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Review: A Man On the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts
A Man On the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts by Andrew Chaikin My rating: 4 of 5 stars The book that was used by Ron Howard, et al to make the Apollo 13 movie! I got this book as part of a space-themed Humble Audiobook Bundle. As I was choosing the next audiobook…
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Review: Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 133
Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 133 by Neil Clarke My rating: 4 of 5 stars As usual, the per-story reviews are below this section. But first, a ranking of said stories. The stories I REALLY liked: The Sum of Her Expectations, The Last Boast-Builder in Ballyvoloon, Intro to Prom, Shiomah’s LandGreat: Red Lights, And RainGood: The Psychology…
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A Tip for Reading Manga on the Kobo Clara HD
Recently I got a bunch of manga through a Humble Bundle sale. Having read “authentic” style manga before, the Kobo Clara HD seemed to be about the right size to read manga without having to do any zooming. So, naturally I uploaded the .epub for the Kobo. It was HORRIBLE. It cut off part of…
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Review: Soleil (The Illumination Paradox, #3)
Soleil by Jacqueline Garlick My rating: 1 of 5 stars It is a real bummer for me to give this book 1 star. I really enjoyed the first book in the trilogy. The second book was fun. But this book… kind of just felt like perhaps this series should have been a duology instead of…
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Review: Serious Python: Black-Belt Advice on Deployment, Scalability, Testing, and More
Serious Python: Black-Belt Advice on Deployment, Scalability, Testing, and More by Julien Danjou My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is an AWESOME book that has completely transformed the way I code in Python. That might sound like the opening to a parody review, but I’m being sincere. One of the best things about Python…
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Review: Over the Wine-Dark Sea (Hellenic Traders, #1)
Over the Wine-Dark Sea by H.N. Turteltaub My rating: 3 of 5 stars This is the second time I’ve read this book, the first time being nearly 20 years ago when it first came out. A few key bits had stuck with me, like Menedemos’ womanizing and a battle at sea. But after 20 years,…
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Review: Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 134
Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 134 by Neil Clarke My rating: 3 of 5 stars I wasn’t quite into this one as much as some other recent issues. Here are my reviews per story: Prasetyo Plastics – Less of a traditional story and more of a meditation on unbridled capitalism that does not descend into a libertarian…
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Review: Starswept (Starswept, #1)
Starswept by Mary Fan My rating: 4 of 5 stars I met Ms. Fan at Farpoint 2019 at her booth after seeing some of the panels she was on. We started talking about her books and I was intrigued and put this book and Stronger Than a Bronze Dragon on my To Read list. I…
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Review: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’ve been really improving my cooking by leaps and bounds thanks to America’s Test Kitchen’s books. They make sure recipes are perfect (or as near as can be) in terms of directions, ingredients, etc. They have…
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Review: A Man On the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts
A Man On the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts by Andrew Chaikin My rating: 4 of 5 stars The book that was used by Ron Howard, et al to make the Apollo 13 movie! I got this book as part of a space-themed Humble Audiobook Bundle. As I was choosing the next audiobook…
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Review: Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 133
Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 133 by Neil Clarke My rating: 4 of 5 stars As usual, the per-story reviews are below this section. But first, a ranking of said stories. The stories I REALLY liked: The Sum of Her Expectations, The Last Boast-Builder in Ballyvoloon, Intro to Prom, Shiomah’s Land Great: Red Lights, And Rain Good:…
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Getting rid of some old Java textbooks
I had been hanging on to these books in case I ever found myself wanting to do some Java programming. But as I’ve come to learn (mostly because of Python, but also through following the Perl 6 saga), languages change and evolve and so a couple books from nearly 20 years ago probably won’t be…
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2019 in Books
While I continued to read lots of cookbooks in 2019, this was the year of Sequels, Sanderson, and Science Fiction Magazines. On the sequels front, I finished The Cosmere (except for White Sands Vol 3), continued The Expanse, The Asylum Tales, Red Rising, The Dresden Files, The Mogoliad, Wild Cards, and the Illumination Paradox. For…
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Review: Steelheart (The Reckoners, #1)
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson My rating: 5 of 5 stars Can Sanderson write a great non-Cosmere book? The answer is a resounding ‘yes!’ I’ve read quite a few superhero decontructions and reconstructions (most famous being Watchmen and Irredeemable), but Sanderson brings something new to the genre, partially by focusing on the folks affected by gods…
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Review: Breakfast: The Most Important Book About the Best Meal of the Day
Breakfast: The Most Important Book About the Best Meal of the Day by The Editors of Extra Crispy My rating: 2 of 5 stars Received this as a gift. I guess I’m spoiled by Milk Street, Meathead Goldwyn, and America’s Test Kitchen, but reading a collection of blog posts put into a book with a…