Sherlock Holmes, Zodiac, China Road

While in Asia (and on the plane rides to and from) I got a chance to read The Complete Sherlock Holmes Volume 1, Zodiac, and China Road.

China road was a good introduction to modern China. A road trip across China is the background for the author's commentary on the country. It tells some rather shocking tales about corruption (particularly local governments) such as stories about enforcing the one child policy, and an attempt in one area to buy blood from people without much concern for hygiene. But also talks about the immense amount of growth and questions if a non-democratic government is that big of a deal if it means you get out of poverty faster. If you read the last post then you heard enough of me talking about China for a bit so if you're interested I'd recommend the book. The one part I didn't care for is the author is somewhat pro-Christianity which influences some of his observations and theories.

Zodiac is awesome! When Neal Stephenson limits himself to a reasonable number of pages he can write an incredible novel. While fictional it is about current day Boston (it even more fun to read if you are from Boston because you know all the places he's talking about, but you also realize his descriptions are a bit over the top) and is an eco-thriller. If you are a Neal Stephenson fan at all you should read it. I would try to describe it, but it sounds really boring to say the book is about a guy that fights pollution, but it is about a guy who fights pollution in the same way that snow crash is about a guy trying to stop a computer virus.

Sherlock Holmes was very cool (now that I've given my approval I'm sure people will start to discover this little known set of stories). It's odd because I thought I knew a lot about Holmes and Dr. Watson, but it was quite different than the image I had. I did not realize the degree to which Holmes is a logic machine and that Watson just comes along for the adventure and does almost no detective work. I also expected more Moriarty, but apparently he is only in a couple of stories. Anyway, at some point here I'm sure I'll get to volume two. Thanks to Angie for the recommendation.