Darkø
Very dark (and cold) storytelling. The whole thing takes in an arctic environment, but it's captivating in the creation & treatment of characters and the weight of the landscape and its harshness on the story. It is like and unlike A Song of Ice and Fire, but if the SOIAF story was happening in the North, then this is exactly how I would picture it. In contrast to SOIAF, the story here is a bit more open with its magic, which is a bit refreshing. It kept me interested the whole way through, and the politics between clans, Sull, and other people kept me going, and political intrigue and dark magic is done just right. Can recommend.
Really nice change in story pacing after the first two books!
Really nice depiction of galactic civilization races with all their differences and cultures, and great story building in general.
Not Dick's best work, but an enjoyable read that picks up as it moves along. I really enjoyed philosophical conversations, reminded me of A Canticle for Liebowitz, but much darker. Interesting musings on Christianity and the interpretation of God.
After reading this, the only thing I'm sure of is that this is a classic, yet a strange and weird one.
Even though I thought the idea of this book, and world-building surrounding that idea, was remarkable and unique, I can't ignore the fact that I didn't really enjoy the story itself. I really, really like the TV show, so that might be an issue, as the story in the book and in the show is so much different, and I can't resist the impression that the TV show have a much better world and character-building (and the more interesting story overall).
Stephen Hawking is one of the greatest scientists of this century. And this book shows not only his breadth of knowledge but also his uncanny ability to explain even the most esoteric of concepts in simple, sometimes humorous language.
Though the book is slightly outdated (updated 1992), it is a good primer for “what scientists believe about the universe today.” I probably only understood about 50% of this book, though this is relatively less dense than other books trying to explain general relativity, string theory and unified theories of physics - nevertheless I enjoyed Hawking's humor, along with discussions about time, gravity and black holes.
Most importantly for me is how a man who's lived with ALS for most of his life has accomplished so much. I seriously admire Stephen Hawking.
I'm putting this one on the list of my favorites definitely. Not many books have managed to send chills down my spine since Simons' Summer of Night (true horror) but Revival is a masterpiece of Lovecraftian horror. The character development is crazy good and the Lovecraftian element was done so well that it kept me on the edge of my seat, waiting for something terrifying to happen.
The first part of the novel is slow and there is nothing out of ordinary happening, but exactly that creates a tense atmosphere as if there is something on the brink of happening (something will happen?) which culminates in one haunting image and a troubling sermon.
For a good reason, this one is considered a classic, definitely must-read book for programmers and people managing programmers. I'll be back for re-read in a few years, for sure.
A bit about the book; Not many surprises here, any programmer who cares about their craft, has no fear of change, and already has a few years of experience will already know a large portion of themes explored in this book. Many suggestions and recommendations are just common sense, but given my near-decade expertise in this field, I understand why some things need to be repeated often. The examples and explanations are not abstract or far-fetched but are somewhat real-world applications of things you could see in the industry (though some stuff is outdated). It's fascinating to see the struggles we still face day in and day out discussed nearly 20 years ago.
The essence of the book is very well summarized by one of its last sentences:
People should see your name on a piece of code and expect it to be solid, well-written, tested, and documented. (...) Written by a professional. A Pragmatic Programmer.
For some reason, this book reminded me of Andrew Weir's Martian, and because I liked that book, I guess that other people who liked Martian would like this one. There is a lot of technical details and physic theory, but knowledge of these is not required to enjoy this book.
Anyway, this is a really refreshing take on science fiction and first contact scenarios, with a cultural backdrop that was very unfamiliar and almost as alien as the actual alien society in the story.
From the author's postscript:
“I've always felt that the greatest and most beautiful stories in the history of humanity were not sung by wandering bards or written by playwrights and novelists, but told by science. ... Only, these wonderful stories are locked in cold equations that most do not know how to read.”
I've read a few books by Ian McDonald so far, and each one amazed me. this book is no exception.
It took me a quite longer than usual to read a book this size, the culprit being the bare complexity of the atmosphere in the futuristic Istambul and so many details everywhere. That said, this is not a book for those who want a quick or light read. The writing is very readable but dense, with an almost metronomic precision that must be followed carefully to be understood. I'm even thinking about re-reading it again in the near future, just to see what I've missed :)
Set in Istanbul in the near future, The Dervish House centers on a number of people who live or work in a dervish house, somewhere in Istambul. The various threads of the narrative include a search for an archeological legend - a Mellified Man, a financial scam, a terrorist plot and attempts to find funding to develop new technology. In addition, there's an isolated young boy, Can, who with the aid of his toy robots, turns detective. The plot also touches on Turkey's recent political history and its history of race relations.
