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 habits influence the state? Was hygiene properly understood? What are the limits of Roman engineering. The book is interesting without being particularly entertaining. This isn't a Mary Roach style wander…
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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 I love to read. It is fast, funny, and filled with righteous ire. The plot is... look, it's identical to Scalzi's other books. "Who? Me? A nerdy guy is called on to save the world? But all I have is my nerdy references and…
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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 replaced by poetry. Mankind streamed across the river of time, aiming straight for the Door Into Summer. In that moment, our tiny planet was falling like a single…
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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 a thermometer without stable references? It goes right back to the beginning of science's quest to understand temperature: Complementary science asks scientific questions that are excluded from…
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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 to persecute them. As I read on, I was surprised to discover just how much I agreed with some of these thoughtful essays. I think women should be able to wear whatever they want. Telling women they must strip if …
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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 down by being a mish-mash of recycled plots - big evil corporations, vomit zombies, hard-bitten alcoholic detectives. Yawn. The sequel is, basically, Mass Effect without …
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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 90 year old book, you might have to translate some of the slang: “the true story dope I’m commencin’ in the World. You’ll be gettin’ your sheets in Dutch if you spill that line of apple mush.”…
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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 tracks the route of a two-hundred year old hoax to the present day. It accurately describes just how fun it is to "research" a conspiracy theory. There's a ready made community of people who will…
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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 about aliens in it. One is an interminable description of domesticity which, if I've understood correctly ends in a manic sequence where an elderly author travels back in time to fuck someone who may or…
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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 protecting people? When we try to restrict technology "for your own good" it often has a degrading and dehumanising effect on people. The second story is a re-hash of a recent episode of Super Girl. Is a…
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A superb book! It traces the origins of 26 facets of modern life so that you can understand the code which underpins them. There's only a smattering of actual code you need to read - most of it is constrained to gorgeous hand-drawn illustrations. Although I got a bit of a shock in the 2nd essay when I was confronted by ξ3 < exp(ΔE/τ)! Thankfully the rest of the chapter does a good job of explaining it and why it is important. There are some amazing confessionals from people who, arguably, ma…
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Wow! What a stunning book. It's a series of short stories - all taking place in a world where gene-editing isn't just legal; it's a sacrament. Each chapter jumps us further into the future. What starts off as an uncertain way to improve the human species gradually becomes more beautiful and more terrifying. Do you lose your virginity if you do it with a reconstructed girl? What life is there for a baby with a genetically enhanced brain? Which of your principles will you sacrifice for the…
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