Customer Reviews

Bogus to Bubbly: An Insider's Guide to the World of Uglies

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book was interesting and full of new info. There were a lot of facts which summed up the Uglies Series. For example, Westerfeld writes a whole history explaining the down fall of the Rusties in detail, which he never made clear in the books.

The writer did a lot of explaining to help the reader understand the gizmos and gadgets that the Series is full of. He brought blueprints and manuals to the book to aid us in visualizing the machines. Westerfeld helped us understand the reasoning behind the politics such as why Tally's government made Prettytown and why they decided to make teenagers stupid.

Hidden messages were always part of the series. Westerfeld made the meaning of the messages more clear. He believes that the world could be headed to a world like the Rusties. He thinks over-population and global warming are a big concern that needs to be looked after if we're to save ourselves from a world like Tally's.

Westerfeld even gave us writing tips on how to come up with sci-fi names and different themes for books. All in all it was a bang-up book full of nifty information that really helped me understand the world of Tally better. If you're a big fan of the books, you'll definitely want to add this to your collection to have as a reminder of what the Uglies world really is underneath all of the "bubbliness".

I've had the Uglies series on my wishlist for ages so when this popped up I thought it would be a good starting point to tell me whether I should really bother with it. Deep down I am a fan of this kind of book, the whole "guide to the world of" thing. I think anyone who gets deeply into a series or genre can relate to a desire for just a little bit more from their favorite series. But is a book like this one really worth it?

Having not read the series I can definitely say it tells a lot about the books themselves. It spoiled a lot of the plot and things I wouldn't already know if I'd been starting the series. What I liked was the glossary and the slanguage sections. I always get annoyed by slang and special language terms being used in books without knowing exactly what the author intends them to mean. What I didn't like was the feeling that while a lot of the tech was getting attention, not much else really was.

As another reviewer commented... it felt like it was targeted at a younger reader than the audience for this series is. As an adult reader interested in the series it made me wonder if it might be too juvenile for my tastes. So don't be a goof like me... don't buy this hoping to let it determine whether you'll like the books or not... I think it might heavily misrepresent it and spoil a lot.

I have read all the books- Uglies, Pretties, Specials, and Extras. I was looking forward to this book because I usually like companion books like these. I just thought it was okay. You definitely should not read it before you read the books as it will spoil some things for you. I did like reading about the "History of Tally's World." I agree with other reviewers that this companion book does not have the same universal appeal as the books (i.e. can be read by all ages). I got it for free and recommend you read at library, instead of buying, unless you are already a big fan of the series.

"Bogus to Bubbly: A Guide for the Fans"
A Review of Scott Westerfeld's Bogus to Bubbly: An Insider's Guide to the World of Uglies
By Alexandria DeMeritt

Bogus to Bubbly is a guide written by Scott Westerfeld about his Uglies series. If you have not read the main trilogy- Uglies, Pretties or Specials- or the fourth novel, Extras, this book is not useful for you. If you are in the middle of the series, it is especially advised that you avoid purchasing this- it contains spoilers from every book in the series. In other words, Bogus to Bubbly is for the fan who has purchased all of the Uglies books and is hungry for more. It isn't necessary for understanding the series.

I've noticed that each of the sections of the book can be put in one of two categories. The first category is the "retelling" category. It basically retells and recollects information scattered throughout the fourth books, embroidering it with a few more details not found in the novels. For example, the "History of Tally's World" section describes the events that precede the novels (but are still discussed in the series), the events of the four books, and the immediate future after the end of Extras. It adds a few details that I do not remember reading about in the books. However, for the most part, it discusses things already found in the book series. These parts make interesting reads; however, the original novels are far more interesting then these "Retold" categories.

The second category is what I like to call the "behind-the-scenes" category. These categories primarily discuss Westerfeld's inspirations behind the series. He goes out of his way to show us that, despite being set off in the far future, many "sci-fi" details of the Uglies series occur today. Two of the largest responses to fan questions are "Where did you get the idea for this series?" and "What is pretty?" My favorite sections of the book, the three "Science" sections, discuss the scientific background behind many details in the series.

The book, itself, is cleverly written. It frequently changes points-of-views. Some sections are written from Scott Westerfeld's personal expressions. Others are written as if they are a futuristic manual. It is an intriguing variety.

Sometimes, when a book series gets really popular, writers will try to cash in by writing unauthorized guides to the story or books about the "science" behind popular fantasy titles. Then, rarely, you get a book like Bogus to Bubbly: An Insider's Guide to the World of Uglies (2008) that was actually written by the ultimate insider: Scott Westerfeld.

Uglies is a series of books (one trilogy and a companion book) about a world in the future where in order to prevent war and strife everyone gets plastic surgery to be beautiful and live long. Everyone else, by contrast, is ugly. That is the super, super short explanation of the series which is more complex. I don't recommending reading this guide before the series because it contains spoilers and, truth be told, unless you know you like the books this guide will not be that interesting.

Westerfeld explains a lot of things in this book. He discusses where the idea for the story came from, as well as how he thought of skintennas and the Rusties. Parts of the book also explain technology, history, and culture surrounding the worlds created in the Uglies series.

