Empire

Empire: The Russian Empire and Its Rivals is an extensive overview of both Russian Empires (Tsarist and Soviet) and its three main rivals - British, Hapsburg (Austro-Hungarian branch) and Ottoman. I found this to be very interesting, as aside from studying the fall of the Tsar and beginnings of the Soviet Union at school, I have little knowledge on Russian history, and know nothing at all really concerning Hapsburg and Ottoman.

Empire gives an overview of each empire, and then compares it to the Russian so we may see what similarities and differences exist. The three rivals all offer different examples of Empire, with British being a maritime-financial-economic, Hapsburg a Federation (at least toward the end) and Ottoman a geographic based upon conquest but with local traditions respected and left to theirselves. I found it interesting just to read and learn about the Hapsburgs and Ottomans, and the context to which they were the rivals of Russia.

This is a well-written, informative book, although not surprisingly the subject can be a little on the heavy side sometimes. I could sit down and plough through a chapter, but equally it would occasionally be very draining and make me sleepy. Reading in the heat of summer with humidity probably did not help this! But I feel like I have learnt from reading this, from understanding a little more about the make-up of the former Soviet Republics today to basic information of past empires. I also found it interesting to read (and wondered why this had not been brought up in school all those years ago) that the dismantling of the Hapsburg Empire following the First World War by the victorious Allied Powers was a key reason for the ease of Hitler's subsequent domination of Central Europe as there was no longer a strong force that would resist German domination present.

There were two points made by the author that I found particularly interesting. Those will follow, but before they do, a swift summary: Empire... is a well-written, interesting and concise look at the Russian Empires, and would serve well as an introduction to the subject. Of course it is totally ironic that the things I have found most interesting have nothing to do with Russia...

"At the beginning of the 21st Century, the American 'goldilocks economy' shares the planet with a Japan in deep recession and a Germany struggling to come to terms inter alia with reunification. A mood of euphoria equal to that of the 1920s reigns again on Wall Street. Should it be followed by another 1929 then once again predictions as to which economy will lead mankind in the twenty-first century will be modified." Prophetic words!

"America's rancorously nationalistic public opinion was also seen as inherently aggressive, unstable and expansionist." Some things never change - this was the view of the 19th Century!

China Inc.

China Inc., published in 2005, is an interesting introduction to the rising economy of China, and the effects that it most likely will have upon America. I found it interesting as it didn't take the stance of "China is evil, and threatening our way of life", instead the book points out how the average Chinese person's life has improved from industrialisation, much the same as the population on Britain's did 150 years ago. It just so happens that today, the world's largest country is going through the stage of development, and much as when the US went through it and became a cheaper option for producing goods in Europe, today China is a cheaper option than the US.

What China Inc. does well is that it is not biased. As well as painting a vivid picture of city life for recent immigrants from the country, and that of the stunning development, it also points out the negative sides of China's rapid development, such as the Chinese government's bias toward native firms, even when they have clearly stolen ideas etc from foreign investors, or the fact that a foreign company must partner up with a native Chinese company (something they told us in Business school), but that a Chinese company is free to partner up with as many foreign companies as it likes (something they didn't tell us, shame on you Kingston University!), and so can achieve rapid exposure to technologies and secrets from a wide variety of sources, and at the same achieve the know-how of creating and implementing these, resulting in an unprecedented ability to replicate technology without having to develop it.

I suppose China Inc. leaves it to the reader to draw his or her own conclusions about what may happen with China's economic growth. Some of the things outlined in the book (such as the Chinese-backed EMD discs as a high-capacity replacement for DVDs being the standard world-wide) don't seem to have happened, but the majority of the book is concerned with informing, rather than predicting. One thing that did amuse me about the book was the introducion, where it gives typical examples of the impact of the Chinese boom on everyday life, and gives examples such as "another friend, a world-famous researcher who studies the lives of cells"... typical friends that we all have! But sillyness aside, this is an interesting and somewhat honest introduction to the topic of China that seems to have aged well, and if you are interested in the topic, you could do worse.

Diamonds Are Forever

Diamonds Are Forever suffers from being too short. James Bond spends the majority of the book infiltrating the diamond-smuggling operation of part of the US Mafia and getting inside the operations of said Mafia, then no sooner is he inside he gets himself found out, has a fight, then another fight and that is the end. The ending to me seemed rather hurried and forced, as if Ian Fleming was not allowed to exceed a certain number of pages. Which is a great pity as the event leading up to the ending are certainly full of high intrigue and drama, even if you know rather obviously that James Bond isn't going to get killed (unless the series takes a strange sci-fi twist in the future). It's not to say that the final part of the book is poorly written or dull - it's not, what with the menace of the briefcase emblazoned "My blood type is..." as an example - just that I got the idea that it could have been developed and heightened a little bit more. It is a good story, as ever I am yet to be disappointed by a James Bond tale - but I would say that it doesn't quite reach the pinnacle set by Casino Royale or Live And Let Die. It's a Sir Francis Drake rating for sure, but more toward the lesser of his achievements (such as blowing a trumpet at a Spanish ship and scaring it off in doing so) as opposed to destroying the Armada.

Moonraker

Moonraker is an interesting story. It begins rather slower than the previous Bond books that I have read, with the first 50 or so pages taking place in a Gentleman's Club (the original type, not a strip bar) in Central London. The story does pick up the pace however, as Bond seeks to infiltrate the Moonraker project, lead by a great villain in Hugo Drax. As an aside, it is a pity that the character development behind Drax would be almost impossible to replicate today - but I shan't spoil it for anyone and say why. Being a James Bond story, there is of course some seduction, and a lot of action, including a vivid car chase across the English county of Kent.

This again is a book that I wish they would have replicated more accurately when it came to film, rather than base loose plot strands upon it. I'm not sure quite what it is, maybe the books are a little more serious and less outlandish (and more in tone with the series reboot with Daniel Craig as Bond), but I do seem to prefer the novel version to the cinematic. I would recommend this to anyone who likes a good bit of action, adventure and drama in their reading... and the ending certainly won't disappoint.

Oh dear...

Well, I certainly didn't intend upon having a three month vacation away from reading! This just reaffirms my ideas about habits - when you are in the cycle of continually doing something, you think nothing of repeating the action the next day, et cetera, but as soon as you stop and break that habit, it is very difficult to get back into it. I suppose my challenge to read 100 books in a year is over now! In any case, I should get cracking with the books again as I do have 8 or so that I have been sent expressly to review. If I was back home in England, I would cry "to the reading chair!" but unfortunately that was too large to bring on the plane to New York with me, instead I will try to ignore the overtures of producing DJ mixes and playing Football Manager and read once more!

Three months - bloody hell...