Aloha from Maui, Hawaii! This last week I’ve been lounging on beaches, drinking Pina Coladas and catching up on some much needed novel reading. While I was here I also got to do a bit of sight seeing: driving the Road to Hana, a helicopter ride over Molokai, and hiking through the dense forests of Maui. And of course- doing some writing and rejuvenating my creative juices.
I brought two books along with me for the trip: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut and The Atlantis Gene by A.G. Riddle. Both novels were recommended by a long time friend and fellow science fiction nerd. Unfortunately I haven’t read much Sci-Fi lately (last one was Partials by Dan Wells) so both books were a good fix to a long time craving.
Slaughterhouse-Five is a classic novel that follows the life of Billy Pilgrim- a war veteran, optometrist, and time traveler- who gets abducted by aliens. Throughout the novel, he tackles the philosophical problems of war, death and free will. I loved this book not only for the topics it covers, but for the absurd characters and mix of tragedy and humor. I give it a 4/5. Here are some of my favorite quotes:
“Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything? Because this moment simply is.”
“That’s one thing Earthlings might learn to do, if they tried hard enough: Ignore the awful times and concentrate on the good ones.”
And of course, the simple… “So it goes.”
The second novel I read, The Atlantis Gene, dives into the mystery of human origins and evolution. This novel really digs into accurate details for both genetics and biology which really made the otherwise crazy conspiracies come to life in a very realistic way. The pacing was a bit wild at times, but I loved the plot and action making it a thrilling page turner. I give it a 4/5 as well. Apparently this book is the first of a trilogy and is currently being made into a major Motion picture. I’ll definitely be seeing it in theaters.
Outside of reading I also did a lot of writing for the philosophy portion of my blog on the topics of boredom and overpopulation. Once I get these thoughts a little more organized and coherent I’ll upload them to my blog- most likely within the next week or two. Of course that’s assuming I can read my own handwriting (I tend to write terribly sloppy when free writing ha).
Finally I’ll leave you with some pictures. My Android camera and amateur photography doesn’t do these sights any justice, but alas I did what I could. So it goes…
