What are you reading?
- Thread starter Emma
- Start date
Just finished it.
I liked the first one better. The first seemed more organic and less contrived. I also got a lot more of the references right off the bat (or they were more interesting to me).
The first part of Ready Player Two seemed to be choppy, dropping in various situations, restrictions, etc., to set up the rest of the book. The latter 3/5 to 1/2 of the book was more similar to the first book and somewhat more enjoyable, but still not up to that level.
The twist at the end was pretty good, though!
I liked the first one better. The first seemed more organic and less contrived. I also got a lot more of the references right off the bat (or they were more interesting to me).
I mean, I liked the Dungeons & Dragons, Voltron, Spielberg, and all the video game references a LOT more than Prince and John Hughes movies. Who wouldn't?
The twist at the end was pretty good, though!
Read, I guess, the "prequel" book of Ball Lightning - reads somewhat similarly to The Three Body Problem (and given the same author, that is obviously expected), but being a standalone book it "wraps up" this story. The exposition at the end was excessive, but the mystery of ball lightning was very interestingly explained (in a totally made-up way) that made the book a bit of a page-turner to see what was going to come of it. And there are some subtle ties to his other works.
I'm on a roll - just finished Supernova Era by the same author tonight (and borrowed The Dark Forest to start digging into). Supernova Era is easily the most accessible book of his I've read and progresses quickly to the story. It is a standalone, with no ties to the other books he has written. The book is about a cosmic event (supernova) that kills off all those above the age of 13 on Earth in less than a year and basically follows the next 3± years about how the adults tried to prepare the children of various nations to run their countries and the inevitable conflict that follows when the adults are gone and the children run the world.
The book is a bit of a Lord of the Flies parallel in that respect, but also has some elements reminding me of plot points or issues in Ender's Game and Ready Player One.
Avoiding spoilers -> I guess the main "conflict" in the book was somewhat....strange to me, as was the conclusion of the story. The author tries to lay out reasons why these events might be plausible, but I find that many of the 13 year-olds in the book are way too precocious and the conflicts and challenges a bit far out. I guess some of it could be driven by the adults passing information on to the remaining children before they died, but it still seems pretty out there. There is also something that pops up early in the story to help the Chinese children manage to get through the early time immediately after the adults are gone, but then this plot point mysteriously disappears from the story. I thought it would play a larger role throughout and am kind of baffled why it was dropped.
In any case - this was a much quicker read for me than the other two books of his I've read and if you want to try something by this author to get a feel for his writing style and approach (China-focused sci-fi, heavy on the sci at times), this might be a good place to start.
The book is a bit of a Lord of the Flies parallel in that respect, but also has some elements reminding me of plot points or issues in Ender's Game and Ready Player One.
Avoiding spoilers -> I guess the main "conflict" in the book was somewhat....strange to me, as was the conclusion of the story. The author tries to lay out reasons why these events might be plausible, but I find that many of the 13 year-olds in the book are way too precocious and the conflicts and challenges a bit far out. I guess some of it could be driven by the adults passing information on to the remaining children before they died, but it still seems pretty out there. There is also something that pops up early in the story to help the Chinese children manage to get through the early time immediately after the adults are gone, but then this plot point mysteriously disappears from the story. I thought it would play a larger role throughout and am kind of baffled why it was dropped.
In any case - this was a much quicker read for me than the other two books of his I've read and if you want to try something by this author to get a feel for his writing style and approach (China-focused sci-fi, heavy on the sci at times), this might be a good place to start.
Just finished The Dark Forest and have the final book of the trilogy on reserve, but it will probably be a few months until it is available.
I liked it better than The Three Body Problem - like @Capt. Factorial said, the first book essentially just sets up what follows and this story is definitely more interesting and entertaining. The first half of The Dark Forest is still too long/tedious though, at least for my tastes. Get to the point, man! You don't need to spend 10 pages on what can be covered in 2.
Also, I still find some of his writing/plot points a bit obtuse or strange, but maybe more of this will pull together in the final book? His writing is definitely unique in my experience and I enjoy it for the strange ideas he comes up with, if nothing else.
