Unpleasant milestone

I had to get gas today.  So, of course, today was the day our corporate masters decided it would be fun to raise the price another 30 cents.

For the first time, it cost over $40 to fill up.

Book review: The Green Trap

Today's book review is The Green Trap by Ben Bova.

Eeyurgh.  This is quite simply the worst book I've read in quite some time.  I very nearly abandoned it in disgust when the characters started acting in ways that would make the worst TV soap opera seem like Shakespearean insight into humanity and we were presented with a scientific howler that a high school student shouldn't have tolerated.  But for some perverse reason, I kept reading.  It didn't get better.  Several different ludicrously cliche villains bounce off of each other.  Then after nearly getting killed several times, our hapless hero suddenly decides to do what he should have done on page 50.  And just in case you make it to the last page without feeling you've totally wasted your time, the last thing that happens in the story serves to add a distinct note of unpleasantness on top of the multiple too-painful-to-read stupidities.

2 out of 10.

( plot summary )