World of the Drone by Robert Abernathy

Robert Abernathy wrote a lot of short stories in the 1950s & 60s.  This was one of his short stories.


Read in Summer 2013 I thought the premise of his book was very clever.  He imagined a world where people built vehicles similar to insects and used those insect-like devices to scavenge for materials.  I was clear to me that Abernathy studied the insect world in order to build his "characters." 

Inferno by Dan Brown

Mark Mann, Nancy Rieckhoff's friend gave me the book Inferno by Dan Brown after staying with us in Jun 2013.

It seems be a typical Dan Brown novel, similar to Da Vinci Code and Angel's and Demons.  He likes to write about historical locations in the old world, and back fill with lots of history and symbols.  The book, similar to the other two, involve following clues, like a scavenger hunt with life-or-death time pressure and enemies chasing the main character.
I think Dan Brown writes his stories in such a way to facilitate the writing of a film script.  I would bet that at some time this book will be made into a movie.  The book did seem to be a little "over contrived" --which may have pushed it beyond believability.  I think a movie version would need to simplify it a little.
I liked the premise of the book -- the problem of the earth's overpopulation, and possible solutions.  I think the publication of this book, and possible movie, will help bring up some questions that the world and our leaders needs to think about.  I think authors like to use dreams and amnesia too much, and I get disappointed when either of those situations are essential to the plot of the story.  Dan Brown used both in this book, although he did sort of bring all of it together in a satisfying way at the end.
The book wasn't bad --but I've had enough Dan Brown for a year or so... 

Veronica Roth -- Two books: Divergent and Insurgent

I read Divergent and Insurgent --the first two books of Veronica Roth's trilogy.  The third book of the series is due out in October 2013.
Veronica created an interesting, and different society that served as her laboratory for comparing different aspects of society.
However it seemed hard to understand how a society with the various factions would have been originally set up.
It was entertaining, but seemed somewhat trite.