House health care bill is longer than Kim Stanley Robinson’s colorful Mars trilogy

Irrespective of how folks feel about healthcare reform in the United States, this much is clear: One of the proposed bills crafted by the House of Representatives, H. R. 3962, is a lengthy work. How long is it? 1,990 pages! According to U.S. News & World Report, that is longer than:

• King James Version of the Bible (1,024 pages)

• Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged (1,200 pages)

• Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace (1,296 pages)

• 2010 U.S. News Ultimate College Guide (1,768 pages)

However, according to the Internet Speculative Fiction Database, H. R. 3962 is also 33 pages longer than the 1990s Bantam Spectra paperback set of Kim Stanley Robinson’s award-winning Mars trilogy:

• Red Mars (1993; 572 pages)

• Green Mars (1995; 624 pages)

• Blue Mars (1997; 761 pages)

Given some of the negative comments I have read about KSR’s trilogy over the years, some folks may consider H. R. 3962 to be a more interesting read!