Book 1, A Learning Experience

As always Nuttall, brings the Action with a large helping of Tech & Science; not a Cowboy Western in Space with plot holes, that leave you asking why did they not do A B C D etc.. after all they should have the tech. So a Horde of poorly trained space pirates meet, highly trained ex-military & still do not learn, just because you got the Tech. does not mean it's safe to ignore the manual.

The story is good overall, but there are times when this story read less like a sci-fi series, and more like a political manifesto. I don't mind reading about characters that have different political leaning than me, but this author has about as much subtlety as a sledgehammer.

Wow..what would I do with almost unlimited power and resources while dealing with a deep seated hatred of my government?? Oh, and happen to come across a spacecraft...
Great first chapter.. I hope I like the next as much as I did his one..

The ideas, concepts and story are interesting and mostly well thought through (how can the humans detect incoming FTL fleets ahead if time, when there doesn't seem to exist any FTL communications?), but is somewhat ruined by some heavy handed politics (why would the space emigrants be mainly GOP supporters exactly?).

Great story line with superb characters. The adventure moves fast, and keeps you wondering what will happen. Some of the plot can be linked our current leadership problems in our great country. Makes for an interesting out look for our future. Would like to see more of this adventure.

"With great power" (again) "comes great responsibility." An extended family with an ex-military, independent, libertarian (and humanitarian) streak even bigger than their Montana ranch take the fateful possession of a Starship whose mercenary crew was sent to collect a sample of humans for experimental cyborg implants! But once in possession of such an advanced weapon what should be done with it? This is the "Learning Experience" that goes beyond just what one man and his kin decide and examines the impact of their decisions on our entire planet now frighteningly aware that we are not alone -- and utterly defenseless.

Another very good book from an excellent author. I have read several from this author and have never been disappointed.
However, A Learning Experience is not for everyone. If your political views lean left you may not enjoy the book. If they lean right you may find yourself cheering the author on and wishing for a sequal.

This book really held my interest. It was a little slow in some places. Events took place too fast in other. Overall it was a good book. I am ordering the second book in the series and hope it is as good as this one.

As usual for Mr. Neutral, sci-fi serves as vehicle to convey political and social views and ideas.
As my worldview is very compatible to his, I have enjoyed most of what I've read of his works.
He combines the genre with his personal outlook to provide good entertainment And intellectual stimulation.
The book probably only rates 3&1/2, but on the basis of passwords I'll go a 4.

This book was written by Christopher Nuttall, author of the Ark Royal series. In time it is place ahead of this series. I would have liked it better if it had been more of a feed in to the Ark Royal books, but it isn't. It is however a good stand alone novel. If we're lucky the author will return to this theme and write more.

Some may feel put off by decisions made writing this book however I feel that it is pretty realistic given the decisions that needed to be made and the time frame it needed to be done . overall good story easy to follow and anxious to get get to next book. Its fiction folks and good.

Once I started reading this book I could hardly put it down. The character development was just enough to make the main characters real without putting more into the characters than the story. The place and importance (or lack thereof) of humans to the rest of the galaxy was very refreshing. What a wake-up call - I wish it would really happen!

I enjoy science fiction and like it when it relates to current or near current events. This story does that and has us following characters that are essentially disenfranchised veterans that love our country and get a once in a life time opportunity to improve the lives of everyone on earth. How is this possible? Well, I recommend reading the book. Enjoy!

I was very impressed when the main character recognized, although reluctantly, that tremendous power didn't mean that he could use his power indiscriminately. Most space operas don't recognize realistic limitations on the use of power. his missteps and personal growth were just a s interesting to me as the battles in space. I hope there is a sequel. I don't see how the author can skip 50 years. So much was made of the near term threat of the galatics that skipping 50 years doesn't make much sense.

What if you overtook aliens, an alien ship and advanced technology (by your standards)? I enjoyed the exploration af that idea. Still needs some spelling editors, but the story was good with enjoyable characters.

I picked this up on Glenn “Instapundit” Reynolds’s recommendation. I hadn’t read anything else from Mr. Nuttall, so I didn’t know what to expect. I certainly didn’t expect a techno-military space adventure with political overtones, featuring American protagonists, but written in British English, but that’s what I got.

