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A good action story. It had some interesting elements that were pretty original. I really liked the protagonist and the plot was interesting. The details were believable. The one thing that I didn’t like was the politics that were clumsily shoehorned in. It was like the novel was written, and then someone said, this is great, but make it Trumpy. They aren’t a big deal, it wasn’t a big part of the book and didn’t happen much. Still worth reading.

I just finished listening to Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time. It was astonishing. It made me want to understand the universe in a way that no book has in the past. I actually feel like I have a grasp on what quantum physics is, when in the past I have always felt like it was a murky pool of unknowns. I can't recommend it enough, if there are any of you that didn't beat me to it. #physics #hawking #book #review #audiobook

I really enjoyed this one. I really like military memoirs, but many of them either over-romanticize, or they tend to preach. My least favorite of these was Lone Survivor by Marcus Lutrell. Chris Kyle's American Sniper was similarly plagued. In The Operator, Robert O'Neill actually sounds like a real person. He did not preach and he did not romanticize. This is probably tied for my favorite military memoir with Inside Delta Force by Eric Haney.

This book is beautifully written. I reads like a wistful memoir for the life of a machine. The story is of the creation of Project Eagle in the Late 70's/Early 80's at Data General. If you are interested in computers, their history, or how they were dreamed up and made, this is essential reading. I loved reading about the creation of a computer during the age when people thought that they were going to be the impetus of revolution. This is really a love letter for the wild-west age of computing.

I loved this book. It introduced me to hackerism and opensource ethics. I read it years ago, and re-read it this year. It made me want to hack something. It explores the romance of late nights, bathed in the cold glow of monitor, surrounded by the clacking of keyboards.

I’ve got really mixed feelings about this book. There were moments that it was exactly what I wanted it to be, but then there were long stretches where it got into details about unnecessary things. Though later those things turned out to be important. So I guess the problem was that the foreshadowing was too subtle? I really liked the universe and the characters were memorable and well developed. I would recommend it with the caveat that it’s more of a mystery than an adventure.

It was interesting and applicable. Occasionally it got bogged down, but it was mostly applicable.

Throne of Glass was a fun read. It was not particularly thought provoking, the characters were not particularly compelling, and the plot was not particularly inventive. It was still fun though. I enjoyed every page. There was not a point where it bogged down in nonsense as there so often is in a book that is trying to set up a large series. It kept up its pace, and kept my attention and for that I have to commend it. I liked the characters by the end of it. The two primary male characters were sort of two dimensional until about 3/4 of the way through the book, but they came into their own by the end. I would recommend it as what my wife calls "popcorn reading." Fun, but not nourishing.

A fantastic bio. I learned a ton about Hamilton and it was a pleasure. Chernow knows how to present interesting information while also entertaining. Hamilton was a much more complex person than I knew.