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I've been keeping a list of stuff I read out of curiosity. Work and classes have been slow on and off so I've wrapped up a bunch of books this month. Here's the latest few: 27 OCT Coupland, Douglas. Microserfs. (Excellent. Neat insight into a small software start-up. Journal format.) 02 NOV Coupland, Douglas. jPod: A Novel. (Bleh. Don't bother. Read Microserfs again, instead.) 04 NOV Gibson, William. Pattern Recognition. (Fun. Some interesting characters.) 11 NOV Pynchon, Thomas. Gravity's Rainbow. (Too much hype. Not that amazing.) 14 NOV Gibson, William. Virtual Light. (Good book. I love Gibson, though, so I am biased.) 18 NOV Gibson, William. Burning Chrome. (Excellent.) 20 NOV Gaiman, Neil. American Gods. (Weird. Interesting writing style. Somewhat cliche comic-book-ish characters, but that's to be expected of Gaiman...) I just started A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge on the recommendation of my roommate. Not too bad so far - but I've only just hit a hundred pages in or so. FreelanceSocialist fucked around with this message at 03:57 on Nov 22, 2006 |
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Nov 22, 2006 03:52
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Just finished Ignition! by John D. Clark. Pretty entertaining history of liquid propellants as used in rocketry. Lots of horror stories and an almost Bill Bryson-ish delivery. Picked it up because it is out of print, absurdly rare, and stupidly expensive. Heavy on chemistry. If your a chemistry or engineering goon, get this (if you can). My university library had a copy. I think we need a rare and awesome books thread. This and the coffee table book about the Kowloon Walled City, City of Darkness, would get my vote.
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Aug 4, 2010 21:52
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Just wrapped up The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods by Antonin Sertillanges. Sertillanges was a french catholic philosopher and this book details his framework and approach to life-long learning and intellectual pursuits. I read the English translation because my French is awful. It's a surprisingly deep dive into the intellectual tradition and although its written from a Christian point-of-view, you can just interpret his references to the Christian God, faith, etc as the sort of profound internal calling to learning and discovery and purpose that we all feel. I'm sure some imagery gets lost in translation, but I still found this book to be very well-written, very readable, if a bit dense at times. I kept leafing back through to re-read passages and to think about some of the points that he makes. I think that just about everyone will find things in this book that apply to their own situation. If you are looking for something written by a smart dude about how to be a smart dude and that isn't a pretentious pile of garbage, this might be for you.
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Aug 21, 2019 23:02
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Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain by Charles Leerhsen I had just watched Roadrunner and so when Leehrsen's "controversial" and "irresponsible" biography - it got a fair amount of press and pushback from Bourdain's friends/family/estate - popped up in my feed I pretty much felt compelled to pick it up. I found it to be well-written, well-researched, and engrossing. In my opinion, as a Bourdain fan since the Kitchen Confidential and the first episodes of A Cook's Tour (and having been lucky enough to sit at an airport bar with him and bitch about life on one occasion), it does absolutely nothing to tarnish his legacy. At least for the real Bourdain fans. If anything, it makes him more human, more relatable, less of the remote messianic trans-human figure that his publishers and PR people have constructed. Suicide is rarely rational. It doesn't make sense. This book doesn't try to "solve" anything or create an explanation. Leerhsen, though tons of research and interviews, lays out Bourdain's life and struggles without trying to force a narrative. Humans are complicated. Life is messy. Not everything gets a happy ending. I ended up re-reading Bourdain's autobiography Medium Raw right after and will probably start In the Weeds: Around the World and Behind the Scenes with Anthony Bourdain by Tom Vitale this weekend while everything is still pretty fresh in my mind. Claeaus posted:Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I had read The Martian before and liked it and my friend told me that Project Hail Mary was good so I just bought it without knowing what it was about. It was a long time since I was this hooked by a book, god drat. This has been staring up at me from my unread list for awhile. I keep meaning to read it but then something else catches my attention. FreelanceSocialist fucked around with this message at 04:58 on Nov 19, 2022 |
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Nov 19, 2022 04:25
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Wrapped up In the Weeds by Tom Vitale. Tom was with Tony on almost his entire TV journey and was instrumental in making a lot of those incredible episodes possible. It was really interesting to see things from the perspective of someone who was pretty much the polar opposite of Bourdain and yet still close to him, through everything. Lots of stories from the making of the shows, traveling, Bourdain's struggles, vulnerability, etc. Vitale seems to be very open about his own mistakes and some of the darker moments over the years. Highly recommended as it will make you view many episodes of No Reservations and Parts Unknown much differently once you have an idea of what was going on off-camera and what it took to turn the footage into the Emmy-winning final product. And it gives you a glimpse into the world of people who seemed to be invincible and confident but, in reality, struggled with all the same poo poo that the rest of us do.
