-------------------------------------------------- BOOKS -------------------------------------------------- A list of books I've read, starting December 2023. The dates in square brackets are the dates I finished reading them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ House of Suns. 2008. Alastair Reynolds Looking about for light reading to take with me on a recent trip, my eyes lit upon this rather wild space opera that had been sitting on my shelf since I first read it, idk, 12 years or so ago. And joy of joys, I realized enough time had passed that I remembered nothing about it, beyond having liked it a lot (it was the book that really got me into Reynolds, which led me to Banks, etc). Did I still like it? Why, yes! Reynolds' characters may be a little thin (common complaint) but that tends not to bother me if the plot, ideas, and world-building are good. Which here they most certainly are. [2024-09-21] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Islands in the Net. 1988. Bruce Sterling. It was fun reading this now, as 2024 is smack dab in the middle of the timeframe in which this book is set, and Sterling's predictions are close enough to the mark to make it interesting to see what he got right, and what not so much. The first chapter is familiar, and I have a vague memory of giving up on it back when it first came out, after being disappointed that it wasn't Gibsonian cyberpunk (the protagonist is pretty straight up corpo, and hauling around a _baby_ for pity's sake). But of course it does describe a cyberpunk future, just seen from the other side of the corporate divide. Fun ride, good world-building, crazy action once it picks up steam. [2024-09-12] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Zenith Angle. 2004. Bruce Sterling. And we're back to the geek books. This one got mixed reviews when it came out, and I can understand why. It presents as a 'cyberthriller', but for the most part it's not all that thrilling. It's more of a character study, of a gifted geek who loses his soul in a bureaucratic maze of cybersecurity following 9/11. Does he ever get it back again? Magic 8-ball says "Reply hazy." 7 out of 10. [2024-08-31] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Shadow of the Wind. 2001. Carlos Ruiz Zafon. A boy living in post WWII Barcelona comes across what might be the last remaining copy of a novel written by a little-known author with a tragic past, and is subsequently threatened by a mysterious man who wants to consign it to the flames. Unravelling the mystery will forever change his life, and the lives of those around him, in ways both good and bad. Spans multiple genres: magic realism, gothic horror, bildungsroman, noir mystery. I liked it quite a lot. [2024-08-25] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Big Knockover. 1966. Dashiell Hammett. A collection of novellas and short stories, mostly featuring Hammett's Continental Op detective character. Also contains a rather depressing account of Hammett's life and times by his long-time partner Lilian Hellman, and part of an uncompleted semi-autobiographical novel he wrote in his later years. Quality is variable; this is what you'd read if you wanted more Hammett after reading all his other stuff. The titular "Big Knockover" and its continuation "$106,000 Blood Money" are pretty good though. [2024-08-17] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Red Harvest. 1929. Dashiell Hammett. See, I do occasionally read (or at least, re-read) books that aren't sf and aren't about computers. Early Hammett, one of the "Continental Op" stories he wrote for the pulp mag "Black Mask". Tough guy private eye visits a thoroughly corrupt mining town and cleans house using some rather brutal and unorthodox methods. A classic of sorts, but not quite as artful as "The Maltese Falcon" or "The Thin Man". [2024-08-04] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Artemis. 2017. Andy Weir. Enjoyable. The world-building is stronger than the character-building but that's OK with me. Not as good as "The Martian" or "Hail Mary" but well plotted and a quick read. [2024-07-20] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Atrocity Archives. 2004. Charles Stross. Surprisingly unlike the X-Files, given how similar the basic premise is: the protagonist is a field operative for a government agency ("The Laundry") charged with covering up supernatural incursions into the real world. The parts I liked best clearly drew upon Stross' work-life experience with bureaucratic shibboleths of the time like ISO 9000 and "Total Quality Management" which become even more hilarious than usual when paired with an organization that employs the undead. [2024-07-17] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Spook Country. 2007. William Gibson. Classic Gibson, but set in the then-recent past rather than the future. He writes a good spy thriller; the MacGuffin (a mysterious shipping container) kept me guessing right up to the end. The premise reminded me a lot of Pattern Recognition, the novel preceding Spook Country in the "Blue Ant" trilogy, which I now have to re-read. I recognized many of the Vancouver locations from when I lived there, many years ago - a somewhat nostalgic experience not unlike watching old X-Files episodes. [2024-07-14] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Singularity Sky. 2003. Charles Stross. Space opera, very much in the vein of Iain M. Banks or Alastair Reynolds, but more upbeat. A backwards planetary civilization is hit with a singularity that turns their whole world into a surreal fantasy like something out of Hieronymous Bosch, and a fleet of military spacecraft is dispatched to deal with it; ultimately a meditation on the failure modes of repressive societies. Somewhat dated by the "information wants to be free" idealism characteristic of the early 2000s, but quite enjoyable nonetheless. [2024-06-22] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New Hacker's Handbook. 1989. Hugo Cornwall & Steve Gold. Not so much a guide on how to hack computer systems, more along the lines of "here's some examples of the kinds of things hackers do, and some of things they need to know about." The latter being a lot about telecommunications protocols, apparently. Dates from a time when breaking into computer systems was, more often than not driven by curiousity and thrill-seeking rather than maliciousness. A bit sloppy in the editing department, and the long printouts from BBSs come across as filler, but still worth reading as a time capsule of a bygone era. [2024-06-01] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Beating the System: Hackers, Phreakers and Electronic Spies. 