Birthright: The Book of Man

As I while away a few days of reading waiting for a mail order, rereading a few short favorites seemed like a good idea, hence Birthright. Although it is a bit depressing in totality, Resnick's view of a galaxy dominated by Man is a great achievement in SF. He postulates an Empire that is eerily similar to the crazy world of today's politics, filled with lying, double dealing, back-stabbing, callousness towards others, and so on. If it were a 'novel', it might be too much, but it is a series of short stories, or vignettes, highlighting certain characters and events over Man's 16000 or so year run at galactic domination. The point of it isn't to paint Man in a bad light as a brutish savage, but to show how crappy things could be if our show more current outlook doesn't change. Controlling subjects that despise you and all you stand for isn't really an achievement to my mind, it's a burden that will destroy you in the end. Resnick has written many other books nominally or explicitly set in the Birthright universe, I really need to find more of them. Filled with lessons about humanity and their cravings for power, this is still a favorite. And, for a little insight, the cover is a nice representation of the huge holographic galaxy in the Department of Cartography, the true controlling power of the Navy. show less

A really neat collection of narratively linked short stories. Great stuff for the hard sci/fi crowd! Resnick writes a lot like Asimov, which is not a complement. He has excellent ideas, but his narrative drags, and his characters are very stilted. I found the subtext to be a little creepy.

A bunch of joined short stories over milenia. All pretty good and not boring as a whole.

This is a boring book... The scope is interesting, but nothing ever happens that makes me want to continue reading. That's why I didn't finish it.