At any given time, I am probably reading one book in paper form, another as an audio book, and another on an e-reader. I also keep an anthology or collection in my car, for those long waits. My average rating is between 3 and 4, because I try to seek out good books and authors. One goal is to read all the SF award winners and SF Masterworks. See my profile at Worlds Without End.
Finally, the "social media" info - I am a long-time reader, proud to have completed several summer reading programs as a kid. I recall reading more than 50 books one summer. When I'm not reading, you might find me gaming (board and role play) or working, either as a baseball umpire or with software.
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Catch-22 is like no other novel. It has its own rationale, its own extraordinary character. …
I didn't enjoy the bureaucracy - too much of that in real life I suspect - but the rest was good. Didn't realize there was a sequel - [b:Closing Time|223737|Closing Time|Joseph Heller|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172854508s/223737.jpg|1834779]
About 9/10ths interesting history and 1/10th aftermath, where the author leads the reader to the conclusions alluded to in the subtitle. The book would have been better without this portion, but then I like history.
If the conclusion is the reason for the book, then it needed a much clearer demonstration. Is there a connection between the British Pirate radio, the "Hacker Ethic", and libertarian principles? A reader wouldn't find that here. Perhaps the author's new book, [b:Piracy: The Intellectual Property Wars from Gutenberg to Gates|9677580|Piracy The Intellectual Property Wars from Gutenberg to Gates|Adrian Johns|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347492950s/9677580.jpg|7232870], will satisfy.
The extensive history brought this up from "it was okay" but not quite all the way to "liked it."
Read the first half on the flight to Disneyland; the second half on the way back. First off, this is a good book - well bound, thick pages, a joy to hold! Second, the contents are really well done. A nice overview of life as a Roman Soldier circa 100 AD, with a few "hints" about the future. An excellent description of camp life, training, discipline, and how battle was run and won. Color photos and wonderful illustrations just add to the beauty; kudos to the Ermine Street Guard for some great photos of Legionnaires in (re-en)action.
I was thrilled to see another book of the same format in a Downtown Disney bookstore; adding it to my reading list now.
A very good history of a unique manuscript. A bit of accessible mathematics, hidden history, and textual criticism thrown in make this a good read; both authors lack of writing experience do detract a little. After this I read on wikipedia that this story continues; I almost wish the book had been delayed a few more years.
In 1347, a year of conflict and unrest, Thomas of Hookton returns to England to …
Didn't enjoy this as much as the first one, I think partly because the history isn't as prevalent. Didn't particularly enjoy the torture either - would have been better done the way the hanging was in the first book. All said, though, will make room for the third book soon.
An Edible History of Humanity is a book written by Tom Standage that encompasses the …
A really enjoyable book. To sum it up, agriculture wasn't such a good change, and the things we've done to make it better have done a lot to screw up the environment. This is easy to agree with, except most knowledge came from cities and thinkers with access to libraries. Seriously, though, this is a great overview of food's effects on civilization from the beginning through now. This book sheds light on topics that not a lot of people have considered, and these interesting tidbits make for fascinating reading.
A psychologist's perspective on interactions with hardware (robots) and software (texting and facebook). Do intimacy or privacy belong in a machine interaction? Why do we want a robot to succeed? Why do we feel a text interaction is enough? Why don't we long for the loss of the human touch?
This book does a very good job explaining this perspective, and brings up some deep questions. What I would have liked to see is a historical perspective, a comparison to similar social changes of the past - but that's outside the scope here.
Not the first Sherry Turkle I've read, and I sought this book out long before the Colbert report or Facebook controversy. This is not a pysch textbook of case studies. This book does contain anecdotes to illustrate the author's points, not serve as examples of the norm. Addressing the final criticism I've seen, there is a point …
A psychologist's perspective on interactions with hardware (robots) and software (texting and facebook). Do intimacy or privacy belong in a machine interaction? Why do we want a robot to succeed? Why do we feel a text interaction is enough? Why don't we long for the loss of the human touch?
