It is apparent what the dominant political topics were during the years Scalzi wrote these essays: gay marriage, George W. Bush, the Iraq War, etc. And some of those essays, in particular, felt a little dated. But many of the other essays, like the one on his childhood hero, Carl Sagan, or the financial advice for writers, felt more timeless.

... there's a lot of sarcasm in the humorous pieces, which I like, though I recognize not everyone will. But Scalzi has, to me, a distinctive voice, that I just love. I think other readers (and not just science fiction fans) will enjoy this book as well.

http://archthinking.blogspot.com/2009... ( )

http://tpi-reads.blogspot.com/2009/07... ( )

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1224752...

This is a compilation of Scalzi's writing from his blog, essentially a set of rants and thought pieces on various subjects. I only became aware of his blog when I featured on it myself, but his writing is entertaining (more than his fiction, for my taste). Some of his pieces are very memorable - my favourites were his funny pieces on Scooby Doo and cheese (sadly neither is archived online), and his more thoughtful pieces on poverty and Richard Dawkins. (Links provided so that you can decide if you want to read any more, given that I thought these were the best.) ( )

A ten-year retrospective of Scalzi's blog, the Whatever. This book covers a variety of topics in no particular order, from war to business to parenthood.

Scalzi's writing is always a pleasure to read, but I wondered at some of the choices of material to include. Many of the entries are timeless - essays on parenting and advice for aspiring authors, for instance. But many (though not all) of the political posts are hopelessly outdated, having been written just prior to some major event that then made the entry obsolete. ( )

Ten years of Whatever - columns from Scalzi's blog the Whatever, on topics from cats to politics, being poor to bacon. Fun, funny, touching, irritating. Good stuff! ( )