I got sucked into a Web Serial called 'Worm' about super heroes. It's very good. Great characterization, plot, pacing and action throughout. The main character is a teenaged girl that gets the abilities to control bugs. When you first start reading it, it seems like a Young Adult novel due to the age of the main character but it is absolutely not. Some very graphic and serious stuff happens throughout the series. It's 1.7 million words, and to put it in context, the Harry Potter series was 1.3 million and the Game of Thrones (asoiaf) series by George Martin is currently at about 1.7 million. Highly recommended. Best of all, it's FREE and you can read it on your PC, phone or tablet. Link
Hey, how did that ever work out for you? If you liked that one, the same weird author has an Apollo book coming out this coming spring (50th anniversary of moon landing). So, I'm reading: Hilarious, well-written, creative. Great sense of dialogue and timing. At least it's of to a great start. Before that, as I've mentioned in other threads, I really loved Philip Roth's The Plot Against America, an alternative history circa 1940 where we don't enter the war.
I dug it! Been meaning to tell you. Was great for a non-physics guy and the history aspect (the time period and how it affected him) was really interesting. I like space stuff too, so keep me/us posted on the next one. I'm working on a borrowed McMurtry right now (Moving On) after just finishing Wolf Hall, so that Gregory book sounds like the kind of book I'll be looking for next.
@B-Bob Just heard an interview with the author, Theoretic Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder, of Lost In Math, which just came out. Book's getting press in Nature, Forbes, WSJ. "Lost in Math is self-aware and dosed with acerbic wit, and it asks bold questions."―Nature Do you have any review of it? I love History of Science stuff, and believe her when she says the search for Math elegance in Physics could actually harm finding the truth. Might buy it. But concerned she might be a wee bit jaded on the subject of what gets funded.
Just watched ready player one over the weekend, haven't read the book yet. I seem to recall my conclusion after reading Rich dad, Poor Dad was go look for undervalued real estate, fix it up, an resell it. Or more generally speaking, find a way to make your money work for you. Just finished reading Jim Butcher's Brief Cases. Good for fans of Dresden, helps flesh out the universe with short stories, with a few from the POV of other characters. The last story was pretty neat with a Rashomon style same story, but from 3 points of view. Unfortunately doesn't help further the main storyline along, but still an entertaining read nonetheless.
Thx, have not read it yet! Agree w her completely that obsession with mathematical elegance could divert from the truth. But then... that's what people were saying about Einstein for many years.
Bumping musty old thread. For space and space-history interested, I can recommend this new book, The Apollo Chronicles, and it has an excerpt available today. Excerpt: How a Nazi 'vengeance weapon' kick-started the US rocket program. Lots of Apollo books out just now, but few of them are from actual scientists or engineers, FWIW.
Awesome hard sci-fi trilogy from a Chinese author: Earths Remembrance Book 1: Three body problem This series spans billions of years and is an awesome read. A major gripe would be that the characters are treated as vessels for ideas and themes, not very personable characters. Also this was translated from Mandarin to English, somethings don't flow well. However, the ideas presented in this book are amazing.
This is a GREAT series and also, as you said, from a Chinese author. It's fascinating to juxtapose my own western author reading experience to the genre as written by a person from China. Your issue with the characters just being plot points is pretty prevalent in hardcore sci-fi. ******************** I just finished The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. It's the first book in a 10-book epic. I love how this guy worldbuilds- the world he's created is ravaged by Cat 5 storms on a regular basis and all wildlife has evolved to live through it, with plants all being able to retract into little shells and most of the livestock is giant crustaceans. Good book, most of it is in a giant battleground with plenty of action.
I thought the point of view from a Chinese author was fascinating. I didn't realize the Cultural Revolution was really that brutal. I just finished reading the last book a few weeks ago and I'm still thinking about all the ideas it presented which were woven together with great story telling. Unfortunately the character development does resemble a hard sci fi but it wasn't off putting to me. Wow, really well reviewed. I'll give this a read next. I got a recommendation: Hopefully the trilogy get's finished but I think the book's are worth it. Plot is hard to describe but to put it concisely... Two sisters are essentially slaves harvesting the most valuable resource in the known universe that is run by a brutal regime. They both have abilities needed to take down the "evil empire" but go on a separate paths in their journey. I really like this author as she creates great characters with great world building. It was hard to get into initially since it throws you right in and makes you figure out the world they live in. Worth it though.
There's a lot of buzz about this seminal work that looks behind the scenes of the Apollo program. We grabbed everyone we could get our hands on in Germany as the war ended, along with their designs and equipment, from soup to nuts. It was a race with the Russians, something many might think began with Sputnik, but actually began at the end of the war. I know I'm going to get a copy.