“A Learning Experience” is in part a wish-fulfillment book. It offers a barely plausible motif for bootstrapping Mankind into the serious colonization of the Moon, based on the capture of a slaver vessel packed with highly useful technology, that had come to our system to seize humans for military purposes, but suspension-of-disbelief is the reader’s responsibility going into a story of this sort. The greater part of what follows concerns central figure Steve Stuart’s attempts to build a Lunar society that’s largely free, politically stable, and economically self-sufficient, using the captured alien technology, while preparing Mankind for the inevitable invasion by a technologically advanced and heavily armed foe. Joined to that skeleton, the “action” portions seem awkwardly jointed.

It’s not bad. The writing is competent. The story is involving even though the seams between the relatively placid parts and the action bits show through. The characterizations are okay, though the morals and ethics of the protagonist group verge on “too good to be true.” It’s about a 3.5 star read: worth its purchase price, and entertaining throughout. But I’m unsure about whether I’ll proceed to the sequel.

1) The author needs to get off his political soapbox and learn to express his opinions through good story telling. I'm a libertarian and even I thought his endless grandstanding on libertarian thought and ideology was nauseating. Entirely too much time is devoted to beating a political drum instead of trying to tell a vibrant and engaging story.
2) The paragraph structure is confusing and irritating. There are whole line spaces between paragraphs; such white space usually denotes the author is changing the scene within a chapter.
3) Unimaginative. Nearly all the technology and sci-fi ideas were ripped from Star Trek.
4) The aliens were silly and unbelievable. The initial antagonists are cartoonishly stupid and inept and their future benefactor lacked back story to explain his generosity.
5) Too many "get out of jail free" cards for the main characters to use.

Fast paced but with so much political hatred I had to skim through parts of the book. But an excellent idea for a story and how humanity, or a small bunch of us, would deal with getting hold of some alien tech.
Overall, definitely worth the purchase price and a good read.

This looks like the beginning of another good series from the author. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Kept my attention. A little more character development might help but then it might have gotten too long and bogged down. A balancing act. One other note is that it would help to run it by an American editor fro dialogue when writing American characters. Example- we go on vacation not take a holiday. Minor point but at times it becomes obvious the author is British. All in all it was very good and I look forward to reading. I believe this is my 7th read from Mr. Nuttall.

I started off somewhat disappointed thinking that this was going to be a simplistic and politically one-sided story. Instead it develops the main character so that he comes to realize that there are no simple answers and some situations have no good solutions only a least bad action.

In "A Learning Experience" Nuttall has written another exciting winner that is among his best, and I look forward to the sequels he has emailed me he intends to write.

The theme of Earthmen as primitive, relatively low tech latecomers to a huge, mysterious, and complex Galactic society with many actors, whose only salable commodity is their violent nature and fighting skills--Earthmen as Mercenaries--is a fairly common theme in Science Fiction.

Thinking back over the decades, I've read many stories on this general theme, the major standout being Gordon Dickson's great "Dorsai" series. Then, there are Pournelle's tales of the "Falkenberg Legion," and David Drake's "Hammers Slammers" to name a few other standouts. Two recent Kindle books I've reviewed here that are also generally on this theme are Jeffrey Burger's excellent "Wings of Steele," and B.V. Larsen's "Steel World."

I found "A Learning Experience" to be exciting book. I liked the characters and the dialog, and I particularly liked the plot, somewhat reminiscent of the plot in "Wings of Steele," in the sense that in each novel private individuals boldly and decisively act to defend the Earth and to explore outward when hidebound, bureaucratic, turf-protecting, myopic Earth governments can't or won't.

It is great how this author takes ordinary men and puts them in a situation that could have become there worst nightmare & has them do what is right even after they make a few mistakes that they realize and change. I can't wait for a sequel to the story.

Personal politics will probably play a role in whether you enjoyed this book. As a fan of Nuttall's other work, I was hoping this would be a standout sci-fi series I could dig my teeth into. Unfortunately, the libertarian concepts the main characters are conceived upon don't deliver for me. While it's fair to say, I have different political opinions than the characters, what ultimately killed the story for me was the lack of explanation for why the character's view their actions as the only reasonable ones to take. Perhaps, this could have been remedied by starting the story in the world, and building up the reader's distrust of the government's described. Ends up as more the narrator telling the reader the world is a bureaucratic mess that needs an independent libertarian state on the moon.