1990. Owen Bowcott and Sally Hamilton Inaccurately billed as "the inside story of Edward Singh and the Electronic Underworld". In fact Mr. Singh gets comparatively little attention, while rather more is paid to better-known hacker celebrities of the era like Steve Draper, Markus Hess, Robert Morris, Kevin Mitnick, etc. Still somewhat interesting for its discussion of the issues around criminalizing hacking in the UK, but a lot of the background material has been covered in other, better books on the subject. [2024-05-20] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Extra Life: Coming of Age in Cyberspace. 1998. David S. Bennahum. What it was like to grow up obsessed with computers in the first age of personal computing. And also attend an Ivy-League prep school with a DEC PDP-11 in the computer classroom. Well written, interesting if it's your thing (as it is mine). I've posted a sort-of review in my phlog. [2024-04-14] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Mythical Man Month. 1972. Fred Brooks. Necessary reading for anyone managing the development of a major mainframe operating system. Kidding aside, quite impressive how much of it is still relevant. While the technology references are just a bit dated (though historically interesting), the observations on scaling up communication are timeless. [2024-03-18] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Cosmic Puppets. 1957. Philip K. Dick. I'm not a huge PKD fan, but every once in a while - perhaps when the world starts seeming all too real - I enjoy picking up one of his novels. This one reads like an episode of the original Twilight Zone, if it had a modern special effects budget. Strong "A Stop at Willoughby" and "It's a Good Life" vibes, with the metaphysics cranked up to 11. Short, worth reading. [2024-02-18] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Machine Vendetta. 2024. Alastair Reynolds. Now that Iain M. Banks is no longer with us, Alastair Reynolds may be my favourite living sf author. A few of the novels he wrote in the 2000s - "House of Suns" and "Century Rain" in particular - rank among the sf novels I've most enjoyed, in my over half-century of reading the stuff. I've not been as impressed by his work of the past decade or so, but lately he seems to be turning that around. Last year's "Eversion" really hit the mark, and "Machine Vendetta" comes pretty close. The third in a series of police procedurals of the far future starring the increasingly world-weary Prefect Dreyfus, this one sees the Prefect going up against an old foe, a rogue AI. Kept me turning the pages. [2024-02-05] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency. 2022. Andy Greenberg. Really enjoyed this one. Fascinating tale of how the 'anonymized' transactions on the blockchain turned out to be anything but, and how Bitcoin proved to be kind of a honeypot for organized crime. [2024-01-??] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mona Lisa Overdrive. 1988. William Gibson. Last book in the Sprawl trilogy. To my mind the weakest of the three novels although it does bring the story to a satisfactory conclusion and is certainly worth reading. Unlike the previous two novels I think I'd only ever read this one once before, back when it first appeared in paperback, so I had largely forgotten what it was about. [2024-01-??] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At Large: The Strange Case of the World's Biggest Internet Invasion. 1998. Charles C. Mann, David H. Freedman. A late entry in the "Computer hackers of the pre-web era" non-fiction genre, overshadowed by predecessors like Sterling's "The Hacker Crackdown" and Stoll's "Cuckoo's Egg". Still interesting mostly in how it shows how bad computer security was back then, that a none-too-bright script kiddie could with a bit of help install a sniffer on an Internet backbone router. Also has the distinction of being probably the least glamorous portrait of a hacker ever written. [2024-01-??] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Artifact Space. 2022. Miles Cameron. I'd never heard of the author or the book before I came across it in the SF section of a local bookstore, looking for some light holiday reading. An endorsement from Alastair Reynolds on the cover persuaded me to check it out. It's not quite in Reynolds' league, but it is an enjoyable action-filled space opera, if you like that kind of thing. There are some STNG vibes; the protagonist reminded me of Tasha Yar and there's another character who is a bit like Data. This novel is only half the story, but I liked it well enough that I plan to pick up the sequel whenever it comes out in paperback. [2023-12-28] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Count Zero. 1986. William Gibson. I must have read this quite a few times back in the 80s, as I remember the story pretty well. It's much better written than Neuromancer; the characters are a lot more real and have actual human relationships that extend beyond the purely transactional. This is where we get to see the Sprawl up close for the first time. Possibly my all-time favourite Gibson novel but we'll see, as I plan to read more of his back catalogue in 2024. [2023-12-17] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier. 1991. Katie Hafner and John Markoff. Profiles Kevin Mitnick, Robert Tappan Morris, and a group of hackers in West Berlin. The section on the Berlin hackers was the most interesting, covering many of the same events related in Clifford Stoll's "Cuckoo's Egg" but from the other side. Neuromancer's protagonist, Case, seems to have been the role model for many but they mostly come out looking like Bobby Newmark, the titular character in Count Zero. Which is to say, out of their depth. [2023-12-14] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Neuromancer. 1984. William Gibson. Decided it was time to re-read the Sprawl Trilogy. I enjoyed Neuromancer, obviously, it's a classic, but even when I first read it back in my early 20s I thought the characters were a bit lacking in depth. His most iconic work, but not his best. Still loads of fun though, and the way he puts words together is sheer street poetry. [2023-12-05]