Book Review ~~ The Flying Machine ~~

Today I read the short story “The Flying Machine,” by Ray Bradbury. Set in the past, it featured a man who had just created a ‘machine’, wings made of paper and bamboo, that allowed him to fly. He was extremely excited about his new invention, but when the emperor saw it, his thoughts were quite different. He saw the beauty in the invention, but he also realized that there were terrible things it could be used for. He thought that it could be used to destroy or bypass the Great Wall of China, which had protected China for thousands of years, and realized the destruction it could cause. As a result, he had the inventor executed. I thought that he shouldn’t have done so, because invariably another inventor would have invented a similar machine, but I could understand his reasoning for burning the flying machine and killing its inventor. I really enjoyed reading this story, which, like many of the author’s other stories, illustrated the damage that technology could cause, though not in as severe a way as in many of his other stories. I would rate it 9.4/10 and recommend it to anyone interested in reading an interesting short story.

Book Review ~~ The Time Machine ~~

Today I read the story “The Time Machine,” by Herbert George Wells. I found it to be a very interesting story about the Time Traveller, who built a machine allowing him to travel in time. The theory that time was no more than a fourth dimension was one of the most attention-catching parts of the story, and I really enjoyed reading the Time Traveller’s explanation of it. His account of his adventure was described vividly, and the description might almost be believed had it not been for how fantastical the story was. When the Time Traveller explained how his Time Machine had been taken, I eagerly continued to read, hoping that he would find his Time Machine even though I knew that he must have, to return to the time he had started and tell his story. The account of the Time Traveller’s journey in the future was very engaging, not because I wanted to find out what happened in the end — I already knew that he returned to his time — but because I wanted to learn more about the people who inhabited the future, the Eloi and the Morlocks, and discover why they had evolved to such a point. Although the truth was never revealed, the Time Traveller’s theories were just as fascinating and pulled me into the story. I would recommend it to anyone interested in a good read and rate it 9.8/10.

Book Review ~~ The Bird and the Machine ~~

A short while ago I read the essay ‘The Bird and the Machine‘ by Loren Eiseley, a naturalist. I thought that the material consisted of fairly interesting reading. Eiseley skillfully incorporated a story with informative information that really taught me about the differences between life and machines no matter how refined machines are. I thought that the story really illustrated the ways that birds and just life in general could have feelings, ranging from sorrow and loss to joy and love. I really enjoyed reading the essay, which is part of ‘The Star Thrower,’ a compilation of Eiseley’s essays. While I enjoyed reading the story about how Eiseley captured a bird, but let it go because of its mate, I also liked the part about how machines were becoming intelligent and learning how to do things faster and more accurately than humans. The two were woven together cleverly so that the story about the birds made me wonder about whether machines would ever be able to feel emotions instead of simply doing what humans told them to. Eiseley suggests that they won’t, and because of that, will never actually become better than humans. Humans, after all, are more complex than simply being the energy that makes up cells, which are combined to create humans. I would rate this essay a 9/10 and recommend it for anyone who’s interested in learning about nature. While it may, at first, seem like dense reading, it’s actually quite interesting.