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It’s been a while hasn’t it? I’ve read some books. Under The Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami is a superb exercise in piecing together seeming disparate short stories into a grand post-post-apocalyptic sci fi experience. This was the first Big Green Bookshop book club book of the year. I’ve fallen so far behind on these. Grave Expectations by Alice Bell is brilliant.…
I’m way behind on posting. I’ve got two book reviews to go up but I’ve not been motivated to write them. Instead I have spent nearly all my free time think about and playing Music League. Gav mentioned it on Regular Features ep 614 . Beehind Honemy Lines made a league and we were off. The game is simple. Each round has a theme, you submit songs for that theme, everyone listens to…
The Ritual must continue. How did I stack up against my 2025 aims? Health ✅ Reading ✅ Painting ✅✅✅ Guitar ❌ Films ✅ Smashed it mate. What next for 2026? More of the same I think. I start a new fully remote job tomorrow and starting well will be the focus. I’d like to build a better routine around going for daily walks in daylight rather than waiting for the evening.
Xenos by Dan Abnett was a cheeky comfort reread over Christmas. I first read it in the first year of university and it was already old then and now it’s 25 years old. Old enough to have opinions on amasec vintages. Do I recommend it? Hell yes. It’s the way to get into 40K fiction, you could probably just read the Eisenhorn series and leave the rest of the 40K extended universe.…
It’s time for the annual tradition where I write about the music I have enjoyed this year. This time around the links are to Qobuz because if you’ve not hard, Qobuz is having a moment. I kicked off the year attempting a Queen full-listen. I gave it a fair whack but didn’t finish the project. In terms of albums I really enjoyed Queen I and Sheer Heart Attack . My top two tracks…
Two books to report this time. First is Halo: The Flood which is the second book to be published in the Halo Extended Universe. It’s a retelling of the events of Halo and oh boy it is sure a retelling of the events of Halo. This was a real struggle to finish. It’s like a someone in another room describing what’s happening in the game. You can skip this one but I didn’t.
I bought a lot of Halo extended universe books for very cheap. The first in the series is The Fall of Reach which is a prequel to the first Halo game. It’s a fun military sci fi romp and I enjoyed it a lot. Much like Warhammer fiction, all of the interesting stuff happens away from the battlefield. I think I’ve got the first 10 books (in publication order) which may way make the blog…
I finished a couple of books over the summer. Queens of the Abyss: Lost Stories From The Women Of The Weird A lovely collection of sixteen horror stories from women authors from the 19th and early 20th century. There’s a little forward before each story from the editor. Published by the British Library under their Tales of the Weird line. It’s very out of my wheelhouse but I loved it…
If you pre-ordered a hardback about 10 tanks you’re going to love it and that’s exactly what happened with Mark Urban’s latest book. Urban has written a superb whistle stop tour of tank history. I’ve watched documentaries about most of the machines covered but there was still loads more in here for me. He also answers the question “are tanks dead yet?” very…
A cracking book that takes you on the a whistle stop tour of conflict over the last millennium, looking at it through an economic lens. Duncan Weldon explains the economic conflict really well, such that a total novice such as myself can follow with ease. Duncan also gets a few well aimed jabs in at economists. I recommend it but be warned every chapter is going to have to adding new topics to…
Another series where the main guy is called Bob, works in IT, and is thrust into a new sci-fi situation? What are the chances. Turns out like The Laundry Files, I really enjoy the Bobiverse. I’ve had friends recommend this series to me for close to a decade and I don’t know what put me off for so long. The cover and premise probably felt a little too zany? Appealing too much to nerd…
Stafford Beer is a very interesting guy and the and once you learn about the Viable System Model you start to see it (and aspects of it) everywhere. The Unaccountability Machine goes on a lovely long dive into Stafford Beer with the rest on the way the world is broken at the moment. There’s a lot here that aligns with my experience, reading, and general vibes. I enjoy Dan Davies’…
