Eat any good books lately Worf?

[ChiggyvonRichthofen]

I'm reading Redshirts by Scalzi.

[Fixer]

Currently reading Children of Time:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2549 ... en-of-time

A story about Terraforming and Uplifting species gone wrong. An experiment to push forward a colony of monkeys on a terraformed world using a an advanced evolutionary virus is sabotaged, and in the end Spiders and other insect species are uplifted instead.

Which is when the remnants of the human race fleeing a ruined Earth come seeking rumours of a paradise made by the architechs of the last age.

[Admiral X]

Currently on the second volume of Edmund Morris' biography of Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Rex.

My parents gave this to me as a present some time back, because TR is something of a personal hero of mine (I'm sure the avatar didn't give that away at all ). It's interesting to learn about all the things he did politics-wise, and well, just generally about all the things the American Experience documentary on him either only briefly touched on, or even skipped over completely. I guess I didn't realize it was only one volume of a set - I'll have to see about adding the others to my collection.

[Steve]

Volume 1 is The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, which is also good - it covers Roosevelt's life from birth to becoming President.

Volume 3, which I haven't read, is called Colonel Roosevelt and presumably covers his post-Presidential career.

[Rocketboy1313]

I just finished and can heartily recommend "We are Legion (We are Bob)" by Dennis E. Taylor. It is about a guy's mind and memories being used as a template for a space faring AI and his explorations of the universe. It is a story about a smart person given cool resources and going on an interesting adventure(s). I loved it.

I'm reading Redshirts by Scalzi.

I just finished that last month. It is an odd book.

To use music as a metaphor, the first 2/3rd's is a wacky action comedy in a science fiction universe, akin to the opening theme to "Teen Titans" by Puffy Amiyumi. The last 1/3rd takes a dramatic shift into melancholy town and feels like my playlist switched over to "Hello" by Adele.

[Steve]

I'm currently reading Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher Mystery Series, I'm on the second book. I learned about it while watching A(ustralian)BC's adaptation of the books earlier this decade, "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries", on NetFlix. My brother got into the show and I started enjoying it too.

[Fixer]

I just finished and can heartily recommend "We are Legion (We are Bob)" by Dennis E. Taylor. It is about a guy's mind and memories being used as a template for a space faring AI and his explorations of the universe. It is a story about a smart person given cool resources and going on an interesting adventure(s). I loved it.

Thanks for the suggestion. I've been seeing that pop up in my Audible recommendations recently, have picked it up and will give it a listen on the drive home.

Speaking of which I can recommend the Expeditionary Force series. Written by Craig Alanson, narrated by R.C. Bray. Humanity's first contact with an alien species is being bombarded from Orbit with their power and industrial centres blasted into dust and mankind finds themselves at the bottom of a very long pecking order or species and client species in a pan galactic war that's been raging for millennia.

As U.S army Sergeant Joe Bishop discovers, the war is more complicated than they realised and humanity is in more danger than they thought. He comes across mankind's one ace-in-the-hole. A godlike A.I. from an ancient race he nicknames "Skippy", and who's personality could be best described as scatterbrained genius and loveable asshole.

Some nice commentary on the problems of space combat and how that pesky speed of light interferes. Witty dialogue between Joe and Skippy, great voice acting and excellent worldbuilding across the series.

[Admiral X]

Made my way through Arthur C Clarke's Odyssey series again. It's weird, but I'd actually like to see the book version of 2001 adapted to screen somehow. The whole series might make for an interesting set of anime OVAs or something, though it would be kind of hard to pull it off since Clarke adjusted 2010 to follow from the events as depicted in the movie rather than as they happened in the book.

Also, I wonder if it might not have negatively affected my view of Alien: Covenant, given how Clarke tended to emphasize how dangerous space is, and how meticulously missions have to be planned and such.

[ChiggyvonRichthofen]

I'm reading Redshirts by Scalzi.

I just finished that last month. It is an odd book.

To use music as a metaphor, the first 2/3rd's is a wacky action comedy in a science fiction universe, akin to the opening theme to "Teen Titans" by Puffy Amiyumi. The last 1/3rd takes a dramatic shift into melancholy town and feels like my playlist switched over to "Hello" by Adele.

Yeah, I had mixed feelings on it. On the one hand, it was certainly readable and entertaining. On the other hand, I thought parts of it were a little too "cute". Obviously the book was going to be heavy on the meta, but the layers of it started to pile up and feel like a bit much. Maybe I'm just biased, but there was getting to be a few too many winks and nods for my taste. It was funny, but it eventually it did start to feel like a book written by a blogger. Funny stuff that grabs your attention, but I don't know if the narrative held up as well as it might have it the book went through a few more drafts. Overall I still enjoyed it.

Next up for me is the pulitzer prize winner, The Killer Angels. After that it's either Stephen King's It or rereading Dune.

[Rocketboy1313]

Yeah, I had mixed feelings on it. On the one hand, it was certainly reasonable and entertaining. On the other hand, I thought parts of it were a little too "cute". Obviously the book was going to be heavy on the meta, but the layers of it started to pile up and feel like a bit much. Maybe I'm just biased, but there was getting to be a few too many winks and nods for my taste. It was funny, but it eventually it did start to feel like a book written by a blogger. Funny stuff that grabs your attention, but I don't know if the narrative held up as well as it might have it the book went through a few more drafts. Overall I still enjoyed it.

"Redshirts" is not my favorite book by Scalzi. I have read the first two books in "Old Man's War" and I like them much more. Imaginative aliens with cool goals and (much like "Redshirts") a lot of, "my wife is dead" drama. To the point where I would not be surprised if Scalzi had a close female relative die from a stroke.