This is a great book! I always love @rixx' recommendations, and this was once again spot-on: Some suspense, a neat plot, and (above all) beautiful writing and two awesome characters. Would lose a time war with these two, highly recommended!

A suspenseful and gripping read, with a few neat notions about economics, but ultimately empty — apparently the author (or possibly his editors) didn't want to get into more detail about the theories he scratches the surface of. The academic papers referenced are utterly fascinating, and I'm glad to have been introduced to them, but it's a shame that the book doesn't develop the ideas further.

A fantastic and well-written geekfest, this book is a delightful aerospace nerd-out. I've talked to several folks to whom the story and its characters mean the world, and I think I understand why. I came away unsure whether I really understood the protagonist, but maybe I don't have to, and certainly it doesn't take away from the book. Hope to read more from this author soon!

Some interesting ideas around production logistics, wrapped in an absolutely cringe-worthy redemption story of an 80s executive.

A good companion to Higginbotham's "Midnight in Chernobyl", focussed far more on the aftermath of the nuclear catastrophe than its origins. A great read, and excellently referenced too, I really enjoyed looking through some of the papers it points to.

This is an awesome book! Fun and endearingly honest, gut-wrenching and heartbreaking in equal measures, Trevor Noah shares stories from his childhood and adolescence in South Africa.

This was a nice read, but I'm not sure I'm a fan of Banks' writing. The worlds are great, but the story so-so -- my impression was that there was a lot of 'telling' going on, and, over time, got frustrated by things just happening somehow. Maybe I need to read more culture novels?

A gripping read! With many personal stories, and a very accessible explanation of the systems involved, this is an unputdownable book. Highly recommended for everyone in the mood for catastrophe.

↑ 2019
2018 ↓

"The Dream Machine" traces the origins of personal, networked computing to J. C. R. "Lick" Licklider, a psychologist-turned-computer scientist who witnessed (and often supported) almost every major development in 20th-century IT, from integrated circuits to human-computer interaction, to the ARPA- and Internet, inventing the entire field of Cybernetics on the way. It's a fascinating and inspiring account of the idea of a machine as a complement to human thinking and decision-making, and the rise of personal computers. The book follows the big ideas of this rise with its inventions and hacks, as well as its dead ends, squandered opportunities, ego clashes and management failures (which take up a sizable part).

I read a large chunk of this book over Mozfest, and it really struck me how white and male the entire story was (if there was a Bechtel test for books, this would fail disastrously), and it got me thinking how things might have turned out if a more representative crowd (like the one at Mozfest) had gotten the chance to provide input on the tech we use today.

This is, again, a fantastic book, and a very worthy wrap to an excellent series! After an action-laden second installment, the focus is back on the wide unexplored expanses of the earth and its many marvels. Having accompanied the cast for so long, it's difficult to say goodbye at the end.

Another great book in the broken earth series! This one is also a gripping read, though (in my experience) not so much through the worlds it builds or characters it describes as through the action and suspense throughout. Lots of badassery from an awesome cast of characters.

Wow, this is an awesome book! Lovely, diverse cast of characters, a beautiful world, a gripping read. It's not a happy story -- there are plenty of hardships, and things get painful at times, and excruciating at one point near the end, but overall it's an inspiring and fun book. Highly recommended!