BELLA'S 1998 RECOMMENDATIONS

War of the Worlds (CD)
by Jeff Wayne

This has to be the ultimate concept album! Keyboardist Jeff Wayne put together an amazing bunch of people to perform his musical version of H.G. Wells' classic novel of Martians invading the sleepy village of Horsell. Richard Burton narrates the story, providing the bridging between the musical passages. Singer David Essex takes the role of the artilleryman, the late Phil Lynott (of Thin Lizzy fame) is the parson, Julie Covington (star of the original album of the musical 'Evita') is his wife. Musicians include Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues and a number of top session musicians.

Projects like this are frequently over-hyped and are a sad disappointment when they finally turn up. The one lives up to its expectations. If you like the sort of music put out by Pink Floyd, Alan Parsons, Yes, or Emerson Lake and Palmer, then you will probably like this.

Click here for more information on the War of the Worlds CD.

Click here for information about the the Martian sculpture in Woking.


Krondor: The Betrayal
by Raymond E. Feist

A few years back Sierra released a game 'Betrayal at Krondor', set in Raymond Feist's Riftwar mythos. The game was characterized by a number of unusual features include an unusually taunt storyline - the hallmark of a good writer at the helm. Over the intervening years Raymond Feist has woven elements of the game story into his ongoing series of books, and now he has taken the plot of the game and turned it into a first rate novel.

This is not the 'book of the game'. It is an excellent book in its own right, which uses the overall plot of the game as the central theme of the novel. There are, though, enough twists and changes to make it a good read even for those who played the game.

Click here for more information on Krondor: The Betrayal.


Goodbye Descartes
Kevin Devlin

This book is difficult to categorize, because it is about how we communicate with one another. Using a historical narrative about the development of logic, Devlin shows how classical logic purports to provide rules for how we think and communicate. He then goes on to look at just how adequate these rules are for the study of interpersonal communications.

This is a fascinating book that anyone interested in the current state of the artificial intelligence (or, as some would have it, artificial stupidity) field would do well to read. This is not a simple, easy or superficial book . There are difficult concepts in it that need to be grasped. The author's ability to put over complex issues does not in itself simplify those issues. However, no high level mathematical ability is required - just high school maths.

Click here for more information Goodbye Descartes.

More Christmas recommendations

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