Flashforward (pub. 1999; broadcast 2009-10)

Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer, the dean of Canadian SF (didn't know there was a dean of Canadian SF, did you?) tells the story of a global event in which all of humanity blacks out and experiences two minutes of their future selves twenty years from 2009 (where the book begins, ten years after it's publication date).

The blackout has immediate consequences as cars crash and numerous people die, including a little Japanese girl. The girl's mother, Michiko, is a scientist at CERN, specifically at the Large Hadron Collider. Michiko is engaged to the main character, a Canadian scientist named Lloyd Simcoe. (Extra points for creating such a dorky Canadian name, Bob.) A third protagonist is Lloyd's partner in science, Theo Procopides.

Through internet sites and various reports, the flashforwards are determined all to have shown the same future date (some people happened to be reading the paper, or watching TV). Lloyd is a bit disturbed to find that he was in bed with a woman who was not Michiko. Theo has a more disconcerting flashforward: he had blankness. Worried that he was dead, he sets up a website asking anyone with information about his future to contact him. Sure enough, others report his death.

Ultimately, Lloyd and CERN take responsibility for the flashforward, since it happened at exactly the moment they started up the LHC. (If you'll recall, in real life, the LHC went online in 2009 and people speculated that it could create a black hole and destroy the universe. This did not happen.)

As a test of this theory, they recreate their experiment with everyone in the world seated, not driving or flying anywhere and waiting for... nothing.

But the future is not going to proceed as planned. Theo's brother, who saw himself working in the same tourist-y restaurant in Greece where he working in now, commits suicide rather than live out such a dead end life.

Here come the spoilers: eventually, the book jumps ahead to just before the moment that was flashed to. We see that Lloyd and Michiko have separated (the flash made it kind of hard for Lloyd to commit to marriage knowing it would not last). Theo is still alive and finds the man who wants him dead. Turns out the man blames Theo for the death of his wife during the blackout. They fight, they chase, Theo manages to survive.

Overall, the book posits lots of interesting theories and the premise is terrifically compelling and suspenseful. However, the characters are a bit dull and the dialogue is classic SF bland.

What you'll get in the book that you won't get in the movie: discussions of the uncertainty principle, bosons and a weird old man who wants to create immortal consciousnesses.

Links:
Sawyer talks to AMCTV about SF on television and movies.

Time Magazine video interview with Sawyer.

CERN video interview with Sawyer.

Bottom line: if you liked the show for the premise, you might like seeing how it plays out with a different group of people. If you liked the show because you liked particular characters or situations, you're unlikely to find them in the book.

The Men Who Stare At Goats (pub. 2004; rel. 2009)

I haven't seen the movie yet, so my thoughts on adaptation come strictly from the trailer.

The Men Who Stare At Goats is a non-fiction piece of first person journalism by Jon Ronson. Ronson has written some great books in this style, including Them: Adventures with Extremists (excellent and recommended!), Clubbed Class (not as recommended, and less excellent) and Out of the Ordinary (a collection of columns so an easy way to get into his voice; recommended if you like that voice, but grating if you don't). He also contributes to the radio program This American Life. You might notice that I've read a bunch of Ronson and enjoy his writing.

Goats follows Ronson as he travels around learning about some odd projects financed by the American military. The origin of these projects seems to be the First Earth Battalion Operations Manual. As Ronson follows various leads, he meets lots of odd people that you would not expect to be in the military and they describe lots of odd projects. The title project refers to a man who killed a goat by staring at it. There is a weird science fiction vibe and the men involved sometimes refer to themselves as "Jedis" and talk about walking through walls.

The book is very funny and goofy and then the ending packs a punch [SPOILER!]: the First Earth Battalion Operations Manual turns out to have planted the seeds of all sorts of activities that were used at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. Not waterboarding, but psychological torture like sleep deprivation and playing Barney the Dinosaur's theme song over and over again.

At that point all the hilarity drains and you realize that the lovable kooks who wanted to remake the US military into a New Age force are not so lovable but still kooks, and still have an effect on our military. Then it becomes scary.

The overall arc of the tone and story makes this my favorite of Ronson's book (Them is awesome but consists of short pieces connected by theme rather than a sustained look at a weird phenomenon).

