This is a curious book. It starts out as a look at the security of everyday objects, but quickly becomes a series of after-dinner anecdotes about various security related issues. That's not a bad thing, as such, but a little different from what I was expecting. There's no doubt that Mikko walks the walk as well as talking the talk. Almost every page contains a bon mot. For example: Working in information security is sometimes a bit like playing Tetris: your successes disappear but your…
Continue reading →
They say you should never judge a book by its cover. I picked this book solely because of the title. I didn't even read the blurb. Frankly, I'm delighted to have stumbled onto something so good! It's a near-future sci-fi story with an actual bibliography backing up its science! That's one of the things which makes it so good - all of the biological research is based on experiments done by real scientists. It's also full of joyous snark abut the practical reality of living in a technological …
Continue reading →
Thoroughly disappointing. It's a rip-off of about a dozen Asimov stories about domestic robots. Robot helps child. Robot gets religion. Robot Misunderstands world. Robot is abused. It baffles me why this was nominated for so many prizes - I guess judges don't read enough old-school sci-fi? It's written in Ishiuro's dreamy, wandering style. I enjoyed that on his previous books, but here it feels like a parody of himself. The plot is linear and unsurprising. There are subtle hints of…
Continue reading →
This is a tough little compilation to review. It's a collection of mid-1980s stories all grouped around the loose theme of "Cyberpunk". What is Cyberpunk? Well, I'm not quite sure. And neither is the book. Some of the stories are high-tech tales of people fighting the system and sticking it to the man! Others are... allegories about original sin in gargoyles? That said, they're all interesting stories. Mostly by men, which is a bit disappointing. But they convey some spectacular predictions…
Continue reading →
This is a delightfully silly magical romp. Without getting too deep into the spoilers, it is the anti-Potter of books. Middle-aged, feminist, modern witches - drinking wine and kicking arse. And they're all out of wine. I don't think it adds much new to the genre - bitchy witches bullying their peers hasn't changed since Mildred Hubble burnt her first cauldron. But this is done with such glee - and a decent undercurrent of rage - that it is worth reading. The plot isn't too taxing, the…
Continue reading →
After reading Shashi Tharoor's Inglorious Empire I was keen to read more about my country's history. It's weird that studying history in the UK consists of the Tudors, Shakespeare, the Industrial Revolution, and the World Wars. Nothing about how modern Britain came to exist, our empire, its global and local consequences, or the path it put us on. I guess we have to learn that from random statues before they experience marisepultura… Sanghera is very clear this isn't a purely academic history b…
Continue reading →
This is a sequel to Shouting Zeros and Ones - Digital Technology, Ethics and Policy in New Zealand and follows a familiar pattern. It's a series of essays looking at digital issues from a uniquely NZ perspective. There is a fair bit of Te reo Māori (Māori language) in the book. It's great that the language is enjoying a resurgence. Most concepts are explained in context - although you may need to rely on your eReader's dictionary function a few times. Ideas like ‘social licence’ for me is h…
Continue reading →
This is a profoundly depressing but utterly necessary read. It charts Fiona Hill's journey from the moribund educational opportunities provided in a dying coal city in England, all the way to her testimony in the Trump impeachment hearings. It is part biography and part political manifesto. Both parts work well together, but requires a degree of context switching. She contextualises all her political observations with personal anecdotes. This helps her make the case that large western…
Continue reading →
My mate Julia has written a book! And, as per the title, it is really good. This is a book about helping you discover if that idea you've had - for a product, feature, book, business, whatever - is likely to catch on. It does this through the lens of understanding users. The Really Good Idea Test puts people at the heart of innovation, rather than the other way around. Essentially, it's a series of worksheets - provided free - which help you get answers to the seven questions which make…
Continue reading →
This thorough examination of Pink Floyd's epic album is a lushly illustrated coffee-table book. Breezily written and good for dipping in and out of. It gives as a brief history of Pink Floyd and then dives in to every nook and cranny about the making of DSotM. It's chock full of some great archive photos - it really goes for the deep cuts. Although I'm sure that die-hard fans will have seen a lot of these, there's plenty to keep you entertained. That said, some of the photos veer into…
Continue reading →
Nat Spiller, an admired climate change activist, has accidentally drowned. That’s the police verdict. But was it an accident? His partner Ellie thinks otherwise. Pam, Ellie’s aunt, draws a reluctant Lauren Fraser into the mystery. It's a bit weird to describe a murder mystery as "cosy" - but that's the vibe of this book. It's a sequel to The One That Got Away and follows a similar template. The eponymous Lauren Fraser isn't exactly the town snoop - but she has a knack for sticking her nos…
Continue reading →
I have never felt less like a human being than while reading this book. I don't mind video-games, I find them mildly diverting. I've never gotten in to massively multiplayer online games (unless you count Twitter). I just don't see what's appealing about them. Why would I want a bunch of teenagers screaming racial slurs at me when I'm trying to relax? The book says "reality is broken" - but it left me wondering if, instead, I am broken. The book is endlessly quotable. The truth is this: in …
Continue reading →
