Aron 2 Blue

These two books follow the same characters, but have completely different plotlines and focus. They are both excellent for different reasons. Reamde  is a thriller. It takes place over a short span of time, only a few weeks, and has computer viruses and Russian crime lords, leading to international terrorists and spies, with gun battles and noble sacrifices. Fall, or Dodge in Hell  still follows Dodge and Zulu Forthrast, but spans a (very long) lifetime, and explores a radical transformation of all of humanity.  I wanted to write a summary of the major plot points and themes of each book since this was my second read of each, so I wouldn't forget as much as I did the first time. Just notes, really. *** Lots and lots of spoilers follow *** Reamde starts with Zulu and Peter getting mixed up with a crime - Peter sells some hacked accounts to XX, and then XX comes back when his computer is infected with the Reamde virus, and the hacked accounts are encrypted and inaccessible....

 Some stuff I've read: Fall, or Dodge in Hell, by Neal Stephenson Reamde, by Neal Stephenson The Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman I got the humble bundle with all the Discworld e-books, so I read these: The Witches series from Discworld by Terry Pratchett First books of Nightwatch series from Discworld Starter Villain by John Scalzi Ash by Malinda Lo, a Cinderella retelling with a Fae male fairy godmother and a lesbian love interest.

I'm convinced  " JavaScript, The Good Parts " is one of the best JavaScript books for JavaScript doubters, especially those coming from a traditional object-oriented language like me. It really addresses whether JavaScript is just a mess (it definitely has messy parts) or whether there is something good in there. I'm convinced that by avoiding some problematic parts of the language, there is a very useful, functional language core that can express some interesting use-patterns. One of the cool concepts emphasized is that JavaScript has object-inheritance, not class-inheritance. There are no classes. Instead, you can inherit from an object. Something that looks like a class is actually just an object that you essentially make copies of and use in a consistent way. One of the implications is there are mixin/inheritance patterns that can't be expressed in Java/C++ that you can do in JavaScript. I haven't gotten my head around when they might be the best way t...

I read the 2nd edition , but it's been updated recently to the 3rd edition by a different author. This is a basic programming book, that tries to be fairly complete in covering all the features and pieces of Javascript. It includes an intro to the DOM and AJAX. It's not a reference like " The Definitive Guide ", but it's still quite easy to find specific information. It's a bit boring, and feels encyclopedic. I was wondering about some of Javascript's quirks and corners, but I didn't get much help or explanation in this book. I'd say "eh, it's ok" for a recommendation. Then I was pointed to  " Javascript, The Good Parts ." Now there's  the book I wanted to read. Review forthcoming...

Build and HTML5 Game , A Developer's Guild with CSS and Javascript, by Karl Bunyan. 2015. On Amazon This book walks through creating a 'bubble shooter' browser game, similar to Puzzle Bobble  or Snood . It uses jQuery and Modernizr script libraries to avoid browser-specific concerns, and Modernizr for loading scripts. The first version uses the DOM to position and animate game elements (bubble), and shows custom animation in jQuery. It discusses which animations are possible in pure CSS3, as well. I found it interesting that the book moves on to a second version, where the game board is completely contained in an HTML5 Canvas, and all animation is handled inside the canvas, using calls that are compatible with the DOM version - so the older version can run on old browsers that don't properly support Canvas. That structure seems useful to think about. I would have liked to see a more complex game, like a platformer or side-scroller, but that would have swelled the...

We listened to the second two books of the Cane Chronicles, from Rick Riordan, about Egyptian gods and their interactions with the Cane family on the drive to Florida for Thanksgiving. They are engrossing and entertaining. Interpreting the different gods in a modern context leads to fun characterizations, like Bast the cat god and Bas, the ugly dwarf who can scare things to death by yelling "boo". Also read the first Outlander book. I've watched the TV show, so there weren't any real surprises, but the comparison was interesting. Overall pretty good. Next: The Martian, by Andy Weir - I like it so far. The summary I heard of "magyver on mars" is pretty accurate - except he's just trying to survive.

Reads like a who-dunnit thriller. It's pretty amazing that Lewis can make derivatives and credit-default swaps engaging and understandable.I found it a really good survey of what got us into the 'great recession'. It's told from the perspective of the people who foresaw the collapse, and bet that it would happen by shorting stocks or buying investments on the other side. Some of them eventually understood that they were enabling the system by providing a market for some of these credit default swaps. Recommended for those who have an interest in this area!