FreelanceSocialist fucked around with this message at 20:57 on Nov 30, 2022 |
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Nov 29, 2022 15:35
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Finished The Martian. Had seen the movie but not read the book. Enjoyed the movie. If you're in the same position I would recommend reading it. It's from the same perspective (Watney's) for the most part with the cutaways to other perspectives (no spoilers) as the plot evolves. They stayed pretty close to the source material but the book has a lot of little things going on that are fun and were (in my opinion) fine to cut out of the movie adaptation. For instance, we don't really need know the why or how for everything that happens in the movie, but the book goes into greater science-based detail on a lot of the major events through the storyline. Also, the casting for Watney was perfect (again, opinion). Book Watney is maybe a bit more sarcastic but that could just be in my head. The ending is slightly different, the specifics tweaked a bit in the movie, but not in a bad way. Overall very enjoyable read even though there's definitely a few sections where it feels like Weir is just jerking himself off over they-did-the-math style minutiae. But I get it - in context it makes sense for the main character to be super pumped about spending hours figuring out the nitrogen and oxygen content of urine and the energy required to separate it out via electrolysis and then the steps required recombine it into NOX so that Watney can literally huff his own piss jar to get high... Ok, that specific thing didn't happen in the book but it's pretty analogous. You'll see. Claeaus posted:Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I had read The Martian before and liked it and my friend told me that Project Hail Mary was good so I just bought it without knowing what it was about. It was a long time since I was this hooked by a book, god drat. And I just started this last night. Also going in blind - other than I know it is about space because there's a astrodude floating around on the cover. And it's Andy Weir. FreelanceSocialist fucked around with this message at 18:29 on Dec 4, 2022 |
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Dec 4, 2022 17:34
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Finished Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir last night. Early on it felt kind slow and a bit too much like Weir was just going to repeat The Martian and I wasn't totally sold but then the story really took off as the main character recovered his faculties and met his new friend. The ending was a little underwhelming but I can appreciate Weir not wanting to go for the obvious wrap-up. Overall I'd say it's better than The Martian but perhaps not quite as accessible to readers who aren't into hard sci fi stuff. And there's definitely moments where you're like "ok you're a smart main character but that's ridiculous".
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Dec 8, 2022 23:52
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Just finished Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang. It's a collection of his short stories/novellas from 1990 onward, including the one that ultimately became the movie Arrival. That was the biggest reason I picked up this collection. I loved the movie and the ideas behind it so I figured I'd track down the source material. I will say that I had always sort of felt that short stories/novellas couldn't really compare to full-length novels. I don't know why I felt that way. I blame having to read anthologies of mediocre crap when I was in gradeschool, I guess? Anyway, this collection changed my view. These were all great. Creative, inventive, thought-provoking. The one that became the movie isn't even the best of them, in my opinion. I'd put it in third place maybe. After finishing these I totally get why Chiang's won pretty much every scifi award out there. If you're in to hard scifi/speculative fiction stuff I recommend checking it out.
