#JustRead #Coders by @clive – an exhilarating look at the history & culture of computer programmers.
My coding ability is limited to self-taught HTML & CSS, but I understand the addictive euphoria of coding that Clive talks about – the high of creating something essentially out of nothing.
I love that coding is one of the few skills that you can teach yourself – & that it demands such a perverse mix of logic, persnicketyness, & artistry.
#books #Bookstodon #Coders
Finished - The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera.
As I get older, I worry less about 'getting' works of literature, and instead focus more on what I personally gain from them.
I loved a definition of 'kitsch' Kundera gives, that in a fascist/totalitarian regime where truth, questioning and self expression in art are not permitted, what remains is only kitsch.
“melodramatic tendencies, superficial relationship with the human condition and naturalistic standards of beauty”, ie nothing challenging. Like the song the prole washer woman sings in 1984, and the literature mass produced by the party.
#JustRead (well, finished listening to) Project Hail Mary.
Great book - some very funny moments, and a couple of quite tense ones (not horror tense).
I normally have difficulty with first person books - but between Weir's writing and Porter's voicing, I didn't even realise right up until the final chapter.
#JustRead The Bourne Supremacy - the second of the original Bourne trilogy. It's interesting to see how different the films turned out from the books. Obviously some changes were due to twenty years of shifting world politics, but there are core character changes for several of the main players.
I don't think it was quite as engaging as Identity - there were a couple of spots where it became a little confusing as to who was who, though that may have been intentional.
Read for sorrow Read for joy Read to your girl Read to your boy Read for silver Read for gold Read like it's a secret, never to be told! #JustRead
#justread #justreading
• Graham Chapman (1941-1989)
»Autobiografie eines Lügners« (1980)
org. “A Liar‘s Autobiography Volume VI“
in der Übersetzung von Harry Rowohlt
.
(“… I want you to become the first person ever at a British memorial service to say “fuck” … “ [John Cleese] ):
https://youtu.be/CkxCHybM6Ek
#books #bookstodon #GrahamChapman #montypython #biography #biografie #autobiographie #autobiography
Ooooh - what are YOU excited for?
All the New Fantasy Books Arriving in March 2025 - Reactor https://reactormag.com/new-fantasy-books-march-2025/
#Writing #WritingCommunity #Words #Essay #Ideas #Writers #WritersCommunity #Writer #Author #Books #Reading #Literature #Read #TBR #Words #JustRead #ToRead #WorthReading
I #justRead and enjoyed a __Doctor Satan__ #pulp #thriller short by Paul Ernst, so I sought out more. I find out _The Doctor Satan Megapack_ exists. _Yay._ It only contains seven of the eight Doctor Satan stories written. _Boo._ But the one it's missing, the final story, is the one I already read. _Whew._
❤️
#JustRead #DieFlüsseVonLondon #RiversOfLondon #BenAaronovitch ❤️ #Discworld #Scheibenwelt #LordVetinari #Comics #GraphicNovel
Gestern wäre der amerikanische SF-Autor Alfred Bester 111 Jahre alt geworden.
Rein zufällig ohne es zu wissen, habe ich gestern angefangen einen seiner bekanntesten Romane zu lesen.
• Alfred Bester (1913-1987)
»Tiger! Tiger!« (1956)
[The Stars My Destination]
#heynesf 06/24
dt. von Gisela Stege
Da ich einiges Gutes gehört habe, bin ich mal gespannt wie weit ich komme und wie es mir gefällt.
#myscifi #AlfredBester #scifi #sciencefiction #classicscifi #scifibooks #books #bookstodon #justread
#bookstodon #justread #stephenking
⭐⭐⭐ Standard Stephen King: half amazing set pieces, half gimmick, fully entertaining.
I'm forever conflicted about Stephen King. On the one hand, I feel his books are very hard to put down. He has amazing ideas and knows how to drive suspense. On the other hand, they always have something that makes me roll my eyes. This one is not different; too much deus ex machina, too much surprise magic for my taste.
Persuader (Jack Reacher 7) by Lee Child | Book Review
Jack Reacher.
The ultimate loner.
An elite ex-military cop who left the service years ago, he’s moved from place to place…without family…without possessions…without commitments.
And without fear. Which is good, because trouble–big, violent, complicated trouble–finds Reacher wherever he goes. And when trouble finds him, Reacher does not quit, not once…not ever.
But some unfinished business has now found Reacher. And Reacher is a man who hates unfinished business.
Ten years ago, a key investigation went sour and someone got away with murder. Now a chance encounter brings it all back. Now Reacher sees his one last shot. Some would call it vengeance. Some would call it redemption. Reacher would call it…justice.
