Rockets, Redheads and Revolution

Rockets, Redheads and Revolution is a short story collection by James P Hogan.

RR&R is a mixed bag of science fiction short stories and non-fiction essays. The mix is a bit too heavy on the essay side for me, but that doesn't make it a bad book as HogRockets, Redheads and Revolution is a short story collection by James P Hogan.an has some very interesting things to say.

Madam Butterfly (24p, fiction)
Taking the butterfly effect to the max. It's weird in just the right kind of way.

How They Got Me at Baycon (5p, essay)
Hogan goes to a con and gets a taste of his own medicine.

Identity Crises (42p, fiction)
Now here's a truly weird story. It's all involving borrowed bodies and possible infidelity.

Uprooting Again (9p, essay)
Hogan talks about writing and thinking about moving back to Ireland. Hogan? Shut up about things that you know nothing about or at least be more careful about your generalisations. Just because there's rotten plumbing to be found in Ireland, that does not mean that the plumbing in the rest of Europe is the same.

Leapfrog (25p, fiction)
Quite a funny story about what political system might be the most effective (to get mankind into space).

Boom and Slump in Space (14p, essay)
Kind of a follow up story to Leapfrog. Very interesting! Hogan sets forward that while Apollo 11 (and the follow-up missions to the moon) may have been the biggest success in the in story of NASA it may also be the worst thing that ever happened to NASA.

What Really Brought Down Communism? (4p, essay)
Did Hogan single-handedly bring down the soviet empire? He seems to think so himself…

Last Ditch (8p, fiction)
The Russians make a last ditch effort to kick some American butt, by challenging the Americans to a winner takes all game of chess! Are they crazy? Nope they have just build a computer that has pre-computed every possible chess move in advance.

Sorry About That (13p, essay)
Hogan bitches about the people he got to fix up his house after he moved to Ireland. Kind of tedious after page three. He's right but it's still a bit tedious.

AIDS Heresy and the New Bishops (24p, essay)
Now here's where it gets interesting. Hogan doesn't think that there's such a thing as AIDS and if there is HIV certainly isn't the course of it. Hogan put up some fairly convincing evidence, but I would have to read some more on the subject before I decide on my opinion on this subject (never base your opinions on one well written essay it's so easy to buy into other peoples opinions if they are well presented).

Evolution Revisited (17p, essay)
Hogan tells us why he doesn't believe in a steady and slow evolution any more.

Zap Thy Neighbor (21p, fiction)
If it takes just five people (any five people) to write a death sentence what kind of society would we have. A society where people are nice!

Ozone Politics (17p, essay)
Hogan tells us why he doesn't believe that man produced CFC gasses are destroying the ozone layer.

Fact-free Science (22p, essay)
This time Hogan tells us why he thinks that politics and science doesn't mix. I could have told you that Hogan – politics doesn't mix well with anything in the real world.

Out Of Time (89p, fiction)
Somebody or something is stealing the time in New York City and Detective Kopeksky is literally running out of time trying to figure out what's going on.

Interesting stories and very interesting essays, even if they get a bit to heavy with Hogans rather controversial opinions at times.