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Dec 21, 2022 22:12
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American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin A week or so before Christmas, a trailer dropped for Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. I would say that I'm a Nolan fan and that I think Cillian Murphy is a very talented actor so the trailer grabbed my attention. And I knew a little bit about Oppenheimer, mostly from his adjacency to a ton of legendary figures in 20th century physics. So I tracked down the book that the movie is based on because, why not? I thought I'd get a story about how smart man builds complicated thing. What I ended up with was a staggeringly well-researched deep-dive into the constellation of people and events leading up to the anti-communist hearings that vilified Oppenheimer, centered around the life of the man himself. The footnotes can practically be a book all by themselves. Verdict: If you're looking to prep ahead of the movie (nothing wrong with that) and you're interested in Oppenheimer himself and how he got swept up into the whole McCarthyism/HUAC/etc. circus, pick this one up for sure. If you're more interested in the physics behind it all, the development of the atomic bomb, etc - this probably won't have what you're looking for. It's a lot to process but it is well-written, so while it might take you some time to get through, I think that you'll find it's a pretty rewarding read. You'll come away with an appreciation for the genius of Oppenheimer, for all that he accomplished and all that he helped others accomplish, without being overwhelmed by math and science and jargon that you would figure would accompany a topic like this. Many of the individuals that were in his orbit throughout the middle of his life, up to and through Los Alamos, and into the years leading up to the hearings, have been given more attention and more "life" than you usually see in biographies. And the whole thing is just so... dense. It's so much information. Such a comprehensive timeline. And I should reiterate just how loving smart this dude was. Unbelievably smart. Probably one of the greatest minds of the 20th century. edit: I also tracked down some of the declassified documents mentioned in the book - Bob Serber's collection of lectures that was given to newly-arrived Los Alamos scientists to bring them up to speed, Oppenheimer's speech to ALAS from November 1945, The Franck Report, etc. If anyone reads the book and wants to read them as well, let me know. FreelanceSocialist fucked around with this message at 02:38 on Jan 15, 2023 |
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Jan 15, 2023 01:37
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The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes I started this one a few days after wrapping up American Prometheus because I wanted to know more about the actual science behind what they accomplished at Los Alamos. This book was recommended using words like "incomparable" and "monumental". And it is those things. It's easily one of the best history books I've read, on any topic, and I came away from it having learned so much more than just the science. Rhodes manages to distill an almost unimaginable amount of information into ~900 pages in such a way that, even though it is a dense and very comprehensive work, it remains accessible and enjoyable. Not only are you going to learn about the bomb, you're going to learn about the major contributors to the program and to the related science (including many brilliant women who are often omitted or overlooked) and how the the European antisemitic movements of the late 19th/early 20th century and the rise of fascism served to scatter them all to the wind - only to have them coalesce back into groups which would make possible the multi-decade odyssey leading to the destruction of two Japanese cities and alter the course of human history. And you're going to get paragraphs, even entire chapters, about important events surrounding the main thread where other authors would maybe give you a sentence or two, at best. Rhodes also presents the facts, chronology, and context for both the decisions to drop the bombs and to keep the weapons program and the discoveries secret. The latter would ultimately lead to the nuclear arms race and the proliferation of the weapons. Also, just a heads up that he does not shy away from the aftermath of the bombings (nor should he) and includes very graphic first-hand accounts from survivors and observers. If you take away anything from the book, it should be what you're going to come across in the final chapters. FreelanceSocialist fucked around with this message at 01:18 on Feb 3, 2023 |
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Feb 3, 2023 01:13
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Gleisdreieck posted:Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk I would argue that the white collar nihilism was the most accurate part of the book.
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Apr 19, 2023 00:09
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The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal by M. Mitchell Waldrop (2001) Goodreads / Amazon Interesting and well-researched account of how the theories of computer touching and the ideas from a number of brilliant people all coalesced (primarily thanks to the efforts of "Lick") to give us personal computers, networks and the internet, artificial intelligence, etc. There's a lot of fascinating stuff in the book and it makes you appreciate where we are at today with computers and just how narrowly we stayed on the path that got us here. And it really amplifies the irony in coming full-circle with remote work and "the cloud" and the internet as a public utility. Focuses more on the people and the ideas than the technology but provides enough background info about the evolution of key technologies that you understand just how amazing all of it was. Recommended if you're a nerd who likes tech, history, and computer-touching.
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Jun 7, 2023 18:05
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Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (2015) I've been trying to get away from non-fiction/work-related books in my free time. In the past few months I read The Martian and Project Hail Mary back-to-back and then Ted Chiang's collection of short stories so I was looking for something in that vein. I wasn't really sure where to go next but someone on Discord suggested I start Tchaikovsky's series because the third book recently dropped. I loved it. It has a great spin on the whole "first contact" theme and good blend of interesting characters with different motivations and hard sci-fi aspects. It doesn't overwhelm you with walls of text explaining every detail and every plot device. It hops between chapters across vast timespans but still manages to allow you to stay mentally connected to what has already taken place. Even the "villains" at different points are complex enough that, once you get what they're trying to do, makes them less of a villain and more just an actor with a different set of priorities. A lot of fun, creative plot devices and a nice twist at the end. I am looking forward to starting the second book (Children of Ruin). Goodreads / Amazon
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Jun 26, 2023 19:01
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luscious posted:If you’re looking for something else that’s equally amazing check out Semiosis! Will add that to my list - it sounds pretty similar. Thanks!