Apart from Can's adventures, what I enjoyed most about this work is the depiction of Istanbul. The descriptions of the city are more interesting than most of the characters and much of the plot. I'm glad I read the novel, if for no other reason than it's reinforced my desire to travel to Turkey some time soon.
Science Engineering bitch!
This book is nothing short of spectacular. It is insanely well-researched, and it's impossible not to be charmed by Mark Watney's hilarious sense of humor, or not impressed by his smarts, ingenuity, and spirit, despite that the situation he's in is nothing to joke about.
Andry Weir probably invested a lot of time researching Mars, astronautics and possible solutions to all kind of problems Mark Watney encounters in his unfortunate adventure, and because of that, this book gets half of its stars.
A weird mix of stories, although this is kinda sci-fi book the third story (actual sci-fi) was the hardest to read, and the reason I'm giving it 4 instead of 5 stars. This is a very unique post-apocalyptic Catholic sci-fi where history seems eerily bent on repeating itself. Miller's trilogy encompasses three separate stories loosely tied together, but able to be taken/read independently.
Darkly humorous, satirical, poignant. Not really the sort of book I usually like, but definitely one I'm glad I read!
Highly recommended!
Nothing groundbreaking here, but it's funny how most of the things book authors are speaking of seem to be a common-sense, yet we still need a reminder to follow these rules (suggestions?) to at least some extent.
II took a look at other reviews, and there are many other people that simplified this book into several lines, so I'll just copy some of these, just for sake of reminding me:
* P. 47 Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm. Winston Churchill
* P. 56 A man's errors are his portals of discovery. James Joyce
* P. 58 The way to get good ideas is to get a list of ideas and throw the bad ones away. Linus Pauling
* P. 92 There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not have been done at all - Peter Drucker
* P. 125 In a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks. Warren Buffett
1. Earth: Strive for Rock-Solid Understanding - Understand basic ideas deeply
2. Fire: Fail and learn from missteps (mistakes)
3. Air: Constantly create and ask meaningful questions
4. Water: Consciously consider and follow the flow of ideas
5. Learning is a lifelong journey - Embrace change
Love hate relationship with this one... Started reading it two years ago and stopped reading around 50% of the book, because I couldn't stand those long discussions about astrology. Also, I'm not a SJW but I had a feeling that the author is just too much focused on Afra's womanly parts (a bit sexist and chauvinistic), maybe I'm wrong tho.
Started reading it again a few weeks ago, just to see if I was wrong, this time I've just fast forwarded through (semi-serious) astrology book parts and focused on the story about Macroscope.
The first thing I've noticed that while at the beginning of the book there was a big focus on overpopulation, but that focus suddenly disappears once the group is gone rogue, and it seems that search for overpopulation solution died with Brad. After that, the part about Neptune and Triton seemed a bit like filler content to me, no clear purpose or doing. And after this part book get a bit better, there are finally some interesting stories being told, still with some astrology spiced over but oh well...
Really a great idea for the story, with (sort of) interesting and a unique main character but it failed abysmally. In the end, I felt divided about the book: did I liked it or not? I guess something in between. 4/10
I feel like The Dead Zone is one of the more underrated books that Stephen King has written. In my experience, King packs the most emotional punches in those books where the supernatural elements are either absent or toned down. The dead zone is a prime example of the latter. Johnny's story, through no fault of his own, is filled with loss and melancholy. A truly masterful work.
4.5 stars.
I have yet to find a Dan Simons' book that I don't like :) I see, by reviews, that the weakest point of this book is its size, but I had “luck” that book publisher in Serbia separated this book into 3 parts, which was indeed easier to read, but also a bit more pricey. Story and its concept are really good, can't think of any drawbacks right now, except that book characters were dying like a flies in the G. Martin's style.
Through a whole second season of the Castle Rock TV Show, Anne Wilkes seemed so familiar from somewhere, and near the end, it dawned on me, it's from Misery! I've read this a long time ago but decided to reread it again, and yeah, it's as good as I remember, Stephen King at it's best.
I'm your number one fan. Imagine this quote turning from something so exciting to something eerie and horrifying. And this is exactly what King did in this novel. You don't need to create a monster or a zombie to create a terrifying novel, and, in my opinion, Annie is one of King's most terrifying characters.
This book was so well-written and while the story itself may seem quite simple (the book is just interaction of a two characters), the horror of it is so much deeper than ghosts or demons, and you will root for the protagonist so much that you'll lost some sleep for sure watching every moment that he's going through.
It's like the perfect bedtime story. A quick read and also a pretty predictable, but still interesting and entertaining. King doesn't write much fantasy but when he does, it's phenomenal (Dark tower is another example).