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xylogx

xylogx@bookwyrm.world

Joined 8 months, 2 weeks ago

An IT pro with 20 years of experience and Uni degrees in Math, Physics and CompSci. I love Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Non-Fiction tales of science, math, technology and history.

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finished reading Dark Wire by Joseph Cox

Joseph Cox: Dark Wire (Hardcover, 2024, PublicAffairs) 5 stars

The inside story of the largest law-enforcement sting operation ever, in which the FBI made …

Loved this book. It is a gripping cyber-thriller about how the FBI infiltrated criminal organizations using encrypted communications. I tore through this and thoroughly enjoyed it. The material is factual and follows real events while still being structured effectively in a compelling narrative.

#Bookwyrm #bookstodon

Steven H. Strogatz: Sync (Paperback, Hyperion) 5 stars

The tendency to synchronize may be the most mysterious and pervasive drive in all of …

Interesting and eye-opening

5 stars

As an avid reader of science and math books who also has a degree in Physics and Maths, I often end up reading books about topics I have some level of familiarity with. This research into the science of sync was totally new to me. This was also my first Steven Strogatz book. His writing style is great. He is able to communicate the most complex of ideas using simple easy to understand language. I loved this book and am looking forward to reading other books by this author.

Thomas Halliday: Otherlands (Hardcover, Random House) 4 stars

Clever telling of a science story

4 stars

I really enjoyed this book. It is packed with science but presents in a well-organized and interesting way. Zooming through eras and eons it does not try to be comprehensive in its telling but focuses on a number of narrative threads. The approach is unique and refreshing and in the end an enjoyable ride.

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Mary Oliver: Upstream 4 stars

A relaxing take of viewing nature and life.

4 stars

Haven't read her before but I understand that she's a poet; I picked this up first to see if I'd be interested in her poetry, and I think I'll check it out. (Wanted to read the essay collection first since it's been years since I've looked at poetry.)

Mary is very in touch with the natural world around her and how it shapes her perspective.

reviewed Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson

Erik Larson: Demon of Unrest (2024, HarperCollins Publishers Limited) 4 stars

A gripping story of narrative history

4 stars

In the prologue Larson explains that he was inspired to tell this story by the events of Jan 6th as a way to compare the current election certification crisis with the last time it happened in order to show the mood of the country and the factors that lead to its happening. After completing the story I feel like he largely succeeded. Through his usual brand of narrative history telling he focuses in on a few points that illustrate how the different sections of the nation were thinking and the divide between them. While I feel like the telling of the southern viewpoint is well told, I think it is pretty far from today’s political climate. I find it more akin to the current denialism of climate change and vaccinations. In both cases you have an opposition that has convinced itself of viewpoint that is vulnerable to rational arguments using …

Harry Harrison: Astounding : John W. Campbell Memorial Anthology of Science Fiction (1973) 4 stars

A very personal telling

4 stars

The story telling was very personal telling that gave a snapshot of several key figures lives including Isaac Asimov, Rob Heinlein, and L Ron Hubbard but most of all Joseph Campbell. It does not try to tell the story of all science fiction or tell an overly broad story but for the lives it focuses on it lays out the story of their lives and their interactions in a clear and thoughtful way. An avid science fiction fan, I grew up reading some of these stories and remember them fondly. That said, I only read a fraction of the books they discuss in this story. That said, I did not feel like that diminished the story or in any way hindered my reading of this fascinating tale. In the end, while I was left wanting to hear these stories in the broader context of science fiction as a whole, it …

David Foster Wallace: Infinite Jest (Paperback, 2006, Back Bay Books (Little Brown and Company)) 5 stars

Set in an addicts' hallway house and a tennis academy, and featuring one of the …

Not what I expected

5 stars

This books is amazing in many ways but is hard to compare to other more conventional stories and novels. It has a unique narrative structure and a radically chaotic use of language. I have to say I was skeptical at first and nearly gave up on this at several points, but it drew me in and by the end I was in love with its weird, quirky natures. The story itself is disjointed and a bit uninteresting when distilled from the way it is told and language used to tell it. That said it draws you in and is strong enough to hold up the novel through what is a marathon length telling. A lot of what happens in the book seems to be in service of some other purpose than serving to move the story along. It seems to be making points about society, human nature, morality and humanity …

Steven H. Strogatz: Infinite Powers (Hardcover, 2019, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) 5 stars

From preeminent math personality and author of The Joy of x, a brilliant and endlessly …

Loved this book

5 stars

I love calculus and I loved this book. If you do not love calculus you might not, but I feel like he does a good job of trying tell a story that is accessible even if you do not have a mathematical background. It is impossible for me to separate myself from my own mathematical background which is so intertwined in my personality, so this judgement on accessibility may need to be taken with a grain of salt. I do feel like the book is well organized and the chapters have good narrative structure. Objectively good on these matters of structure and story telling, I would be interested in how others who do not have maths backgrounds found this argument that he makes that “calculus is important and foundational to everything we do in the modern technological world.” and that “Calculus is truly the language of the universe”

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Matthew Mather: CyberStorm (AudiobookFormat, Blackstone Audio) 3 stars

Well written and exciting but ultimately disappointing

3 stars

The book never really delivers on the initial promise and the ending is unsatisfying. While the title hints at a cyber-thriller, that never really ends up being important to the story or really developed in a realistic way. There are just too many plot holes for me to really love this book. Cyber attacks and cyber war are happening today routinely and we know what they look like - this is not it. China even today really would not and could not invade Washington DC or the US. And no one can walk 60 miles in one day, that is just crazy. I wanted to like this at the beginning but by the end there was just too much cognitive dissonance from all of the plot holes. I am giving three stars because it was a fun ride at times, but ultimately I cannot recommend this book.