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Jun 27, 2023 12:33
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TehRedWheelbarrow posted:House of leaves. This is pretty much the quintessential review of that book - "I love it, I hate it, I experienced it." I've read it maybe five times - about every four years or so - because I keep convincing myself I enjoyed it the previous time and then I get like two-thirds of the way through and I remember how I did not, in fact, enjoy it. And then I just want to throw it into a fire and move on. But every time I convince myself I need to finish it. Which reminds me that it's almost time to dig out my copy again...
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Jul 9, 2023 23:12
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Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky (2019) The second book in the Children of Time series. Was really looking forward to this one after finishing the first book. Ruin builds upon Time but honestly it could still probably stand apart from it if, for some reason, you decided to hop into the middle of the trilogy. It uses a similar multi-timeline, multi-perspective storytelling approach and follows the same general formula as the first book, progressing through a familiar arc which, by the time you're a few chapters in, probably gives you a rough idea of how the author is going to conclude everything. But it doesn't matter - there are still surprises and the writing is so compelling, the worldbuilding so creative, that I could not put this book down. I don't want to spoil anything because I think a big part of the experience is going in totally blind and piecing things together as the author hops between timelines. 10/10 would read again except for the fact that there's a third book that I need to go devour. And then I am going to re-read House of Leaves for the fifth time and fight the urge to put the book through a wood-chipper afterwards. Goodreads / Amazon
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Jul 11, 2023 13:44
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UltraShame posted:God I loving hate this author. I had to call it quits after Project Hail Mary. You are far braver than I am.
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Jul 24, 2023 01:51
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After a multi-month dry spell due to having to read too many white papers for work, I finally picked up a book again. Burn Book: A Tech Love Story by Kara Swisher (Goodreads | Amazon) I was expecting a bit more substance, considering her background and experience - Swisher is one of the top tech journalists, in my opinion. I felt like each chapter ended a bit too early and that there were a lot of opportunities to go into detail where it felt like she deliberately left stuff out. Still, I found it to be entertaining and relatively accessible. I think you'll enjoy it if you go into it expecting it to be a 10,000-ft view of her experiences with the industry - or, maybe more accurately, of her experiencing the industry - and her interactions with some of its iconic personalities. However, if you're expecting a revelatory tell-all full of hidden truths or a detailed narrative of all that is wrong with the world (read: tech), you should probably look elsewhere. Final verdict: worth reading on a long flight but honestly I wish Kara would just release a curated anthology of experiences and essays like David Sedaris does... FreelanceSocialist fucked around with this message at 01:34 on Mar 29, 2024 |
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Mar 29, 2024 00:21
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Laurenz posted:Finished “For Whom The Bell Tolls” by Hemingway the other day. Yes! Another convert! One of my all-time favorite works and yet it is so hard to get people to even consider picking up a copy. Is it the age? The author? Does the title give people flashbacks to high school english class? I have no idea - but they don't know what they're missing.
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Mar 29, 2024 01:40
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Just finished The Colour Of Magic and The Light Fantastic by Sir Terry Pratchett. I am now a dozen pages into Equal Rites. This is going to consume the next few months of my life, won't it?
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Apr 16, 2024 16:01
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FreelanceSocialist posted:Just finished The Colour Of Magic and The Light Fantastic by Sir Terry Pratchett. I am now a dozen pages into Equal Rites. This is going to consume the next few months of my life, won't it? Wrapped up Equal Rites and Mort. Equal Rites was fun, leaning more towards satire and social commentary than the previous two books. Granny and Esk were both good characters but seemed - unfinished? - in a way? Maybe he cut some material before it went to press? And there were points where the Mary Sue trope was a little flat. Minor complaints, though. Mort had an interesting concept but it just wasn't as compelling a story for me and the ending seemed like he was in a rush to tie things up. It wasn't bad, it just felt like the weakest, so far. Already seeing the jokes and call-backs and recurring characters/places and some minor improvement in his writing. So far, I think Equal Rites is my favorite. Moving on to Sourcery tonight.
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Apr 24, 2024 01:36
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