Poul Anderson: Selected Sci-Fi Stories (2018)

I am disappointed. The swords-and-sorcery fantasy stories are not very good and the others are mediocre at best. 2/5 Stars.

Books Mitch enjoyed in 2024

Books Mitch enjoyed in 2024

Inspired by my friends who write end-of-year book lists, I wrote a list last year and hope to continue every year.  In 2024 I read 115 books, down from 170  in 2023.

Fiction

	Using many of the same story elements as the last two books in their "Expanse" series, the authors have created a new space opera and built a new world for this series.  The Hero, Dafyd Alkhor, is our plucky, "awe shucks," reluctant everyman, much like "Jim Holden" from the Expanse series.  It's a good story with fun themes.
	This new installment in the series is fantastic!  The story and character arcs are much more aligned to the overall saga than the last volume.  The action and combat are cool and exciting. The new magic system components are great.  I can't wait for the next one.
	Remember the Honor Harrington stories David Weber wrote in the early 1990's? This new series he is writing with Richard Fox is just as much fun.  The detailed space fleet engagements and sophisticated, consistent magic system is fun, and the vector math as explained enables the reader to visualize the engagements clearly.  The politics are intentionally similar to the Honor Harrington universe, with wicked Oligarchs and oppressed colonies.
	Best book I read in 2024.  I have gifted three copies to relatives. It's even more enjoyable when you look up the historical events and characters in wikipedia on the exact dates of the events in the book because the descriptions are so perfectly accurate.
	The themes are reminiscent of Alex de Tocqueville's De la démocratie en Amérique in its celebration of the frontier spirit, American ingenuity, the triumph of hard work, grit, and technology over nature, and enlightenment ideals. The characters are well-developed archetypes and colorful in Verne's unique style.  The story is unpredictable with a wonderful mystery and slow reveal. I think this one is my favorite Jules Verne book now.

Non-Fiction

	Wow! The book has many deep biographical sketches of the curious characters who are the real heroes behind Space-X's unbelievable accomplishments. The stories of their adventures, set-backs, and ultimate successful accomplishments are gripping and inspiring. Recommended even if you are not a space nerd.
	I wrote a book summary on here if you are impatient or want a preview. The key points are pretty good and the ideas are worthwhile.  It's a little painful to wade through the writing style (pithy aphorisms & slogans).
	This book is the foundation of amateur and professional understanding of the early roman empire. Mary Beard uses wonderful examples and anecdotes to illuminate the complex ideas, opinions, and daily lives of the people of ancient Rome, their moires, customs, social interactions, and international relations.  The book explains in wonderful prose the evolving attitudes of the ancient people in all stations of life. She gives frequent reminders of how differently the Romans projected back different versions of their own history as their language, culture, governance, and relationship to their society changed.
	The Wuhan Lab's "gain of function" (bio-weapons) research, including the cover-ups, deception, and the people behind the odd policies of that era are brightly illuminated in this interesting book.  The silly politics are distracting and boring, but new information about the corruption, censorship, and the conflicts of interest within government funding agencies and EcoHealth Alliance are interesting.
	This book exceeded my expectations. The author, a journalist, skillfully presents the science by incorporating interviews and insights directly from leading scientists in the field. While I didn't particularly enjoy some of the social commentary and political perspectives, I think her observations are both highly relevant and perceptive.

At War With Ourselves by H. R. McMaster (2024)

Extremely well-written, well-organized, and well-edited account of a fantastically bright, competent, selfless person's attempt to navigate the "nest of vipers" in the senior leadership of the executive branch. I enjoyed this one and recommend it. 5/5 Stars.

Blood Money by Peter Schweizer (2024)

Some of the data and Chinese publications mentioned in this book were new to me, so I did learn a bit about  the diplomacy and politics of Sino-US relations.  However, the book spends most of the content speculating about motivations and building conspiracy theories around circumstantial evidence.  I do not recommend this one. 2/5 Stars.

Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement (1953)

During my "golden age" of science fiction (14 - 17 years old), I missed out on some of the great authors of the golden age of science fiction. This adventure story is not terrible but the plot is an obvious thin shell to explain the odd gas giant planet and its local chemistry. Some of the politics are interesting and clever.  However, the 1940's tech projected into the future does not age well. 3/5 Stars.

One False Move by Harlan Coben (2014)

I like the Myron Bolitar stories. This one is somewhat grittier and more brutish than my preference. 4/5 Stars.

Activation Degradation by Marina J. Lostetter (2021)

The characters and story are well crafted.  However, the science is so terrible I could not suspend disbelief. I don't understand why good authors who want to write SCIENCE fiction don't ask a scientist for help with celestial mechanics or brainstorming better excuses for drama in the Jovian system than "energy" generation. C'mon.  2/5 Stars.

