Theology, fantasy and science fiction, science, history, classics, general bibliophile
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All they needed to break the world was a door, and someone to open it.
Camford, 1920. Gilded and glittering, …
Contains:
[1]: openlibrary.org/works/OL15331214W/The_Fellowship_of_the_Ring [2]: openlibrary.org/works/OL262757W/The_Two_Towers [3]: …
Contains:
Read aloud to my wife.
Earth is not well. The promise of starting life anew somewhere far, far away - …
A very complete but non-technical survey of the numerous obstacles to the settlement of space, in particular the moon and Mars. The authors consider not just the physics and biology, but also the economics, legal, and political aspects, and they counsel patience while research - much research - is done before making any serious commitments to space colonies.
If you ask, she must answer. A steerswoman's knowledge is shared with any who request it; no steerswoman may refuse …
As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West …
Sweet queer romance fantasy; in that respect rather like House in the Cerulean Sea but otherwise a very different style.
In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic …
Somewhere Beyond the Sea is the hugely anticipated sequel to TJ Klune’s The House in …
While I very much enjoyed the book, nearly as much as I did the first, I felt that the dialog was excessively moralistic and heavy-handed. It's not at all that I disagree with it, but Klune's point was beyond possible to miss. That said, it was a gripping story and a lovely romance and if his didacticism changes even one person's mind I will will entirely forgive him.
They say there is no water in the City of Lies. They say there are …
Grim and violent and intense but satisfying novela, with a bit of a folk tale vibe.
Fascinating account of the Independent Charismatic movement in Christianity and its significance for modern American politics.
Fun, fast-paced, engaging spy and cryptography history story.
Honestly surprised at the consistently high quality of these stories! Be aware that "Nine Stops" includes animal abuse, so consider skipping it; another has a CW which I skipped as a result.
From two of TIME's 100 Most Influential People in AI, what you need to know …
Fascinating non-technical study of AI, concentrating on three types: predictive, generative, and content moderation, going into details on current strengths (if any: predictive is very bad at it) and future prospects for them; there's also a section on Artificial General Intelligence. My only two criticisms are that although it addresses exploitation of workers in the Third World for the process of adding training materials, I think it underplays current inequalities caused by AI; and it does not mention at all the excessive use of water and power for the data centers AI uses. To be fair, the book may have been completed before the drastic resource needs were known, but it's unfortunate that the matter is absent, although perhaps a revised paperback version might include it. An errata note: figure 1.2 (p.29) lacks am application referred to on p.33, and the identification key to the images in figure 5.1 are …
Fascinating non-technical study of AI, concentrating on three types: predictive, generative, and content moderation, going into details on current strengths (if any: predictive is very bad at it) and future prospects for them; there's also a section on Artificial General Intelligence. My only two criticisms are that although it addresses exploitation of workers in the Third World for the process of adding training materials, I think it underplays current inequalities caused by AI; and it does not mention at all the excessive use of water and power for the data centers AI uses. To be fair, the book may have been completed before the drastic resource needs were known, but it's unfortunate that the matter is absent, although perhaps a revised paperback version might include it. An errata note: figure 1.2 (p.29) lacks am application referred to on p.33, and the identification key to the images in figure 5.1 are shuffled.
A must-read for Maid completists who've read the first two books but I'm not sure if recommend it on its own merits. Sweet and romantic, though, if you don't mind a conclusion obvious from close to the beginning.
