Tag Archives: Books

His Dark Materials

Now that I’ve had a bit more time to write, you might guess that I’ve also had a bit more time to read.  I have, and that has allowed me to finally finish His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman.  This one has been on my “in progress” list for a while, so I’m glad to finally move on to reading something else.  Though one might want to dedicate a post to each book of the trilogy, I’m only going to be writing this one post covering all three books.  There will be minor spoilers below, so read at your own risk. Continue reading His Dark Materials

The Universe in a Single Atom

My reading time is a little reduced, but I did recently take the time to finish a book a friend of mine recently lent me, The Universe in a Single Atom by the Dalai Lama.  This book was initially interesting to me because it sounded like a spiritual leader attempting to reconcile spirituality (in this case, Buddhist spirituality) with modern physics.  As I read it, it actually was a bit better than this, which I’ll go into below. Continue reading The Universe in a Single Atom

The Cuckoo’s Egg

I recently finished reading the Cuckoo’s Egg by Cliff Stoll.  This one has been on my list for a while, when my friend Cam recommended it many years ago.  It somehow never made it to my list because, well, it’s not science fiction, and I used to have a lot less time to read.  But, when I saw Cliff Stoll on Numberphile, I remembered the book and decided to pick it up – I’m quite glad I did. Continue reading The Cuckoo’s Egg

Ascendance

While I wasn’t initially planning on listening to the Second DemonWars Trilogy, I found myself listening to Ascendance when next I got a chance.  The reason that there’s a hesitance for me in picking it up is really that the Second DemonWars Trilogy is really a different kind of story compared to the first, one that, though I enjoy the telling, I’m not sure I enjoy the story quite as much.

Ascendance, in particular though, was a bit difficult for me to get through – and that’s something I’ll discuss after the jump. Continue reading Ascendance

Mortalis

While I was on travel, and just before I got the flu for a week (hence, no blogging), I finished Mortalis, the “bridge” novel between the two Demonwars Trilogies.  This book is my favorite part of the Demonwars saga, and one of my favorite fantasy novels in general.  This is because of the range of emotions that it evokes, and, even though it has something of a complex plot, it has a simple message, and one that I appreciate.

I’ll be spoiling that after the jump. Continue reading Mortalis

The Magnificent Riverboat

On my trip downRiver, I finished The Magnificent Riverboat, the next book in the Riverworld series.  This volume covered the story of Samuel Clemens and his building of an electric riverboat to travel upRiver to the source of the river.  I think Samuel Clemens moral compass made it a bit easier for me to be invested in the middle parts of the book (compared to Richard Burton), but this one was still a bit slow reading – details after the jump. Continue reading The Magnificent Riverboat

The Demon Spirit

I’ve been trying to work through my assembly backlog lately, and while doing so, I decided to  listen to R. A. Salvatore’s The Demon Spirit – the second book in the Demonwars Trilogy.  This was a good experience, and gave me the chance to do two things at once in a way that wasn’t distracting.  Overall, I enjoyed this leg of the journey, but it’s probably my least favorite book of the trilogy, primarily because it is so dark.

Probable spoilers after the jump. Continue reading The Demon Spirit