Category: Books

  • Review: Buying Time

    Buying Time by Joe Haldeman My rating: 4 of 5 stars Earlier this year I read The Forever War for the first time after having read Starship Troopers. So when there was a Humble Bundle with a bunch of books I didn’t care about, but which had a book by Joe Haldeman, I jumped on…

  • Review: Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling

    Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling by Meathead Goldwyn My rating: 4 of 5 stars There are literally tons of BBQ cookbooks out there. Why this one? Well, Meathead does something most of them don’t – he backs up his techniques with science. BBQ has existed as long as mankind so a lot…

  • Review: Race for the Iron Throne: Political and Historical Analysis of “A Game of Thrones”

    Race for the Iron Throne: Political and Historical Analysis of “A Game of Thrones” by Steven Attewell My rating: 4 of 5 stars I heard about this book when Steve Attewell appeared on Boars, Gore, and Swords – my favorite Game of Thrones podcast. On that episode he mentioned how both GoT and the books…

  • Review: The Lives of Tao

    The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu My rating: 4 of 5 stars While reading The Lives of Tao I kept having this nagging feeling in my head that there was something familliar aobut this story. Then it hit me, it seems as though Wesley Chu was given the writing prompt, take Scientology and make…

  • Review: Science: Abridged Beyond the Point of Usefulness

    Science: Abridged Beyond the Point of Usefulness by Zach Weinersmith My rating: 4 of 5 stars Weinersmith acknowledges on the last page that he may have ignored notes from PhDs to make a joke work. That said, there’s enough truth in here that every one I’ve shared the section of their degree with has found…

  • Review: The Holy Bible: Abridged Beyond the Point of Usefulness

    The Holy Bible: Abridged Beyond the Point of Usefulness by Zach Weinersmith My rating: 3 of 5 stars This book is like God Is Disappointed in You except each book of the Bible is only 1-2 setences. Like the other book, the humor comes from finding a funny way to express what’s actually in there.…

  • Review: Orbital

    Orbital by Andrew Mayne My rating: 4 of 5 stars Recieved this book in anticipation of a review As I mentioned in my review of the previous book of this Duology, I got this book free and so I went back and bought the first book. Where the first book is a self-aware reconstruction of…

  • Review: Station Breaker

    Station Breaker by Andrew Mayne My rating: 4 of 5 stars Let me start off with the only thing that bothered me. Our protagonist, David Dixon, is so genre savvy that he knows he’s in a thriller novel. Not on a 4th wall breaking sort of way, but I’m his inner monologue he knows all…

  • Review: Wild Cards

    Wild Cards by George R.R. Martin My rating: 4 of 5 stars With anthologies, I *usually* just present the status updates I made while reading, sometimes with some modifications since there are character limits on the updates. However, Wild Cards is a bit different. Like the Machine of Death anthology that Dan gave me, Wild…

  • Review: Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 124

    Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 124 by Neil Clarke My rating: 4 of 5 stars A great issue. As always Neil Clarke selects some pretty amazing stories for this issue. The Ghost Ship Anastasia – It’s the space trope no character is ever wise to – you DO NOT inspect a distress call on a space ship!…

  • Review: Elantris, Part 3 of 3

    Elantris, Part 3 of 3 by Brandon Sanderson My rating: 4 of 5 stars Well, I’m done. That is one heckuva first-time novel for an author. I have a feeling this Sanderson kid is going places. Joking aside, it was a well-done novel that leaves the world open for a slew of books in the…

  • Review: The Hope of Elantris

    The Hope of Elantris by Brandon Sanderson My rating: 2 of 5 stars First of all, I listened to the Graphic Audio version and I don’t know why they switched narrators from the main book. The narrator is fine, but pronounces everything completely differently. Sometimes I didn’t realize the narrator was talking about a character…

  • Review: Infomocracy

    Infomocracy by Malka Ann Older My rating: 4 of 5 stars Infomacracy is depressing to read. It’s fun to read. It’s a good political thriller, particularly if you happen to be an Internet junkie. I’d recommend it to anyone. But it’s depressing. Before we get there, let’s talk about the less depressing stuff. The book…

  • Review: The Camelot Shadow

    The Camelot Shadow by Sean Gibson My rating: 4 of 5 stars I got this book free for a review I never knew I wanted to read a Dan Brown-style thriller that takes place in Victorian England. But one day I became Goodreads friends with Anne Hannah because I love her review style. I especially…

  • Review: Elantris, Part 2 of 3

    Elantris, Part 2 of 3 by Brandon Sanderson My rating: 4 of 5 stars As the middle section of a novel, it was mostly concerned with expanding backstory and a few false starts at the climax. (Intentional false starts….more of a meta note) The three main thesis Sanderson seemed to have for this part of…