What have you read recently?
JonQPublik I saw its release date changed as well. I’ve still got plenty to read until then.
Just been changed again to Feb 2024
Amps Well, crap.
JonQPublik Correct.
Iain M. Banks - The Algebraist. The last scifi book of his I had left to read, and I’m glad I left it last, because while not set in The Culture, I thought it was his best book. Nobody can write space opera the way he did.
How Spies Think - David Omand - non-fiction book I read out of general interest. So so - more ‘how data analysts think and by the way, social media is awful’ but a few choice anecdotes from the guy’s career as head of GCHQ and PPS to various important people. 7 SEES models / 10
Currently on ‘The Kaiju Preservation Society’ - John Scalzi - first book of his I’ve read and it’s top notch so far. Like Jurassic Park was written by a smart stand up comedian.
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As a man who enjoys scifi occasionally I’ve never read William Gibson. My wife got me a bunch of his novels on paperbacks for Christmas, and I just finished his first book Neuromancer and liked it a lot. It’s weird reading it only now, because it’s been plagiarized by so many movies since. It has a virtual reality called Matrix for crying out loud. But it seems like the fella can write. I now plan on reading everything he’s done next. It’s not that long of a list, he’s not that profilic writer it seems.
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Finished Kaiju Preservation Society - best book I’ve read in a while. Author says he specifically wrote it in response to the world going to shit with covid, trump and the election coup attempt and wanted to write something self contained, light hearted and a good laugh. Absolutely nailed it. 9 Godzillas / 10
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Homegrove
A bit dated now unfortunately…, (when I first read it, soon after it came out, it was revolutionary)…. But when I re read it, a few years back, (I thought) it had not aged well…. (From the opening paragraph). That said; it was (like a lot of his work) remarkably prescient,, in terms of the issues raised, even if some of it is not (currently)? possible in reality. (But that’s the fiction part of the science fiction equation, Isn’t it)? Maybe, ‘not aged well “ is not the best way to describe it, maybe tired is a better way, although ‘not aged well’ certainly is applicable to some of it.. Everyone else in the genre has had a chance to catch up now…. But when it was first released, it was like a gauntlet had been thrown down…
The entire sprawl saga is well worth reading. (My personal favourite is ‘Count Zero”)..
On a (somewhat) related note, ‘Idoru” gets a little closer to reality everyday…. It won’t be long now, I’m sure…. ‘Virtual Light” has already arrived since publication,, (although not yet matured), just ask any glasshole.
He’s not been excessively prolific, but he does have a fair body of work behind him. (Sprawl, Bridge, Blue Ant, Jackpot all trilogies)…. There’s enough there to keep you busy for some time if you decide to take it all on.
His latest (Agency) is currently in my ‘in’ pile…. (Hoping the third in The Jackpot trilogy will be released shortly!)….
In some ways I think ‘Neuromancer’ is actually the weakest of his books. although up until ‘The Peripheral” it was the one he was probably best known for…. I always think of it as Gibson finding his voice, and seeing if there was a market out there for what he was writing…. I think (and it’s possible I might be mistaken here), that writing is something he came to fairly late on in life. (Although it’s also possible he wrote it when he was younger and it just took him many years to find an agent and/or publisher willing to take a chance I suppose…. As it was SO far ahead of what everyone else was doing at the time,). If I ever meet him again, I’ll make sure I ask him this!
STILL waiting for a screen adaption. [of Neuromancer]. (Which, quite honestly I find difficult to believe…. I would have thought it would have been a given, sometime in the last 35 odd years)…. I mean, without the FIRST one, how can you do the rest????
(@GreatDismal on Twitter if you’re interested / partake of it)….
Started Tchaikovsky’s ‘Children of Memory’ last night. Hoping it sticks the landing on wrapping up the trilogy.
Sophie White - Where I End.
Wow, that was fucked up.
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Dictators - The Cult of Personality in the Twentieth Century’ by Frank Dikötter
An overview of history’s most famous psychopaths, where they came from and how they went about their business. Could do with a few more specifics in places but is fairly interesting even if just from a geopolitical view.
Spoiler alert, they were all bat shit crazy ego maniacs clinging to power at every turn.
3.5 moustaches out of 5