I've been sticking with the Spenser series as of late, right now I'm barely into book thirty-nine, Sixkill. I think the other person borrowing this series either fell behind or got far ahead of me as the wait times have diminished. The prior book that I finished earlier today dealt with Spenser trying to protect someone, failing in that regard and then having to determine why his client was murdered.
I wrapped up Sixkill this morning, another solid outing in the David Spenser series. This one starts off with a young girls' death and the police are questioning whether it was murder or accidental. Spenser gets brought in as a consultant and, well, things quickly spiral from that point.
And I had quite the wait for this book that I've just started, book seven of the Striker series, the Running Grave.
And I had quite the wait for this book that I've just started, book seven of the Striker series, the Running Grave.
I just finished Le mage du Kremlin by Giuliano da Empoli. I've enjoyed it; it's worth the read if you're interested in USSR, Russia, and Ukraine politics (and if you speak French or Italian, but I have no doubt it'll be translated to English).
I liked the way the author interpreted Russia's actions after the collapse of the USSR and tried to show the Russians' point of view. The problem is that this novel doesn't really create any character, nor any story, since the whole content is Vladislav Sourkov recounting his personal and political life (he has another name in the book). It's not an accurate historical essay, either, since it contains a good deal of fiction. Finally, the author isn't Russian nor has any background that would acknowledge him as an expert in the domain. However, it's obvious he has done his homework, and the result is both convincing and entertaining. It's well written, except some forgivable disregard for punctuation, it's clever, and it's not too hard to guess what belongs to the fiction.
The last chapter but one is a sort of small essay that casts a possible distopian future where technology will be our downfall because, unlike the human element that can soften or refuse orders coming from the inevitable tyrant, machines will obey them to the letter. I think it was a nice try, though a little hyperbolic in the context of the book, but the reasoning was flawed in several ways, which prevented it from being fully relevant or even thought-provoking.
I liked the way the author interpreted Russia's actions after the collapse of the USSR and tried to show the Russians' point of view. The problem is that this novel doesn't really create any character, nor any story, since the whole content is Vladislav Sourkov recounting his personal and political life (he has another name in the book). It's not an accurate historical essay, either, since it contains a good deal of fiction. Finally, the author isn't Russian nor has any background that would acknowledge him as an expert in the domain. However, it's obvious he has done his homework, and the result is both convincing and entertaining. It's well written, except some forgivable disregard for punctuation, it's clever, and it's not too hard to guess what belongs to the fiction.
The last chapter but one is a sort of small essay that casts a possible distopian future where technology will be our downfall because, unlike the human element that can soften or refuse orders coming from the inevitable tyrant, machines will obey them to the letter. I think it was a nice try, though a little hyperbolic in the context of the book, but the reasoning was flawed in several ways, which prevented it from being fully relevant or even thought-provoking.
Scratch that, it's already been translated into English.
I've read about half the Exhalations book now. Unfortunately it did not live up to my expectations thus far. The language is plain, but functional and there is little story, of course. Unfortunately the philosophical musings aren't new or very interesting to me.
The first is about time travel and was somewhat interesting, since I've only thought, read and heard a little about time paradoxes.
The second is about free will and was utterly boring to me. Being very interested in the subject of determinism a few years ago and now and then listening to people talk about it there was nothing new.
The third was somewhat interesting with its closed off universe/world with alien intelligences (though the interactions felt basically human) and a meditation on the heat death of the universe (or its similarity in this universe), the existence of other universes and if something exists outside. The alien life was also interesting in its construction.
The fourth was a bore. It's about a near future where there's a lot of "metaversian" interactions between people and sentient digital life begin to be developed. The problem with this one was that nothing much happens, even though it's about a hundred pages long. The digital life slowly evolves, their owners/caretakers talk about what it means when they learn new things, when the digital landscape evolves, if they are life with worth in and of itself, how to balance one's life with the needs of the digital life's needs and so on. But there's just no sense of excitement or intellectual newness. It felt more like reading about the life of a Wow-guild with overly active imagination, than a thought provoking take on artificial life and sentience.
Somehow it feels as if I'm missing something, considering the praise of others in this thread. But I'm just bored of it right now. One good thing is that it helps me fall asleep in the evening.
The first is about time travel and was somewhat interesting, since I've only thought, read and heard a little about time paradoxes.
The second is about free will and was utterly boring to me. Being very interested in the subject of determinism a few years ago and now and then listening to people talk about it there was nothing new.
The third was somewhat interesting with its closed off universe/world with alien intelligences (though the interactions felt basically human) and a meditation on the heat death of the universe (or its similarity in this universe), the existence of other universes and if something exists outside. The alien life was also interesting in its construction.
The fourth was a bore. It's about a near future where there's a lot of "metaversian" interactions between people and sentient digital life begin to be developed. The problem with this one was that nothing much happens, even though it's about a hundred pages long. The digital life slowly evolves, their owners/caretakers talk about what it means when they learn new things, when the digital landscape evolves, if they are life with worth in and of itself, how to balance one's life with the needs of the digital life's needs and so on. But there's just no sense of excitement or intellectual newness. It felt more like reading about the life of a Wow-guild with overly active imagination, than a thought provoking take on artificial life and sentience.
Somehow it feels as if I'm missing something, considering the praise of others in this thread. But I'm just bored of it right now. One good thing is that it helps me fall asleep in the evening.
I wrapped up the Running Grave earlier today and man, what a nice tale this was, featuring cults and murders and suicides, oh my! This might be the strongest outing yet in the series at least for me, as we get to see Robin carry the story for quite some time on her own. There's a loss of a long-time character and after the detecting is all done you get the feeling that not everything might be completely stable going forward. Time will tell.
