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Books I loved reading this year

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Re: Books I loved reading this year

#91

Post by BurningFrog »

mritchie712 wrote: post #69
Baeocystin wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I liked a lot of the ideas in PHM. I found the protagonist insufferable throughout, though. Perhaps Weir was going for a more flawed character after Watney? (Never read Artemis, so I can't comment there.) I still think it's a good book, and well worth the read. But man did that character grate on my nerves.

Yes, I think he was going for someone less likable. Watney was almost too likable.

Maybe Matt Damon pushed his likability over the top.

If Willem Dafoe was cast, it could seem different :)

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#92

Post by nabla9 »

fernandotakai wrote: post #42
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".

project hail mary's audiobook is the best audiobook i've ever listened to. it's.... incredible. they adapted parts of the book that were kind of hard to "get" perfectly (and for people that read it, i think you know what i mean). i totally recommend it.

Whoa. I didn't realize the audiobook was adapted.

I just kept thinking that the inner commenting was so weird. Like a the book was partially movie script. I think I should have read the book instead.

But still, it was good.

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#93

Post by bryanrasmussen »

reggieband wrote: post #53
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".

I was going through goodreads yesterday and came across my review of The Martian there. I gave it 5 stars because I use what I understand is the Roger Ebert style of rating. The Martian is imperfect, pulpy and at times a bit over sentimental. But it succeeds at exactly what it sets out to achieve. It isn't Dostoevsky or Proust but it isn't trying to be. It made me laugh, kept me engaged and turning pages. It made me…

>I gave it 5 stars because I use what I understand is the Roger Ebert style of rating

As I understand the Ebert system your review seems like a 3 star, that is to say if you like this kind of thing (hard sf, survival story in harsh environment using ingenuity) you will definitely like this example of it.

In 45 years as a reviewer Ebert gave nearly 1000 films 4 stars, I think about a 100 5 stars, although he was often thought of as being too lenient about a film's quality - https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/you-give-out-too-many...

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#94

Post by Damogran6 »

reggieband wrote: post #53
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".

I was going through goodreads yesterday and came across my review of The Martian there. I gave it 5 stars because I use what I understand is the Roger Ebert style of rating. The Martian is imperfect, pulpy and at times a bit over sentimental. But it succeeds at exactly what it sets out to achieve. It isn't Dostoevsky or Proust but it isn't trying to be. It made me laugh, kept me engaged and turning pages. It made me…

I started reading The Martian and the whole chapter on shit had me giggling like an 8 year old boy. Which meant I made sure my 8 year old boy read The Martian. I think it really helped him get (more) into reading.

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#95

Post by groby_b »

elliekelly wrote: post #88
groby_b wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yes. But time is still finite. And a much lesser quantity than "what our hearts desire".

To put into a very simplified example: I work 8 hours a day, sleep 8 hours a day, spend 4 on chores, and 4 on doing what I want. That's 4h/day. Bill Gates has almost immeasurably more money than I have, but he still, at best, gets 16h/day. He can do 4 times as much as I.

And I can guarantee you that "things I'd love to do" is significantly more than even 24h/day. I'd assume the same holds for Gates. This is one of the reasons rich people usually have an entire staff running their lives - if you make billions, spending $100k to save 30 minutes a year is actually a reasonable investment.

And so, even if he loves to code, he might well not be able to never get to it. (TBF: I'm not saying "poor Bill", I'm sure the other stuff he gets up to is reasonably fun :)

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#97

Post by sundvor »

adamgordonbell wrote: post #30
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.

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".

I read PHM straight after Termination Shock, which I also thoroughly enjoyed.

Fantastic couple of books.

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#98

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

twinkletwinkle_ wrote: post #34
TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #33

> Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir No. Just no. It is hard science fiction, but there is no character development. I had no empathy for the main character and did not care about him or his fate. Also he is unusually prude, which he blames on being a school teacher, but even his inner dialogue consists of “HOLY COW!” when surprised. I mean, really??

I think that's just Andy Weir at this point. I enjoyed The Martian, but Artemis was horrible. Characters were indistinguishable from one another, they were all just Andy trying to emulate the success of the cocky sarcastic hero from The Martian. After reading that I don't think I need to read any more of his work.

> Andy trying to emulate the success of the cocky sarcastic hero from The Martian.

Yeah. And he went on and on about his dead crew mates, how sad and depressed he was for them, but he had barely any connection to them besides sharing a single space flight.

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#99

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #50
cinntaile wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What did he do to the future of computing?

He created the public understanding that "software" means ready-to-run executables. He created the public understanding that "software" is non-repairable, non-modifiable and created (only) by wizards in corporations. He created the public understanding that software had to cost money, and specifically per-copy, per-platform, per-user licensing terms. None of these things were accepted before Gates et al. create Micro…

It's amazing to see first world nerds cry about software freedom and rail against Gates when he is trying to save millions of lives.

Software freedom is a pet cause. Fighting malaria and infant mortality in impoverished parts of the world is noble.

Re: Books I loved reading this year

#100

Post by hashimotonomora »

thih9 wrote: post #90
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.

Partner in crime. Partner in class 3 misdemeanor. Partner. Friend.
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