This is probably more a 4.5 than a 5, but I like realistic nuclear war/survival novels, it's short (novella length), and generally well executed, so rThis is probably more a 4.5 than a 5, but I like realistic nuclear war/survival novels, it's short (novella length), and generally well executed, so rounding up.
The story of nuclear war survival in Southern California in a near-future limited strike. Does a little bit of the "how to, wrapped in a story" of "prepper" genre, but not too badly, and it's both a good story and some good information. Decent characters, plausible and interesting.
The audiobook version is machine-narrated; mostly good, although not as good as a good human reader, but better than a bad human reader....more
I'm very interested in the topic (nuclear war), but this is probably the least interesting or useful book about the topic -- "Command and Control: NucI'm very interested in the topic (nuclear war), but this is probably the least interesting or useful book about the topic -- "Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety" by Eric Schlosser is far better, and Ellsberg (yes, that one)'s Doomsday Machine is better as well. On specific topics, Badash's "A Nuclear Winter's Tale", etc. Still, it was a decent overview.
This was basically a summary of other sources and a single scenario, a scenario with several less than likely (but still plausible) elements. It shows how small mistakes can cascade, but if the generalization people take away from it is "all-out nuclear war is inevitable", it's not accurate. It also doesn't take into account the broad peace plausibly provided by nuclear weapons from 1945 to now (no WW3, yet), doubles down on the nuclear winter hypothesis....more
As someone who both develops and uses secure computing platforms like privacy-focused cellphones, this was an amazing story -- information about multiAs someone who both develops and uses secure computing platforms like privacy-focused cellphones, this was an amazing story -- information about multiple law enforcement agencies going after niche secure phone networks (Phantom Secure, based on BlackBerry) and the huge sting where law enforcement largely ran a honeytrap secure cellphone (Anom, based on a fork of Android).
This book describes the technical and especially user and law enforcement landscape around these devices and the sting operation which ensued. It raises many legal issues (especially in the US, which actually has meaningful free speech protections, unlike most of the other nations involved), and many of these are still unresolved....more
This was pretty good as "speculative fiction", in that it literally took the premise ("What if Santa Were Real?") and gave a plausible story/descriptiThis was pretty good as "speculative fiction", in that it literally took the premise ("What if Santa Were Real?") and gave a plausible story/description on that basis. It managed to be a good story, not overly cheesy, somewhat inspirational, etc. despite having a fairly silly premise -- clearly a very good author. Enjoyable as a long-ish short story. The audiobook uses virtual voice, which isn't as good as human narrator (yet), but is surprisingly decent; better than the bottom 20% of human narrators....more
This is an unexpected short story from Orson Scott Card -- essentially arguing for the expulsion/subjugation of White/European people from the AmericaThis is an unexpected short story from Orson Scott Card -- essentially arguing for the expulsion/subjugation of White/European people from the Americas and rule by Natives/Indios/Indians, using a young Mormon boy and his evil miner father and the magical sorceress Native/Brazilian woman in the jungle. This all seems like very predictable high school/college writer material of a certain type, but seeing Orson Scott Card as the author makes me wonder if he write it on a dare. Points for being concise and written well, but still stupid....more
This was a great installment (probably not the finale) of a plausible hard sf story about solar system colonization efforts. The "four horsemen" (simiThis was a great installment (probably not the finale) of a plausible hard sf story about solar system colonization efforts. The "four horsemen" (similar to current space entrepreneurs, e.g. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson), different economic and social models for different colonies and missions, etc. were solidly extended. There's a reasonable libertarian angle to the book/series, more so in the first and third books than the second....more
Cixin Liu is probably one of the 10 best science fiction authors globally -- it's especially interesting to me because he's one of the first Chinese sCixin Liu is probably one of the 10 best science fiction authors globally -- it's especially interesting to me because he's one of the first Chinese sci fi authors to be successful outside China, too (and China's sci-fi market has gone through 3 periods of growth, followed by repression, so it's not a huge market to begin with.)
This is a mix of interviews (not terribly interesting), essays (interesting for people very interested in sci-fi as a genre, but not themselves terribly interesting) and a few good short stories. For most people. just reading the short stories makes more sense -- I don't think they're his best, but are good ("Heard it in the Morning" was the best, and well worth reading on its own.)...more
This is a weird reinterpretation of 1984, and a shadow of the original book, but 1984 was such a good book that even a shadow of it is still pretty goThis is a weird reinterpretation of 1984, and a shadow of the original book, but 1984 was such a good book that even a shadow of it is still pretty good.
There were some solid callbacks to the original book, and some specific plot elements which made sense on their own. There was much more focus on "personal" failings and crimes (sexcrimes, informing) and especially the internal psychology of informers than in the original 1984.