I liked it better than The Three Body Problem - like @Capt. Factorial said, the first book essentially just sets up what follows and this story is definitely more interesting and entertaining. The first half of The Dark Forest is still too long/tedious though, at least for my tastes. Get to the point, man! You don't need to spend 10 pages on what can be covered in 2.
Also, I still find some of his writing/plot points a bit obtuse or strange, but maybe more of this will pull together in the final book? His writing is definitely unique in my experience and I enjoy it for the strange ideas he comes up with, if nothing else.
I've been accumulating a few books from Amazon on the Kindle (one of the Prime freebies every month I pick up when something actually looks interesting) and I just polished off one of them - Interference by Brad Parks. A pretty easy read, it is a decently-written thriller that has a few twists and turns along the way and just enough quantum theory that non-science people shouldn't be turned off but adds to the plot of the book. Some parts were a little predictable, but for the most part it kept you guessing as to what is really going on.
Just finished The Last Resort by Susi Holliday and I wasn't impressed. It was one of those Amazon Prime monthly freebies I tried. The story has some interesting parts, but the plot is kind of all over the place and the "baddie" character is just kind of out there and unrealistic (to say the least, not spoil anything in case someone else ends up reading it). Not recommended.
The last two books I read are The Shephard's Life and English Pastoral, both by James Rebanks. They are about life on Rebanks' small farm in England. Both are pretty similar, but book two gets into some of the challenges of modern farming and the application of economics to farm life. Really enjoyed them.
So I just finished the trilogy, having read Death's End. I have a hard time putting my impression of the author and his works into words. His sci-fi approach is unlike any other I have read and that alone is interesting and new. His scope and breadth of topics and ability to weave micro and macro together is unlike anything else I have come across. And the scope of this trilogy is truly vast.
But....I don't find his writing style to be as compelling. He seems to gloss over things that seem like they should be more important or interesting. He delves into technical detail on things that I'm not sure deserve it. And the book is long and sometimes fairly mundane.
His ideas are fresh and different. I'm glad I read it. But I'm pretty sure that unlike Dune, or Ender's Game, or The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, or other series, this isn't one I'll likely read again.
But....I don't find his writing style to be as compelling. He seems to gloss over things that seem like they should be more important or interesting. He delves into technical detail on things that I'm not sure deserve it. And the book is long and sometimes fairly mundane.
His ideas are fresh and different. I'm glad I read it. But I'm pretty sure that unlike Dune, or Ender's Game, or The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, or other series, this isn't one I'll likely read again.
I just finished reading a collection of Shadowrun stories(I'll grab the name if anyone interested). All through them there were simialr names, places, etc. I thought it was just a coincidence and the fact they were writing about the same world. After finishing the last story I think they are actually all telling the same story from a different time/perspectives. I am going to re-read it agian.
Well, I see I forgot to add Foundation's Fear (Gregory Benford) a while back, and now I just finished Foundation and Chaos (Greg Bear). These are the first two books of a trilogy written in the Foundation universe, but by other selected authors by the Asimov estate. While I don't find them quite as compelling as the books by Asimov, they attempt to fill in gaps in or details of the story told in the overall series. I wouldn't bother with them unless you read the Asimov books and are interested enough after that to delve into a few details a bit more. Not bad, but not critical reading by any means.
Fixed it for you. 
There is definitely a segment of that in the sh*tcoin portion of the space. But the technology and especially the defi ecosystem is something that all financial institutions will be adopting. My opinion, there will be different things that come out of it--currency, commodities, securities, app stores, next gen exchanges (especially in the auto market maker innovation), collectibles...
Has been a life changing play (less in cryptos and more in the crypto infrastructure) for me over the last year and think the upside is still crazy if you play in the right space.
I just finished reading A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, an interesting book that covers, briefly (obviously), everything from the formation of the universe, our solar system, the geologic history of Earth, dinosaurs, earth elements, human attempts to measure the earth across history, Einstein's theories and similar topics, atoms, atmosphere, cells/DNA, animal history and classifications, ice ages, human development, species extinction, and more. It is an interesting and entertaining read for those who want to get the highlights of these and similar topics without getting bogged down in too many rabbit hole details.
