The last chapter, "John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner", is the best one. Don't stop reading after the first two mediocre stories.
Reviews and Comments
Software PM, bridge teacher, board game geek. Interested in stock markets and rational thinking.
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Maxim reviewed The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
For sixty years, Jews have prospered in the Federal District of Sitka, a "temporary" safe …
Decent writing but horribly tedious plot
2 stars
The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories, published in October 2006, is a collection …
Not bad
3 stars
Maxim reviewed Reamde by Neal Stephenson
Reamde is a speculative fiction novel by Neal Stephenson, published in 2011. The story, set …
Unexpected
3 stars
Expectations: a thoughtful, magnificent mind-blowing world similar to those in "Snowcrash", "The Diamond age", "Cryptonomicon", or "Anathem".
Reality: a scenario for a Guy Ritchie criminal action movie. Russian mafia, Chinese hackers, and a manhunting puma assaulting islamic terrorists.
Reamde is still a fine piece of prose, just don't expect Platonic philosophy in this one.
Controversial
3 stars
Lots and lots of murky water. Should have asked chatgpt for a brief instead.
After filtering out murky waters, the remainder is a few good points, and a few questionable ones. Thinking of economic downturns as an ultimate evil to be eliminated is... dubious.
Maxim reviewed A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge (Zones of Thought, #1)
Thousands of years in the future, humanity is no longer alone in a universe where …
Captivating and thought-provoking
5 stars
It is way deeper than just a "space opera". Just to say Vernor Vinge offers a brand new explanation of the Fermi paradox. Few sci-fi writers can boast that.
Maxim rated A Fire Upon The Deep: 5 stars
A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge (Zones of Thought, #1)
Thousands of years in the future, humanity is no longer alone in a universe where a mind's potential is determined …
Maxim reviewed L o L: It's Loser - on - Loser by James Marsh Sternberg
Boring but useful
4 stars
132 problems on the very same topic. It is a monotonous grind but if you make it to the end you can be sure you've got the 'loser-on-loser' idea.
Maxim rated Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town: 3 stars
Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town by Stephen Leacock
Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town is a sequence of stories by Stephen Leacock, first published in 1912. It is …
Maxim reviewed Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
E-Book Extras: ONE: The Keys to Chalion: A Dictionary of People, Places, and Things; TWO: …
Disappointing
2 stars
Writing is fine, characters are vivid but the plot is mediocre at best. The idea of people trying to subdue demons to gain power is hardly worth the Hugo+Nebula combo.
Maxim reviewed Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game, #1)
Andrew "Ender" Wiggin thinks he is playing computer simulated war games; he is, in fact, …
Should have read it when I was 10, not 40
3 stars
Started reading it because it was top-rated by several friends. It is an excellent young adult novel but for a middle-aged person it feels like "yet another child's heroic path to victory".
Mortality is the closest to immortality when it accepts a challenge to itself
5 stars
A masterful blend of science fiction and poetic prose, pondering over the thin line between humanity and divinity. Definitely recommend it to anyone interested in philosophical sci-fi, and a must-read if you like Lord of Light.
Thanks @jonn for digging out this little-known treasure.
Maxim rated Spotlight on Card Play: 3 stars
Maxim rated Card Play Technique: 5 stars
Maxim reviewed Collapse by Jared Diamond
"In his Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond examined how and why …
Much worse than Guns, Germs, and Steel
3 stars
A good set of evidence but weak, narrow-minded conclusions.