Book review thread

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Explosive Newt
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Re: Book review thread

Post by Explosive Newt »

IanF wrote: Thu Aug 01, 2019 3:37 pm Simon Singh is an good non-fiction author. My favourite is the Code Book, but Big Bang and Fermat’s last theorem are good too.
I found Fermat’s hard to put down - will give Code Book a try.

I basically love a well written narrative nonfiction. I liked the way Singh really got into the heads of the ways these guys were working on problems rather than necessarily the maths itself. Spy and the Traitor was good in a similar way (although more KGB and less maths).
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Re: Book review thread

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The way I buy books doesn't lend itself to reading long series, I tend to only buy second hand unless there's something I really want to read and I'm being impatient :lol:.

The culture books would probably be quite good this way as they don't directly connect to each other like some series afaik. They're quite hard to find though.
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Re: Book review thread

Post by IanF »

Explosive Newt wrote: Thu Aug 01, 2019 3:41 pm
IanF wrote: Thu Aug 01, 2019 3:37 pm Simon Singh is an good non-fiction author. My favourite is the Code Book, but Big Bang and Fermat’s last theorem are good too.
I found Fermat’s hard to put down - will give Code Book a try.

I basically love a well written narrative nonfiction. I liked the way Singh really got into the heads of the ways these guys were working on problems rather than necessarily the maths itself. Spy and the Traitor was good in a similar way (although more KGB and less maths).
I’ll grab that book then. Thanks!
Cheers,

Ian
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Explosive Newt
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Re: Book review thread

Post by Explosive Newt »

ZedLeg wrote: Thu Aug 01, 2019 3:44 pm The way I buy books doesn't lend itself to reading long series, I tend to only buy second hand unless there's something I really want to read and I'm being impatient :lol:.

The culture books would probably be quite good this way as they don't directly connect to each other like some series afaik. They're quite hard to find though.
Wodehouse is my go-to as they are incredibly easy to pick up and put down (and I always fancied myself as living in Blandings Castle) and I have never been to a second hand bookshop that didn’t have one.

I tend to buy from indie bookshops as Amazon are bastards. Toppings near us in Ely are great. I have quite a few signed first editions thanks to them.
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Re: Book review thread

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ZedLeg wrote: Thu Aug 01, 2019 3:33 pm
Swervin_Mervin wrote: Thu Aug 01, 2019 3:18 pm Just finished The Gameplayer by Banks. Only the 2nd one of his Culture books I've read, and the 4th or 5th of his wider work. The first I've read in a long time as well, and I really enjoyed it once it got going.
The Player of Games? I've read that one and thought it was great, the whole set up of the tournament at the end was brilliant.

I've read a couple of his other ones, Consider Phlebas and The Algebraist. Keep meaning to read more but there's always other books in the pile.
Excession and Surface detail are great Culture stories too. I think I've only got Inversions left of The Culture series, I made a start on it years ago but a dozen pages in theres a pretty grim torture scene that made me put it down. I saw The Bone Clocks for 50p at a charity shop the other day and added it to the pile, Someone recommended it here a while a ago.

I made a half start on The Final empire, book 1 of The Mistborn Trilogy but found the conceits around "magic" a bit annoying. Shame as I really enjoy the short story The Emperors Soul also by Brandon Sanderson.
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Explosive Newt
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Re: Book review thread

Post by Explosive Newt »

IanF wrote: Thu Aug 01, 2019 3:44 pm
I’ll grab that book then. Thanks!
Let me know how you get on - I read half of it in one sitting on the Edinburgh to London train. Happy to lend you any of Ben McIntyre’s stuff!
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Re: Book review thread

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Brandon Sanderson is another writer I have on my list but never get round to. I liked what he did with the end of the wheel of time but I've never read any of his own series.

I tried to reread the wheel of time last year and I couldn't do it. The first book is almost comically tropey in hindsight.
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Re: Book review thread

Post by IanF »

Actually, the latest Le Carré is 99p today on Amazon Kindle.. reviews seem good; just grabbed it.
Cheers,

Ian
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Re: Book review thread

Post by Swervin_Mervin »

ZedLeg wrote: Thu Aug 01, 2019 3:33 pm
Swervin_Mervin wrote: Thu Aug 01, 2019 3:18 pm Just finished The Gameplayer by Banks. Only the 2nd one of his Culture books I've read, and the 4th or 5th of his wider work. The first I've read in a long time as well, and I really enjoyed it once it got going.
The Player of Games? I've read that one and thought it was great, the whole set up of the tournament at the end was brilliant.

I've read a couple of his other ones, Consider Phlebas and The Algebraist. Keep meaning to read more but there's always other books in the pile.
Yeah that's the one :lol: So memorable I've already forgotten the title :oops:

I found it fairly ploddy at first - it took me a while to get back into the Culture setting (I've read Consider Phlebas years ago), and then it seemed to take a while to get going with the plot. However, as you say, the tournament setup was brilliant. It's staggering to think what the human mind can come up with and Banks' Cultureverse is pretty epic.
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Re: Book review thread

Post by Swervin_Mervin »

RobYob wrote: Thu Aug 01, 2019 3:48 pm
ZedLeg wrote: Thu Aug 01, 2019 3:33 pm
Swervin_Mervin wrote: Thu Aug 01, 2019 3:18 pm Just finished The Gameplayer by Banks. Only the 2nd one of his Culture books I've read, and the 4th or 5th of his wider work. The first I've read in a long time as well, and I really enjoyed it once it got going.
The Player of Games? I've read that one and thought it was great, the whole set up of the tournament at the end was brilliant.

