Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies that'll improve or ruin everything by Kelly & Zach Weinersmith (2017)

Fun romp through emerging revolutionary technologies by the Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal cartoonist and lawyer wife pair. Lots of funny anecdotes.  Like most popular science, the predictions in the book were overtaken by events since it was published, so it's not nearly as good as it was in 2016.  3/5 Stars.

Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef (2010)

This poorly-written but interesting autobiography has risen in popularity again since the invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023, the ensuing depraved torture, rape, and mass murder of civilians, and Israel's reaction to the modern-day mass slaughter. The context is interesting and I did learn a few things but the book is not that good. 2/5 Stars. 

starter villain by John Scalzi (2023)

The author suffered terribly from the lockdowns in 2020 and his writing suffered.  This book is not among his best work but it is still very good. The dialog and characters are fun but the plot is a little discombobulated, 4/5 Stars.

Discovery by B. V. Larson (2023)

I probably would have enjoyed this book in 1963 but my tastes have changed.  2/5 Stars, not good.

System Collapse by Martha Wells (2023)

Drop what you are doing and read this book.  It is the best murderbot book yet. 5/5 Stars. If the judges have teenaged children Martha Wells will win all of the awards again for this one.

ShipStar by Larry Niven & Gregory Benford (2014)

I am glad I picked up the series again.  The second book is slightly better with the introduction of new space alien species and mysterious tech stuff.  The character arcs are poorly motivated but I liked the story. 4/5 Stars.

Callsign Valkyrie by Jason Anspach, Nick Cole, Walt Robillard (2023)

Self-contained, backstory of factions during the reign of the evil "House of Reason" era of Galaxy's Edge. Not bad. 4/5 Stars.

Redshirts: A novel with three Codas by John Scalzi (2012)

Funny, clever, fourth-wall breaking book that becomes "meta" as bizarre metaphysical paradoxes intermingle.  Fun stories, good characters, very entertaining, 5/5 Stars.

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher (2022)

Nebula award winner 2023, well-written, clever fantasy. I don't like fantasy, though. 3/5 Stars.

A City on Mars by Kelly & Zach Weinersmith (2023)

This book is well-researched and comprehensive. My personal experience with International Law is that there basically are no rules. Nation State leaders do whatever they want.  Therefore, I don't completely buy into the detailed analysis of the policies and laws of nation state actors in space. I do agree with the game theoretic analysis, including the "company towns" analogies.  The data and tech are very interesting.  And, of course, the snarky prose is wonderful. 4/5 Stars.