Chak > Recent Status Updates

Beautifully written book that has, so far defied my expectations, both in terms of structure and in plot twists.

The first story "Luminous" had me on the edge of my seat, and absolutely breathless at the end of the tale. I am loving this so far! (Caveat: I am also "on the edge of my seat" and "absolutely breathless at the end" of a really good quarterly earnings call or a post-policy-decision Fed press conference, so um, yeah.)

I was returning a book and saw this on a shelf at the library and decided to give it a try, but while Inputting this into my GR "currently reading," I realized this is the second book in a series. Heck, I'll try it anyway. If I get through it, I'll let readers of my review know whether it can be read as a standalone or not.

While I agree with all of the author’s conclusions in the “fact” article of this issue (“Will Quantum Computing Improve AI?” By John G. Cramer), I actually wish this article was even more “dumbed down” for people like me (give me a bit more about how gated vs D-Wave type quantum computing differ, for example).

I'm enjoying this book much more than I expected. Extremely engaging multiverse story.

So far, I am enjoying this issue far more than any of the other issues of Analog that I've read. I especially enjoyed the non-fiction article "Saving the Skies" by Richard A. Lovett (p. 16) as it relates to responsible, minimal, and proper outdoor night-lighting, which is an issue very near and dear to my heart (and in practice at my house!).

I save the unused plastic silverware that I have inadvertently received over the years. The knives, like the other stuff that might "someday become useful," really came in handy, while trying to reduce that mildewy smell of old books (like this one): insert a plastic knife every 20-30 pages and let the books sit on a sunny window sill (cover down). Maybe I will be able to finish this book with enough airing-out.

I think I may be approaching the sci-fi part of the book.

I should have honed in on the focus of the book a lot sooner, but I was caught up in the speed and chaos of the typical cyberpunk novel, and sort of distracted by the cringeworthy sex scenes (I just skip them now). But once I started to understand that the debate about civil rights for non-humans was more than just a passing concept, I became much more interested.

Wondering if this book was written for children.

Fellow book lovers, I hope you enjoy this twitter thread as much as I have: https://twitter.com/michael_nielsen/s...

It's important that I mark this spot in my reading. I need to start re-reading this book from the very beginning. I didn't take the (what seemed like minor) details seriously enough, and I didn't take good enough notes on the family relationships and the acronyms. [OH, NEAL, YOU AND YOUR
ƒµ¢*ING ACRONYMS!] As a Stephenson completist, I recognize much from past books, but put too much distance between reading them.

So far, Fall is really feeding the part of my brain that is devoted to estate planning and health care directives, and has the typical Stephensonian weight (623g), and rather enjoyable beyond-reasonable level of detail that I so look forward to when I start one of his book!

I just finished “A Gift From Earth,” and I found that fascinating. It had the unfortunate quality that I’ve seen in some other male-authored 60s-era scifi — of demeaning strong female characters to merely playing a sex role. But there was a lot of social commentary about bigotry, criminal justice, and the way technological progress bends (or completely changes) morality that more than made up for it.

Not gonna lie, I'm having trouble finishing this book. I'm just not excited about it. And, for real, I'm usually excited about EVERYTHING - actuarial tables, international road signage, water treatment, electrochemistry, teff, saran wrap sloper, you name it, I'm pretty damn excited about it.

So weird to read scifi stories and have most of the characters smoke... ABOARD A SPACESHIP. I will get through this.

It’s weird that twice already (in 50 pages, and in incidents hundreds of plot years apart), the author chooses to show how the entirety of human civilization suffers because a white woman had sex with a black man. As a book claimed to be a foundational work of sci-fi, I’m going to keep going, but I’m hoping to experience less and less of Olaf’s (and/or the editor’s) voice as the book progresses.

Nothing is plausible in this plot so far, even within a world of accidental time travel.

The copy I have is totally yellowed, but is mint and seemingly untouched, with an unbroken spine. It's almost too pristine to start reading. Almost.

This is my first audio book. NGL, not enjoying the format so far, but maybe it's something to get used to? I'm not enjoying or invested in the characters so far. It's a book club book, and I didn't choose it, so it's very far outside what I would normally read. I'm giving it a chance...

I really burned out on the Thursday Next Series after book 3, in 2009. But an uncorrected proof of this book showed up on my gym sharing shelf recently, and I couldn't resist, so even though I missed a few installments, I jumped in. So far, so good.

I'm enjoying this book, though in some ways, Phil Knight can be a jerk at times. He honestly presents himself -- the good and the bad. I find it fascinating that there was a point where Nike was doubling in growth every year, and was pulling in $40 million in annual revenue, and Phil STILL had the reasonable worry that it might all fall apart the next day, and he and his family will be left with nothing.

I am loving this book so far! The world-building is so patient and incredible.

Dan Simmons must really hate Sherlock Holmes stories, and so far, this book is a clever way of going on about it.

A kind soul overheard me asking about pulp 50's, 60's, and 70's scifi in The Strand two weeks ago, and waved me over, pantomiming treasure discovery from behind the staff person to whom I was talking. Thank you, sir! Now that I'm down with The Southern Reach trilogy, I'm so ready for some pulp hard scifi!