Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All

The Long Way Home is the first volume of the official season 8 for Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

As a television show, Buffy was on TV for seven seasons and ended on a really cool idea. Joss Whedon, the man behind the Buffster, is continuing the story in comic book form.

The first time I read this volume, which collects the first five issues of the comic book release, I found it exciting, comforting, but a bit confusing. I was expecting it to be a self-contained story of some kind, and it is on a certain level, but it really is an introduction to what comes next and next and next.

I know this now. I’m through volumes 2 and 3, and on my reread of volume 1, a lot of what I missed the first time around became clear. But, I still feel that it still progresses very disjointedly in many places.

Character-wise, two second tier characters are poorly drawn and would be unrecognizable if I wasn’t told who they were. As for the Scooby gang, they fared a lot better.

In particular, Buffy and Xander are very well done. I can hear each actor’s voice and line reading in my head as I went through the book. And that, all by itself, made me smile many, many times.

Dawn is still annoying, but hey, I’ll take that consistency if I get to play in this world again for a little while.

Tags: Books, TV by Ms. SP
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Edited by Robert Cowley. (The World’s Foremost Military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been)

I tend to think that if you are interested in history, you’re automatically interested, at least to a small degree, in counterfactual history (or virtual history).

“What If”s are already a part of historical study. Why did people make certain choices and not others? Why did events move along this one path instead of taking any number of tangents along the way?

I have not read either:

• What If?: The World’s Foremost Military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been -or-
• What If? 2: Eminent Historians Imagine What Might Have Been

But I pulled this audiobook down off the library shelf with interest. I think this contains selected essays from both of the books listed above.

Overall, I’m a little disappointed with the experience.

First, I fully admit that perhaps I had already indulged too much in the “What If” world. Many of the topics presented are pretty mainstream. Although, I don’t think you have to be a fan of counterfactuals to share my opinion. I think any military history enthusiast would already be familiar with many of the extrapolations in the book.

I think that’s the problem with doing a book series like this. To explain the alternatives succinctly, you have to rely on the audience to actually know the original.

But if your audience of history buffs already knows the original, then they are already going to understand some of the alternatives.

Since I listened to these essays rather than reading them, I don’t know if there are maps and diagrams involved. Again, the author needs the reader to at least understand the basics of military study—weaponry, tactics, terrain, etc.

Therefore, a general reader will not be able to listen to this audiobook and get much out of it. But, I feel that the essays are geared towards more of a mass audience. The topics are more popularistic and not as mired in historical minutia.

This combination, however, makes the collection miss both audiences. It’s too bland and easy for the knowledgeable investigator. Yet it is too advanced and reliant on previous knowledge for the brand new learner.

That’s not to say that all of the pieces missed their marks, but as a whole, I think it does.

Tags: Books by Ms. SP
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What I learned today: What happens during the first seconds of a nuclear bomb explosion.

I’ve just finished listening to the audio version of E=mc2: A Biography of the World’s Most Famous Equation by David Bodanis. It is a fascinating and surprisingly accessible book. But that’s for another post.

I learned so many things, but when he describes the first man-made application of this famous equation, it’s hard not to be moved.

First, the bomb over Hiroshima actually exploded above ground. Did you know that? If it had exploded like a conventional bomb, detonating as it hit the ground, it would have created a !gigantic! crater and caused so much more extensive (and perhaps unwanted) damage.

One-third of the bomb’s total energy would have been released in the initial flash. This could melt and peel skin.

The ensuing force of the explosion would push the air around it outwards at speeds exceeding the speed of sound. So if you were far enough away to survive the first detonation, wind would whip by you faster than the most powerful of hurricanes and tornadoes.

And eerily, it would be silent. Because the sound of this moving wall of air has been left behind.

If you managed to survive this, you’d be exposed to a vacuum. There is no air left behind. Like in space, a vacuum can make people explode. If you scream, there would be no sound, because there’s no air to carry it.

But the vacuum wouldn’t last, because once the force of the nuclear blast wanes, nature rushes to fill that vacuum.

All the air comes flooding back in another huge gush.

And that’s just a part of what happens in the first few seconds.

Tags: What I Learned by Ms. SP
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