L'Île mystérieuse (1875)

I loved this book! The French is at a 3rd or 4th grade level and easy to read. The themes are reminiscent of Alex de Tocqueville's De la démocratie en Amérique  in its celebration of the frontier spirit, American ingenuity, the triumph of hard work, grit, and technology over nature, and enlightenment ideals. The characters are well-developed archetypes and colorful in Verne's unique style.  The story is unpredictable with a wonderful mystery and slow reveal. I think this one is my favorite Jules Verne book now. 5/5 Stars. (I started writing this review in French but realized I could not express myself well.)

To Challenge Heaven (2024)

Fun series. This one rambles a bit. 4/5 Stars.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1875 - 1878)

Another book from one of my kids' bookshelves that I added to my backlog because I had never read any major Russian literature and was curious.  My preconception of the story was that the main character was a charismatic, beautiful, good-hearted person (Anna) who was ostracized and destroyed by the evil oligarchical 19th century Russian society.  And I thought that the book covered  themes of hypocrisy, jealousy, faith, fidelity, family, marriage, society, progress, carnal desire and passion, along with the agrarian connection to land in contrast to the lifestyles of the elites in the city.  After riding along the 1,000-page slow, rambling roller coaster, I now think the story is almost completely psychological. The main characters experience acute schizophrenic episodes, triggered by the "trauma" of silly expressions and "feelings" or thoughts they project onto other people.  The details of farming, the social norms, and some of the philosophy is mildly interesting but not worth the slog. 3/5 Stars. I don't recommend this one.

The last dangerous visions by Harlan Ellison (2024)

Some of these stories are good; none of them is as "dangerous" or controversial as the critics claim. 3/5 Stars.

Exodus: The Archimedes Engine by Peter F Hamilton (2024)

It's really wonderful that Peter F Hamilton is writing such fun space opera.  I enjoyed this story. 5/5 Stars.

Into the light by David Weber & Chris Kennedy (2021)

This second book in the series provides a much-needed enhancement to the magic system with the introduction of more awe-and-wonder background mysteries. The characters, events, combat are not that great and the book spent too much time on poorly-written inconsequential details. 2/5 Stars.  I shall finish the series but I am disappointed.

A short stay in hell by Steven L. Peck (2012)

My youngest daughter told me to read this one, so I dropped what I was reading and read it in two days (it's short).  I claim to understand Georg Cantor's infinite orders of infinity and I also claim to understand the set theoretical difference between finite and infinite. I normally don't consider subjectively what it is like to live for a googolplex of years, before going on to a different existence for eternity.  This novella goes into enormous detail of one such experience.  I was obsessed with the story's concepts and even dreamed about the events in the story for a few days after reading it. The writing is not particularly good, but the ideas are well presented. 5/5 Stars.

Vortex by Robert Charles Wilson (2011)

The rich characters in this two-book story are well-developed and compelling. I also like the inscrutable awe-and-wonder magical forces and slow reveal towards the end of the story and the epilogue that wraps everything up with the cosmological end of time of our universe. 5/5 Stars.

Reentry by Eric Berger (2024)

I read Eric's articles and weekly column in Ars Technica. So I had low expectations that much new material would be in his book.  I was therefore thrilled that everything in the book was never published before.  The details of the people and events at SpaceX (not Elon), at Nasa, Spaceforce, and US regulatory bureaucracies are exciting and enlightening.  There are many deep biographical sketches of the real heroes behind the company and their successes. The book is gripping, well-written, extremely interesting for any space nerd, and highly recommended. 5/5 Stars.

Out of the Dark by David Weber (2010)

The story starts out as a standard alien invasion archetypal structure with the usual tropes of the scrappy preppers, the hero's journey, and interesting space aliens. The magic system is a typical David Weber galactic space travel until the end that I did not enjoy.  The ending and abrupt change to the magic system ruins the world building. 2/5 Stars.

Live Suit by James S.A. Corey (Ty Franck & Daniel Abraham) (2024)

I enjoy when successful authors publish  the writing exercises and cutting-room scraps that were left behind when publishing a series of books.  I remember trying to write in the early 1980s and going through an exercise to figure out how one of my characters should react to some event in my story; I wrote a short vignette about her from 10 years in her past to flesh out her personality and sensibilities so that I could understand her well enough to write the section of the story I was working on.  The expanse authors have published some of their writing that was cut from the expanse series and this short novella appears to be another writing exercise or snippet that was cut from their new series.  It's a great stand-alone story. 5/5 Stars.

