Rated De geschiedenis van de vooruitgang 6/10
I stumbled upon Bregman’s writing through Humankind, which I really liked for its optimistic view of history and then-current affairs.<br/><br/>I like the topic this book explores, and the examples of progress through the ages help put things into perspective. Bregman also spends a lot of time comparing the opinions of other writers, which is not my favorite style.
Wants to read Enough: Climbing Toward a True Self on Mount Everest
Rated Equal Rites 8/10
An early Discworld novel where Pratchett is still finding his voice. The jokes are less frequent and often simpler than in later books - funny for sure, but more predictable than what I'm used to from his later works.<br/><br/>This was also my first Discworld audiobook narrated by Indira Varma. It took a while to get used to her narration after Stephen Briggs, though by the end I was recognizing the character voices more easily.<br/><br/>Full review: https://puf.io/books/equal-rites---terry-pratchett/
Rated Armageddon 8/10
This book still delivers as a page-turner, but it’s where the series starts to feel overly convoluted, with characters becoming too powerful. That said, the plot developments that *do* happen are satisfying - especially Alex and Dom's arcs. One more book to go!<br/><br/>Full review: https://puf.io/books/armageddon---travis-bagwell/
Rated Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It 8/10
The book explains how four decades of ignoring monopolies resulted in a few horribly broken two-sided marketplaces, and how the incredibly broken copyright law (DMCA section 1201) that has been rolled out across most of the world has made it really hard for us to fix it. Yeah... all pretty depressing, although Cory gives plenty of concrete examples to allow you to channel your anger at the situation at specific players. I guess there's a reason the poop emoji on the cover is swearing. 💩🤬<br/><br/>The last part of the book takes a more optimistic look at what we individually and (mostly) as a society can do to claim back control of our digital and physical commons. It turns out that the small, often quite local, victories in right-to-repair can be replicated in other places and domains, and that this adds up.
Rated Inferno 8/10
I loved the build-up of the Tarot trilogy and found myself caught in this final book of Finn's story arc as much as in the first two installments. After defeating the demon king, Finn becomes the new ruler, and... well ok, maybe things don't end happily ever after, because there's still a game to be played.<br/><br/>I had somewhat hoped for a less shallow conclusion - either something either where Finn discovered he didn't need to 'revive' his late wife as he'd discovered his purpose in helping and collaborating with others around him, or maybe how (since his wife had been the initial model for what became the game's AI) he found enough of her in the game to bring closure to his longing. The simpler, more direct ending is satisfactory, but doesn't bring it to 5 star territory.
Rated Crucible of Gold 8/10
> In my mind I call this one "Temeraire in South America". At this point I really wish the author had used exactly this Tin Tin style naming for the episodes, as I remember book 6 as "Temeraire in Australia", book 4 as "Temeraire in Africa", etc.<br/><br/>I like how the series explores how different human societies have integrated with the dragons. Where in Europe the dragons are (initially) seen as "beasts" to be controlled by their riders and used for war, most of the other continents treat the dragons as whole creatures on their own. Here in South America it's each individual dragon leads a small society of "their" humans, whom they are very protective of.<br/><br/>I also liked the continuing evolution of Temeraire's feelings about dragons, their place in society, and justice in general.
Rated The Murder at the Vicarage 6/10