Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir is a very imaginative and entertaining mix of sci-fi and horror 📚
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Blueprint by Nicholas Christakis is an interesting book about universal feature of our societies (the social suite) and how they are based on genetics, emergent properties, and complex network effects. The book has lots of interesting examples and makes clear connections between human societies and attributes of other animals.📚
Currently reading: Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir 📚
Currently reading: Blueprint by Nicholas A. Christakis 📚
Of the 30 books that I read this year, A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine was my favourite fiction book. And, What is Real by Adam Becker was my favourite non-fiction one. 📚
Currently reading: Ego is the enemy by Ryan Holiday 📚
The Value of Everything by Mariana Mazzucato is an effective description of how our economy is constructed by decisions and assumptions over time. By defining value as the same as price, we confuse value creation and value extraction, which leads to many of the problems we see in today’s economic structures. Her proposals for change would help us achieve the world we’re striving for. 📚
Currently reading: The Value of Everything by Mariana Mazzucato 📚
Currently reading: The obstacle is the way by Ryan Holiday 📚
I wanted to avoid using the word border in a political context and was reminded how much I enjoyed Borderline by Mishell Baker #mbnov 📚
I really enjoyed To Be Taught If Fortunate by Becky Chambers. A little jewel of a space exploration story that really captures the spirit of scientific exploration 📚
Wednesday, November 11, 2020 →
Currently reading: To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers 📚
Finished reading: Breath by James Nestor. A great book about the importance of breathing. Full of interesting stories that certainly convinced me to be more thoughtful about my breath. The end of the book also has a good summary of the main points with detailed methods. 📚
Currently reading: Breath by James Nestor 📚
I enjoyed The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington. A reasonably complex plot with mystery and adventure, along with some good characters. The word building has lots of potential and the rules for the magic make sense. I was a bit intimidated by the length, given it is part one of a trilogy, but it is nice to get immersed in a good, long book. 📚🧙♂️
Reading Shortcut for the iPad 👓⚙️
Sunday, July 26, 2020
I haven’t yet adopted the minimalist style of my iPhone for my iPad. Rather, I’ve found that setting up “task oriented” Shortcuts on my home screen is a good alternative to arranging lots of app icons. The one I use the most is a “Reading” Shortcut, since this is my dominant use of the iPad. Nothing particularly fancy. Just a list of potential reading sources and each one starts up a Timery timer, since I like to track how much time I’m reading.The Aleph Extraction by Dan Moren is a fun read and worthy sequel to the great Bayern Agenda. The mix of cold-war thriller and sci-fi setting is definitely in my sweet spot 📚
The Last Emperox by John Scalzi is great fun and a fitting end to the trilogy 📚
China Miéville’s Perdido Street Station is intensely creative and very entertaining 📚
What is Real by Adam Becker is a great book on the measurement problem in quantum physics. Becker writes very clearly about the actual physics of the problem and the fascinating history. Such a clear example of how science is a human endeavour with politics and personalities 🔭📚
Wednesday, February 19, 2020 →
She Has Her Mother’s Laugh by Carl Zimmer is a thorough, detailed, and fascinating book about heredity. I appreciated that Zimmer expanded heredity well beyond genes to make the important point that we inherit many things from our parents 📚
Although difficult to choose, Death’s End by Cixin Liu is the best book of the trilogy. Incredibly imaginative and immense in scope with a hopeful end, despite some grim content. 📚
Something Deeply Hidden by Sean Carroll is the best kind of non-fiction: engagingly written, sophisticated enough to take the audience seriously, and about a fascinating topic 📚
Where to start? 📚
The Stiehl Assassin by Terry Brooks is okay. Given this is the last series he plans to write, I’m curious to see where he takes the fourth book. Based on the three books so far, the plot is pretty standard for Shannara series. I’d hoped for something more dramatic.
After the original series, I think the Genesis of Shannara series is the most inventive one. 📚
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone is an imaginative literary romance novel wrapped in a time travel espionage plot. I really enjoyed it, though it was not at all like my usual sci-fi reading 📚
Recursion by Blake Crouch is an entertaining time-travel, multiverse story. Distinct from his previous Dark Matter novel, but with the right kinds of echos 📚
I enjoyed The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu. Very inventive, though definitely some grim parts, as you might expect for the second book in a trilogy. The dialogue can be a bit clunky, so the emphasis is on the science. 📚
I enjoyed Borderline by Mishell Baker. A good mix of fantasy and realism with compelling characters 📚
The Fall by Neal Stephenson is well worth a read. The concepts about consciousness, computer simulations, and death were fascinating, along with the usual hyper detail from Stephenson. Definitely a marathon of a read with multiple, overlapping stories within the book 📚