The Crazy Years [Paperback]

Spider Robinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 11, 2004

A collection of witty, irreverent essays on subjects running the gamut from the space program to airport bans on smoking are included in this anthology. Written by Spider Robinson, The Crazy Years takes its name from Robert A. Heinlein's designation of the last years of the 20th century and contains essays from Robinson's tenure as op-ed columnist for The Globe and Mail and from Galaxy Online. Environmentalists that place the survival of earth before the survival of humanity, the idiocy of computer designs, and the downsides of the Internet are among the subjects Robinson uses to take the world to task.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"If I didn't think it understated his achievement, I'd nominate Spider Robinson . . . as the new Robert Heinlein. . . . He writes as clearly about computers as he does about karate chops." --"The New York Times Book Review

About the Author

Spider Robinson is the author of Callahan's Key, Callahan's Legacy, and The Free Lunch. He has received three Hugo Awards, a Nebula Award, and the Pat Terry Memorial Award for Humorous Science Fiction. He is particularly known for his series Callahan's Place, believed to be the inspiration for one of the largest newsgroups on the Internet. He lives in Bowen Island, British Columbia. Lawrence Block is the author of The Burglar in the Rye, Hit List, Hope to Die, and Tanner on Ice. His articles and short stories have appeared in American Heritage, GQ, The New York Times, Playboy, and Redbook. He is a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America and has won the Edgar, Japanese Maltese Falcon, Nero Wolfe, and Shamus awards. He lives in New York City.

Product Details

• Paperback: 294 pages
• Publisher: BenBella Books (October 11, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932100350
• ISBN-13: 978-1932100358
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #990,078 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spider at his best!, January 10, 2007

By 

Nelson Vangundy (truckee, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Crazy Years (Paperback)

Thhis collection of Spider's Columnns [not previously seen in the US] is a wonderful collation of his wit, predictions, and social observations.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Catch and Release 22, April 23, 2006

By 

Robert Carlberg (Seattle) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Crazy Years (Paperback)

It is a reflection of the "interesting times" in which we live that Spider's collection of common sense essays are viewed by some as controversial.

The subjects range from pro-cigarette diatribes (nicotine is addictive but harmless, while tars are harmful but not addictive), marijuana (good), politics (bad), religion, Hollywood, global warming, computers, pre-emptive wars, the natural moral superiority of Canadians... All stuff you'd expect from his novels, which touch on such everyday morality but never really come out and slap it on the counter.

Here, Spider brings the fish out from its display case.

It's a brave move, prairie-dogging in the shooting gallery*. Lesser men have lost ears, and you won't be hearing from THEM again. But Spider (despite his name) has some kind of aversion to webs of deceit ("What kind of spider understands arachnaphobia," sang Robert Wyatt) and insists on "telling it like it is" -- despite the fact that right this minute Valentine Michael Smith is probably testing the grandfather paradox with Winston Smith.

What was it Yossarian said? When everyone around you is crazy, acting sane is the best way to get put away (or something like that... ask Klinger).


* - I never metaphor I didn't like, sorry.

17 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Crazy Years, October 25, 2004

By 

AK "Bro" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Crazy Years (Paperback)

*** Spider Robinson has established a reputation as being one of the masters of science fiction, and here he proves Andrew Greeley's point that sci fi and fantasy writers are the philosophers of the modern world. His collected essays, ranging from the rigors of nicotine withdrawal, the variations of stupidity, and the differences between Canadians and Americans, particularly in politeness often amuse, when not hitting too close to home. His wit runs from dry to laugh out loud, yet the one true drawback of this book is that the more agnostic moments will most likely disturb or even offend those who do have faith. At these points, the best advice to readers is to pick out the bones, but keep the fish. ***


Reviewed by Amanda Killgore.