I've read a couple of his other ones, Consider Phlebas and The Algebraist. Keep meaning to read more but there's always other books in the pile.
Excession and Surface detail are great Culture stories too. I think I've only got Inversions left of The Culture series, I made a start on it years ago but a dozen pages in theres a pretty grim torture scene that made me put it down. I saw The Bone Clocks for 50p at a charity shop the other day and added it to the pile, Someone recommended it here a while a ago.

I made a half start on The Final empire, book 1 of The Mistborn Trilogy but found the conceits around "magic" a bit annoying. Shame as I really enjoy the short story The Emperors Soul also by Brandon Sanderson.
The Bone Clocks is a brilliant book. I'm a massive fan of Mitchell's work - I just wish he was a little more prolific!
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Beany
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Re: Book review thread

Post by Beany »

ZedLeg wrote: Thu Aug 01, 2019 3:33 pm
Swervin_Mervin wrote: Thu Aug 01, 2019 3:18 pm Just finished The Gameplayer by Banks. Only the 2nd one of his Culture books I've read, and the 4th or 5th of his wider work. The first I've read in a long time as well, and I really enjoyed it once it got going.
The Player of Games? I've read that one and thought it was great, the whole set up of the tournament at the end was brilliant.

I've read a couple of his other ones, Consider Phlebas and The Algebraist. Keep meaning to read more but there's always other books in the pile.
Read Excession. It's huge fun and deals with the issue of a potential threat that seems to stump even the Culture. Large chunks of it surround the ships of the series (sentient, massive, self replicating hunks of sarcasm for the most part) so you know it's good.
The usual example given to illustrate an Outside Context Problem was imagining you were a tribe on a largish, fertile island; you'd tamed the land, invented the wheel or writing or whatever, the neighbors were cooperative or enslaved but at any rate peaceful and you were busy raising temples to yourself with all the excess productive capacity you had, you were in a position of near-absolute power and control which your hallowed ancestors could hardly have dreamed of and the whole situation was just running along nicely like a canoe on wet grass... when suddenly this bristling lump of iron appears sailless and trailing steam in the bay and these guys carrying long funny-looking sticks come ashore and announce you've just been discovered, you're all subjects of the Emperor now, he's keen on presents called tax and these bright-eyed holy men would like a word with your priests.
Use of Weapons is also a top read and set out extremely well (and in a way that you appreciate when you get to the end).

Stick 'em on your list to read if you enjoy the culture stuff, they're two of the best.
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Re: Book review thread

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I've vowed now to work my way through the series. I just need to give my mind a break between each one :lol:
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Re: Book review thread

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Swervin_Mervin wrote: Thu Aug 01, 2019 4:54 pm I've vowed now to work my way through the series. I just need to give my mind a break between each one :lol:
Same, after finishing Surface Detail I read the wiki and had an Oooohhhh that's what that was about.

Beany if you're interested in another take in the Outside Context problem give Three-Body a go, although the sequels are much harder work. The second book has an epic "ooooh fuck we're fucking fucked moment"
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Re: Book review thread

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I could read the opening chapter of Use Of Weapons a millionty times and still smirk.

I had a few days off and am currently part way through Consider Phlebas - which somehow seems to have passed me by over the years. Every time I start an Iain M Banks novel I go back through the same "mind blown by the scale of the shizzle he conveys" ....erm, shizzle. Truly outstanding. 8-)
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Re: Book review thread

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I'm currently reading The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality by Brian Greene.

It's a slightly out of date as it was written before CERN confirmed the Higgs particle, and occasionally it can be hard for my tiny brain to comprehend, but it is fascinating nonetheless and pitched at about the right level.
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Re: Book review thread

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mik wrote: Mon Aug 05, 2019 12:56 am I could read the opening chapter of Use Of Weapons a millionty times and still smirk.

I had a few days off and am currently part way through Consider Phlebas - which somehow seems to have passed me by over the years. Every time I start an Iain M Banks novel I go back through the same "mind blown by the scale of the shizzle he conveys" ....erm, shizzle. Truly outstanding. 8-)
This. He is one of the authors I'm glad I've discovered as an adult and after moving to the UK. I don't think my pre-move English would have been good enough to pick up all the nuances and meanings.
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Re: Book review thread

Post by IanF »

duncs500 wrote: Mon Aug 05, 2019 6:06 am I'm currently reading The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality by Brian Greene.

It's a slightly out of date as it was written before CERN confirmed the Higgs particle, and occasionally it can be hard for my tiny brain to comprehend, but it is fascinating nonetheless and pitched at about the right level.
Elegant Universe is good aswell, but it’s probably 15+years old.
Cheers,

Ian
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Re: Book review thread

Post by DaveE »

I may have previously mentioned the Wool Trilogy: Wool / Shift / Dust by Hugh Howey

I'm not much for "series" - I find it a bit off-putting/daunting to get into something that I know is the start of something "big" and I can't usually be bothered.

But the above is brilliant. Highly recommended. Kind of science fiction, but not "space"...
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Re: Book review thread

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Getting near my birthday / Christmas chaps, any good non-fiction suggestions to put on my list?
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Re: Book review thread

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Midnight in Chernobyl is a good non fiction book, a proper account of what happened including survivor interviews, just finished it and i thought it was the best book I've read about what happened.

If you like Joy Division or New Order get any of Peter Hooks Books, he really can write well, I think the Hacienda one is the best of them, but they're all great.
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