Young-adult fiction where young adults kill each other in a game televised to the oppressed masses. Privation and post-apocalypse. What more could you desire in a SF novel? Not spectacularly deep, but I'm interested in finding out how an oppressive system maintained for 75 years gets challenged in the next book. It's quite violent, with kids killing kids, and I'm mildly surprised that I've not seen it mentioned in the media with our current gun-violence focus. Only 4 posts in 2012 - too bad. I had this sitting in 'drafts' for quite a while. I'm also hooking up to G+, let's see what happens.

Engaging thriller. Unexpected twists for fun. I'm thinking he wanted to comment on terrorism, and also on gold-farming, and ended up bashing them into each other for this novel. That's ok, and made for a gripping read. It's not really scifi, it's more spy novel in the end. Some of the convergence was forced - there were some hard-to-believe chance encounters to drive everyone together at the end. amazon link

Compelling, unexpected. Not a pop-sci book. Personal experiences from the author, adjustments and discussion of how he changed his life. amazon link

Many of the gadgets are real: Festo air penguin , and manta ray . The smartphone was inspired by a DIY Linux phone, says twitter.

Black Hole by Charles Burns Blankets by Craig Thompson I borrowed them and read them (a while back in April). Both worth it.

I read it, it took a while. I found myself annoyed with keeping track of all the analogies. He'd introduce a concept, then say, "This is something I call the Golden Straightjacket" and I'd think What a strange name, why do I need a shorthand for this? And then he'd refer to it several times. There were lots and lots of these, DOScapital 1.0, Electronic Herd, bleck. Here's an amazon review that was annoyed, too. I did find it informative, but I think I'm going to read 'Guns germs and steel' before any more of his later books. PBSwap link . Reminded me that he mentions Enron's management with approval, and found their use of derivatives inevitable. A scattered review. I finished the book ~1 month ago, so I'm forgetting pieces.

subtitle: "Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies" Engaging, somewhat technical, an excellent swipe at the failure of established economic practice to explain what happens during out elections. I think I finally know what public choice economics refers to. Biases of non-economists are central, to quote from PBSwap: they underestimate the wisdom of the market mechanism, distrust foreigners, undervalue the benefits of conserving labor, and pessimistically believe the economy is going from bad to worse.   Distrusting foreigners translates easily into protectionism and tariffs, which hurt. Conserving labor is the tough one, because he means that we should protect an individual in a particular job, but instead allow 'churn', so that people move to the jobs that will be the most productive. So European unions/protection gets a bad grade, there. I learned a lot, which is what I was looking for. PBSwap link .

Interesting book, surprisingly easy to digest. It comes back repeatedly to the cognitive strengths of autistics and autistic-spectrum people. Ordering information is a desired and powerful ability online, where most of us are nowadays. In paperback as The Age of the Infovore . PBSwap link: Create Your Own Economy: The Path to Prosperity in a Disordered World

I read it, generally I liked it. The mystery behind how the three main characters and time-periods relate (and the therefore the wrap up) was not too surprising from a general knowledge of the many-worlds hypothesis of quantum mechanics. Brasyl on Amazon .

I almost labeled it fantasy. If you start this book, please put aside the time so you can finish it rapidly! I took a week break, and felt lost coming back because of the threads of the plot I hadn't held on to. It is a fascinating book, worth the time, and it doesn't quite fit where you expect it. The mystical aspects are stronger here than in his first book (The Shadow of the Wind), and that's a negative in my opinion. My wife and I were both somewhat puzzled and dissatisfied with the epilogue/resolution. I enjoyed the characters, the intrigue, and the twisting plot. Overall, recommended. The Angel's Game at PBSwap .

Engrossing, great airplane read. I really like the few different types of mysteries involved, and how the characters recognized the classic 'locked room' mystery type, while poking at the boundaries. One of several listings at PBSwap .

Math! War. Rarefied intellectuals, often gay men, confronting the first world-war. And trying to solve one of the long-standing mysteries of mathematics: the Riemann hypothesis . I enjoyed the varied characters, many unfamiliar, and the alien feel of the setting, even though it's not that far away or long ago. It did take me a long time to finish, just being interrupted by other things, and shorter books. I'm glad I read it. At PBSwap .

I've finished Beyond Fear by Bruce Schneier. I enjoyed it, mostly, and now I'm writing about it 2 months after finishing. I was surprised at the number of examples he used that I didn't remember, or hadn't heard about to begin with. I read his blog, so most messages are reinforced there. I'm mostly posting to remember when I read it. 6/25/10. :)