This book does a very good job explaining this perspective, and brings up some deep questions. What I would have liked to see is a historical perspective, a comparison to similar social changes of the past - but that's outside the scope here.
Not the first Sherry Turkle I've read, and I sought this book out long before the Colbert report or Facebook controversy. This is not a pysch textbook of case studies. This book does contain anecdotes to illustrate the author's points, not serve as examples of the norm. Addressing the final criticism I've seen, there is a point to both halves of the text, and a decent conclusion also, but I can understand that those who came to just read about facebook (chapters 9 through 11) might not get it.
Read on the airplane to and from Long Island. A good overview of the craft, a little bit about the rules and some anecdotes.
At dawn on Easter morning 1343, a marauding band of French raiders arrives by boat …
Bernard Cornwell only fictionalized a few skirmishes in this book of historical fiction. I knew Crecy was a battle dominated by the archers, but didn't realize all the other factors that went into an embarrassing French defeat. Well detailed, and a story well told.
Once, Dan Randolph was one of the richest men on Earth. Now the planet is …
Jumped in to the middle of this series, which seems to be written to handle this. Not sure if I want to continue the trilogy of Asteroids books or jump back and read the first books.
Read in April 2011; rather long review posted here:
https://rpggeek.com/thread/648520/revised-and-reviewed
In the tradition of Stephen Colbert's concept of truthiness, Proofiness explores the intersection of chicanery …
Interesting anecdotes about how the brain reacts to numbers. I agree with the author - drawing public attention to statistical lies is the best way to defeat them. OJ the wife-beater didn't have a 1 in 1,000 probability of becoming a wife-murderer; instead Nicole's chances of dying went up from 1 in 40,000 to 1 in 1,000.
A good overview of advertising, the press, polls, elections, and propaganda. Could have had more detail, more examples, and perhaps an appendix with more math - too many people today don't understand statistics at all.
I really liked this book, from the personality of the man, through the early history of space adventure and his experience in Vietnam, to his years as a barnstormer and balloon racer.
The history was concise and clear, the personal recollections interesting, and the pictures added just enough to have me digging for more. Colonel Kittinger has three life stories in here at least, all of them interesting, and he's not done yet. Well done!
Overall I enjoyed about as much as I didn't about this book.
First take the premise. Who wouldn't love to be alone in space? Highly introspective stuff here, and most astronauts express some of the same ideas. Next, the laptop link. This was kind of cheesy and not well explained, although necessary for the story. So, assume positive and move on. The politics of NASA and others? Very believable cast of characters there. The female characters? Only three or five with names, all mostly static. I read a few other reviews which cried foul on the landing. I disagree. The author gave the main character glider experience, and landing a glider is a lot of what you need to know about aviation. The main character knew to keep an eye on rate of descent, stall speed. When you sit the average Joe in front of a simulator and say "land …
Overall I enjoyed about as much as I didn't about this book.
First take the premise. Who wouldn't love to be alone in space? Highly introspective stuff here, and most astronauts express some of the same ideas. Next, the laptop link. This was kind of cheesy and not well explained, although necessary for the story. So, assume positive and move on. The politics of NASA and others? Very believable cast of characters there. The female characters? Only three or five with names, all mostly static. I read a few other reviews which cried foul on the landing. I disagree. The author gave the main character glider experience, and landing a glider is a lot of what you need to know about aviation. The main character knew to keep an eye on rate of descent, stall speed. When you sit the average Joe in front of a simulator and say "land that plane", rate of descent is more than half the reason for a crash. Back to the ramblings of a guy who has accepted he is going to die. Interesting to think of, to put yourself in those shoes. The whole world watching? Maybe. Certainly reality TV shows lead one to believe this could happen.
The conclusion? Rough writing in a few patches and wooden female characters made this a harder read than it should have been. The wonder of space and contemplation of the human condition made this a good thing. The fact that the book was the author's sounding board about the meaning of life was a little too clear behind the veneer of the story. 3 stars.
