For the past 9 years I’ve been using a Garmin watch while swimming. Back then I had a swim-focused watch, now I have a multi-sport watch. Most days the biggest benefits are the fact that I can pre-load a workout (so that I don’t need to print one out or keep my phone nearby (while keeping it safe from water) and the fact that it counts my laps for me. As I wrote 9 years ago, by releasing my brain from keeping track of laps, I can better focus on my technique.

American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza by Peter Reinhart

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As a cookbook this one is fascinating. It will not be a huge surprise to those who have read Reinhart’s other bread books, but the first half of the book is entirely prose. Reinhart takes us on a journey through America to Italy and back as he explores the types of pizzas. This is not just self-indulgence and it doesn’t just help the reader believe that Reinhart knows what he’s talking about. It also serves to educate us on the origins of pizza and to understand that the pizzas we may have grown up eating are not the only way for pizza to be.

The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation by Cory Doctorow

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a good book that I want everyone to read so they understand why the tech is so broken right now. At the same time I think it’s hampered by the very forces it talks about. That is to say, unlike a protagonist from a Doctorow fiction novel, there isn’t any form of civil disobedience offered within the book. Instead, it depends on a bunch of things that will never happen:

The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Year of Sanderson is over (book-wise anyway).

This book is the most Cosmere book of the year. Both Tress of the Emerald Sea and Yumi and the Nightmare Painter were basically standalone stories that happened to have Hoid in them. The ending of Tress is slightly inscrutable if you don’t know The Cosmere, but it mostly work. I’m pretty sure 99% of Yumi works without any knowledge of the Cosmere. This book, on the other hand, is comprehensible without Cosmere knowledge, but a lot of the main character’s thoughts and motivations won’t make any sense.

House of X/Powers of X by Jonathan Hickman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is Hickman at his most Hickman. There are repeated timelines, conspiracies, and a semi-non-linear story that goes out 1000 years from the time of the first book. It’s more sci-fi than a typical X-Men book. It’s also, almost 100% setup. Interestingly, I heard this is just phase 1/3 and Marvel hasn’t even begun phase 2 yet. (COVID and other stuff got in the way, I think)

Compulsory by Martha Wells

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Almost too short, it’s definitely microfiction. Murderbot is still Murderbot, but doesn’t get to shine with such a small word count.

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Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That’ll Improve and/or Ruin Everything by Kelly Weinersmith

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A popular science book about emerging technologies. I’m not sure if it’s because Kelly Weinersmith is actually a scientist, but they do a good job probing potential downsides to each of the technologies. Zach provides cartoons (in the style of his Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal comic) and some humor in the explanations of the technologies.

Battle Ground by Jim Butcher

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

And so it appears we have finished the most recent Arc of the Dresden files. We tied together everything that has come before and just like the previously named book Changes this one changes a whole bunch. We’ve now left the world as it exists to us (the readers) to a new world that’s split off into its own timeline where there was a confrontation with supernatural creatures.

Brief Cases by Jim Butcher

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Overall, these stories are more relevant to the main storyline than the Brief Cases stories were. Definitely recommend reading where it takes place in the timeline.

A Fistful of Warlocks - Lots of fun with wizards in the wild West. Would like to see Butcher do as he says he wants and set more stories in this part of the Dresden timeline.

Peace Talks by Jim Butcher

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a way to end a book. Thank goodness I’m reading this when book 17 is already out. That said, I’m not sure the next book isn’t going to have a cliff-hanger based on what’s supposed to happen in that book.

In these reviews I’ve been talking about overarching plot arcs. This appears to be the penultimate story before the third arch finishes. Afterwards, if Butcher maintains his original plot pace - we’ve got about 3 more books worth of setup leading to a trilogy that is all climax. (Total of 23 books)