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xylogx@bookwyrm.world

Joined 1 month, 1 week ago

An IT pro with 20 years of experience and Uni degrees in Math, Physics and CompSci. I love Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Non-Fiction tales of science, math, technology and history.

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Sync (Paperback, Hyperion) 5 stars

The tendency to synchronize may be the most mysterious and pervasive drive in all of …

Interesting and eye-opening

5 stars

As an avid reader of science and math books who also has a degree in Physics and Maths, I often end up reading books about topics I have some level of familiarity with. This research into the science of sync was totally new to me. This was also my first Steven Strogatz book. His writing style is great. He is able to communicate the most complex of ideas using simple easy to understand language. I loved this book and am looking forward to reading other books by this author.

Otherlands (Hardcover, Random House) 4 stars

Clever telling of a science story

4 stars

I really enjoyed this book. It is packed with science but presents in a well-organized and interesting way. Zooming through eras and eons it does not try to be comprehensive in its telling but focuses on a number of narrative threads. The approach is unique and refreshing and in the end an enjoyable ride.

Demon of Unrest (2024, HarperCollins Publishers Limited) 4 stars

A gripping story of narrative history

4 stars

In the prologue Larson explains that he was inspired to tell this story by the events of Jan 6th as a way to compare the current election certification crisis with the last time it happened in order to show the mood of the country and the factors that lead to its happening. After completing the story I feel like he largely succeeded. Through his usual brand of narrative history telling he focuses in on a few points that illustrate how the different sections of the nation were thinking and the divide between them. While I feel like the telling of the southern viewpoint is well told, I think it is pretty far from today’s political climate. I find it more akin to the current denialism of climate change and vaccinations. In both cases you have an opposition that has convinced itself of viewpoint that is vulnerable to rational arguments using …

Astounding : John W. Campbell Memorial Anthology of Science Fiction (1973) 4 stars

A very personal telling

4 stars

The story telling was very personal telling that gave a snapshot of several key figures lives including Isaac Asimov, Rob Heinlein, and L Ron Hubbard but most of all Joseph Campbell. It does not try to tell the story of all science fiction or tell an overly broad story but for the lives it focuses on it lays out the story of their lives and their interactions in a clear and thoughtful way. An avid science fiction fan, I grew up reading some of these stories and remember them fondly. That said, I only read a fraction of the books they discuss in this story. That said, I did not feel like that diminished the story or in any way hindered my reading of this fascinating tale. In the end, while I was left wanting to hear these stories in the broader context of science fiction as a whole, it …

Infinite Jest (Paperback, 2006, Back Bay Books (Little Brown and Company)) 5 stars

Set in an addicts' hallway house and a tennis academy, and featuring one of the …

Not what I expected

5 stars

This books is amazing in many ways but is hard to compare to other more conventional stories and novels. It has a unique narrative structure and a radically chaotic use of language. I have to say I was skeptical at first and nearly gave up on this at several points, but it drew me in and by the end I was in love with its weird, quirky natures. The story itself is disjointed and a bit uninteresting when distilled from the way it is told and language used to tell it. That said it draws you in and is strong enough to hold up the novel through what is a marathon length telling. A lot of what happens in the book seems to be in service of some other purpose than serving to move the story along. It seems to be making points about society, human nature, morality and humanity …

Infinite Powers (Hardcover, 2019, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) 5 stars

From preeminent math personality and author of The Joy of x, a brilliant and endlessly …

Loved this book

5 stars

I love calculus and I loved this book. If you do not love calculus you might not, but I feel like he does a good job of trying tell a story that is accessible even if you do not have a mathematical background. It is impossible for me to separate myself from my own mathematical background which is so intertwined in my personality, so this judgement on accessibility may need to be taken with a grain of salt. I do feel like the book is well organized and the chapters have good narrative structure. Objectively good on these matters of structure and story telling, I would be interested in how others who do not have maths backgrounds found this argument that he makes that “calculus is important and foundational to everything we do in the modern technological world.” and that “Calculus is truly the language of the universe”

CyberStorm (AudiobookFormat, Blackstone Audio) 3 stars

Well written and exciting but ultimately disappointing

3 stars

The book never really delivers on the initial promise and the ending is unsatisfying. While the title hints at a cyber-thriller, that never really ends up being important to the story or really developed in a realistic way. There are just too many plot holes for me to really love this book. Cyber attacks and cyber war are happening today routinely and we know what they look like - this is not it. China even today really would not and could not invade Washington DC or the US. And no one can walk 60 miles in one day, that is just crazy. I wanted to like this at the beginning but by the end there was just too much cognitive dissonance from all of the plot holes. I am giving three stars because it was a fun ride at times, but ultimately I cannot recommend this book.

Delta-V (2019, Penguin Publishing Group) 5 stars

Loved It!

5 stars

This is the hardest of science fiction with technologies which are already here or just over the horizon. That combined with the carefully crafted characters made this story easy to get into without too much cognitive dissonance from the wild story. And what a story! It really takes you for a ride and has some twists and turns and thrills along the way. Loved this!

The Bezzle (2024) 4 stars

New York Times bestseller Cory Doctorow's The Bezzle is a high stakes thriller where the …

Solid sequel

5 stars

I did not enjoy this one as much as the first edition, but I still feel like was a great ride on the forensic accounting rollercoaster. With solid story telling and deep dives into legal and tech ideas, I feel like I learned a lot too. Looking forward to the next Martin Hench story.

#bookwyrm

Trial of the Century (2023, Threshold Editions) 4 stars

Well Crafted Telling of a Dramatic Event in US History

4 stars

This books does a good job of putting some framing and context around the trial transcript which is really the star of this story. Much of the book, really the best parts, is simply quoting the trial transcript. But like watching a highlight reel, having the context and not wasting time with the unnecessary bits, makes it more enjoyable.

Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World (2014, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) 5 stars

Great stuff!

5 stars

Witty and entertaining is not how you would think of a book that delves deep into the physics and chemistry behind materials science, but that is precisely what occurs in this book. Not only did this book make me laugh out loud repeatedly, but it did a solid job on informing me of facts on the cutting edge of science and technology. Really enjoyed this one.