@rdviii@famichiki.jp
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rdviii

@[email protected]

Quantum computer & network architect; Caltech, USC, Keio. Husband, father. 量子コンピュータ、量子ネットワーク。カリフォルニア工科大学、南カリフォルニア大学、慶應義塾大学。父。he/him.
Personal account & opinions

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luthien1126, to bookstodon
@luthien1126@mstdn.social avatar

You know you have a really good book in your hands when: 1) You are tempted to ignore deadlines and just spend the entire day reading but also 2) you don't want to the book to end.

@bookstodon

rdviii,
@rdviii@famichiki.jp avatar

@luthien1126 @bookstodon I got 1 but not 2 from The Dragon Republic. I was really ready to be done about seventy-five pages earlier.

jillrhudy, to bookstodon
@jillrhudy@mastodon.social avatar

I'm in a reading slump! I had a long weekend and couldn't get any book to "catch." I need ideas! Something that grabs the reader from paragraph one but isn't a thriller. @bookstodon

rdviii,
@rdviii@famichiki.jp avatar

@jillrhudy @bookstodon I was in a slump through the spring, but snapped out of it with eight books in six weeks. I'd say it was picking up an Agatha Christie and roaring through it that kicked me out of the slump, but I might recommend Lessons in Chemistry as a newer one that will grab you from the beginning and keep you engaged.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/33718341?ref=nav_mybooks

rdviii,
@rdviii@famichiki.jp avatar

@jillrhudy @bookstodon quick reply, wow!
And I see you are in Appalachia -- I was, too, until about 36 hours ago. Read Kettle Bottom, if you haven't.
Demon Copperhead was powerful, but a) you've probably already read it, and b) it starts slow and builds, at least for me; took me two tries to get into it.

rdviii,
@rdviii@famichiki.jp avatar

@jillrhudy @bookstodon it's connected poetry that tells a story. I'm not much of a poetry reader, but it totally blew me away.

rdviii,
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@jillrhudy @andrewspink @DoubleTreble @bookstodon I think I liked it more than both Jill and Andrew did. Characters and events are drawn in primary colors, but just resonated with me.
My friends and I did in fact refer to table salt using its chemical formula, but "sodium chloride" is too clunky. We called it "enn ay see ell" or "NACKel". But only sometimes, not all the time. Find a geeky enough partner and you can absolutely revel in the geekiness as a bond(!).

rdviii,
@rdviii@famichiki.jp avatar

@jillrhudy @andrewspink @DoubleTreble @bookstodon mostly agreed on the science team v. individual, but we're not in Tony Stark territory. I'm not a chemist, but I suspect it was common then for a PI to give a postdoc or staff chemist a specific experiment to carry out, so it was individual effort in the context of a larger, directed program. The competitive grant system was still forming then, so there was probably also a fair amount of freedom in direction.

rdviii,
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@jillrhudy @andrewspink @DoubleTreble @bookstodon overall, I like and agree with your review!

rdviii,
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@jillrhudy @bookstodon me, too! Thrilled that you are liking it.

rdviii,
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@jillrhudy @bookstodon "It is true that it is the men that goes in, but it is us that carries the mine inside."

rdviii,
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@jillrhudy @bookstodon I just talked to my mother, who recommended Kettle Bottom. She said it was the floweredy patch that did her in.

rdviii,
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@jillrhudy @bookstodon that's the image that will never leave my mind. There are so many layers in that one thing.

rdviii,
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@jillrhudy @bookstodon I would have to prepare myself!
She obviously deserves to be WIDELY read. My mother added one reader (me), now I've added one.

julesbl, to bookstodon
@julesbl@mastodon.me.uk avatar

Reading "This is how you lose the time war"
Such a good book, really enjoying reading it again.
@bookstodon

rdviii,
@rdviii@famichiki.jp avatar

@julesbl @bookstodon I kept NOT reading it because something vague about it kept putting me off, but finally read it earlier this year and WOW, am I glad I did! Fantastic. Thought-provoking. Moving.

szilviavirag, to bookstodon
@szilviavirag@mastodon.social avatar

What's the best novel you've read so far this year? I'd love some recommendations. Thank you.
@bookstodon

rdviii,
@rdviii@famichiki.jp avatar

@CommonMugwort @szilviavirag @bookstodon Roger that. Just read it myself.

rdviii, to bookstodon
@rdviii@famichiki.jp avatar

@betaquarii @bookstodon "it depends" is the ONLY possible answer here.

But I recently gave my 22yo niece, who is an avid reader but not much on F&SF, Jemisin's How Long til Black Future Month, and she loved it.

Short story collections or anthologies are good because of the range they can cover.

rdviii,
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@betaquarii @bookstodon for my nephew, who is a physics major but not as heavy a fiction reader, The Martian might be good.