Deception - The Great Covid Cover-Up by Rand Paul (2023)

The Wuhan Lab's "gain of function," including cover-ups, deception, and the people behind the odd lockdown policies are brightly illuminated in this interesting book.  The silly politics are distracting and boring, but the information about the corruption, censorship, and the conflicts of interest within government funding agencies and EcoHealth Alliance are very good.  4/5 Stars.

Raft by Stephen Baxter (1991)

I am very interested in the Xeelee sequence of books. This first book is an expanded short story with an interesting alternative universe that has a huge gravitational constant. The book is not good. I did not like any of the characters, and the gratuitous deprivations served no purpose. 2/5 Stars.

Polostan by Neal Stephenson (2024)

Fantastic!  I am so happy Stephenson is writing another immersive historical fiction series again.  Polostan is the best I have read this year (so far).  I bought extra copies for my kids. 5/5 Stars.

Screens are *still* worse than Paper for reading retention

My first published academic paper in 1987 explained an elegant experiment I ran using SAT test questions that measure retention to discover if humans retain and understand information better by reading on paper or reading from screens.  Of course the overwhelming measurements and evidence indicate that reading from paper is much better than screens.  Recently, Amy Tyson published an in-depth study about the use of books and paper versus devices (phones, tablets, computers) in classrooms and looking at test scores.  She validated my measurements in school settings.  If you have a kid in school, get them to use books and printed materials.

Icehenge by Kim Stanley Robinson (1984)

I have no idea how or why this book appeared on my stack to read.  The book holds up surprisingly well after 30 years.  I did not like the authors "Mars" books that follow this original one, but I enjoyed this story. The story explores the insane conspiracy theories, alternative facts, fake news, and other modern topics over a centuries long time line. It's interesting how human societies treat history.  The objective truth never matters.  4/5 Stars.

Starship flight 5

I am very grateful to live in a time when we have exceeded the wildest imaginative concepts of science fiction to catch the biggest rocket ship ever built with chopsticks. I have not been this excited about watching space flights since watching (live) as Neil Armstrong descended the lunar lander. Go watch the 4K videos.

Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold (2003)

This high fantasy book, second in a series, deserves all the prizes it won (Hugo, Nebula, Locus). I enjoyed the story, the characters, and the consistent but mysterious magic system. 4/5 Stars.

new goal in life

My new goal in life is to get paid 2.7 gigadollars ($2.7 billion) to get re-hired at one of my previous employers. I am very grateful to live in such an interesting time.

Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard by Lawrence M. Schoen (2015)

I think David Brin pointed me to this book as an illustration of other authors who picked up David's idea of uplift.  Uplift is when an advanced species (patron) genetically modifies a pre-sapient species (client) to elevate the new species to full sapience. In this book, the author has an area of our galaxy filled with uplifted earth species. The magic system and themes in the book are a little inconsistent and the physics is terrible.  But the story is interesting and the writing is good.  3/5 Stars. I enjoyed it but won't read any others.

Rebel by David Weber and Richard Fox (2024)

Remember the Honor Harrington stories David Weber wrote in the early 1990's? This new series he is writing with Richard Fox is just as much fun.  The detailed space fleet engagements and sophisticated, consistent magic system is fun, and the vector math as explained enables the reader to visualize the engagements clearly.  The politics are intentionally similar to the Honor Harrington universe, with wicked Oligarchs and oppressed colonies. I am enjoying these books. 5/5 Stars.

SPQR by Mary Beard (2015)

Another birthday present that sat on my stack for 4 months. This book is the foundation of amateur and professional understanding of the early roman empire. Mary Beard uses wonderful examples and anecdotes to illuminate the complex ideas, opinions, and daily lives of the people of ancient Rome, their moires, customs, social interactions, and international relations.  The book explains in wonderful prose the evolving attitudes of the ancient people in all stations of life, from the starving slaves to the elite nobles. One must read it slowly to ponder the depth of the revelations and refer back to the maps and photos scattered throughout the book.  5/5 Stars.

Cursed Knowledge

This idea, to record things we learn that we wish we never knew, is great. The collection of cursed knowledge nuggets is similar to but narrower than the"WTF" collection in my bullet journals.  Thanks, Cory.

Task Force Hammer by Craig Alanson (2024)

I am surprised at how terrible the copy editing is.  A simple grammar checker could have mixed almost all of the errors.  The story ends in a cliffhanger, so if you don't like the "Perils of Pauline" style abrupt cliffhanger endings, wait for the next book to be published  before starting this one. Parts of some of the B stories in this one are a little boring, but Skippy and team are still fun. 4/5 Stars.

Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee (2016)

One of my kids was reading this book and I saw the Hugo + Nebula nominations on the cover, so I picked it up and read it.  It's not long. The magic system is unfortunately extremely inconsistent and despite fantastic character building and world building, good story-telling and stylish prose, I did not like it and probably won't finish the trilogy.  2/5 Stars.

The Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey (2006)

Some folks at work suggested this book so I picked it up and read it.  The over-hyped rhetoric and constant aphorisms are an embarrassing distraction from the key points that are quite good.  Here is my summary:

• Trust among individuals and teams affects speed and costs.
• Five "waves" of trust: 
• self trust, 
• relationship trust, 
• organizational trust, 
• market trust, and 
• societal trust.
• Trust is based on character (integrity and intent) and competence (capabilities and results).
• There are 13 key behaviors that build trust: Talk Straight, Demonstrate Respect, Create Transparency, Right Wrongs, Show Loyalty, Deliver Results, Get Better, Confront Reality, Clarify Expectations, Practice Accountability, Listen First, Keep Commitments, Extend Trust.
• Low trust creates a "trust tax" that slows everything down and increases costs. High trust creates a "trust dividend" that speeds things up and reduces costs.
• Trust can be built quickly through consistent behavior and delivering results. It can also be restored if lost.
• Extending "smart trust" balances trusting others with good judgment about risks.
• Building trust is a key leadership competency

The book is in six parts:

• Part 1 - The First Wave: Self Trust: Covers the "4 Cores of Credibility": Integrity, Intent, Capabilities, Results
• Part 2 - The Second Wave: Relationship Trust: Explains the 13 behaviors that build trust in relationships
• Part 3 - The Third Wave: Organizational Trust: How to create trust in organizations through alignment
• Part 4 - The Fourth Wave: Market Trust: Building trust and reputation in the marketplace
• Part 5 - The Fifth Wave: Societal Trust  
• Creating value and contributing to society
• Part 6 - Inspiring Trust: How to extend "smart trust" and restore lost trust

The ideas are worthwhile but wading through the hype is painful. 4/5 Stars.

Omega Rising by Joshua Dalzelle (2013)

A colleague at work recommended this series so I picked up and read the first book.  The writing is ok and flows well. The story is a little melodramatic and shallow. The space aliens are a little too anthropomorphic.  The plot is fun.  I am finding it hard to suspend my disbelief but I am curious what happens next in the story. 3/5 Stars.

Glory Season by David Brin (1993)

I started reading this book when it came out but I got busy and never finished.  Some of the politics, sociology, and biology are highly relevant 31 years later.  Other ideas are dated and irrelevant today.  I did not enjoy the detailed metaphors in the Conway's Game of Life variant of core wars game that took up a ot of the story.  Some of the female characters are not compelling. 3/5 Stars.

Not Till We Are Lost: Bobiverse, Book 5, Audiobook (2024)

I like the Bobiverse books.  This one rambled in too many details of too many different B plots and threads that were too esoteric.  All-in-all, the story is still a fun romp, reminiscent of  the fun light books that Robert A Heinlein wrote towards the end of his career.  Taylor introduces new technology in the bobiverse magic system and new existential threats to all life in the galaxy to keep his "space opera vibe" going.  4/5 Stars.

Less toxic & more-effective nanoparticulate MRNA vaccines & therapeutics

Everyone has personal experience with the  'miracle" vaccines used from 2019 - 2021.  The MRNA delivery mechanism for those and other MRNA medications uses nanoparticles in which the MRNA is embedded.  These nanoparticles can cross the cell membrane about 7% of the time so relatively large doses are needed for delivery.  These nanoparticles are also highly toxic and cause severe side effects that are frequently as bad or worse than the ailment they are meant to prevent or treat.  The nanoparticles also suffer from long tissue persistence, exacerbating their toxicity.  Many MRNA  therapeutics could be unlocked if the persistence and toxicity could be limited.

This new research paper, that was published in Nature, explains experiments that show promise of an approach the authors discovered to mitigating nanoparticle persistence and therefore the toxicity issues.

Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier (2020)

This book is much better than I expected. The author is a journalist who does a very good job of presenting the science through the words and interviews with the thought leading scientists themselves.  I did not appreciate or enjoy some of the social commentary and politics, but she does present highly relevant and astute observations. 5/5 Stars.

The Singularity is Nearer by Ray Kurzweil (2023)

I loved this sequel to the 2005 obook.  Kurzweil has fun, zany ideas that are very entertaining and sometimes compelling. 5/5 Stars.

Home Coming by Joel Shepherd (2024)

This new installment in the series is fantastic!  The story and character arcs are much more aligned to the overall saga than the last volume.  The action and combat are cool and exciting. The new magic system components are great.  I can't wait for the next one. 5/5 Stars.