By @edent · Book Review history romans · 2 comments · 450 words
I wish I could remember who recommended this book to me. It's not something that I'd usually choose to read, but it was surprisingly interesting. How did Romans take a shit? That's at the heart of this book. Not just the how - but the why, the when, and the where. How did foreign toilet […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Book Review NetGalley scalzi · 2 comments · 350 words · read ~116 times.
The bad news is - this book isn't released until September 2023... The good news is - I have an advance reader copy. So I get to revel in it now! I appreciate that you might not consider that much of an upside. But sucks to be you, I guess? Scalzi's writing reminds me why […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Book Review chinese Sci Fi · 200 words
Yet another compendium of Chinese sci-fi stories - and there are some great stories in this collection. There are also some essays about what makes Chinese science fiction Chinese. Based on my (limited) experience, I'd say one of the defining characteristics of the Chinese SF I've read is the way exposition is dispensed with and […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Book Review · 300 words
This is an important and informative book. Unfortunately, I did not get on with it at all. The book is an ambitious look at the philosophy of science viewed through a unique lens. What is temperature? How do we define what freezing and boiling are if we don't have a thermometer? How do you invent […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Book Review religion · 700 words
Much like "Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race" this is a book that's a little tricky for me - a white apathist man - to review. I'll cheerfully admit that I don't get religion - any religion. And I doubly don't get why people tie themselves to a religion which seems […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Book Review Sci Fi · 5 comments · 250 words
After finding the first Expanse book mildly interesting, I was badgered into reading the sequel. It isn't good. The first book made for some interesting "engineering" sci-if. What would it take to travel at excess g-force? What are the practical implications of living on a low-gravity moon? That kind of thing. But it was let […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Book Review · 1 comment · 350 words
Yes, that Mae West wrote a novel. And it is a corker. Unabashedly sexy, druggy, provocative, and daringly modern. You can read the whole thing in West's voice: “It’s all right, Charlie,” she said. “I won’t hurt him. I only want to feel his muscles.” Every line just sizzles off the page. As with any […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Book Review · 1 comment · 500 words · read ~128 times.
Much like Tom Phillips' last book this is a fun and well-written look at a peculiar facet of humanity. How conspiracy theories work, and why so many people are attracted to them. The book is very now - and I do wonder how it will date. But there's something invigorating about reading a book which […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Book Review chinese Sci Fi · 550 words
This is an anthology of modern Chinese science fiction, loosely grouped into three main themes. I'm sad to say that some of the stories are a lot of hard work. One is barely sci-fi - more like a spiritual paean to the souls of people caught in a disaster which, bizarrely, has a throwaway line […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Book Review future Sci Fi · 2 comments · 250 words
This is a difficult and disturbing book. It is a great read for any hacker - it's all about the way technology abuses people and how it radicalises people into fighting back. The dialogue is Socratic and the stories are a set of parables. The first asks us to consider what are the limits of […]
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