What I liked about the book was that it mentioned a lot about the writing process. While Westerfeld himself notes that it's hard to trace the origin of ideas, this book does try. It's interesting to read how a dentist visit inspired several aspects of the book while, thankfully, we are not the entire inspiration behind the Rusties. Explanations of names and slanguage were also very informative and interesting.

I was less enthralled by the technology information. It was fun to hear about the science of beauty, but the information about magnetic levitation, hoverboards and inventions got a bit, well, technical. Although I fully admit that could be me since Uglies is one of the few straight sci-fi series I read (I usually go in for fantasy which, having dragons and what not, is guaranteed to be less technical). There is also a bit of repetition with the books revealing much of what Westerfeld puts together in Bogus to Bubbly but that is probably inevitable with an insider's guide like this.

Aside from content, I liked the book's organization. It's written like a real guide with cross-referencing between sections and an index. The book also includes illustrations and maps which helped a lot to visualize the city as it was meant to be seen.

While the entire book might not be read-worthy for every fan, it's very likely at least one nagging question about the series will be answered in this book. Mine, for instance, being whether belly sensors were indeed belly button rings or not. Readers will also leave the guide with a new insight into how the writing process might work. On top of that, Bogus to Bubbly also includes a preview of Westerfeld's new series Leviathan.

My only serious regret is that the Awesome Librarian Clique only warranted passing mention (though since they didn't factor in the books at all, perhaps that is to be expected).

Now I'm going to start by saying that I'm not especially familiar with the works of Scott Westerfeld, but this kind of popped out as interesting. Though a breezy and somewhat superficial read, this book functions as a sort of Silmarillion to the Uglies series, a basic sketch of the world of the Uglies and the author's inspirations, and in that regard, even if you haven't read the original series, it's pretty cool. The setting is North America after a bacterium ends modern ("Rusty") civilization by destroying most of the petroleum on Earth and someone gets the idea to eliminate conflict by making everyone attractive, ideally easing tensions and eliminating conflicts; when that doesn't work, scientists create the "bubblehead" surgery, a form of reversible lobotomy that eliminates the desire for conflict and, as a side effect, converts almost everyone on earth into a bunch of nigh-mindless, hedonistic fashionistas. Included in this book is a capsule history of the creation and collapse of the Pretty civilization, a story that works out to a cross between Logan's Run and Paranoia. (The actual story, from my quick skims of the actual series, is told in a much more tense, high-impact fashion in the books. If you don't mind young adult literature, by all means check them out.) The use of language -- not as extensive as, say, Tolkien, but with much in common with A Clockwork Orange -- and the connections to current technology -- shouts out appear to electronic tattoos, molecular gastronomy, maglev technology, and numerous other ideas -- also make this an interesting book just for people into what-if histories and constructed cultures.

I am not a huge fan of dystopian literature -- I liked Fahrenheit 451, but Nineteen Eighty-Four gave me nightmares and despite my conviction that it should be required reading in any high school English class, I can't bring myself to read The Handmaid's Tale. But this back-end perspective is a little different -- fodder for fanfic, among other things, as well as a look into the author's master plan for the story arc. (Actually, it's just enough that a determined gamemaster, with a copy of GURPS or FUDGE, could turn it into a perfectly serviceable RPG setting.) At the end of the day, not every author is going to want to tell everything about their settings (JJ Abrams and his love of tip-of-the-iceberg backstories is a prime example), but it's always interesting when an author actually does allow a glimpse. Even then, it's just a cool sketch of a setting.

I found this book, very interesting. I would suggest reading The Uglies series before hand, because it tells you what happened during then. So, it would be a major spoiler to read it beforehand. A very cool feature is in a gadget section, the book talks about gadgets in the series and says how close we are to it.
I like all the awesome illstrations and how it was written. If you liked the Uglies Series, then this is a must read.

I have not read the series as of yet but to read this and find out the why's of the series was in itself quite facinating. To see that the human race in particular parts of the U.S.A. are as vane as sin and how much they actually spend to try and make themselves into the perfect vision is astounding to say the least. I guess they never heard the phrase, "Don't judge a book by it's cover"! I dare say that the amount of money some spend on vanity could feed a family of five for an entire year is an understatement and a shock to my system.

This book was informative and enlightening in so many respects. Even if you don't read the series I would suggest this book for the eye opener it is. The author does a wonderful job at letting us know the how's and why's of his chosing to write the series and I do believe that this would be a eye opener to some teens while others might just enjoy a good laugh at the vanity in which our society finds they must have.

If ever a teen series could use a guidebook, Uglies was it. Set in the future with light sci-fi, there are a lot of things that couldn't be extensively delved into to since it's a teen series. So for the more curious, Bogus to Bubbly provides background for the science-laden world, from the hoverboards and equipment to the portable dehydrated meals.

More interesting was learning about Scott Westerfeld's interest with anime, manga, and the Japanese culture. Even to a fan of that sort of thing, it wasn't blatantly obvious (as in Holly Black's Tithe series), but the hints were there. And the guide to creating slang should be of great interest to writers.

Highly recommended to fans of the series.

This was the perfect elaboration on Tally's life. I would suggest reading all four books before reading this because it says a lot about characters from all of the books. Way to go Scott Westerfeld!