Personal politics will probably play a role in whether you enjoyed this book. As a fan of Nuttall's other work, I was hoping this would be a standout sci-fi series I could dig my teeth into. Unfortunately, the libertarian concepts the main characters are conceived upon don't deliver for me. While it's fair to say, I have different political opinions than the characters, what ultimately killed the story for me was the lack of explanation for why the character's view their actions as the only reasonable ones to take. Perhaps, this could have been remedied by starting the story in the world, and building up the reader's distrust of the government's described. Ends up as more the narrator telling the reader the world is a bureaucratic mess that needs an independent libertarian state on the moon.

Mr. Nuttall
I am requesting the right to review your books prior to their being released the mistakes are horrendous and they can be corrected.
I will do so for a nominal charge.
I hate seeing a good writer with a second grade review.
Sincerely
Zane

The book starts out with some experienced US military veterans sitting around talking when some aliens decide they want to find a small group of humans to kidnap from an isolated location - bad decision. Seems humans have been taken in the past and turned into versatile fighting 'cyborgs' -- author makes a case where humans are naturally combative with an innate ability to understand strategy and battle. The vets are not super soldiers but are very competent, hardened veterans and the story explains how they do what they do reasonably -- they don't instantly understand all the tech but they are some of 'the guys you really don't want to mess with...'

The story shows how they take over the ship and then start exploiting the alien tech -- seems humans are at the bottom of the pack in tech -- near primitives compared to the other 10,000 alien races and humans haven't been wiped out or enslaved yet simply because we live in an out-of-way section of the galaxy. The vets start recruiting other disgruntled veterans who have been dumped on by the government. The alien tech allows them to heal almost any injury or disease.

The world's governments try to control the vets and the tech. The vets found a colony on the moon -- start terraforming Mars, mining asteroids - start figuring out the alien tech -- what is really interesting about the story is the mistakes the good guys make (perfectly believable mistakes). The US government makes many typical mistakes also and it is only when shown they are powerless to change the equation do they begin to cooperate but the process described in the story feels very plausible -- anyone who has dealt with the government from a position of weakness will emphasize with the characters.

The vets form a "new nation" with all the growing pains that entails and you feel the characters frustration and pain when problem after problems crops up (you can see that it is not the expected things that are the most troubling -- that was quite masterfully explained in the story). As the 'new nation' grows they have to take on more and more aspects of current governments due to the scale of the issues that arise. The vets try to avoid some of the obvious pitfalls of an 'Atlas Shrugged' society. Many of the good guys are ultra-conservative, gun toting guys -- the ones you want to live near -- not the ones who want to cram their religion, beliefs down your throat types -- they want everyone to be responsible for their own actions and have the ability to accept only those who can. They are rushing to build a defense for the Earth and have to negotiate with Earths many factions. Nations disempowered by the new tech also try to fight to keep status quo.

The story paints a sorry picture of most politicians with the exception of a surprising (liberal) president and a few savvy others who provide tacit support for the vets. The defense of Earth gets more and more tense while the impact of the alien tech is transforming the world. There will be many disappointed if the author doesn't do a sequel. Interesting problems -- interesting responses -- worth a read.

As Chris admits, this book is as much an exercise in how humans deal with power than military science fiction. The characters are well defined and the dialogue engaging. I will be following this series to see how this premise plays out.

Guns, action, explosions, and a tough bunch of renegades. That is the Montana that I have lived in and still love. Combine that with starships, implacable foes and an unrelenting desire for freedom and you have the one of the best that Chris has written to date.

This is a quite readable diversion from reality. It is not great literature though, it is also not grand space opera or hundreds of pages of character background. What you get is some light reading and fast-paced space hero action in a gun-liberal small-government propaganda package that you don't have to agree with to put up with. The sci in this fi is the Star Trek kind which is to say that it consists of whatever wild fantasies are needed to get the story to where it's supposed to be, so don't dwell on it. 2 stars for keeping it simple and another 2 stars for making me search the store for a sequel.

A very interesting idea about how an old empire can become complacent and allow older technology to slip out of hand to allies and mercenaries. Then, if such allies or mercenaries also become complacent, watch out for "barbarians", they may just eat your lunch.

The novel explores how a vet reacts to an acquisition of alien technology. The vet has very libertarian views and is thrust kicking and screaming into a forming and managing a government. Thought provoking and insightful. Looking forward to the next Nuttall novel. The novel is soft sci-fi that is well done.

