Through the Looking-Glass

Through the Looking-Glass book cover

Another book by Lewis Carroll, the adventures of Alice continue. Some time later after the first book, Alice goes through a mirror into an opposite world. Including both the characters from the past book and new characters, Alice is in a quests to become a Queen. This is achieved by going through 8 squares, it is like a game of chess. Still talking to herself and questioning everything Alice goes through the Looking-Glass and interacts with many characters such as Humpty Dumpty.

I enjoyed this book although not as much as the first one. The story was great in terms of how it was made as a game of chess and it by far had more poetry in it. The question of who had the dream is intriguing and I loved how she used her kittens as characters in the story. It's an extremely short read and I gout through it in a sitting. I would recommend this book if you want more of Alice but I think the first story is far more loved by the public and therefore could be enjoyed more. In comparison I must say I liked the movie a bit more because of the use of the Jabberwocky but the book is good and such a different story that they should be regarded as two separate tales.
I give this book a 3/5

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book cover

Ford Prefect is an alien from the planet Betelgeuse who has been stranded on Earth for the last 15 years. DON'T PANIC! But the world is about to end. That is when Ford Prefect hitches a ride with the Vogon ship that is about to destroy the planet to make a galactic freeway. Taking his friend Arthur Dent with him, both go on adventures with the President Zaphod Beeblebrox, Trillian and Marvin the paranoid android. With the stolen spaceship, the Heart of Gold, they travel through the galaxy and find a million years old secret alongside with the answer to the meaning of Life, the Universe and Everything. But not without the help of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a book about everything in the universe.

This book written by Douglas Adams is brilliant. It is a mixture of sci-fi and comedy that seems so silly you can't help but laugh. I really loved this book, it's one of my new favorites. The story took on an unexpected turn and an incredible explanation as to why the planet Earth was created. I seriously laughed a lot especially at the Guide's entries like the one from the Earth, "mostly harmless". This book is brilliant, it is really easy to read and quite short. My copy is The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy so it has the 5 novels, I can't wait to read the rest and find out what happens. Also and on a side note the story of how this book came to be is pretty interesting as well. I'd recommend it to any sci-fi fan but if you don't like sci-fi much it may be tougher to get through.
This book has definitively 5/5 stars.

Watchmen

Watchmen book cover

This graphic novel is written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. The story follows a group of superheroes, the next generation of the "Watchmen". It tells the first generation's story as flashbacks, with the adventures of the new "Watchmen". The story begins after an anti-vigilante act is passed. Some heroes are retired like Nite Owl, Rorschach is still active, Dr. Manhattan (with Silk Spectre as his companion) and The Comedian now work for the government. Ozymandias on the other side, revealed his true identity and currently runs his own companies. The Comedian was attacked and killed, Rorschach is investigating who is attacking the previous members of the Watchmen and the rest you will have to read because it is complicated to summarize without spoilers.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel. It is a really crude story about superheroes that shows how things are in reality. I specially loved how throughout the book, the quote "who watches the watchmen" appeared as graffiti all over town. Also, the tough decisions the group had to make were surprising. I will not say who but a character dies so that the master plan can be completed. This plot-twist was amazing and just left me wanting for more which I didn't get. The ending was particularly shocking, I recommend this book as it is considered the best graphic novel ever. It won't disappoint the reader but you have to be ready for anything as it is quite crude.
I give it 5/5 stars.

Más Allá de las Tres Dunas (Beyond the Three Dunes)

Más Allá de las Tres Dunas book cover

This Spanish book by Susana Fernández Gabaldón is about the discovery of the hidden city of Hanefer. All this through the acquisition and discovery of some magical items by Hassan, a man who works at an antiquities shop in Cairo. One of these items is Princess Neferure's hand-held mirror, it shows visions of the past to one of Hassan's nephews. This event sends Hassan, one of his friends and his nephews into the desert to find the lost city. Once they do this, they need to escape alive.

I like this book because it was a part of my childhood. Since I was a kid I was interested in Egypt and this is a great book to get started in that area. With easy language and an interesting story, Más Allá de las Tres Dunes is great for any kid. The best thing is how Susana describes everything, it leaves it to your imagination and is so detailed that it helps with the story. I would recommend this book for small children (10-12) because it is extremely easy to read and it is also entertaining. Its aspects of magic and history are what makes this book similar to Rick Riordan's work minus the humor.
I give it  3/5 stars because it isn't as amusing as it was 6 years ago.

Alan Turing: The Enigma

Alan Turing: The Enigma book cover

This book, written by Andrew Hodges and published in 1983, is the biography of the British mathematician Alan Mathison Turing. Including his involvement at Bletchley Park during WW2, his work on biology and the creation of the computer and artificial intelligence this is the most thorough publication of his life. Sadly, he was a homosexual. I say sadly because it was not a good time to be one, he was eventually arrested and forced to go through a "chemical castration" for a year. All of this, including his contributions to science were made before his suicide in 1954.

I read this book after watching the movie and in this case it was better this way. The movie helped me ease into the difficult description of advanced mathematics and physics. Having said this, in no way is the book as easy to understand as the movie. Explaining how Turing thought and his multiple experiments was tough to understand. I understand the book simply can't be short but it definitively could've been less like a math class. Putting that aside, the book was good. I learned so much of history and how being different was bad. It caught my attention how during the 50's being a homosexual was equivalent to being more reliable to give in to pressure or blackmail and that due to this belief, no homosexuals were allowed in big government positions. It is a big book, about 700 pages long so it is no easy walk but to understand how it all evolved from the Manchester Mark I to what we now use everyday as regular computers is quite a development. Alan had a vision of "Universal Machines" that could do everything, even think (later called Artificial Intelligence). It is hard to give a review of such a long book considering that I wish to leave it as spoiler free as possible and still convey how awed I feel after reading this Man's life. As the movie says: "Sometimes it is the people who no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine."
This book only has 3.5/5 stars because it is long and hard to keep up with but I truly think the story is worth reading.