X-Message-Number: 218 From att!CompuServe.COM!72320.1642 Sun Sep 2 16:37:23 1990 Return-Path: <att!CompuServe.COM!72320.1642> Received: from att.UUCP by whscad1.att.uucp (4.1/SMI-3.2) id AA22304; Sun, 2 Sep 90 16:37:20 EDT Received: by att.att.com; Sun Sep 2 16:29:42 1990 Received: by saqqara.cis.ohio-state.edu (5.61-kk/5.900605) id AA13588; Sun, 2 Sep 90 16:29:37 -0400 Date: 02 Sep 90 02:45:36 EDT From: Steve Bridge <> To: KEVIN <> Subject: CRYONICS updates/ book notes Message-Id: <"900902064535 72320.1642 EHI12-1"@CompuServe.COM> TO: Kevin Hearing Update The hearing on the suit against the California Department of Health Services scheduled for August 23 has been postponed for one month. Apparently the judge in the case has been involved in another case and has not had time to review all of the material in our situation. These delays are aggravating because this case is expected to establish the legality of cryonics in California, provide a basis for its regulation, and get certain bureaucrats off of our backs. We can't complain too much, though, since this particular judge has been quite fair with Alcor so far. This will put the hearing in the same week in September (not the same DAY, we hope) as the hearing on Thomas Donaldson's lawsuit. Book Notes Some upcoming books to watch for: Due in September or October: THE GREAT MAMBO CHICKEN AND THE TRANSHUMAN CONDITION by Ed Regis, Addison-Wesley Pub., $18.95. This is a somewhat tongue in cheek but supposedly accurate look at the fringes of science. The emphasis is on those areas of the fringe that appear bizarre on the surface, but which actually have a sound scientific base. It includes chapters on cryonics, nanotechnology, space colonization, uploading, and other topics of interest to most of us. People like Keith Henson, Mike Darwin, Eric Drexler, Paul Segall, and Hans Moravec are only a few of the figures profiled in the book. _Booklist_ (a library review periodical) thought it was bizarre, but well-written. Dan Chow of _Locus_ (science fiction review publication) said, "The scientists, slightly mad or not, who are brought to us in these pages are the stuff of legend. The book is nothing less than _Rolling Stone_ meets _Weird Science_. It's great." Available now: QUEEN OF ANGELS by Greg Bear, Warner Books, $19.95. This is perhaps the best novel so far which deals in a believable way with nanotechnology and the changes it might cause. If you want to get some idea of what it might be like to wake up in the future and be thrust into that world with no preparation, then read this book. The language and culture are changed enough to provide plenty of emotional churning, but enough detail is left from the past to provide connections for you if you persevere. The novel also contains an intriguing psychological murder mystery. Not at all an easy book, but very rewarding. Due out in September, possibly only in Great Britain, another title by Greg Bear. HEADS, Century-Legend (0-7126-3671-1, L-8.99 hard cover; 0-7126-2174-1, L-4.99 trade paperback). I'm giving you the book numbers because this may hard to get in the United States unless you go to a specialty SF store or book importer. This is a short novel about politics on the moon, complicated by a (to quote the review in _Locus_ magazine) "job lot of frozen heads bought from a bankrupt preservation society on Earth." Note: Bear does not write sarcastic or cute stories. This will be a serious look at culture, politics, and identity and is sure to be extremely well written. It is reportedly set in the same universe as QUEEN OF ANGELS. (If you find a source for this, please let Alcor and I know.) Available now: THE DEATH OF SLEEP by Anne McCaffrey and Jody Lynn Nye. Baen Books, $4.95 pb. This is not one of McCaffrey's fantasies, but instead a look at the adjustment problems of people who have been trapped in cold sleep for 62 years after a disaster happens on their space ship. To again quote a review from _Locus_, "THE DEATH OF SLEEP paints an excellent and humanistic portrait of a society that has to adjust to the physical returns of ancestors younger than themselves, and the re-adjustment and re- education of those whose fields have changed utterly during the time they lost." The rest of the review is very complimentary. Good reading to you. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=218