I very much enjoyed this novella. Smooth pacing and great characters. I also want to switch to Mac... ( )

I was somewhat reluctant to read this book for several reasons. The largest was the whole ‘Mac vs. PC’ thing that’s the literal title of the book. I didn’t really want to read either a debate about the two nor, if there wasn’t a debate, a book strenuously advancing the notion that Mac’s are the best etc. etc. Not so much because I have a position in the debate, but more because I, frankly, don’t care. A computer is a computer, some are better than others, some aren’t. Some are expensive paperweights. Another reason was a relatively simple acknowledgement that I’d mostly rated everything by this author relatively highly (with exceptions) and figured this one had a higher chance of having me lower my overall rating for the author (not because the story wasn’t Science Fiction, no, one of my favorite stories by the author is a non-Science Fiction short story titled ‘Learning to Ride’ found in the short story collection Spread the Love that I had rated 5.5 (actually, looking closer, that is the highest rating I’ve given to the author, a non-science fiction story at that)).

So – this relatively short story stars Anna Petrowski (the POV) and Elizabeth Markel. They meet for the first time in a coffee shop that Anna loves, both for a specific scone and for a specific type of coffee. They meet because Elizabeth had begun cursing and beating up her laptop. Anna eventually helps her – she does have knowledge of computers after all, being that she works in the I.T. department at a University (insert: Anna offered, Elizabeth neither begged nor demanded Anna’s help). While helping Anna notes the brilliance of Macs over PCs. And mentions certain things like how expensive PCs actually are to keep maintained (PCs might have an initial lower cost, but cost more over time to keep operating and free from malicious code).

Anna and Elizabeth have a great time together. Meet a few more times. During all of this Anna has no idea of Elizabeth’s job (beyond some vague ‘Forest Research’ comment made by Elizabeth), nor her last name (it has been given, briefly, but in a moment Anna wasn’t paying full attention). That matters for two reasons: Anna likes Elizabeth so much that she searches for her all over the campus, but finds it hard to do having only Elizabeth’s first name; and Anna likely would fled in horror if she had known, initially, what Elizabeth’s job title actually was (since that’s what she almost literally does when she does learn). Elizabeth, you see, is a Vice Provost – answering directly to the Provost (“the modern university provost is the university’s chief academic officer and under the president…”). In other words – way way above Anna’s pay grade. There’s more to it but let’s keep some stuff in the book, eh? Heh.

Re: Mac vs. PC.
A: um, do you know what PC means? It means ‘personal computer’. What, exactly, is a Mac if it isn’t a personal computer? This isn’t ‘Mac vs. PC’, it’s ‘Mac vs. Windows’ (or ‘Apple vs. Microsoft’). Would an IT person be more likely to use ‘pro/anti Mac vs. PC’ or a ‘pro/anti Apple/Mac vs. Microsoft/Windows’? And no, I don’t know, I’m just asking. Looking at what I see online, I see things like ‘Mac is a personal computer but not a PC’. Soooo. *shrugs*
B: I did not really get some of the anti-PC things that were mentioned. Like, specifically, a complaint was made about how hard it is to change a file name while using Windows. And . . what? Really? I’m sure the Mac method is super quick and easy, easier even than the PC’s since it is here in the book as a plus for the Mac. But . . . all you need to do is go to the document, click F2, and type whatever new name you want. And . . . done. You can make it slightly more complicated by right clicking on the file (using the mouse) and going down the pop-up menu to ‘Rename’ and then renaming but . . . it’s all in what people are used to and what they are comfortable with. I’m not arguing the pros and cons, though, I’m sure Macs are better in every way because . . . people say so. Never had a Mac myself, my first couple of computers were Apples, but Apple IIe’s and the like (pre-Macintosh in the literal sense that the first Macintosh came out in 1984, and the IIe came out in 1983, though I believe I got the IIe after 1984).

Right, so the book. Quick book. I gobbled it fast and the only reason it took me an extra day is because I watched a movie last night instead of spending the extra ten minutes to finish the book. Probably a short afternoon would get someone through the book.

The characters were alright, though I got a much larger sense of who Anna might be, and not much of a sense of Elizabeth. Taller than Anna. Higher up in the University. Hmms. Has money, I think? There were some descriptive terms used as well, but I let them slide past me. I think I got eye and hair color.

Rating: 3.88

May 5 2017 ( )