Postmaster@bbn-vax (07/06/85)
From: dm@bbn-vax.arpa After seeing the positive review of this book in sf-lovers, I rushed right out to buy it. Nano-review: read Miss Manners, instead. Micro-review: wait 'til it comes out in paperback, and get it to read to your four-year-old kid. Review: a pale imitation of Lewis Carroll. Too many authorial intrusions in the manner of: ``I sure hope YOU understand what I mean, dear Reader, I certainly don't!'' Not enough puns. There's some good level confusion stuff (particularly the Emu's typographical poem), but overall I found the whole thing somewhat tiresome. I think Douglas Hofstadter should take up writing ``Alice'' books. Or maybe Rudy Rucker. Or maybe they should collaborate (Rucker could restrain Hofstadter's cute-glands and Hofstadter could restrain Rucker's glands (although a soft-core Alice might be kind of interesting... Wasn't there a hard-core Alice done once?). Maybe Martin Gardner should drop by occasionally while they're at it. Or Dan Dennett. I remember a long time ago the ``Chicago Seed'' (probably the most beautiful of the underground papers) ran a parody of Alice in Wonderland where a good deal of the wonder was chemically stimulated.