Conclave I’ve seen the film twice and now read the book and all instances have felt oddly cosy and chill. The ramifications of the decision is objectively huge but when you’re in the cloistered space it feels quite small. The film changes a few things but I’m very happy with the adaption. The film trims some of the Papal admin but I’m kinda here for it. The repetition of…
We recently went on holiday to Scotland and I managed to finish three books that have been in progress for a while. Crab and Bee’s Matter of Britain, by Helen Billinghurst and Phil Smith. Not entirely sure what this is. I got it through a Dan Sumption kick starter, which describes it as An anarchic retelling of the folk tales of Albion, by noted artists and mythogeographers Crab & Bee. A banishing…
In what is now a randomly celebrated tradition it’s time to talk about what my current podcast rotation. Regular Features - They’re almost at episode 600 and it still cracks me up all the time. Easily the longest time I’ve been actively following a pod. Their Discord is great too. BudPod - A new entry to the rotation. Phil and Pierre are very funny and have a good vibe. This has…
A tough but ultimately enjoyable read. Marc Morris covers over 600 years of history in about 500 pages. It’s very dense and people’s names refuse to stick in my head, both of which meant I had to do a lot of back tracking when I lost the thread. It pairs nicely with David Mitchell’s book as a deeper dive into those early rulers. Probably not the main thing I should have taken…
I marked my account as dormant and uninstalled the Instagram app on the 20th of Jan. I’ve been thinking about removing myself from the service for ages. I am very weak to the infinite scrolling video format and knowing all the memes. It’s fun in the moment but a total waste of my time. The most reasonable justification to stay was that independent businesses use it a lot, I wanted to…
Man I love learning about submarines. They’re terrifying bits of kit and I couldn’t and wouldn’t get on one. A friend recommended Blind Man’s Bluff and I devoured it in a few days. It’s full of anonymous tales from the USA’s submarine spying programme during The Cold war. I’m pretty sure I’ve watched documentaries about most of the stuff here but I…
Here are some books that I started in 2024, put down for months, and have now “boshed out”. Bosh. Perilous Times This came recommended from a friend describing it as “Immortal Arthurian knights are also spies” which is a great premise to be fair. It’s generally really good but I found the themes of climate collapse & rampant privatisation just a bit too bleak at some…
What can I say? It’s great. This is my first re-read of LotR in quite a while. I think in at least a decade. I have always been nostalgic for the time I spent with my gran reading LotR and that’s only getting stronger. Reading it is like being in a cozy duvet. The prose is verbose, ‘old fashioned’ and a fatherly. I wouldn’t put up with it in a modern book but I will…
The idea of Time Compression in memory really hit this year. It feels like yesterday when I wrote my 2024 post . Work was really busy and full of changes. We lost Iolo. Had some nice breaks. We got Enzo. Lots of stuff but it’s all just flown by in a blur. So how did I do against last years goals? Painting. Didn’t achieve the specific projects listed but I painted loads of models. ✅…
A good follow up to Nuclear War . It’s a bleak read in a subtly different way to Nuclear War. It’s also very long and some might say rambling but I think the tangents about various people’s histories. If you did GCSE history in the 00s it fills in a lot of gaps between and around SALT and START. Unlike Nuclear war I had to put this book down a lot, it really did take a month or…
Here we go again. As usual this the highlights of the music I’ve enjoyed this year, not just music release in 2024. Iron Maiden’s Brave New World has been on heavy rotation. It came out in 2000 which means, to my shame, I’ve never really listened to it properly when I started listening to Maiden with A Matter of Life and Death. Wall to wall bangers. My top track is Dream of…
