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Books I loved reading this year

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Re: Books I loved reading this year

#81

Post by zwieback »

Arainach wrote: post #45
zwieback wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're reading this one for my at-work bookclub, looking forward to it. We did the Martian back when and people enjoyed it. Although easy reading it has enough depth to spark a good discussion.

It's an interesting choice for a book club. Due to the way the narrative progresses (you start with an amnesiac protagonist and gradually reveal backstory via memories) discussions could get tricky/problematic if anyone is reading ahead faster than the rest. Obviously all books have some risk of that but PHM is more challenging than most in my opinion.

Our book club finishes the whole book before we have the discussion. You're right, an as-you-go approach would be much more challenging.

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#82

Post by LadyinMT »

I'm reading a novel with my PIM (partner in mischief) titled The Mandibles, by Lionel Shriver. I was thinking that the novel may have been written recently because so much of it reminds me of our current economic & political situation, but I was very surprised to learn it was originally written in 2016! It's eerie how much the author has gotten right!

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#83

Post by greeneggs »

rememberlenny wrote: post #25

- List for the lazy - A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence, by Jeff Hawkins. The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race, by Walter Isaacson. Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro. Hamnet, by Maggie O’Farrell. Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir.

Doudna has her own memoir, "A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution." Why would you read Isaacson's third-person account, when you can get the information from the scientist herself?

Well, I read both books, and Isaacson's is much better. In fact, Doudna's book was largely written by her coauthor, her then-graduate student Sam Sternberg, based on long interviews. This is the same process Isaacson used. But, in my opinion, Isaacson does it better, incorporating more of Doudna's personal anecdotes with similar levels of science.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30971755-a-crack-in-crea...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54968118-the-code-breake...

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#84

Post by oh_sigh »

talor_a wrote: post #40
adamgordonbell wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Project Hail Mary was so good. I loved The Martian but Artemis not as much. By that measure Project Hail Mary was a return to form. It was just a fun, breezy read that hit the problem solving part of my brain in just the right way, but with a different angle on things than "The Martian".

artemis was disappointing, Weir seems like he has no idea how to write a female protagonist. this was my introduction to his work, seeing that others feel the same way makes me think it was probably just the wrong pick and I should try his other books.

What does Weir not understand about a female protagonist? It's not possible that the female protagonist just doesn't fit your mold of what you believe a female protagonist should be?

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#86

Post by [deleted] »

greeneggs wrote: post #83
rememberlenny wrote: post #25

- List for the lazy - A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence, by Jeff Hawkins. The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race, by Walter Isaacson. Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro. Hamnet, by Maggie O’Farrell. Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir.

Doudna has her own memoir, "A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution." Why would you read Isaacson's third-person account, when you can get the information from the scientist herself? Well, I read both books, and Isaacson's is much better. In fact, Doudna's book was largely written by her coauthor, her then-graduate student Sam Sternberg, based on long interviews. This is the s…

[deleted]

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#87

Post by groby_b »

TickCount wrote: post #23

Is Bill Gates still programming nowadays? He seems to have completely abandoned it. Which seems a little sad, because if he really liked doing it you'd expect him to at least work on a utility app or something in his spare time.

Time is an extremely precious commodity. It seems somewhat arbitrary to assume that if you like something, you automatically do it in your spare time. It's fairly easy to like more things than you could possibly have time to pursue :)

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#88

Post by elliekelly »

groby_b wrote: post #87
TickCount wrote: post #23

Is Bill Gates still programming nowadays? He seems to have completely abandoned it. Which seems a little sad, because if he really liked doing it you'd expect him to at least work on a utility app or something in his spare time.

Time is an extremely precious commodity. It seems somewhat arbitrary to assume that if you like something, you automatically do it in your spare time. It's fairly easy to like more things than you could possibly have time to pursue :)

But when you’re a billionaire almost all of your time is spare time. Aside from basic bodily functions billionaires can spend their all of their time doing whatever their little hearts desire.

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#89

Post by TaupeRanger »

criddell wrote: post #31
localhost wrote: post #14

I was disappointed by A Thousand Brains. The last part of the book veered into ... I don't really know. On the other hand, I loved Jeff Hawkins' earlier book on this topic: On Intelligence [1]. It's easily one of the top 5 books that I've read and the first part of A Thousand Brains recaps much of that work, so still relevant today according to the author. [1] https://numenta.com/resources/on-intelligence/

How well regarded is the Numenta software regarded in the AI community?

Not well. They have almost literally nothing to show for over a decade of work.

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#90

Post by thih9 »

LadyinMT wrote: post #82

I'm reading a novel with my PIM (partner in mischief) titled The Mandibles, by Lionel Shriver. I was thinking that the novel may have been written recently because so much of it reminds me of our current economic & political situation, but I was very surprised to learn it was originally written in 2016! It's eerie how much the author has gotten right!

> PIM (partner in mischief)

What do you mean? I haven't seen that expression anywhere and google wasn't helpful.

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