How was it?
The seventh book in Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series kicks off with a bang – literally. The story screeches in with some action right from the start, pulling readers into the chaos before offering any explanations. I was thrown by some of what was happening in that opening scene. It was a smart move that set the tone for a relentless, twisty thriller that managed to hold my attention from beginning to end. I kept questioning and speculating about everything that was going on, and yet I was more surprised here than any other Reacher books that I’ve read so far.
One of the things I find interesting in this book is how it grounds Reacher in the era it was written. His uncertainty with emails, for example, is a subtle but telling reminder of the early 2000s – a marker of time that adds a bit of charm to his otherwise tough-as-nails persona.
The plot revolves around unfinished business from Reacher’s past, resurfacing through a chance encounter. This setup gives us a gripping combination of vengeance and justice, wrapped in Reacher’s signature approach – uncompromising, strategic, and ruthless. What stands out here is the back-and-forth narrative between the present-day operation and the dark incident that happened ten years earlier. The back-and-forth kept me on edge, it was slowly unraveling the mystery of what went wrong in the past while Reacher tackled the present-day threat. Although both have dark moments, the past incident is really the one that F’d me up because at some point in the book I didn’t want to know the details. But ultimately, the back-and-forth structure worked well in heightening the tension and tying together the plot.
There’s a lot of darkness hinted at in Persuader – disturbing acts and messed-up goons that push Reacher’s moral boundaries. These elements give the story an edge that makes it one of the grittier entries I’ve read. It’ll be interesting to see how these darker themes are adapted into season 3 of Reacher, especially since some of the hinted atrocities might not make it to the screen.
Overall, Persuader is a tightly wound, action-packed thriller that delivers classic Jack Reacher. With intense action, a gritty narrative, and a well-paced mystery, this book showcases everything fans love about the series. Whether you’re a longtime fan or new to Reacher’s world, this entry is a must-read.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
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#JustRead Red Harvest by Joe Schreiber - a #StarWars "Legends" novel from 2012. It's not exactly a Zahn/Thrawn book.
Quick to read, but no real tension. The low point was when a Jedi used the force to deliver the "special set of skills" speech verbatim from Taken.
Slightly interesting that a lot of PoV was from various Sith characters.
Couldn't help but write a little poem (maybe more of an adult nursery rhyme) for the story I posted on Fiction Bites. If you're curious about it, then give this story a try and let me know what you think.
More stories to come out this Friday and others until mid December.
Fiction Bites: https://llvh.substack.com/p/when-ass-run-wild
#FictionBites #whattoread #horrorstories #writingcommunity #readersofig #justread
⭐⭐⭐ Pretty gripping. I've always wanted to read about Boeing's loss of engineering culture, and this does a pretty good job explaining how that happened.
It's also a sad statement on how little we've learned from the 737 MAX debacle.
#bookstodon #justread #running
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great book. Gripping, hard to put down. Exciting and informative, inspiring and emotional.
My one concern is that the author is very good at playing things up. He has a talent for telling stories, for bringing up emotions, and that made me question the facts behind it all. For a book with so many bold claims (i.e. towards minimalist shoes), the data seemed a bit one-sided. His talent made me skeptical, I suppose.
Totally into the running man theory though!
#bookstodon #justread #running
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Now this is a great book about running! Focused and without fluff, practical and with just the right amount of theory.
Can't speak much about the actual program (yet), but this book sure has given me many ideas to explore.
#JustRead "The Man Who Evolved" by Edmond Hamilton, a 1931 short story that reminds me very much of the classic _Outer Limits_ episode, "The Sixth Finger." So much so that I checked to see if the episode was based on the story. The episode was written by Ellis St. Joseph. From Wikipedia:
❝As originally scripted, Gwyllm devolves into the protoplasmic form of a jellyfish. However, ABC executives would only allow him to regress to the stages of early man, due to concerns that religious viewers who did not accept the theory of evolution would be offended.❞
The Hamilton story has the scientist evolving to an enhanced human, to a large head on a spindly body like classic Martians, to two other stages, and finally "advancing" to just a pool of protoplasm. That seems a significant similarity. #ScienceFiction #television #reading
#AmReading (okay I'll be honest it's always #justRead) #BlackSun by Rebecca Roanhorse. First epic fantasy I've read in a long time, and affirmed my hypothesis that it wasn't high fantasy I was sick of, but medieval europe.
Well, mostly. :P it's been a long time since I read a book designed for a trilogy so was unprepared for the book to end but for elements of the story to be unresolved. But other than that highly recommend. No themes of good vs evil, a non-moralistic depiction of religion and magic.
