Jason Cox
What a great concept for a book! It combines a “first contact” storyline with an underdog civilization vs the unimaginably vast intergalactic civilization storyline as well. Then it throws in the absurdity of the American legal system and shakes them all up. Doing this and ending up with an interesting story is quite the feat.
This isn't a deep book, but if you, like me, enjoy a light and fun read, this is worth picking up.
This series is just getting better. The Gray Man series is well done overall, but I think this is my favorite novel in the series thus far. These books are just plain fun to read. The characters are totally believable and it's nearly impossible to put down. I listened to the audiobook here and completed it in just over a 24 hour period (which is highly unusual for me).
It's hard to believe this book was initially written in 1932. Given the current state of society as we know it, we are heading towards this vision of the future like a runaway train. This is one of those books I've had on my “to read” list for literally decades, and now I see why so many people hold this up as a classic of literature.
This book was a fascinating dive into the reasons we as individuals have the political leanings that we do. I feel the author did a fantastic job of not beating down one side or the other overwhelmingly (though if there is a lean it is to the left). The tone of the book is very nonpartisan and scientific, which is what I expected after seeing many lectures by him on YouTube. His writing style is interesting and holds the attention well. Every so often he slips in some wry humor, which helps.
But you're probably reading this book to see why your side or some other side thinks the way they do. And this book really delivers. The concepts are clearly illustrated (textually) and I really don't know how this book could be any better.
Interesting follow up to Peper's Bandwidth. While the first novel was presented mostly from the perspective of Dag, this one is primarily from Dag's girlfriend, Diana. It turns out she is a former spy with deep connections to the CIA and while she's no longer in the company, she's still deeply involved in that world, with all the dangers that entails. Which of course means being in a relationship is a bad idea for her. When she is hired to start digging up dirt on the CEO of the company that runs “the Feed,” she gets dragged into an ornate plot that could change the world.
You'll definitely want to read Bandwidth first, but this is a worthy successor. Dag is still there, but he's definitely not the focus he was in the first novel. His old associates return in limited degrees, however.
Ultimately, I felt the plot was above average. The writing style is plain, but works well with the topic. Peper's pacing is excellent. It's not exactly non-stop action, but it doesn't bog down in areas, either. The characters are both believable and their actions make sense in keeping with their nature. There's maybe a touch too much internal dialogue for Diana, but I think it is justified and it's mostly contained in the middle 1/3 of the book.
Interesting exploration of the field of psychedelics and their potential for medicinal use. I felt like it was pretty fair and did not overly glorify the potential of these potent natural drugs. At the same time, he didn't overly emphasize their dangers, which is important as in the past most discussion of the topic has hailed it as a super-drug that we all need OR has completely demonized it. There is extensive discussion of the origins of psychedelic study and how it has been handled in the past.
If you've read other Michael Pollan books, you know he takes a very even approach to the topics he covers and does an excellent job of making the discussion interesting while being careful not to distort the science or reality behind the topic.
The Gray Man series is right up there with Jack Reacher and Jason Bourne as a fun action series. This particular novel - Ballistic - involved Cort getting unintentionally involved with a Mexican Cartel and the family of a man who once saved his life. These are fast-paced action novels that work well. If you like the genre, you'll like these books.
Fun read for the scientific minded
A great selection of absurd hypothetical questions with in-depth literal answers. This was a fun read, and I even read some of the sections out loud to the family for a good laugh. My stepson, who hates reading, loved the Vignettes enough that he has picked this one up to read as well on his Kindle. Because this book has self-contained sections, it makes a great book for Intermittent reading just before bed work at other quick breaks.
Classic of cyberpunk
It's been 20 years since I last read Count Zero and honestly, I had forgotten much of it. But this rereading was highly enjoyable. It was better than I remembered.
The book starts slow and it took me about 50% before I started getting into it. But then it just gets better and better. So stick with it early on. Gibson's writing always feels a little hectic and schizophrenic so it takes longer to get into the flow of it. Some people will find it a bit frustrating, but it's worth it for the way this book ends.
As a side note, the prominent mention of brands is curious and interesting. Many things are given explicit brands in CZ. The Honda helicopter. The Braun cyberspace deck (followed by the Hosaka and the ever-so-elite Ono-Sendai). Hosaka and Maas are big corporations that lawlessly kill to protect or steal talent. I don't know why this seemed to stick out so much more on this reading, but it did. And I found it interesting. I remember sitting and thinking about Braun and where that company was in 1985 that would make Gibson mention it as he did. There was definitely a Germany vs Japan future clash that was a low smoldering element throughout the book.