Binge read the new Pendergast novel Bloodless by Lincoln and Child over the last couple days. One of the better written and intriguing books in the series (at least in the last 10 or so). It is an interesting turn in subject matter, going a *little* more sci-fi in some aspects and not so much straight mystery/thriller/mild horror/fantasy, although there is some of that mixed in as well. Some characters are a bit over the top, but that just means you don't get too surprised when they get knocked off.
Anyways, like most of the books by this pair, an enjoyable and easy read for pure entertainment.
If you haven't read anything by them before, start with Relic. That was a very good book and their first in the entire Pendergast series.
Anyways, like most of the books by this pair, an enjoyable and easy read for pure entertainment.
If you haven't read anything by them before, start with Relic. That was a very good book and their first in the entire Pendergast series.
I finished reading Here, Right Matters: An American Story (Alexander Vindman). While this book definitely digs into politics a bit (which we aren't getting into here), it is also an interesting read on his life story and military career, summarizing lessons learned at home, on the battlefront, and as an intelligence official, and how they can be applied to life. An excellent read overall, sometimes a bit repetitive on themes (intentionally so), but always interesting and inspiring.
Just FYI, there is a documentary of the exploration described in Lost City of the Monkey God out on TV right now. My DVR messed up the first attempt to record it so I'm trying again on the next showing. The part I did see looked like it was pretty interesting, but they have an annoying habit of coming out of a commercial and basically repeating what they just covered for the next couple minutes before digging into new stuff. C'mon guys, it was literally 3-4 minutes if you are watching it live (and literally seconds if you use a 30-second skip feature a few times)- I haven't forgotten where we left off in that short time span.
Eat a Peach. A David Chang Memoir. I am a big fan of memoirs in general and this one hit home for me. David has gone from a a preteen golf phenom to one of the best chef's in the world all while dealing with mental illness and severe personality defects. I don't know if those outside of the restaurant world would enjoy it but I did.
Just finished Welcome to the Universe: An Astrophysical Tour "by Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michael A. Strauss, and J. Richard Gott, based on an introductory astrophysics course they co-taught at Princeton University" per wiki.
While I found a lot of it fascinating, there were swaths of content (particularly when describing the "shape" of the universe and the in-depth discussion of applying Einstein's theories to things like cosmic background radiation, etc.) where I felt pretty lost and out of my league. Still, an interesting book that tries to explain "how" we know "what" we know about the universe so far.
While I found a lot of it fascinating, there were swaths of content (particularly when describing the "shape" of the universe and the in-depth discussion of applying Einstein's theories to things like cosmic background radiation, etc.) where I felt pretty lost and out of my league. Still, an interesting book that tries to explain "how" we know "what" we know about the universe so far.
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Just finished reading Uncontrolled Spread by Scott Gottlieb (physician and former FDA commissioner), a very interesting, non-political, and informative book about how unprepared we really were for the COVID virus, why that was, and what we need to do to be prepared for the next pandemic. Recommended for anyone interested in the question of why we are in the situation we are, and why many lives could have been saved along the way.
Also, just a reminder that a library card and the Libby app allows you access to much of the library’s content for free on the digital device of your choice.
Also, just a reminder that a library card and the Libby app allows you access to much of the library’s content for free on the digital device of your choice.
Wrapped up New Spring yesterday (the prequel to the Wheel of Time series) - I haven't read any of the rest of the series yet but figured I'd start at the beginning. Took a bit for me to get into it at the beginning, but it found its groove and I ended up enjoying it. Like most books, there are a few little holes here and there and I'm sure some of the plot/info will make more sense as I dig into the series itself.
Also, just a reminder that a library card and the Libby app allows you access to much of the library’s content for free on the digital device of your choice.
I've got a book ready to borrow on Libby from the library and now I can't until I do that. No biggie, but it would be better to not have the interruption over the holiday weekend.