Peter Hamilton

I noticed that I forgot to mention Peter Hamilton's books, which is shame because I really liked reading those.

The Commonwealth Saga: Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained.

In kinda the same universe are the first tweo books the Void Trilogy: The Dreaming Void and The Temporal Void.

The story unfolds in distant future where all people sync their mind and can be relifed and the old age can be reversed, which makes them immortal. The term for murder is bodyloss and is still investigated rigorously, which is what special investigator Paula Mayo does. Her investigation starts quite simple then grows and grows; it is quite interesting to read.

The Void trilogy is set even more in the future and show the tribulations of the Dreamers; people that can connect with the Void in the middle of the galaxy. They see the life of humans that managed to reach the Void long time ago and a whole new religion was spawned out of it.

The Kingkiller Chronicle

Finished read Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear; I liked it a lot. The story is disjoint, unpredictable and messy; same is life. It also creates a world that is original and believable; magic as science is great plot device.

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of LIfe

Hewh! Finally finished The Snowball. I liked it, it is a actual biography of Warren Buffet life (not just business biography). It was interesting to read about his early life and track all relationships that shaped his personality.

Catch Up

It looks that I haven't written for some time.

Lets see what I missed.

Finished "In Defense of Food". It was interesting and expands on Pollans previous book "Omnivore's Dilema".

Also read Stross's new short stories collection "Wireless".

Saw "RED".

The Prefect

Finished "The Prefect" by Alastair Reynolds. It is set in Glitter Band before the melding plague. It tells the story of Panoply field prefect willing to bring the perpetrators to the justice no matter what. It gives interesting look into Demarchist society before its downfall. It is good addition to Raynolds' Chasm City series.

Kitchen Confidential

Finished "Kitchen Confidential" last week. It is autobiographical book, tracking Anthony Bourdain's career. It gives interesting insight into the industry. It is quite interesting read.

Also I want to thank mister Bourdain for breaking into my kitchen and getting rid of my tin knifes ;) I am really happy that I got a nice chef's knife. It is so amazingly easy to do those paper thin slices with it. It is light and despite its respectable length is quite easy to use.

Spook Country

Another book that I read recently was "Spook Country" by William Gibson. It is loosely tied sequel of "Pattern Recognition". Hollis Henry (former member of a cult band called The Curfew, now journalist) is hired by Blue Ant of Hubertus Bigend to find a mysterious container. The story is composed of several a bit disjointed stories that are brought together at the end.

Zoe's Story

"Zoe's Tale" is quite interesting done retelling of the events from a previous Scalzi book the "The Last Colony". It is done quite intelligently without introducing too much overlap between the stories. I liked the exploration of the connection between Obin and Zoe.

Halting State

Finished "Halting State" by Charles Stross. The plot is set in near future when augmented reality (AR) is part of the every day life. People play LARP and ARG games mediated by the AR goggles. At some point game world and real world intersect and that is where the story starts. It is very interesting book, really liked it.

The Jennifer Morgue

Recently finished "The Jennifer Morgue". It is sequel to "The Atrocity Archives" with same protagonist. It roughly begins with a real CIA operation Project Jennifer, which involves a recovery operation of a Russian submarine K-129 during the Cold War. Then it deviates into a Lovecraftian horror thriller. I really liked it.

Iron Sunrise

Finished "Iron Sunrise" by Charles Stross some time back. It is a sequel to "Singularity Sky". It is quite action packed and interesting.

Singularity Sky

Finished recently Singularity Sky by Charles Stross. It is about the aftermath of a singularity event. An entity called Eschaton "ascends" and leaves a message engraved in a stone column:

I am the Eschaton. I am not your God.
I am descended from you, and exist in your future.
Thou shalt not violate causality within my historic light cone. Or else.

Eschaton seems quite picky about the last line to the extend that he will destroy a whole planetary system, if it is violated. Hence U.N. creates an agency to deal with causality-violation devices and prevent people to bring Eschaton's undesired attention.

Of course as you can imagine there are many people that think those rules don't apply to them ;)

The Atrocity Archives

The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross several weeks ago. It was quite interesting marriage between spy and horror fiction. Kept me entertained. The book features two novellas "The Atrocity Archives" and "The Concrete Jungle". I am going to look for the sequel "The Jennifer Morgue".

The Amber Spyglass

Finished the last book of the Pullman's trilogy "The Amber Spyglass". It is a beautiful ending of a original and well written story. Also it is atheistic and I can see how it could upset some people. I can share a special mantra that helps: It is only a fantasy book. See no need for moral panic.

The Subtle Knife

Finished the "The Subtle Knife". It entertains some philosophical ideas about free will, parallel worlds. It also tries to make you think about what is good and evil.

The Golden Compass

Finished "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman. It is quite unique and interesting book. I liked the idea of people having their souls manifest as animal companion and the Dust coming trough a rift between the worlds.

Secret Santa

We played Secret Santa at the office I got "Stick to Drawing Comics, Monkey Brain!" by Scott Adams (yup the guy that draws Dilbert). Just finished reading it. I laughed from cover to cover. Hope that people in the public transportation didn't get too alarmed. It was the light hearthed variety ;)

Also I hope that neither me or Scott Adams are ever elected to hold public office :P
Such a wacky sense of humor :)

Thank you secret santa!

Future Shock

I have recently finished "Accelerando" by Charles Stross.
It's an amazing book. I liked it a lot.
It tracks one a bit dysfunctional family across space, time and several technological revolutions.
After reading it got a mild case of future shock :)

The sequel "Glasshouse" is a bit tamer and still extremely enjoyable.

I highly recommend both of them.