I think I actually prefer CZ over Neuromancer, at least at this point.
Continuation of the Brilliance Saga. Available to read and listen on Kindle Unlimited.
I started this series a couple of years ago and this has been on my KU titles checked out since then. The 1st book was interesting, with an interesting premise and world-building around it which all seems entirely plausible. The idea is that at some point in the early 2000's, children around the world begin being born with special “gifts.” Not so much like mutants from X-Men. More like the natural variability already seen in humans, only amped up considerably. For instance, one normal human may be able to read body language better than another. A “brilliant” level 3 would be better at this than the best “normal” human in the world. A level 1 brilliant “reader” is so good at this that they can basically read your mind. But they also have a close to 100% suicide rate by the time they're 20 because they can't keep the thoughts of those around them out. Likewise, stock trading is a super-easy game for someone with the right pattern-matching and mathematical skills, so the market is suspended once it's no longer “fair” for normals. Now, 1% of humans born are Brilliants to one degree or another, which changes the world. As you can imagine, that creates quite a divide in how to handle the situation.
This book starts shortly after the first one and includes many of the same characters. The main character, Nick Cooper, once a hunter of Brilliants, is now working with the President to try to find a solution to the conflict between both sides. Then a new terrorist group arrives on the scene - The Children of Dawn - with the goal of further increasing the chaos and increasing the divide between normals and brilliants. Who is behind the COD? Are there still elements within the government trying to use these events for their own purposes? Are they even behind it?
This is a fast-paced book with interesting scenarios. For some reason, I liked this one much better than the first one. The motivation of the various characters makes sense. There is minimal political “commentary” compared to many books set in the “near future.” I find this a refreshing and welcome respite given the world in which we currently live.
Very interesting first book I've read by this author, and well worth the read.
Humanity is warring against itself at home while it destroys earth. A faction sends out probes and then terraforming teams to the most promising systems they've found. Headed by Dr. Avrana Kern, the terraforming team arrives at a promising planet which has had early terraforming processes when another faction of idealists set against the idea of terraforming and spreading humanity attacks her group. Ultimately, Dr. Kern is the only surviving member of the expedition, other than the AI of her ship. She is driven to complete her mission, and decides to encode her brain in the ship's computer to ensure she can complete it. Utilizing the cold-sleep facilities, she then directs the AIs in trying to terraform this planet.
The key plan was to utilize a bespoke designed virus customized to uplift mammals into a society, and this virus has been working on the planet for the millenia since the initial terraformers arrived. The virus has unintended side-effects and much of the story is told from the perspective of a race of spiders as they develop from warring beasts to intelligent individuals and then into a full-fledged advanced society.
Just in time to deal with a colony ship sent from a dying earth, containing what is felt to be the last surviving humans.
With all of the rather negative reviews online for this one, I've been holding off reading it for a while. I'm happy to report that I was pleasantly surprised and quite enjoyed this 5th installment in the Magic 2.0 series.
Without giving spoilers, I can say that there are certainly plot points that are likely the reason for the negativity on this one. Mostly it's because of what happens to Phillip, who I think it a fan favorite character (which is your favorite character in the series?). While I wasn't happy with how things went down, I could suspend my disbelief and come to accept what happened. Seriously, no more or there will be spoilers.
This book has been on my shelf for quite a while. I don't know where I first saw it, but something about it seemed appealing in a Harry Potter sort of way. I generally enjoy YA fantasy and this seemed to be a very popular series, so when the movie trailer was released, I thought I better get it read before the movie arrives.
It was a pretty major disappointment. Without giving spoilers, the basic gist is that a 12-year old genius billionaire and his personal bodyguard devise a plot to get gold from the fairy folk by ransoming one of them. The world-building has some serious promise, but it's always a warning sign when you just don't like the “protagonist.” (Not really sure Artemis is the protagonist, truthfully, that may rightfully belong to Holly. So maybe I should say “title character?”) The fairy side of things seems pretty cool. But the Artemis side of things... just seems pretty shady. In the current world agenda of erasing concepts of “good” and “bad” and instead turning everything grey, I can see how this has become popular. The idea that we're pushing this to our kids is something that maybe people should consider. Besides that, though, it just seems unbelievable. Harry Potter as a 12 year old with magic is written much more believably. Artemis is written as something of an emotionless savant. His bodyguard, Butler, is essentially a combination of John Wick and Neo, being trained at some ancient academy which apparently was established to train protectors for the Fowl family. Interesting concept, but it just doesn't seem plausible. As in, not even as plausible as magic.
