shanth's reviews
936 reviews

A surprisingly honest and candid introduction to modern Iran and Iran-America relations, coming from a Washington insider. My only objection to this was the (in my opinion) excessive stress on trying to look at things from `an Iranian cultural context', which gives it a sort of neo-orientalist feel, when I think most issues can be well understood on fairly universal terms. To his credit the author admits that, and makes it abundantly clear what he eels about the West's role in thwarting democracy in Iran. Obviously, no one book can sum up such a vast topic, but this is a good initial introduction to ancient and modern Iranian history.

Becky Chambers was already one of my favourite SF writers with the Wayfarer series. This novella is the perfect layer cake of a hard scifi's foundation in realistic science (no teleporters and magic), interesting and intriguing utopian political structures that aren't without their own dramas and politics (because that's what being human is, isn't it?); and space exploration!

The exploration of the social dynamics on this tiny research crew of four, pairs especially well with [b:Record of a Spaceborn Few|32802595|Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers, #3)|Becky Chambers|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1516965190l/32802595._SY75_.jpg|53399142], another experiment in structuring and organising society on a larger space station.