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Soh Kam Yung Locked account

sohkamyung@bookwyrm.social

Joined 3 years, 7 months ago

Exploring one universe at a time. Interested in #Nature, #Photography, #NaturePhotography, #Science, #ScienceFiction, #Physics, #Engineering.

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Soh Kam Yung's books

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Richard P. Feynman: The Character of Physical Law (Penguin Press Science) (Paperback, 2004, Penguin Books Ltd) 4 stars

"Richard Feynman is one of, if not the, most famous physicists of the latter half …

Review of "The Character of Physical Law" by Richard Feynman

5 stars

An overview of how we study the physical world that is serious in intent but informal in style. These are transcriptions of a series of lectures given by the famous physicist, and while these talks were written to be experienced rather than read, Feynman's skill and command as a speaker are evident in the presentation of ideas and the conversational feel. Feynman communicates the scientific process with clarity and humility, regularly centering the idea that we don't really know why things are the way they are, just that they are. For all the contempt he seems to have for philosophers, Feynman has a pretty good handle on the philosophy of science himself.

Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone: This Is How You Lose the Time War (Hardcover, 2019, Simon and Schuster) 4 stars

Two time-traveling agents from warring futures, working their way through the past, begin to exchange …

When two adversaries fall in love, winning or losing the time war may no longer be important

3 stars

An interesting story of a two characters on opposite sides of a war fought through time. It begins with Red finding a letter with the words, "Burn before reading," which turns out to be from her adversary, Blue, who teases and challenges her before their next encounter. This time war is fought between two forces, Agency and Garden, who move agents (like Red and Blue) through time to tease and alter events so that, far in the future, victory is theirs.

Each chapter features an event as seen by Red or Blue, in alternate, with a hidden letter discovered by one or the other once victory (or defeat) is tasted by one or the other. But after a few rounds, the tone of the story changes, as both Red and Blue start to talk about their past, and their lives during the war. Then, events happen that show that at …

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Katherine Rundell: The Golden Mole (EBook) 4 stars

The world is more astonishing, more miraculous and more wonderful than our wildest imaginings. In …

A bestiary of impending extinction

5 stars

Kathryn Rundell's wonderful book considers the worlds and perspectives of animals, and does so with a gentle and playful hand. Each chapter takes one creature that exists in our world, and considers how that creature is looked at scientifically, historically and metaphorically. Each is brilliantly and deeply researched, and then edited carefully to be both informative and interesting.

But The Golden Mole is far from a scientific bestiary; instead, it considers story and art on an equal footing with science and history, and for this it is a marvel. It is written beautifully, the words carefully chosen with none wasted. Each chapter concludes with a lament for what would be lost should the extraordinary creature it describes be lost from the world. Then the final chapter uses an old parable to consider all that can be lost, and all that can be saved. With this brilliant stroke of the keyboard, …

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Richard Panek: Pillars of Creation (2024, Little Brown & Company) 4 stars

The James Webb Space Telescope is transforming the universe right before our eyes—and here, for …

A nice book about the JWST and what it has accomplished so far.

4 stars

A short but nice book on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), covering its history from conception to launch and commissioning, followed by chapters that look at how the JWST has changed the way we look at the solar system, the stars, the galaxies in the universe and how the universe began.

Starting as a planned next generation telescope after the Hubble Space Telescope, the first chapters cover the various ideas that were discussed over what astronomers want the new telescope to do. Politics and budget considerations would cause changes in the design and management of the telescope. Finally, after numerous delays and near cancellation, the JWST was launched, deployed successfully and began to return data that was better than expected.

The next chapter looks at JWST's contributions to planetary science. At one point, the JWST was not planned to do much observation in the solar system as it lacked …

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S.E. Porter: Red Leaves (2025, Tor Books) 3 stars

The spirit of a recently deceased young boy helps a group of ghosts seek revenge …

All the spirit of the boy wants is to protect his mother

3 stars

The spirit of a boy wants to protect his mother from the insults of a holier-than-thou minister. At the urging of other spirits, he follows the minister to his home. There, he starts to move objects, causing the minister to scald himself and fall down the steps. As he now looks for ways to return to his mother, a crisis occurs when his mother comes to the minister's house, causing a confrontation that may literally bring the house down.

Pat Murphy: Not Alone (2025, Tor Books) 3 stars

Mel relishes running the “Enchanted Jungle,” a roadside attraction in the Everglades filled with live …

On running a roadside attraction, with an unexpected additional attraction.

3 stars

An old lady runs a roadside attraction in Florida, designed and built by her father. Despite requests for her to give it up by her sister, she still keeps running it, finding it an enchanting place full of memories. On this particular day, an unexpected addition to the attraction may make her want to stay there for even longer.

Barry Hughart: The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox (EBook, 2011, Subterranean Press) 4 stars

Entertaining books about a "China that never was".

5 stars

A wonderful collection of three novels of a "China that never was", featuring the narrator, Number Ten Ox, and Li Kao, an ancient sage and scholar with "a slight flaw in his character". Originally published in the 80s and 90s, this reread still finds the stories enjoyable, humorous and full of wonderful myths and details.

The first book, "Bridge of Birds", is the most enjoyable and introduces us to Number Ten Ox. His village is preparing for a large silk harvest, when disaster strikes. Worse, the children in his village (of a certain age) are struck down with a sickness. Ox is tasked with going to Peking to find a scholar who can figure out what happened and how to cure the children. The person Ox eventually finds is an inebriated Li Kao, which turns out to be the only one willing to listen to Ox and help. From there, …