Paradise by Craig Alanson

The silly, funny dialogue, good space opera plotting (complete with awe, wonder, & mystery) continue. 4/5 Stars.  I shall read all the others in this series.

Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte

Tiago's book is a nice manifesto about why you should take notes and organize them for yourself in the future, especially if you have no external process and structure.  I especially appreciate Tiago's technology-independent library of tools and approaches to each element of his system. 3/5 Stars. The book is a good edition to your "self help" library if you read in the genre.

The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre

The best of Macintyre's books yet.  Extremely interesting, informative, and entertaining. 5/5 Stars.

SpecOps by Craig Alanson

Fun, interesting, entertaining. 4/5 Stars.

Eine unbeliebte Frau von Nele Neuhaus

Die Hauptfiguren sind sympathisch, das Ermittler-Duo +Team sind erfreulich normal und der Kriminalfall bleibt auch lange Zeit spannend.  Leider war die Geschichte ein bisschen zu kompliziert. Das Buch ist jedoch sehr gut geschrieben und unterhaltsam. 4/5 Sterne.

Expeditionary Force book 2: SpecOps by Craig Alanson

The silliness and comedic bro banter continues in book 2.  The arbitrary magic system is a little annoying but otherwise it's very enjoyable and recommended! 4/5 Stars.

If you think you know what a proton is

 

Think again and read this interesting summary of recent research.  In particular, try to explain how what we currently perceive as a "proton" can sometimes be detected as a quark soup consisting of two charm quarks that weigh 1.3 times as much as the entire proton.  Forget conservation of mass.  Einstein might label it "spukhafte Gewichtsveränderung."

Earthbound (Marsbound 3) by Joe Haldeman

Depressing and confusing ending to a great series.  Good closure for the characters. 4/5 Stars.

Ihr Letzter Wunch von Blake Pierce

Meine örtliche Bibliothek hat nur sehr wenige Bücher auf Deutsch. Unter den deutschen Büchern, die ich gelesen habe, ist dies eines davon. Nicht schrecklich, aber nicht gut. 2/5 Sterne.

Columbus Day by Craig Alanson

This book has a fantastic space opera world built-up with a little awe-and-wonder mystery, wonderful politics, and great close-combat military action.  The hilarious sarcastic super-AI is wonderful and the "patron race" hierarchy concepts from David Brin's (far better!) Uplift books are good. However, Alanson goes too far to explain too much, instead of enabling events to uncover the strict rules of the magic system and leaving lots of frustrating mystery to uncover.  "Show the reader, don't tell the reader!" The gritty military experiences of "hurry up and wait," SNAFUs and ClusterFcks, are also wonderful and draw in the reader.  I can't wait to continue reading the books. 4/5 Stars.  Highly enjoyable!