#FinishedReading this #KimStanleyRobinson#AlternateHistory epic, spanning 600 years (and 772 pages!) after the total depopulation of Europe by the Plague. The story is essentially 10 short stories / novellas spanning this time, linked by the reincarnation of characters. It did occasionally feel like work - KSR loves characters who lecture, although he usuallly writes about intellectuals for whom this makes sense - but overall I find it rewarding and rich. #Bookstodon@bookstodon
#FinishedReading this (pop science) biography of #Erdős . I laughed out loud several times, as Erdős was both a unique individual and almost the archetypal obsessed / absent-minded mathematician. My favourite story was when surgery on one of his eyes was delayed because he was adamant he wanted to read a mathematics journal with his other eye during the operation. The mathematical content is very accessible but fortunately not completely absent. #Bookstodon@bookstodon
#FinishedReading one of my absolute favourites as a child when I first got old enough to raid my parents' bookshelves, so a huge nostalgia hit for me in this. This is a classic 70s first contact #SciFi story and fortunately stands up great to re-reading as an adult, apart from the almost total lack of female characters, which I notice these days but I guess didn't concern me as a preteen boy. Still, inventive, surprising, and lots of fun. #Bookstodon@bookstodon#LarryNiven#JerryPournelle
#FinishedReading this fascinating look at how indigenous people around the world (but with particular focus on Australia) understand #astronomy , both for storytelling and for practical matters like navigation and tracking seasons - these are not separate concerns, as the stories act in part as mnemonics for the vital skills. Always nice to see references to ANU scientists, in this case indigenous astronomers @karlienoon and Peter Swanton. #Bookstodon@bookstodon#IndigenousKnowledge
#FinishedReading#JaneAusten 's last book, free courtesy of @gutenberg_org . Loved the humanity and humour, although in the gallery of sparkling characters, including the narrator Anne, is it just me or is Captain Wentworth a bit of a cipher? #Bookstodon@bookstodon
#FinishedReading (as an ebook because I'm travelling) #SamanthaShannon's Roots of Chaos series is epic and stunning, but this series is pure popcorn and feels like she was having a holiday writing it: sexy vampire-esque creatures, magical gangsters, constant twists and betrayals, heapings of supernatural violence; it's the sort of book where a villain's most potent weapon is the enslaved poltergeist of Jack the Ripper. #Bookstodon@bookstodon
#FinishedReading the last book by #IainBanks , about a group of friends visiting a man dying of cancer, in his condemned house about to be swallowed by the next door quarry. Not quite as grim as it sounds, even though Banks's cancer diagnosis came while he was finishing the book; it argues for the value of meeting terrible things with dark humour and even rage. It feels a bit like a stage play with its restricted setting, small cast, and focus on dialogue and monologue. #Bookstodon@bookstodon
#FinishedReading a cosy organic farming postapocalypse is visited by a sinister figure in a giant nuclear powered vehicle... and what a great cover by #DexterMaurer . Book was fine but running with a passive and disengaged main character was an odd choice. #JonathanLethem#Bookstodon@bookstodon#SciFi