Finished reading Gideon the Ninth
book
Rated Game World by Christopher John Farley 10/10
At Persephone Magazine: <a href="http://persephonemagazine.com/2014/03/interview-with-a-middle-grade-reader-book-review-gameworld-by-c-j-farley/">Interview with a Middle-Grade Reader + Book Review: Gameworld by C.J. Farley</a><br>
Finished reading After Dark
Rated The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary 10/10
Rated Gallifrey: Intervention Earth 8/10
Third Romana! What a novelty. This was good. I very much enjoy the Gallifrey series in general, what I've heard so far, and while I'm quite fond of the previous Romana, this version had her own interesting take on things.
Rated Gateway 8/10
Humanity discovers an advanced civilization, which has become extinct, but has left a mysterious Gateway in our solar system. Gateway is a small world which houses many ships capable of taking adventurers on missions to undisclosed locations. The controls are cryptic, but slowly residents of gateways gain a better understanding of how they work. Gateway is controlled by a conspicuously evil transnational corporation, which pays prospectors to take dangerous trips on these ships with the in hopes of discovery. They pay out lucrative bonuses.<br/><br/>The protagonist, an unsympathetic, and cowardly Robinette (aka Bob), comes to gateway to try to strike it rich. He struggles with his own fears of going on missions, and falls in love with Klara. Their dysfunctional relationship, his troubled childhood, and pathological fear is woven deeply into the structure of the book. Chapters alternate between Bob's memories on Gateway and Bob the rich ex-prospector getting therapy sessions from a sentient Robo-psychoanalyst on Earth. Bob's last mission ends in disaster, as he is separated from his beloved as their ships try to escape from a black hole. Bob returns the sole survivor, gets an inordinate amount of money from the corporation, but remains forever unhappy, missing Klara and suffering from immense guilt.<br/><br/>Overall, I liked the book. It was well written and captivating, reminding in some ways of Robert Heinlein, but maybe a bit more dystopian. There were many familiar tropes, such as a very interracial cast with exotic combinations of first and last names, like Dane Metchnikov. Bob's adventures with hot space babes are also I think a hallmark of this style of science fiction. I also enjoyed Pohl's excerpts of Gateway public announcements, mission reports and classifieds littered throughout the book.<br/><br/>
Finished reading Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation
Finished reading The Terraformers
Finished reading Autonomous
The message was good and clear, but the writing was tedious. Like Gladwell books, this one could be compressed to a short pamphlet. I liked the distinction between hedonism and eudaimonia, which was a very ancillary point in the book, but still new to me. I also liked the blue marble finish. But the meat of the book consists of an glorified enumeration of activities related to water.<br/><br/>https://smus.com/books/blue-mind/
Finished reading Binti: The Complete Trilogy