Mark

May 8, 2022

Another Solution (Review)

efore we review this short story, let’s just say how thankful I am for paperback anthologies. I’m currently re-grinding through The Three Body Problem (hey, you don’t even need to wait for the review – HERE it is!) But I don’t want to lug that hardcover monster around so instead I’m reading a little collection I got from a local bookstore, Star Destroyers (that’s the name of the anthology, not the shop). So anyway, I had this collection of stories about big star ships in my back pocket as I went for my long walk. Stopped in a Cindi’s Cafe on Orange […]
Do you like it?
Read more
January 15, 2023

The Dumbest Generation (Review)

here is a bit of irony here. I’d picked up Mark Bauerlein’s bestseller at a neighborhood used bookshop. It had gone into the to-read pile. Then something triggered it to be read, namely a train-club get-together at a local restaurant. There , one of the young members (seventeen years old or so) told me in blunt who-cares fashion, “I don’t read. Haven’t read a single book other than one’s I’ve been made to read. And those I skimmed.” Which depressed me – we talked a little about it, with him questioning the total value of it. And even though he […]
Do you like it?
Read more
March 3, 2024

OpsLog – C&A – 2/27/2024

rouped all my errands down the east coast of Florida into a big pile so I could work them all in one day. And one of these was a visit to Mark Svendsen’s Chicago & Alton Railroad. This one was a tidy little HO layout in a small room over a garage, perfect for two-man operations (well, with John Ligda and myself there, it was three-men, ourselves and host John pulling his hair out at our operational inefficiencies (yeah, I like using those bells and whistles). In truth, this line shows that you can squeeze all sorts of layout operations […]
Do you like it?
Read more