Next up for me is McCullough's biography on Truman, a president that I've not read much about.
Next up for me is McCullough's biography on Truman, a president that I've not read much about.
I finished the four books of Silo 49. Overall, they're well worth it.
The first one was short and felt somewhat less mature with an ending seemingly rushed that came after a long, quieter period. The 2nd and 3rd were more balanced and quite original, and the last one is quite short and puts some historical perspective on one of the protagonists of the 3rd novel.
I recommend them if you liked Hugh Howey's Wool series. Don't read Silo 49 before reading all of his books.
The first one was short and felt somewhat less mature with an ending seemingly rushed that came after a long, quieter period. The 2nd and 3rd were more balanced and quite original, and the last one is quite short and puts some historical perspective on one of the protagonists of the 3rd novel.
I recommend them if you liked Hugh Howey's Wool series. Don't read Silo 49 before reading all of his books.
I just wrapped up the Truman book and wow, turns out I learned a lot about the man. I maybe knew maybe half of his accolades, and hardly anything about his life prior to his political career, so it was an eye opener in many ways. McCullough is my kind of author, I wish I had his talents, and this book ranks right up there with some of his very best.
Now I'm reading Fourth Wing, a book I requested before Christmas so either they've few copies or this novel is popular. I'm only about ten percent in, just getting over the premise and I like the story so far, the only issue I have is the language is jarring, for instance, every so often someone will speak like, I. Want. This. Now. I mean, these people are supposed to be in their twenties yet for the most part so far they act like twelve year olds, or younger. Other than the writing style/language, it's good so far.
I completed my Silo spree with Machine Learning: New and Collected Stories, from the man himself (Hugh Howey). It's a series of varied novellas, one of them being a sort of Silo prequel / epilogue. It was short and fine, though not as great as the book series. I only recommend to obsessed people like me.
Time to switch to something else again, but I don't know what yet.
Time to switch to something else again, but I don't know what yet.
I chose Beacon 23, by Hugh Howey. It's a sci-fi novel, too, but shorter than the Silo series. It's about a man operating a space beacon, the equivalent of a lighthouse operator for spaceship traveling at faster-than-light speeds (so they don't crash into rocks and so on).
I like it so far; it's full of funny metaphors, and the main protagonist is very colourful. A couple of examples below.
I like it so far; it's full of funny metaphors, and the main protagonist is very colourful. A couple of examples below.
I finished with Fourth Wing last evening, the story got really good at the end as someone thought to be dead turned out not to be. I've quite a wait for the next book in the series, eighteen weeks so now I'm reading Court of Thorns and Roses, which seems interesting so far. I like the premise of humans vs. fae, so far the book seems to be rather accurate with mythologies and such.
I finished Exhalations today. Not to my taste, unfortunately. The only new thought for me was how Many worlds theory might impact life if it was provably true and how true AI might need to develop.
If I had been 20 I think the book would've been great, since it is easy reading and it touches on how science might impact life in many ways. Since I'm almost 40 and have read, watched and thought about all subjects he writes about here, it just wasn't interesting in any meaningful way without a good story. And the only good stories, in my opinion, were the first and last one.
I enjoyed the film Arrival, so I think I might like that book by him and will maybe get back to his books some other time.
Now I'll read Pandora's Star by Peter F Hamilton.
If I had been 20 I think the book would've been great, since it is easy reading and it touches on how science might impact life in many ways. Since I'm almost 40 and have read, watched and thought about all subjects he writes about here, it just wasn't interesting in any meaningful way without a good story. And the only good stories, in my opinion, were the first and last one.
I enjoyed the film Arrival, so I think I might like that book by him and will maybe get back to his books some other time.
Now I'll read Pandora's Star by Peter F Hamilton.
Wait. So you didn't even like "The Lifecycle of Software Objects", which won the Hugo and Locus?
It's one of about two I've read from a different source (I haven't read this collection). I'm in my 50s, have a collection of over 2000 sf and f volumes, so there's little that surprises me, and I remember it being pretty good.
Don't read Arrival (aka Stories of Your Life and Others). I fear you might just be hate-reading him at this point, and there is always better things to do with our life.
(That said, if you do, my favourites from that one are "Story of Your Life" (which the movie Arrival is based on) and "Tower of Babylon".)
Haha, hate-reading is a bit strong, but yeah I would probably not enjoy it at the moment.Wait. So you didn't even like "The Lifecycle of Software Objects", which won the Hugo and Locus?
It's one of about two I've read from a different source (I haven't read this collection). I'm in my 50s, have a collection of over 2000 sf and f volumes, so there's little that surprises me, and I remember it being pretty good.
Don't read Arrival (aka Stories of Your Life and Others). I fear you might just be hate-reading him at this point, and there is always better things to do with our life.
(That said, if you do, my favourites from that one are "Story of Your Life" (which the movie Arrival is based on) and "Tower of Babylon".)
I thought the Arrival book was a full-fledged novel, but it is another short story collection, then?
Yeah, I didn't enjoy "The Lifecycle of Software Objects ". Somewhat interesting to think about how AI life experiences might differ from human life, but it was drawn out and uneventful.
I think I expected too much from the book, and didn't realize it is more of a philosophical pondering about subjects through science fiction storytelling, than storytelling with philosopical undertones.
Yep. Chiang has only ever written short fiction and non-fiction (about AI n struff). That's one of his claims to fame, that he's massively respected and has an impressive number of awards for someone who only ever dabbles in the short form.