For someone older than me who is a reader, I might start with Bradbury's Dandelion Wine (which isn't really SF-y) and then move on to another writer with strong prose, like le Guin, Chiang or Liu, each of whose writing I find moving and thought-provoking.

rdviii,
@rdviii@famichiki.jp avatar

@betaquarii @bookstodon for a mystery lover, The Spare Man is not my favorite Mary Robinette Kowal, but it could be a good place to start.

rdviii,
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@betaquarii @bookstodon for a reader of thrillers or a lover of spy/action films, maybe Suarez's Daemon.

rdviii,
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@betaquarii @bookstodon for a younger reader, maybe Okorafor's Binti, but I believe there is a lot of good YA stuff out there I haven't read.

rdviii,
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@betaquarii @bookstodon if you know someone who thinks SF is only for nerdy cishet white men (like me), the last couple of decades has been just a blossoming of talent. Besides some of those above, the anthology New Suns is a wild, wonderful smorgasbord.

rdviii,
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@betaquarii @bookstodon oh, returning to action lovers, if you know someone into Terminator movies or who has a sarcastic or rebellious streak, how could you go wrong with Murderbot?!?

rdviii,
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@betaquarii @bookstodon enough for now!

rdviii,
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@BunRab @betaquarii @bookstodon I saw Lock In in a store yesterday. Wish I had seen your recommendation 24 hours ago!

rdviii, to bookstodon
@rdviii@famichiki.jp avatar

@rayckeith @betaquarii @bookstodon nah. That won't create many new SF readers.

rdviii,
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@rayckeith @betaquarii @bookstodon sorry, that was not phrased politely. Let me retract that and say:
Brin is amazing with ideas, rigorous on the internal logic, and overall a writer whose work I love. But IMO Earth is heavy lifting, best suited for people who are already SF and probably Brin fans. It's kind of "old school" SF, where it's idea after idea, and it's clear that the author is most interested in where the ideas go rather than where the people go or the story goes.

rdviii, to random
@rdviii@famichiki.jp avatar

I am reading Diane Gilliam's Kettle Bottom collection of poems.

Powerful stuff. Each one I read, I need to stop and process for a few minutes before going on.

#poetry #CoalCountry

rdviii,
@rdviii@famichiki.jp avatar

Go read this book.

Seriously.

Kettle Bottom https://a.co/d/8TPuKuB

@bookstodon

wendysiegelman, to random
@wendysiegelman@mastodon.social avatar

I recently published a piece on PragerU, an unaccredited school registered as a nonprofit, which is behind controversial right-wing propaganda videos recently approved for Florida schools.

I looked at hundreds of 990s to identify the largest recent funders of PragerU and how they are spending their money (Facebook, Google)

The Oklahoma Dept of Education just announced a partnership with PragerU - they are spreading.

https://kfor.com/news/local/osde-announces-partnership-with-prageru/

https://newstracs.com/financial-highlights-of-prageru-the-nonprofit-behind-controversial-right-wing-propaganda-videos-recently-approved-for-florida-schools/2023/08/21/

rdviii,
@rdviii@famichiki.jp avatar

@wendysiegelman
Wow, it's a sixty five million dollar a year enterprise? There are probably a lot of community colleges and small colleges with budgets smaller than that.

rdviii, to bookstodon
@rdviii@famichiki.jp avatar

@kimlockhartga @bookstodon are these authors you have read but don't yet own, or authors you haven't yet read?

rdviii,
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@BeigeAgenda @Hazdaz
I'm old enough that there was only one Trek when I started. My take on a recent rewatch: https://rdvlivefromtokyo.blogspot.com/2021/09/ranking-star-trek-original-series.html?m=1

rdviii,
@rdviii@famichiki.jp avatar

@The_Picard_Maneuver thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

billmason, to startrek
@billmason@mastodon.social avatar

An excellent thread on why to save Star Trek: Prodigy

(via https://twitter.com/NerdForce5/status/1686121027405819905)

@startrek

rdviii,
@rdviii@famichiki.jp avatar

@jdavidnet @billmason @startrek SF is always a product of its time. But I am with you, way too much of both fiction and film are too dark, angry, depressing and ugly.

For another stark example, compare 2001 and 2010.

Private
rdviii,
@rdviii@famichiki.jp avatar

@lunalein @bookstodon N.K. Jemisin, Ann Leckie, Martha Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal. I haven't read enough of any of them, but based on what I have I will buy others sight unseen.

rdviii,
@rdviii@famichiki.jp avatar

@lunalein @bookstodon
Oh, I forgot Arkady Martine!
Nnedi Okorafor, Ken Liu and Ted Chiang almost make this list for me.
If you're getting the idea I like the combination of space opera and good writing, you're not wrong. I also like mind-bendy stuff, but am not big on dark, depressing, horror, or the kinds of books where unlikeable people do unspeakable things to each other.

rdviii,
@rdviii@famichiki.jp avatar

@lunalein @YourNeighbor57 @bookstodon I read My Year of Meats some years ago, and my memory of it has faded...I remember thinking it was okay, but not being compelled to pick up others by her. I'll look for A Tale for the Time Being.

rdviii,
@rdviii@famichiki.jp avatar

@YourNeighbor57 @lunalein @bookstodon I go through multiple years-long phases where I read murder mysteries or SF. Once in a while, we get both. The Spare Man is good, although the continuing interest in cocktails didn't speak to me, since I'm a teetotaler.

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