The story was great, with lots of twists and turns and fast-paced action. I particularly liked the fact that the Horde aliens were not portrayed as invincible super beings like some SF books do. This was an interesting perspective on how humans may be able to prevail in the face of extremely advanced alien technology. The only disappointment was the way the author made out that the world revolves around the USA, without any mention of any other countries other than a passing mention of China and Russia.

I liked the story, hated the protagonist. I wish Mr. Nuttall would leave the right wing politics out of his books. He's a good writer with a great imagination and churns out books at an phenomenal pace... but his characters can be very one dimensional.

Though I am more inclined toward Military science fiction, I still found this book a good read. It leans more toward the political with some action sprinkled in, I imagine now that the Union is well established, the action will elevate. I would recommend this book and gladly buy the sequel.

I very much enjoyed 'A Learning Experience'. The story didn't go where I expected it to go, but then, I didn't write it.

I have read many of Mr. Nuttal's books and have enjoyed most of them. This, I think, is one of the better themes he has used.

Creating a nation based upon the sudden acquisition of alien technology would be a daunting task for anyone or any group. Trying to cover all the bases and the nuances of that task, Nuttall has done remarkably well.

When reading a story like this, I always ask myself 'What would I do in this situation'? or 'How could I have fun with this or that'?

There were several aspects that went unexplained that the author asks the reader to just accept on face value, like the nano drones used in defeating the Taliban or the interaction with Friend.

In the beginning of the story, there should have been a better introduction to the main characters rather than having the reader draw his own conclusions as the tale progresses. It works, but just barely.

All in all this is an entertaining book. I liked it very much and would like to see more about the progression of the Heinlein Colony and the Solar League. Where does it go from here? Do we get to meet the Galactics? How do the mercenaries fare in their dealings with Friend? So many questions are left unanswered. Yeah, a sequel is needed.

Read it. Liked it. Want more.

After being thoroughly entertained by the "Ark Royal" series, I liked the premise of this book and was looking forward to another good read. I really wanted to like this book, but the author killed it for me with his constant stream of anti-government, rightwing extremist rhetoric. To Mr Nuttall, I say confine your inflammatory partisan politics to blogs or forums and remember that many of us who read science fiction are diametrically opposite of your narrow biases. I could not enjoy the story because it is so twisted up in your own personal hang-ups that it has become unreadable, and reluctantly, I'm closing your book unfinished, something I've only done a handful of times in my life. I hope that you might consider a good rewrite, and after editing out your political rants, we might get back to some good story telling.

I enjoyed this book to a certain point, but found myself reading the first and last sentence of a paragraph just because of the tedious political ramblings of the author. I loved the premise of the story line, humans over taking an alien spacecraft, and using it, and the technology for themselves and the rest of humanity.

Mr. Nuttall, you have penned the simplest fantasy shared by most whom wish to enjoy some escape from the pressure of life. Wouldn't we all love to have things fall into our hands, that come with a short learning curve to operate.

Interesting book, decent read. Very little depth in almost every manner that matters to this genre. Despite the fact neither book is good, it is decent. Doubt I'll pay the $4 for the next book but if they put it on sale then I'll grab it

I enjoyed Christopher's Ark Royal trilogy but, while entertaining, A Learning Experience seemed superficial. The story took more suspension of disbelief than I was willing to give. I will still try his other writings.

I have always loved the concept of "First Contact" and what would happen type scenarios. This book has a good interpretation of what would happen when we experience new life forms, and, their technology. On to the sequel!

I found myself reading and then rereading some parts of this book. I was doing that because I was agreeing with a lot of the government is to big parts of the book. interesting story line. I would like to see more of it in the future

Yes, as many of the previous reviewers have noted, the author talks about how the main characters in this book are mainly anti-govt types. There is a reason for this. I don't consider myself any type of anti-govt type but the author is correct in his characterization about how government would be totally inept in dealing with this sci fi scenario if it were to in fact happen. Just look at the bloated wasteful incompetent govt we have today and that is why the characters have to branch off from established govt's just to be able to be practical and functional as a way to develop a resistance and plan of action against marauding aliens.

This book is not meant to be the best book you have ever read or up to win prizes for exhalted literature. It is an inexpensive, very fun read packed with action and does not disappoint as a sci fi space opera novel. The author gives the reader exactly what a realistic sci fi reader expects in a space alien book here in Kindle books. So many reviewers on this site get so caught up in micro analysing these books. Just read it and enjoy it. Nuttall does not disappoint in any of his books that I have read.

A good book, and worthy of a sequel!