just a guy who reads sometimes
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The legendary Keanu Reeves and inimitable writer China Miéville team up on this genre-bending epic …
Love all the Mieville books I've read and who doesn't love Keanu? Looking forward to this one!
A chilling, globe-spanning detective story, tracking an elite group of Russian hackers and the future …
This book is very well researched and documents the path the Sandworm hackers traversed over a number of years. I found the insight into Russian use of hacking in their overall worldview to be really interesting. Greenberg does a great job connecting all the dots and laying out a very solid explanation of GRU's hacking operations (beyond just the headline grabbing ICS attacks).
I am beginning to understand why people that work in ICS security are also some of the most off-the-grid-prepper types out there. I think the US is undermining all of us to keep a "competitive advantage." In the end, like the leaked NSA tools, it will be used against us. I for one won't be able to see I didn't see it coming.
An ex-Navy SEAL presents a guide on how to achieve freedom through discipline, outlining the …
Finished this rather quickly. There was a lot of motivational speech, and a bit of Willink's life philosophy, but not much to explain WHY his method provides "freedom."
The other reviewer who mentioned it reads "like a series of small blog posts" hit the nail on the head.
I did enjoy this, but didn't get exactly what I was hoping out of it.
Content warning Minor spoilers ahead! You've been warned!!
A good finish to the series. A few of the things wrapped up a little too neatly, but also some surprises at the end.
I enjoyed that we get to see Juliette united with Charlotte and move toward the start of their next adventure with the survivors from Silos 17/18.
I am wondering what else the author has planned with these characters. The bit about the people from 17 being "wrong" (i.e. "infected" by Anna with the nanobots that keep the people in Silo 1 alive/healthy for so long) seems too good to pass up!
I enjoyed how Howey weaved in the reasons behind what happened mostly in the background, but did make it pretty explicit what happened by the end, so if you missed some of the hints you weren't left completely clueless. I think that bit above about the Silo 17 survivors having healing nanobots being one of the last things left (mostly) unsaid.
Great series!
The prose is short, but also enough. I'm not sure how he cut down seven years into these relatively few pages, but it works.
I found the honesty here refreshing. There are some themes that I think are woven throughout, but not shoved in your face.
Overall a great read.
Excited to get started on this one! I followed Tom's journey from almost the very beginning. I enjoyed watching his prose and photography progress as the trip went on.
Content warning Yar there be spoilers here (not specific plot points but overall story things)
Yes I am very clever for that title.
Great follow up to Wool. Didn’t go where I thought it would - but glad Howey did what he did.
The edition I have had a nice afterword from the author and I appreciated the insight to his thought process for the plot.
I liked going back to see how it all ended up (or started?) where it did in Wool. Getting Solo’s story was fantastic. Finding out why the silos were made (fanatics!! Who’da think? Yes I’m being sarcastic there) was a good choice as well.
Looking forward to the rest of Juliette’s story. Interested to see if/when she meets Donald.
Tackling some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine, these stories will change the way …
Kai-Enna is the Witch King, though he hasn’t always been, and he hasn’t even always been Kai-Enna!
After being murdered, …
They live beneath the earth in a prison of their own making. There is a …
I greatly enjoyed this book. I had heard about it awhile ago, but never checked it out. A friend lent me their copy and I've had it sitting on my desk for a few months. Finally got around to reading it on vacation and couldn't put it down.
I thoroughly enjoyed the tone of this book. While the premise is dark, and some of the lore that is slowly doled out even darker, the general tone is strangely positive.
I did fear for the main character as Howey almost reaches GRRM levels of murdering off characters. I do like that approach as it makes the stakes better for me as a reader. It's better if there some danger in there somewhere, for me anyways.
Looking forward to the other books in the series.
And I will have to go back and check out the show now, to see how it …
I greatly enjoyed this book. I had heard about it awhile ago, but never checked it out. A friend lent me their copy and I've had it sitting on my desk for a few months. Finally got around to reading it on vacation and couldn't put it down.
I thoroughly enjoyed the tone of this book. While the premise is dark, and some of the lore that is slowly doled out even darker, the general tone is strangely positive.
I did fear for the main character as Howey almost reaches GRRM levels of murdering off characters. I do like that approach as it makes the stakes better for me as a reader. It's better if there some danger in there somewhere, for me anyways.
Looking forward to the other books in the series.
And I will have to go back and check out the show now, to see how it stands up (not as good as the book, I am sure - but are they ever??).
Nominee for Best Historical Fiction (2022) 1980, PASS CHRISTIAN, MISSISSIPPI: It is three in the …
What a strange book. Many questions posed, few answered. Conversations that you have to follow on your own. Punctuation optional. If you don't like how thick McCarthy's writing can get, you definitely do not want to read this one. I found that I could only handle a chapter (or less) at a time because I had to think so hard and pay attention to what was going on. I re-read many lines to try to understand them. Re-read entire passages to figure out who was actually speaking.
I've read a number of other McCarthy books, so I knew what I was getting into, vocabulary wise. I think as you get used to his style it gets easier to read, though.