The somewhat gratuitous torture and gory details are probably just a modern take on the story -- unfortunate, but any dystopian novel today would take that route. We are a fallen society.
The biggest problem of Julia is how by reinterpreting both Julia and Winston (protagonist of original book) into kind of banal losers, it removes an inspiring anti-authoritarian figure. While this might be realistic, the purpose of fiction, especially libertarian fiction like 1984, isn't purely to present the most plausible possible characters -- showing unrealistic but inspirational characters motivates people in the real world to take (much smaller) actions themselves. Somewhat ironically, Julia has a far more optimistic (although ambiguous) ending than the original 1984 in spite of this....more
This was frustrating. I am a huge fan of Bryan Johnson’s amazing life extension research (essentially, using himself as test subject zero for a full rThis was frustrating. I am a huge fan of Bryan Johnson’s amazing life extension research (essentially, using himself as test subject zero for a full range of evidence based things, ranging from a precise diet to red light treatment to a bunch of more extreme stuff.). I was hoping for a sober and technical description of his journey, plans, methodology, motivations, and open questions. This book was…not that. It was basically a weird fake last day dinner party with different aspects of his personality debating relatively personal history of his, and very little on the protocol. It was “interesting”, but not particularly useful or informative....more
This was a great lecture series by a genuine expert in his field, although it would have been nice to see more detail on a lot of the topics, and it wThis was a great lecture series by a genuine expert in his field, although it would have been nice to see more detail on a lot of the topics, and it would have worked better in video than purely audio (since there were graphs, visual demonstrations, etc.).
Treats some of the really controversial topics fairly, but more importantly, does a great job of communicating the basics as well as areas of active research and progress....more
I hope this ends up as "the horrible book at the beginning of a good author's career which he tries to hide and which obsessive fans seek out (e.g. StI hope this ends up as "the horrible book at the beginning of a good author's career which he tries to hide and which obsessive fans seek out (e.g. Stephenson's The Big U)", but it's pretty bad. I like EMP stories, I like post apocayptic/survivalist stories, but this one had dumb characters, illogical plot, and was exceedingly tedious to read.
The audiobook, run through "virtual voice", was actually less bad purely on mechanical factors than I was expecting, but worse than gpt-4 reading text directly. But honestly, an AI could have created a better story start to finish....more
One of the best accounts of the 2022+ War in Ukraine (from the Ukraine side), by a war correspondent for the WSJ. Covers the conflict up to mid-summerOne of the best accounts of the 2022+ War in Ukraine (from the Ukraine side), by a war correspondent for the WSJ. Covers the conflict up to mid-summer 2023, with a little bit more detail about the Wagner collapse added as a post script. Interesting because as a journalist he could explore different areas of the conflict, ranging from front line conflict all the way to to President, but he also has more subject matter expertise and willingness to go into harms way than most journalists. Does a pretty good job of putting the individual actions into a broader context, although this is much more "this is what is happening" vs. "this is a theory of what's happening and these are facts to support the theory".
This was mostly a book about people and their actions, rather than technology, weapons systems, and assessments of capabilities and doctrine. I'm particularly interested in how to apply the lessons of the Ukraine conflict to other future wars, but that will be covered in other books.
I'm very interested in learning about the conflict from the other side, especially the Wagner, logistic, and home front politics in Russia, but we're unlikely to get honest reporting of that stuff for 5+ years after the conflict ends, and in January 2024, there's no particular end in sight....more
I remember reading this ~a decade ago and it was comprehensive (excessively so; at least half could have been cut). Buffett is a very interesting persI remember reading this ~a decade ago and it was comprehensive (excessively so; at least half could have been cut). Buffett is a very interesting person and trying to learn about his background to see why he was successful (which I think had a lot to do with "when") is appealing. However, just reading the BH annual shareholders would be far more helpful on that front, and honestly, more entertaining and engaging as well....more
This short pamphlet can be reviewed in three ways: as writing for beauty, as propaganda for power and effectiveness, and as philosophy for truth.
OveraThis short pamphlet can be reviewed in three ways: as writing for beauty, as propaganda for power and effectiveness, and as philosophy for truth.
Overall, I'd say 5 on "beauty", 5 as propaganda (one of the 20 most influential English language documents ever), but while it predicted and described a good system of government, we've deviated as a country very far from the path described, although in ways envisioned in the document and appendix.
