Academic Exercises

Academic Exercises by K. J. Parker, 529 pages


This book was recommended by one of our librarians here at Central. It is a collection of short stories intermixed with three short humorous treaties. Most of the stories revolve around a place called the Studium and happen in what are imperial lands. The Studium is a place where the greatest scientific minds come together to teach magic. Though the people in the stories say they are not wizards and can't do magic. They claim they are just unlocking abilities of their minds. But for all practical purposes they are wizards.

I found "Black and Purple" and "Sun and I" to be the best of the bunch. "Black and Purple is an epistolary, meaning it is written just through letters sent back and forth. This was my first encounter with this writing style and I found it to be fascinating. The use of letters breaks the story down into its more basic parts. While this can lead to skimping on details it was used rather well here.

"Sun and I" is about a group of upper middle class friends that decided to invent a religion so they can con people out of money. What actually happens is a deeply philosophical and humorous story about what happens when the scheme goes to far.

I really enjoyed reading this collection and would recommend it to the borderline science fiction fans.