A lot of philosophical ideas presented in the conversations between the main character and his cast of "friends." Western's role in the story felt more like a sponge for pain …
What a strange book. Many questions posed, few answered. Conversations that you have to follow on your own. Punctuation optional. If you don't like how thick McCarthy's writing can get, you definitely do not want to read this one. I found that I could only handle a chapter (or less) at a time because I had to think so hard and pay attention to what was going on. I re-read many lines to try to understand them. Re-read entire passages to figure out who was actually speaking.
I've read a number of other McCarthy books, so I knew what I was getting into, vocabulary wise. I think as you get used to his style it gets easier to read, though.
A lot of philosophical ideas presented in the conversations between the main character and his cast of "friends." Western's role in the story felt more like a sponge for pain than an actual part of the plot. He seems to move along without much driving him, outside of avoiding something or someone or somewhere. There isn't much there there, when it comes to him. The real interesting characters are those around him. If you want a hero, he is not that. If you want a vessel for yourself, then you're on to something.
There were times that I felt like McCarthy was speaking directly to the reader. Times where he seems to apologize that the story isn't what we expect. Maybe even times where he talks down to us. Does Cormac McCarthy secretly hold a doctorate in mathematics or physics? He clearly has an idea who shot Kennedy.
Would I say this was as good as The Road? No. Suttree? Maybe. Better than Child of God, IMHO. A book I could see myself coming back to in 10 years and finding new things to learn. I enjoyed the challenge, which I always do with McCarthy's books.
In the days when the presence of a computer did NOT presume the presence of …
I've had this book recommended to me personally as well on several lists of "cybersecurity books everyone should read" so I finally got around to reading it.
The story, while slightly repetitive, unfolds in a first person, linear style. I found the book easy to read, and while the cybersecurity ideas presented seems commonplace today, I think they were probably groundbreaking when the book came out.
I found it fascinating that Cliff's use of a logbook, external monitoring systems, a pager, a very early form of a "canary token," and a few other technical ideas are still in use today. (OK, maybe not the pager exactly but lots of IT people get text alerts on their phones!)
His inability to get any help from the 3 Letter Federal Agencies was not surprising. It took 9/11 to fix some of those communication problems (but not all from what I understand).
Anyways, …
I've had this book recommended to me personally as well on several lists of "cybersecurity books everyone should read" so I finally got around to reading it.
The story, while slightly repetitive, unfolds in a first person, linear style. I found the book easy to read, and while the cybersecurity ideas presented seems commonplace today, I think they were probably groundbreaking when the book came out.
I found it fascinating that Cliff's use of a logbook, external monitoring systems, a pager, a very early form of a "canary token," and a few other technical ideas are still in use today. (OK, maybe not the pager exactly but lots of IT people get text alerts on their phones!)
His inability to get any help from the 3 Letter Federal Agencies was not surprising. It took 9/11 to fix some of those communication problems (but not all from what I understand).
Anyways, this is a fascinating look at how one person laid the path for the future of cybersecurity incident response. While the technical details probably aren't relevant in this day and age (1200 baud modems, anyone?) this book should be required reading for anyone that has a personal or professional interest in cybersecurity.
Content warning Maybe a little bit of a spoiler ahead but probably not much. Nothing to ruin the plot, anyways.
I've never read any Nabokov before. Had never been really interested in Lolita, just due to the noise around it. Decided to read this book on a whim because it was available at my local library and I needed something for a trip.
I am glad I picked this one! I found this book confusing in a good way. What is the point? I think it's meant to be a bit of a lark on Russian emigres, and university culture in general (something I have first hand knowledge of). It was much funnier than I expected (a bit more on that later).
Pnin is a very interesting character. His description really reminded me of Gru from Despicable Me, down to the funny accent and way of speaking. (Maybe they cribbed him for the movie? I have no idea.)
The little vignettes give a view into this man's strange world. His past is interwoven with his present, kind of. The narrator/writer clearly has a fondness for the main character, and you kind of find out why by the end.
There isn't much conflict to the story. There aren't many big, dramatic moments. There are some very funny bits - to whit "The evolution of sense is, in a sense, the evolution of nonsense." I had to read it 3 or 4 times to get it, but when I did HA! Other little one liners and "throw away" jokes abound. There are bits of other languages (especially Russian), mostly phonetically written in English, and I think probably a few jokes in those snippets that I didn't get.
Overall, it was a pretty lighthearted read about a character that is both believable and unbelievable at the same time. By the end, you are kind of left to question if the stories are actually true or not since they are being recounted second- and possibly third-hand, but it probably doesn't really matter, which is maybe the point.
I will definitely check out more Nabokov. The Luzhin Defense seems interesting for sure!
Never read a Russian author before that I can think of.
Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse.
Following the events in …
Content warning Maybe a little bit of a spoiler ahead but probably not much. Nothing to ruin the plot anyways,
Once again, Martha Wells spins out a fun Muderbot tale.
I've enjoyed the journey that Wells has taken us on in regards to Murderbot's progress to more "humanity."
In many ways, Murderbot is often the most humane of characters in these stories as it is always putting itself in danger before the "real" humans.
I enjoyed that as these books have progressed, SecUnit has had to become more human for survival, but also apparently for it's own self improvement. As it ran out of more and more drones in this story, it even commented on how being a human must be terrible.
I'm always impressed with Wells' ability to put the reader into the shoes of something that is inherently not human, but yet still shows us a better side of humanity.