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writh

writh@bookwyrm.social

Joined 6 days, 14 hours ago

OpSec brute squad. I enjoy riding my bike in the dirt, screamy music, Formula 1, and Liverpool F.C.

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Those who dare (2010, Greenleaf Book Group Press) 5 stars

Realistic, for those who enjoyed SAS Rogue Heros

5 stars

This was so much fun. The realism was on point. It read a bit like a nonfiction book, but with fictional characters and interactions. I love military memoirs, so this was right up my ally. It really does read like a memoir even though it is fiction. If you enjoyed the book or TV show SAS Rogue Heros, or Band of Brothers, you will like this book. Well researched and a lot of fun.

Red Team Blues (Paperback, 2024, Tor Books) 5 stars

A grabby next-Tuesday thriller about cryptocurrency shenanigans that will awaken you to how the world …

Move over heart-throbe protagonists, an elderly accountant has arrived

5 stars

Seriously. Martin Hench is a fantastic character. There is nothing about him or his journey through this novel that I would change.

As always, Doctorow has gotten all of the details right. As an infosec professional, I appreciate that level of research and commitment to verisimilitude. This is a fast paced thriller about... financial and tech crime... I know that sounds weird, and it is even weirder that the main character is essentially an accountant, but it works so well.

I also love that he's old. He's been around the block a time or 7. He knows his shit. He's the last of a dying breed. The computing revolutionaries from MIT. He was at the cutting edge of forensic computing and accounting. But those days are long in his past. Now he's dealing with cryptocurrency. The blockchain. All that other gross crap that tech-bros have come up with. But he's …

The terminal list (2018) 5 stars

"A Navy SEAL has nothing left to live for and everything to kill for after …

Review of 'The terminal list' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

A good action story. It had some interesting elements that were pretty original. I really liked the protagonist and the plot was interesting. The details were believable. The one thing that I didn’t like was the politics that were clumsily shoehorned in. It was like the novel was written, and then someone said, this is great, but make it Trumpy. They aren’t a big deal, it wasn’t a big part of the book and didn’t happen much. Still worth reading.

A Brief History of Time (1998, Bantam; 10th anniversary edition) 5 stars

A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes is a book …

Review of 'A Brief History of Time' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I just finished listening to Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time. It was astonishing. It made me want to understand the universe in a way that no book has in the past. I actually feel like I have a grasp on what quantum physics is, when in the past I have always felt like it was a murky pool of unknowns. I can't recommend it enough, if there are any of you that didn't beat me to it. #physics #hawking #book #review #audiobook

The operator (2017, Scribner) 5 stars

Review of 'The operator' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I really enjoyed this one. I really like military memoirs, but many of them either over-romanticize, or they tend to preach. My least favorite of these was Lone Survivor by Marcus Lutrell. Chris Kyle's American Sniper was similarly plagued. In The Operator, Robert O'Neill actually sounds like a real person. He did not preach and he did not romanticize. This is probably tied for my favorite military memoir with Inside Delta Force by Eric Haney.

The soul of a new machine (Paperback, Undetermined language, 2000, Little, Brown and Company) 5 stars

"The Soul of a New Machine" is a non-fiction book written by Tracy Kidder and …

Review of 'The soul of a new machine' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This book is beautifully written. I reads like a wistful memoir for the life of a machine. The story is of the creation of Project Eagle in the Late 70's/Early 80's at Data General. If you are interested in computers, their history, or how they were dreamed up and made, this is essential reading. I loved reading about the creation of a computer during the age when people thought that they were going to be the impetus of revolution. This is really a love letter for the wild-west age of computing.

Hackers (Paperback, 1994, Penguin Books) 5 stars

Today, technology is cool. Owning the most powerful computer, the latest high-tech gadget, and the …

Review of 'Hackers' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I loved this book. It introduced me to hackerism and opensource ethics. I read it years ago, and re-read it this year. It made me want to hack something. It explores the romance of late nights, bathed in the cold glow of monitor, surrounded by the clacking of keyboards.

reviewed Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Gideon the Ninth (Paperback, 2019, Tor.com) 4 stars

Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian …

Review of 'Gideon the Ninth' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I’ve got really mixed feelings about this book. There were moments that it was exactly what I wanted it to be, but then there were long stretches where it got into details about unnecessary things. Though later those things turned out to be important. So I guess the problem was that the foreshadowing was too subtle? I really liked the universe and the characters were memorable and well developed. I would recommend it with the caveat that it’s more of a mystery than an adventure.

Throne of Glass (2012, Bloomsbury USA Children's) 4 stars

After she has served a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier …

Review of 'Throne of glass' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Throne of Glass was a fun read. It was not particularly thought provoking, the characters were not particularly compelling, and the plot was not particularly inventive. It was still fun though. I enjoyed every page. There was not a point where it bogged down in nonsense as there so often is in a book that is trying to set up a large series. It kept up its pace, and kept my attention and for that I have to commend it. I liked the characters by the end of it. The two primary male characters were sort of two dimensional until about 3/4 of the way through the book, but they came into their own by the end. I would recommend it as what my wife calls "popcorn reading." Fun, but not nourishing.