Killing Thatcher by Rory Carroll came recommended from at least two podcasters/comedians (Christopher Macarthur-Boyd and Elis James) and it’s superb. Not as un-put-downable as Nuclear War was but I still devoured it. I love a book that tells events in detail. Carroll also has a wonderful turn of phrase, for example describing Scotland as a “Celtic Ho Chi Minh trail”. Carroll…
A friend posted on Twitter that they’d started reading Slow Productivity and just the title piqued my interest. It’s a short book which builds on the idea of Bullshit Jobs, pseudo productivity, and presenteeism by putting forward an idea of a more humane way of working in the current economic system. Newport uses many examples where people (scientists, authors, musicians, etc) were…
I love the meme that men are always thinking about Rome. For a guy who reads non fiction I barely think about Rome. For example it took me far too long to see the obvious inspiration in Arkady Martine’s A Memory Called Empire. I’ve tried to fix this obvious character flaw by reading Mary Beard’s tome SPQR. Now, after finishing it, I think about Rome a lot more. SPQR is incredibly…
You can’t look away from this page turning book which imagines one way a nuclear war could play out. I devoured it in two sittings. This future is so bleak you just can’t look away. My only complaint is with the writing style. I can live with the short punchy sentences, but I can do without the long lists of details that seem to go on and on without adding value. The descriptions of…
This is another one from Book Club at work. It’s 97 short essays/blog posts that cover a wide variety of topics related to The Cloud. It’s really hit and miss. There are really specific articles on the nuances of AWS which contrasted with some quite vague articles. Thankfully the titles are very descriptive. The essays on monitoring and alerting are very solid. I wouldn’t not…
Cat Jarman did a cracking job on this. It’s a superb way to catch up on the modern understanding of who the Vikings were, what they did, and where they ended up. At times it’s quite academic and I liked that. There’s cool stuff about how eating fish affects radiocarbon dating your remains.
I have had a copy of Red Devils since its release in 2022. I took a while to start, and a while to finish. That might normally indicate a lack of quality, but just shows my Book Butterfly nature and distractability. Red Devils by Mark Urban is superb. It follows the founding of the Regiment through to the end of the war (and a little beyond). As I settle into my 30s I am sure you have noticed I…
I finished Space Marine 2 this evening and these are my raw thoughts. Expect SPOILERS I have incredibly fond memories of 2011’s Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. I was just about to move to Sheffield for university. I was weeks away from getting fully back into Warhammer after years away. Space Marine hit at exactly the right time. I kept the purity seal from the collectors edition for a…
Am I an autobiography guy now? I’ve read four in the last two years. My previous thirty odd years had a running total of exactly zero. As a BudPod enjoyer I thought it was only fair to read Phil Wang’s book after raving Pierre’s. It’s a really entertaining read that has very well thought out and explained takes on life. Much like Phil’s stand-up this book talks a lot…
What a vibe!!! You might have noticed I’m on a big nostalgia kick at the moment. Part of that has been finally looking into Warhammer Fantasy. Not the Old World that launched recently but the real Old World published in 2000. So specifically 6th edition. Why? Well from some conversations I’m led to believe it’s a golden era for Warhammer Fantasy. Plus all that Blancheian goodness from that time.…
This was an absolute joy to read. I’ve been watching some of Filmdeg Miniatures interviews with various former Games Workshop employees. After one with Mike McVey I knew I had to pick up a copy of this book. It was published in 1993 so is as old as me but the advice contained within is still as relevant as ever, just like me. It teaches the house style of GW from the early 90s which has an…
I read this as part of a book exchange with my partner. I’ve tried writing about my thoughts and feelings but it’s all been a more verbose way of saying “it’s fine”. It’s fine, I don’t regret my time with it but I won’t be revisiting it. I think the blurb is the perfect way for you to decide if it’s for you.
Skip it. Mark Richards & Neal Ford wrote a much better version called Fundamentals of Software Architecture.
