By: Adrian Tchaikovsky | Rating: 3/5 A little frustrating to read, as seems to be the standard for this series. I liked the lost colony idea, but the presentation is very fragmented. I guess that's on purpose, but it doesn't work for me. I wont be getting part 4 of the series, I'm done.
Alexander's high tech laboratory still needed something on the roof. This James Webb Telescope seems to do the job just fine.
By: Diederik Baazil | Rating: 1/5 The book describes the political headwinds the Dutch company ASML found itself in, after people found out what the strategic importance of their products was. It is however a very light book. It glances over ASML's history, jumps back and forth in the timeline, and it keeps repeating itself. The authors love to talk about how amazing their own research work was,…
By: Bob de Graaff | Rating: 4/5 Yes, the Netherlands had its own CIA. Spies and everything. But with about 1% of the necessary budget, and you get a typically Dutch version of it. Always underfunded, more lucky than competent, the IDB was never going to be a great success. This book gives a fascinating insight into the service, it's reason for being and ultimate demise.
On this day eight years ago, apparently I was enjoying a holiday in Ireland. This looks like somewhere in the Dingle harbour area.
You know those days? This is one of those. A full day prompt training. Probably nothing about sql queries or basic logic.
My airsoft team decided to get a logo patch.
By: Cory Doctorow | Rating: 5/5 Cory has the amazing ability to say things in a way they completely resonate. His view on the current hype cycle and how it links to the thinking patterns of Big tech managers make a lot of sense. If only more decision makers could see beyond “oh, look, shiny” and dig a little deeper, or at the very least read this book (I've already shoved it down my manager's…
By: Louis A. DiMarco | Rating: 2/5 Two chapters are relevant, but incredibly thin on theory. The rest is a fairly well written overview of a number of urban operations scenarios, clearly chosen to stress the authors' point, whatever it may be. The whole thing has a sizable US slant. So yes. We have more cities, so wars might happen in places that require fighting in urban terrain. Also, water is…
By: Martijn Kitzen, Tim Sweijs | Rating: 1/5 Sadly disappointing. Authors spend a lot of time vaguely skimming over the changing patterns of war and then vaguely make a point of that we don't know what the next war is going to be. Sad. Avoid.
By: Adrian Tchaikovsky | Rating: 2/5 Where the first part was breathtaking in its scope and scale, this one feels almost claustrophobic. It took me a lot of energy to finish. It seems a rehash of the most uninteresting sections of the first book. I hope number three is better as this one is making me consider abandoning the series.
By: Dimko Zhluktenko | Rating: 3/5 His personal tale of what he did when the Russians invaded. Very inspiring, sadly a bit short. It also cuts off before he actually joins the military. Dimko does give a great overview of the operation and reasoning behind his amazing charity. The signed edition was quite expensive, but well worth it as all proceeds go directly towards buying gear for the…
By: Rem Korteweg | Rating: 3/5 I remember the whole Brexit debacle vividly. So I'm sad to read that sadly, there was no 4d chess going on, but the overflowing piles of hubris, stupidity, lack of strategic foresight and absolute populist nonsense was exactly as we experienced it. The author makes a good effort of chronicling 10 years of Brexit, but doesn't give any new insights.
By: Alexei Navalny | Rating: 5/5 This is a very heavy book. Navalny was never going to save Russia from itself. A system built over hundreds of years, you can't take on by yourself in this manner. But at least he tried. The book is written in a very cheerful manner, which is doubly sad as you see him go down the hole that is the Russian penal system, towards his inevitable end.
By: Artem Chapeye | Rating: 5/5 A very thoughtful book. The perspective of the philosopher at war, and the choices he needed to make is incredibly valuable. His writing hits very close to home, as he brings up scenarios and choices that led him to volunteer for the Ukrainian army. Highly recommended reading for realists and pacifists alike.
By: Adrian Tchaikovsky | Rating: 4/5 Old-fashioned insanely long timelines, space travel, genetic drift, and all the fun bits that make this genre so entertaining.
By: Mungo Melvin | Rating: 3/5 A thick biography written not by the general himself. The author does a critical comparison of factss and views from Manstein's own writing. This makes it an interesting psycho-historical document, as it gives a fascinating insight into why the generals in Germany did what they did. And it isn't pretty. Almost autistic belief in that Orders Must Be Followed, which…
Over the decades, I've been a fairly loyal customer of my hosting providers. But sometimes something happens that requires me to move.
Finally got some proper nametags for airsoft. Will look smashing on my camo.
By: Martha Wells | Rating: 5/5 Again, better than the previous book. A lovely conclusion to the series. One of the things the author does really well is the emotional dissonance between Murderbot and the humans. And of course the baseline of all the stuff that needs to be hacked along the way.
By: Martha Wells | Rating: 5/5 They seem to be getting better. The story is very immersive. I keep complaining about how short these novellas are, however the author packs an unbelievable amount of detail into such a small package.
By: Martha Wells | Rating: 4/5 Again, very short. But lots of fun. And who doesn't love an enormous transport meddling with whatever you're trying to do.
By: Martha Wells | Rating: 4/5 I was sick and watched the series. I loved the main character. But as we all know, the book is always better. So I read the book. It is indeed much better. But desperately short. I love that the book is much more no-nonsense, doesn't feel the need to explain every single thing and goes forward in a much brisker pace than the series. So I will definitely read all the…
By: Thera Coppens | Rating: 2/5 I really wanted to read a biography of the sons of William of Orange, as they are known as very innovative warlords. This book wasn't very good. The author is best known for writing musicals, a format that really doesn't work here. The made up conversations border on silly. Some historical accuracy is there. But you need to hunt for it.
By: Victor Sebestyen | Rating: 4/5 Nevermind the blurb. Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov was a horrible person. Probably on the autistic spectrum too. A man grown up in privilege, spending his mothers money in pursuit of 'the ultimate idea'. He rarely got ideas from experiences, instead everything was gleaned from books, giving him extreme tunnel vision. He came to power in a crazy sequence of events that…
Since I completely reworked this website last year, I have been wondering about how to add some kind of commenting functionality. After a lot of experimenting, I decided it was going to be Mastodon integration.
By: Buddy Levy | Rating: 5/5 So how did a ruthless adventurer conquer the Aztecs? By being a ruthless opportunist who cleverly played various tribes against eachother. This he did masterfully. The he got superlucky because his soldiers introduced smallpocks to the continent, wiping out a third of their opponents. The author manages to write a very lively account that paints a realistic picture of…
I love the idea of Lora devices. And that they are cheap. Now I know why the Lilygo T-deck is cheap. It broke after 3 days. Power coupling on the board overheats. And in the bin it goes.
This year I read 27 books covering a total of 9.237 pages.. Well, as far as the administration goes anyway. I'm missing a few months where my book application didn't exist yet.
I created a more upscale version of my office in Lego. Fun little project to see how much details you can put in a small diorama.