This document also is an excellent argument for anonymous political speech -- it was published for 3 months anonymously before Paine took credit....more
I wanted to like this book, and it was in some places somewhat entertaining, but ultimately didn't really say anything meaningful. It was an attempt bI wanted to like this book, and it was in some places somewhat entertaining, but ultimately didn't really say anything meaningful. It was an attempt by (famous, fatwa-of-death) author Rushdie to write a feminist novel, and was set in a fantasy version of India, but none of the motivations or desires of the characters were particularly plausible or internally consistent, and the progression of technically-important but in reality not very significant characters got tedious (sort of like X begat Y in the Book of Matthew, or random low-quality history books about royal families). There were a few elements (the seeds, the forest, the interaction with outsiders) which seemed like they could be interesting but were kind of underdeveloped....more
A famous atheist's defense of his views. I find some of Russell's writing interesting, but generally disagree with most of his moral or political arguA famous atheist's defense of his views. I find some of Russell's writing interesting, but generally disagree with most of his moral or political arguments, and a lot of his other (mathematical, intellectual) writing is ... not in the style or format I'd want, even if the underlying argument is ok (it's really very late 1800s/early 1900s English in style). Despite being largely an "I don't really care"-ist (I guess deist/agnostic?) about religion, I find some writing by some religious people interesting, and some atheists, but really none of this was particularly compelling, although it was (especially for Russell) clearly presented. I do like his advocacy of science; I just don't really buy his arguments about religion either way....more
The Civil War was (by a huge margin) the most destructive conflict for the US that it's ever fought -- approximately as many men were killed and injurThe Civil War was (by a huge margin) the most destructive conflict for the US that it's ever fought -- approximately as many men were killed and injured as in all other conflicts combined. The simple second grade answer for "why did the Civil War happen" is "slavery", but the reality is more complex (even though slavery was a major, and probably the major, factor) -- the main takeaway from this book is that all of those details and twists were there from before the Revolution, and that at every point in time, the issue was "complex", which is why it wasn't resolved (until the biggest war in US history, and even then, not in a universally positive way).
Before this book I was broadly familiar with the 3/5 compromise in the Constitution and the issues with new territories/states, John Brown, and the rise of the Republican party/1860 election. The things which were mostly new to me, and not as particularly covered elsewhere, is the degree to which the Abolitionists were basically crazy (on top of being right about slavery as an issue), the previous rumblings toward secession by Northern states over trade closure with England and Europe during the early 1800s (which were to some degree tied to cotton production in the South), and the degree of fear of a race war/slave uprising among the Southerners (not just John Brown/Harpers Ferry, but other incidents before and after, made this not unreasonable, if still probably not correct).
The biggest new details for me (and I think most explored in the book) were the relevance of the Haitian revolution, Jefferson's involvement before and after, negotiation with Napoleon, and the links to the Louisiana Purchase. Obviously I had read about the Haitian slave revolt, multiple Haitian leaders with different degrees of violence, and the French response in the abstract/specific to Haiti, but that it was relatively closely tied to US politics was entirely new to me.
Overall, this is a very good book, although a bit overloaded with detail in certain places and hard to follow. It mostly raises as many (or more) questions than it answers, and leads to a somewhat more nuanced understanding of the Civil War than "Slavery" or "State's Rights". (I still don't see how, other than never having imported slaves or removing them from the colonies within the 1600s, a major conflict could have been avoided. A compensated emancipation (which was done in some other countries) would have been less violent, and perhaps could have been made to work through some complex apportioning of debt, but "the South pays for it entirely" or "the Union pays for it apportioned evenly by population or per State" likely would have led to conflict as well. The (novel to me, and not widely known, ascribed to Madison) theory of trying to spread slavery around to new territories and thus make it diffuse and easier to support eventual emancipation without concentrated geographic costs seems...unworkable, as well as immoral and politically non-viable. Even the India cotton boom as a way to reduce the value of Southern cotton probably doesn't resolve the issue....more
Nice short description of one of my favorite fiction author's most formative environment -- France. While he spent more time in Key West (I love his hNice short description of one of my favorite fiction author's most formative environment -- France. While he spent more time in Key West (I love his house there...especially the cats) and Cuba, and is from the Midwest, he spent ~5 years in France, and the experiences in France, described here, massively influenced most of his writing. 1920s Paris must have been a truly amazing place, the artistic equivalent of 1998-2000 San Francisco for tech or 1943-1945 Los Alamos for physics.
I somehow didn't know much about Hemingway's WW2 exploits -- he's much more known for the Spanish Civil War, but apparently blurred the lines between journalist and quasi-combatant during WW2, sort of liaison between resistance and US forces with some OSS authorization after the fact); will read more....more
This is a good (and short) book around motivation to do creative tasks (primarily), particularly writing (the author is a novelist and screenwriter). This is a good (and short) book around motivation to do creative tasks (primarily), particularly writing (the author is a novelist and screenwriter). Concrete, effective advice presented clearly.
What's interesting to me is he wrote this approximately at the same time (2011) as finishing the last novel he wrote before a 10 year gap (and I didn't actually know about the 2020, 2021 novels -- will read those)....more
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