Reader, I did not in fact finish Mark Urban’s book on the paratroopers. Instead I was recommended this book by Pierre Novellie which I devoured almost instantly. Somehow I’d not come across Pierre despite him being exactly my jam and moving in the same circles as other comedians I enjoy. He’s just published this book on his experience with his Autism (ASD). It’s not just…
Mirage came out at the end of last year and I got the vibe that it was fine. I finished it over the weekend and it is indeed fine. Perfectly fine. Given the playable character and at least one other main character, there wasn’t a huge amount possible with the story. It feels like a lot of Horus Heresy books where it’s just filling background lore for some characters who can’t die…
I bought Beyond the Wall by Katja Hoyer entirely because of the cover. Some striking design and photography. It’s the history of the German Democratic Republic. Hoyer goes into what I think is a reasonable level of detail given it’s covering the entire history and ideology of the GDR. That works well for my entry level knowledge of the country. If you have a poke around online there are lots of…
I’ve pre-empted my last few posts with how long it’s been since the previous post. Well it’s been another two months and I’ve not finished much, and yet I am alive. I have been continuing the path of the Retro Oner. I’ve made it through the XFM days and miss Vin a lot. I just finished the Self Assessment Tax Deadline episode in 2022. Hundreds of hours down and yet…
Has it really been a month since I finished a book? Not good form. Not good. I finished the breezy Keith Brymer Jones autobiography yesterday. I knew a little about the star of the Pottery Throwdown but his life before going global was totally new to me. If you’re at all interested in pottery I think this is a must read. I’ve done a little bit of throwing recently and this book makes…
It’s been a while. I’ve been reading but not finishing anything. With the release of Dune Part 2 I picked up Dune again for a rare seconding reading. I finished it on a 4 hour train back from Glasgow. Dune is flawed but I love it. There’s not a lot to say that hasn’t been said over the last 59 years. It’s very prog rock and waistcoat coded. I started Dune Messiah…
I’m a big Kent Beck fan. Big fan of Extreme Programming ideas. Tidy First is his latest book and I wish it was around when I started working on software. Kent details some tidyings (refactorings) and then talks about when to use them. He discusses the tension between delivering changes vs having options for change in the future. There’s a really nice aside on coupling and how it only…
TLDR: skip. This was on a big list of books someone enjoyed last year. There were some bangers on the list as well as this book. I gave it a go and got half way through. It’s a vague intro to Stoicism using the Great man theory, and I never want to hear about Lou Gehrig again. A lot of the Great man examples directly contradict each other which is annoying. If you managed to create a…
2023 was the year I was awoken to Elis James via The Socially Distant Sports Bar podcast. I’m now on my way to become a Retro Oner (listening to all of Elis and John’s podcasts). I have been sharing my Retro Oner journey with a friend and I said “Wouldn’t it be great if John Robins had written a book?”. Turns out Elis and John already wrote a book and it’s good…
I Kickstarted this back in April 2021, it arrived last month and I’ve given it a thorough read but haven’t made anything from it yet. A beautiful hardback with that Games Workshop rulebook smell. Utterly fantastic production values. So many incredible photographs of finished terrain and excellent step-by-step ones too. I’m not sure you can get this any more but I’d…
How did I do on last years goals? Paint more. Smashed it. Painted a lot of stuff I wanted to play with. Boshed out an infinity army and a bunch of 15mm historicals. Play more games with said painted miniatures. Pretty good. I did some Lard events and played with the Sheffield crew. I didn’t make it to the local club. Read more. Smashed it. 20 books which I mostly enjoyed. Non fiction is my…
As always, I’ve listened to a lot of music this year. Some old. Some new. Bang Camaro dropped a new single (and then an album) this year. Bang Camaro dropped a new single in 2023? Bang Camaro? I heard about them back in 2007/08 when Alex or Bryn did an interview on a gaming podcast called Massively Online Gamer (MOG Army forever). I acquired their first album ( Bang Camaro ) right away and…
As I get older more people around me are taking up running. I’d like to understand that, when The Socially Distant Sports Bar podcast recommended Paul Tonkinson’s book on running a marathon I thought I’d give it a spin. It’s autobiographical, covering his decision to push for a sub 3 hour marathon, as well as covering more biographical stuff. He covers the light and the dark of his life and how…
It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen, heard, or read anything by David Mitchell. In my teens I was really into the Mitchell and Webb Sound and Look, and Peep Show. Since then he exited my orbit. That was until I saw an interview where he talked about Unruly. It sounded fun and I was reminded of how much I enjoyed the character he plays, now he’s writing popular history books I think the real…