Terence Eden. He has a beard and is smiling.

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Guide: Add an English Dictionary to Boyue Likebook eReaders

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Wikitionary definition popup.

This is a quick guide to adding a new dictionary to your eBook. This uses the English Wiktionary Dictionary. I've tested it on my Likebook Ares and it works! Download the latest dictionary from DictInfo.com. At the time of writing, the latest English version is October 2018 The dictionary file is a .7z file. It's easiest to unzip it on your computer, rather than the eReader. I recommend 7zip. …

Gadget Review - Boyue Likebook Ares

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An eReader with a pen.

I'll be upfront, I mostly got this eReader because it's the only one on the market with a USB-C connection. OK! OK! That's not the main reason. It has pretty good support from the manufacturer and a vibrant community around it. Masses of memory, warm lighting, and oodles of space. And, I think, pretty hackable. Quick video Specifications Android 6.0 - with a promise to update it to Android …

"I, Robot" - the 3 laws considered harmful

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A metal face with glowing eyes stares at you.

What happens when a robot begins to question its creators? What would be the consequences of creating a robot with a sense of humour? Or the ability to lie? How do we truly tell the difference between man and machine? In "I, Robot", Asimov sets out the Three Laws of Robotics – designed to protect humans from their robotic creations – and pushes them to their limits and beyond. After attending a…

Book Review - Longitude

· 150 words


A book cover.

The dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest: the search for the solution of how to calculate longitude and the unlikely triumph of an English genius. A fascinating look at a defining moment in technological development. Full of intrigue, double-crossing, maths, and science. It cracks along at a fair pace, sometimes lightly skipping over details. I would gladly have read this if it…

Book Review - Death's End

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An explosion in space.

Death’s End (死神永生) is a science fiction novel by the Chinese writer Liu Cixin. It is the third novel in the trilogy titled Remembrance of Earth's Past, following the Hugo Award-winning novel The Three-Body Problem and its sequel, The Dark Forest. This is an unforgiving book. Did you remember every detail from the last two novels? No - better go back and take some notes! It is epic sci-fi. Boun…

Book Review - This Is Going To Hurt

· 200 words


A doctor's white coat hangs on the wall. A red pen in the pocket is leaking.

​Welcome to 97-hour weeks. Welcome to life and death decisions. Welcome to a constant tsunami of bodily fluids. Welcome to earning less than the hospital parking meter. Wave goodbye to your friends and relationships... Welcome to the life of a junior doctor. I saw Kay perform his delightfully disgusting parody songs on the Amateur Transplants tour way back in 2008. The humour in this book is m…

Review - Space Odyssey the Making of a Masterpiece

· 200 words


A red-suited spaceman floats inside a giant computer.

Celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the film’s release, this is the definitive story of the making of 2001: A Space Odyssey, acclaimed today as one of the greatest films ever made, including the inside account of how director Stanley Kubrick and writer Arthur C. Clarke created this cinematic masterpiece. This is the ultimate "DVD Extra" of a book. Every single detail of the genesis and r…

Review - Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race

· 200 words


Book cover.

Exploring issues from eradicated black history to the political purpose of white dominance, whitewashed feminism to the inextricable link between class and race, Reni Eddo-Lodge offers a timely and essential new framework for how to see, acknowledge and counter racism. It is a searing, illuminating, absolutely necessary exploration of what it is to be a person of colour in Britain today. …

Review - Letters from Alcatraz

· 150 words


A message in a bottle floats in front of the famous island prison.

With over twenty years of research, Esslinger, author of Alcatraz: Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years, has salvaged and compiled an extraordinary collection of inmates' letters, many never before published. A grim and uncompromising read. Page after page of letters written by barely-literate violent offenders. Each trapped on Alcatraz, each pleading with someone for a little mercy,…

Review - Fukushima Dreams

· 150 words


Two hands reach out to each other - they are rendered as seismographs.

A gripping literary thriller set in post-tsunami Japan, where a missing child continues to haunt his parents long after the waves have receded. The secrets will out... My Twitter pal Zelda has written a curious - and troubling - novel. If you could use a natural disaster to escape the confines of your marriage, would you? The book drifts in and out of fantasy and reality. I can't comment on …

Review - The Bloodline Feud

· 200 words


An explosion of blood against the shadow of a city.

The Merchant Princes is a science fictional examination of parallel universes whose societies exist at different points of development, as one woman from “normal” Earth discovers her true bloodline and the ability to walk between these worlds: I met Stross in a crypt in London several years ago. He was unknown to me as an author, so I brashly asked him what he'd written. He politely told me "qu…

Review - Sapiens

· 200 words


Book cover. A fingerprint dominates.

Fire gave us power. Farming made us hungry for more. Money gave us purpose. Science made us deadly. This is the thrilling account of our extraordinary history – from insignificant apes to rulers of the world. Earth is 4.5 billion years old. In just a fraction of that time, one species among countless others has conquered it: us. Where did we come from? How did we get here? Where are we going? …