Then there's the idea that he is from an ultra-wealthy family with a criminal history, but is resorting to crime to further his wealth. Why would you do that? Why risk it all? At some point, even if you are a crime family, you have to switch over to legitimate ends so you don't end up destitute and in prison. Why not use that wealth privilege to make money from legitimate opportunities? And then there's the problem of his parents. His father has gone missing. His mother is literally insane and disconnected from reality. And we're supposed to believe that they were somehow able to raise an adolescent that is essentially a super genius, able to outsmart every opponent?
The whole thing just doesn't really fit. It's the concept of a Mary Jane, only much much worse. Maybe your mileage will vary, but I just didn't find it enjoyable overall. Even the enjoyable parts were far overshadowed by the stuff mentioned above.
I always like to start out the year with a book that I hope can help me make this year better than the last. Even if it's only 1% better. This year that lead-off book is James Clear's Atomic Habits and I have to say this one is fantastic.
You may notice I'm no stranger to the productivity book genre. Often those books have a lot of tidbits in common and while it's not always ground-breaking material, there's usually some redeeming value in the different authors' takes on productivity tips. This book, however, has a lot more practical useful advice than most. Quite a bit of it was new to me, or at least didn't feel like a re-tread. I listened on audiobook, but I have it in hardcover as well, so this is going to be one I pull back out before long, because there is actual implementation advice here that I need to delve into a little deeper.
The concept of 1% better. Habit stacking. Minimizing your new habits. Setting yourself up for success in 4 or 5 different ways. These concepts are gold.
Atomic Habits is worthy.
Fantastic thrill-ride as you'd expect from Dan Brown and Robert Langdon.
This story occurs mostly in and around Bilbao, Spain where Robert has been invited to attend a former student (now very much an Elon Musk-style individual). As you'd expect, art features prominently in the story and given the setting, you can probably guess that in this case it's Antoni Gaudi. I won't go further into depth about the story, but there are intrique, unexpected friends, unexpected enemies, narrow escapes, and maybe a twist or two. And, of course there is art and religion and the interplay between them.
All in all, my guess is that if you've enjoyed the previous Langdon books, you'll dig this one, too.
If you are firmly liberal, then you'll definitely want to skip this one because you WILL be triggered. Hard.
If, on the other hand, you are a moderate or conservative person, this book is a must read. It is eye-opening to learn what is currently going on in colleges in regards to ideas and concepts that to anybody older than about 35 would be clearly nonsensical.
I like to read items from both sides of the political spectrum in order to remain informed about how both sides are thinking. My suspicion is that most of America (probably the world) is largely politically moderate but completely disconnected. Based on this book and many other things I've read over the past 2-3 years, parents are generally paying big money to send their children to college/university based on the old wisdom that those institutions teach useful information and skills to provide what is needed for careers going forward. That is probably still true in the hard sciences and professional-related tracts. But the majority of university tracts don't fall in these areas and generally are focused on hard-left indoctrination instead of what most would consider to be a traditional “liberal” education. And the thought that there are balanced voices in the college ranks, some of whom lean “conservative” is completely wrong. 95% of professors and administrators are hard left liberal. And the 5% that aren't are DEEPLY hidden for fear of losing their jobs and are effectively silenced from sharing conservative thought.
The best Vlad books after Jhereg
The title says it... simply the most entertaining stories in the Vlad series outside of the first book. The characters are well fleshed our and the stories are superb. The antagonists are appropriately dangerous, and the supporting cast are just perfect. LOL dialog is also a plus.
Nice short story set in the semi-distant future wherein a colony sends an expedition back to Earth, thought to be long dead, in search of technology essential to keep their “colony” alive. It gets a little political, but it's not too bad, all things considered. The concept is worthwhile to explore.
This collection/anthology of short stories based on major future technologies and how they might affect our society has been very nice. They're all available on Kindle Unlimited with the Audiobook version included.