From the trailers to the film it looks like Ewan MacGregor (Jedi! Ha!) is playing an American journalist based on Ronson. This would seem to work against the Woody Allen-esque, meek British Jew persona Ronson writes in. The movie also looks like it's played for more slapstick laughs rather than the uncomfortable recognition the book plies.

What you will find in the book that wasn't in the movie:
Lots of details and a connection with contemporary events that makes the proceedings seem less laughable and more scary. Some of the programs instigated are so bizarre that you won't believe that this is how your tax dollars were spent. On the other hand, some of the characters have such good hearts, it's amazing they were ever soldiers.

Links:
Jon Ronson was interviewed on NPR's All Things Considered about his book becoming a movie.

Bottom line:
Judging from box office reports, not that many people liked the movie. However, this book is recommended as both entertainment and information.
 

The Blind Side (pub. 2006; rel. 2009)

The Blind Side is a beautiful, non-fiction book about the evolution of the position of left tackle in football and the biography of a young talent, Michael Oher.

The left tackle is the guy in the offensive line who protects the quarterback on the side that most right-handed quarterbacks are not facing, i.e. the blind side. In the early 1980s, this guy was being paid peanuts, the same as the other offensive lineman and maybe half the salary of the guy he lined up against who was determined to knock the quarterback down. Today, he's often the second highest paid player on the team after the quarterback. More than the running backs, more than the receivers (and more than some quarterbacks). 

And he never touches the football.

The explanation of how this happened and what skills are necessary to play the position are intermingled with the story of Michael Oher. Oher is a huge black kid from the poor projects of West Memphis who through a combination of luck and other people's charity, guilt, and greed, ended up at Briarcrest Christian School in white, rich East Memphis. He attracted a lot of attention and especially the attention of Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy. The Tuohys bought Michael clothes, then let him crash on their couch, and eventually legally adopted the boy. 

This family story is told with incredible warmth and emotion and not a little humor. There are lines of dialogue in the book that made me laugh out loud. At one point, the NCAA is investigating to make sure the Tuohys didn't simply adopt Michael so that they could send him to their alma mater's football program. The NCAA investigator asks questions about Michael's education and Sean Tuohy tells her he doesn't know (his wife and a tutor they hired were in charge of that stuff). This leads to this frustrated exchange:

NCAA: ... you don't know if he's supposed to take English or math or science. That's the part that still baffles me.

Sean: Ma'am, I hate that it baffles you. But all you asked me to be is truthful. You didn't ask me to be smart.

One great thing about the story is that in real life I would never get to know a family like the Tuohys: millionaire, white, Country Club Republicans obsessed with sports, but I got a lot of pleasure in getting to know them through the book.

Michael Lewis of Liar's Poker and other books, is a great writer with excellent comic and dramatic timing. Aside from the fact that the left tackle protects the quarterback, you don't need to know anything about football to enjoy this book. To put it one way: if you enjoyed Friday Night Lights (book, movie or tv show), you will love this book. To put it another way: I'm recommending this book to my wife and her book group. I couldn't put this book down.

What you'll get in the book that wasn't in the movie:
The history of the left tackle. You can skip these parts if you're more interested in the Tuohys but Lewis sketches the personalities of these men with such skill that you'll wish he had written more about some of these characters.

More than you care to know about the NCAA recruiting process. Not that it isn't interesting, but if you thought that college recruiting sounds a bit shady in the abstract, you'll have more details about it here.  


Videos and Links



Here's the publisher's "teaser" video for the book (not the movie):





This is a Vanity Fair video of Lewis talking about the book and movie. 





Michael Lewis talks to New York Magazine about his books being made into movies, including Liar's Poker ("dead") and Moneyball, here.




Update (4/4/11): I have since seen the movie and I can tell you that there are some significant changes, primarily in the parts of the film dealing with Oher's "former" life. Leigh Ann sticking up to toughs in the ghetto? Metaphorically, yes; physically, not recounted in the book. Also, the book explores Michael's relationships with many people, rather than focusing on Leigh Ann, as the movie does.

Bottom line:
If you liked the movie, you'll like the book. The movie is surprisingly faithful, taking some liberties to make things more exciting, but everything good about the movie is in the book, plus lots more. More football, yes, but also more emotion because  there are more of Michael's relationships with others.