it seems to be good but it isn't and people keep going back despite the red flags. I thought that was interesting. One other thing that I love about the movie are the colors. They did an AMAZING job with the colors of the film. It is so vibrant and they use color to show emotion and other things. I loved it. Watch the movie, read the book. I don't think you'll regret it.

As always feel free to share your feelings with me. What do you think? Do you agree with me or disagree? Is this too scary a book for kids? Let me know in the comments!

Cameron Recommends: The Princess Bride (Book and Movie)

Mawaige . . . . I mean The Princess Bride is what bwings us togethew today. I am sure that many of you have seen the Princess Bride movie. It is a classic especially in Mormon culture (read this interesting article about why that may be). It is a great fantasy, romantic adventure story. I recently read the book for the book club that I manage online (which you can be a member of if you'd like, just let me know). For the book club we were to read the book and then watch the movie to look at the differences and promote some discussion.  It was a really fun experience and I would suggest everyone else do it. 

This really is an enjoyable read. The comedy was superb, the action was fun and the writing was great. . The movie follows the book VERY closely. Really, there are only three differences. 1) William Goldman's abridgement notes, which I liked. 2) The back story of several of the characters, especially of Inigo and Fezzick. And 3) the Zoo of Death. I loved all of these additions, especially the background information. For this reason alone I would say the book is better. But the movie is still a classic and an incredibly well done book - to - film adaptation. I know some people that didn't really love the book and prefer the movie, which is fine. I do believe that for the full experience the two should be experienced, if you do one and not the other I think you are cheating yourself out of joy. 
All-in-all I would recommend both The Princess Bride, the book and the movie.

Let me know what you think and thanks for reading!

Cameron Does NOT Recommend: Memoirs of a Geisha

Time to talk about a book that I absolutely hate, Memoirs of a Geisha. Now I am going to come right out and say that this review may be a bit biased, I'll go into why at the end. For now, I'll just tell you what I think of this book.

Memoirs of a Geisha is a book about a little Japanese girl whose father sells her to a geisha training house, essentially a training house for upper-class prostitutes. Now, many people will say that I am unfairly labeling geisha. Those people should go read the wikipedia article on geisha, yes the article mentions that there were many geisha who were simply entertainers, but many of them were still prostitutes. This is further illustrated by the fact that to become a geisha most women had to go through a mizuage, essentially a paid sex act, to become a geisha in first place. Enough with that tangent. Sayuri, the little girl, trains to become a geisha. Along the way she meets "The Councilman" who shows her some kindness. At this time she decides she wants to be his mistress. Later, she is freed by the geisha house's cruel ownership by manipulating a few men to bid very highly for her mizuage, the right to take away her virginity. She is then employed to be an entertainer to a high businessman, who has lost one of his arms. This man shows her much respect, and seems to care for her. During WWII, he is able to secure for her a job in a factory, so that she can keep from going to the streets. Afterwards he continues to show interest in her, but his friend is the Councilman. So Sayuri decides that in order to be with the Councilman she must disgust the businessman by being caught having sex with a man that everyone (including her) feels is a nasty pig. Somehow, this plan works, and she becomes the Councilman's mistress, even bearing him a son who she must take to the US to raise on her own so as not to bring the Councilman shame. The end.

Yep, that is the book. I really didn't like this book. For one, there are no good men in this story, they are all depicted as vile in one way or another. I know that some men are bad, but really all men? Even the love interest in the book, the Councilman, is a unfaithful man who sends his mistress away to raise his bastard son. Now many people will point out that in Japanese culture at the time this was the way of life. Be that as it may, I still don't think it's right. Just because another culture functioned that way doesn't make it right. I feel marriage is sacred, and I dislike it when it is portrayed as fleeting. Another thing is that our "hero" is a woman whose sole ambition is to be a mistress and she goes about accomplishing it in a terrible, terrible way. Now as to her getting out of her situation the way she did, I could sympathize with that a little, she was doing what she had to. But the plan of hers to get with the Councilman is terrible. How can I root for that?

Now for the bias explanation. To be fair I really didn't like this book and I would not suggest it. I read it because at the time I was dating Torrie, a girl I loved. She gave the book to me as a present. While I was reading it, she broke up with me claiming "Cameron, I know that I've told you I love you but I don't. And I don't think I ever did." It tore me to pieces. I finished the book, feeling that it was my penance. I could tell you all sorts of stories about how badly Torrie treated me and the painful things she did and said, but not here on this blog. Suffice it to say that I may be a little overly harsh on this book because of the person who gave it to me. It is well written, I'll give it that. It just has a morally negative story.

Let me know what you think in the comments below and be sure to FOLLOW my blog for more. Thanks