User Profile

This time, this reading, I noticed a LOT of connections, with both the American revolutionary war and the aftermath compromise we are living in now. Some chapters in the first two-thirds are straight out Libertarian discussions, the last third is all action, and well done.

One could probably connect this to Joseph Campbell also. Having recently finished a book on the revolution, the subtle connections were more plain to me than in previous readings. The obvious ones were just as obvious - the revolution declared on the 4th of July. My favorite of the subtle ones was the Earthside trip, so like Franklin's visit to Europe.

When one reads other Heinlein, one realizes how well Manny's speech and thought patterns fit his upbringing. When one hasn't, it is easy to get annoyed. There are a few other quibbles, of course, but I would rather discuss this with someone who has read it than write them down. So get to it! At least a 4 star book, and one that I rarely stop thinking about.

2011
Just as much fun as I remember it being 30+ years ago, with a little more politics.

Excellent historical narrative covering the colony of Rhode Island, Roger Williams and interactions with the Narragansett - against other Native Americans, the Puritan colonies, English Parliament and the King. Contains an extensive bibliography and index.

The Puritans of Massachusetts and Connecticut were a real bunch of low-lifes, and that comes through in spades in this book. Unfortunately, their "winning" position means they also destroyed (er, "lost") a lot of the documents and correspondence relevant to this. The author, a Brown University scholar, pieces together the story from what remains and the reactions of contemporaries.

That story is excellent, well told, and fits neatly into a 250 page package. It was very interesting reading through the whole book, with some good maps and paintings (though Williams never sat for a portrait - we don't really know what he looked like). I would recommend this book to anyone the least bit interested in the colonies and early American history. Rhode Island - they did it right then and continue to do it right today.

In this thin volume, noted game designer Greg Costikyan focuses on just one aspect of game design - uncertainty - both its impact on existing games and how it can be used as a design tool to improve future game designs.

After a brief introduction, the author goes through several types of games, both computer and board, pointing out various forms of uncertainty contained in them. He then moves to a chapter covering each in detail, from the perspective of a game designer. In the final section he suggests that while designers make obvious choices to adjust difficulty, refactor strategies, and the like, they may be better off adjusting the levels of uncertainty instead.

This is the first or second book in the Playful Thinking series, "engaging and visually compelling volumes on game-related topics, authored by both scholars and industry luminaries, that are easily accessible to academics, professionals, and laymen from a broad range of backgrounds and levels of experience." I found it interesting, expanding the language of games and game design. I'd like to read one of the other books in the series (11 so far) soon.

I really enjoyed the first chapter (narrative and storytelling is crucial for political discourse), but most of the middle chapters seemed to be about a political utopia, not a map for how to get there.

This British writer contributes a weekly column for the Guardian (I haven't read it) and perhaps many of these chapters were originally articles. Most are interesting, if unlikely, though I'm not sure I buy all the arguments. One chapter goes into the tragedy of the commons, seeming to call for local community control - but then shifts gears to how we must reacquire commons from entities (corporations, individuals) who have "fenced them in". Is the whole planet a commons, then?

The book closes with an analysis of the Bernie Sanders campaign, and this is both cogent and shows attainable change. I understand the author is an excellent speaker, so before I attempt another of his books, I will check out his articles and perhaps some recorded speeches. For me, this book fell short of the 4.11 rating it boasts.

Part memoire, part exploration of physical and chemical science, this book could be a great popular science book with some editing, pictures & diagrams. Instead, it is a mish-mash, equal parts interesting ideas and anecdotes.

Eberhart does do a good job leading you from the what to the how to the why. At the end of the book, he notes he was documenting the scientific thinking process as much as the actual results, and maybe there is a book or article there also. I just think this would have been a better work had it concentrated on one of those goals.

All that said, it was pretty interesting stuff, if devoid of illustrations. I added this to my reading list six years ago; I forget where I originally heard about it. No library had it, no nearby bookstore had it, and I refuse to go the Amazon route. Last year I found it at Powell's, and my quest was at an end. The book also contains a short bibliography, so perhaps a new quest awaits.

The second book of a duology series, brings a lot from the first one. Same strong female character and well-researched world, new situations - some of them not well written. For me, this book wasn't as good as the first one.

Briefly, this world has a space program moving along much faster than ours due to a meteor strike near Washington DC in 1952. By this novel, the effects of this are a permanently occupied lunar base and space station. This novel documents the push towards Mars and the resistance movement (Earth First! Spend that money down here instead of on space). It also hits points in common with our world - racism, sexism, and a negative view of homosexuality.

The novel is told entirely from the Elma York's point of view, just like the last one. The previous novel's antagonist (and first man in space) Stetson Parker is back, working closely with our main character. He is very well written and these excellent scenes eventually show Elma that her own reactions were as much a villain as he was in the past, leading to character growth.

The new "bad guy", a racist astronaut from South Africa, is more caricature than character, though I applaud the author's work on the problem. Her choice of first person on Mars would have made an excellent conclusion to the book. Where this novel falls flat is two male astronauts who end up in a relationship. Even the view through our prudish protagonists eyes does not make up for the fact that this feels disjointed.

I enjoyed the first book and short stories in this universe; I'll reiterate that the author did excellent research. Kudos also to the author as reader in the audiobook, covering story and an international cast of shipmates with equal ease. She also reads for [a:Seanan McGuire|2860219|Seanan McGuire|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1245623198p2/2860219.jpg]. That said, I'm not sure I want to read more about this main character. Book 3 is due out this year, and book 4 is planned for 2022.

Grady Hendrix and Quirk Books does it again - good story, great theme, perfect book cover and chapter titles. Mentions of multiple Metal bands add to the fun, and halfway through the horror joins the party.

Solid start but then it slows down a little. Tension arrives to pick up the beat, and once horror arrives I dare anyone to put the book down - I couldn't. The ending had similarities to My Best Friend's Exorcism, but I can't think of another that would have worked better.

I still haven't hit Hendrix's Paperbacks from Hell, and now want to more than ever. Was [b:Horrorstör|13129925|Horrorstör|Grady Hendrix|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1414314217l/13129925.SX50.jpg|18306052] better than 3 stars? I will have to reread that too. Scheduled to be released just as we went into lockdown was [b:The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires|44074800|The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires|Grady Hendrix|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1584222716l/44074800.SY75.jpg|68534292], so that also gets added to the list.

This is the story of the first decade of Compaq, though the narrative goes from inception to eventual merger with HP. This is also the story of Compaq management, the group "Process" that they used to make decisions, with examples from key moments. It is a fairly quick read.

From their perspective, Compaq defined the business market that was originally "IBM compatible". Their dealer choices were very good, and as a company their performance and growth were stellar. A lot of success was gained from embracing the portable (luggable) market. One of the major highlights was bringing together the group that defined the Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) - driving IBM to abandon their compatibility-killer MicroChannel Architecture soon after.

Beyond their first decade, the narrative gets pretty thin. While much is made of working with Intel, pushing for the 386 and then the 486, no mention is made of upstart AMD - because the early Compaq didn't use those. Very little is said of software, beyond an early mention of an agreement with Microsoft to make a "compatible DOS". (I still have a 5¼ floppy with Compaq DOS 3.3 in my archive). Nothing at all is said of Canion's forced resignation; the last chapter glosses over Compaq's second decade and ends with the HP merger.

I enjoyed this history quite a bit. The book ends with an epilogue, pointing out where Apple and later Android utilized Compaq's playbook to gain success. I added this to my reading list shortly after it was released 7 years ago, and am glad I finally got to sit down with it.