Summer sci-fi and mystery paperbacks! Gin-and-tonic reading!

• Ringworld by Larry Niven
• A Plague on Both Your Houses (Matthew Bartholomew Chronicles) by Susanna Gregory
• Bust (Hard Case Crime) by Ken Bruen
• Time Enough For Love by Robert A. Heinlein
• Time Is The Simplest Thing by Clifford D. Simak
• The First Rumpole Omnibus by John Mortimer

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Paris – May 7th through the 14th, 2006. A reading list.

• Edwin Abbott Abbott : The Annotated Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, 160p (2001)
• Kevin Mattson : When America Was Great: The Fighting Faith of Postwar Liberalism, 231p (2004)
• Rich Bowen : Hot dog Chicago: A native’s dining guide, 180p (1983)
• China Mieville : Perdido Street Station, 640p (2003)
• Richard Hofstadter : Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (Vintage), 464p (1966)
• H.L. Mencken : Mencken Chrestomathy (Vintage), 656p (1982)
• Daniel J. Boorstin : The Mysterious Science of the Law : An Essay on Blackstone’s Commentaries, 264p (1996)
• Robert Tallant : Mardi-Gras… As It Was, 263p (1989)
• Edmund Wilson : To the Finland Station: A Study in the Writing and Acting of History (New York Review Books Classics), 592p (2003)

Brad DeLong has such an excellent post on the topic of war, excellence, and heroism:

Let me put it this way: who would you rather have standing beside you when spear meets shield–Achilles, Hector, or Odysseus? With Hector, the man of honor, you will wage war when you should–but you may well lose. With Achilles, the man of skill, you will win–but you will wage war all the time, whether or not you should.

With Odysseus, the man of strategy, you will wage war only when you can win–but will you always be happy with your victories?

I think I would take my place beside Odysseus. But who should I take my place beside? It is an interesting question…

The question for my readers is this:

Who would you rather have standing beside you when the horde of chitinous bugs comes swarming up out of a cave? Lt. Rasczak, Dizzy Flores, or Carl Jenkins?

(Update: Carl Jenkins. You know — Doogie Howser.)