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210 pages, Paperback
First published April 28, 2008
Instead travel proceeds on foot, by boat, or by that colophon of alternate-world fiction ... the grand zeppelin liner.
“Let’s blow their little minds. A mind is not blown, in spite of whatever Hollywood seems to teach, merely by action sequences, things exploding, thrilling planetscapes, wild bursts of speed. Those are all good things; but a mind is blown when something that you always feared but knew to be impossible turns out to be true; when the world turns out to be far vaster, far more marvelous or malevolent than you ever dreamed; when you get proof that everything is connected to everything else, that everything you know is wrong, that you are both the center of the universe and a tiny speck sailing off its nethermost edge.”
I came to this book thinking there would be a little more analysis, there was none. He starts with the reason we read, listen to music, watch movies, and tell stories: for entertainment. Entertainment that is a necessary and inescapable part of the human condition even if it is masked with ironic enjoyment. The fences that separate high brow, low brow, and even pop simply don't exist. It is all entertainment and someone can find joy in it if not any kind of meaning, deep or otherwise.
Most of the essays read as ‘I like this’ and goes on unanalytically about how he first experienced it and what he has since gleaned from the experience since but in a very well-written and entertaining way. He also talked about how sometimes his entertainments (comics, YA books, etc.) and stories told to him tied into his work as a writer on occasion.
I did enjoy the book. It was a smooth read all the way through with the last essay being my favorite, Golems I have Known. I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone with a passing interest in comics, short and pulp fiction, and golems or for just the sheer entertainment value.