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I just read Steel Boats, Iron Hearts, a memoir by a Nazi U-boat crewman. His excuses for fighting enthusiastically for Hitler were very lame, but it was an interesting read. For some reason, I love books and movies about submarines.

Turns out the crews didn't bathe, shave, or change clothes during their missions, and when they had to drop a deuce, they squatted over a bucket between the diesels.

This book is currently free on Audible, so I picked it up there, but haven't started it yet. There is another biography, written by a German solider from WW2 who fought on the Russian front, I can't find the title now, but it's a very good book. He eventually immigrated to Canada, and then the US. I will search for the title and author if your interested.

A few that I've read recently:

This is one that will appeal to the economics/psychology geeks out there. A lot of economic theory rests on the idea that we are all rational actors, making decisions about all sorts of things based on a solid cost/benefit analysis and rationality. But not only is this not true, the ways in which we deviate from rational action are consistent and predictable. In essence, we have psychological tendencies that lead to not only taking irrational actions, but they are nearly universal across humanity so we mostly make the same ones no matter who we are.

It's not only interesting as a book, but I've long believed that certain psychological "blinders" that we all have as people are only something you can combat if you know that they exist and you're looking out for them. Confirmation bias, as I've mentioned here (but isn't a big one in the book), is an example of that. You have to proactively fight it to have any chance of even limiting its effect on you. I think most of what is in this book is the same. By having knowledge of the common errors we make, and the common ways that marketers/etc attempt to manipulate us based on those errors, you at least have a fighting chance of overcoming them and making rational decisions.

Neal is a sci-fi writer that I've read a TON of stuff from. He is very much topic-spanning, i.e. we're not talking "space opera" sci-fi, and he has done a lot of writing based on overlaying his stories on past history. Previously I've criticized him for not knowing how to finish a book, seeming to always fall back on some deus ex machina ending, but with his more recent stuff has seemed to really improve on that relative to his earlier works.

Termination Shock is set in near-future Earth, where the planet is starting to feel some much more significant effects of global warming than we are today. Nothing about this is "post-apocalyptic" or anything like that. But per the recent Houston flooding, Houston is significantly flooded to where most houses are up on stilts like coastal Florida or the Carolinas. Groups from various parts of the world that are concerned about sea level rise (like the Dutch, Venice, New Orleans, etc) are trying to figure out what to do about it. They cross paths with an ultra-rich guy who made his billions in filling stations across Texas and the Southwest, who introduces them to a geo-engineering project that he's about to start to try to bring down global temperatures. China and India stand to potentially be hurt by these actions, and of course that plays a part in the whole thing.

Overall, like most of Stephenson's work, it's an excellent page-turning read. Good character development and realistic actions by the characters, good plot and pacing, and multiple storylines that you don't necessarily recognize where they're going that weave into a good ending. And w/o any deus ex machina.

You don't have to be all in on climate change / global warming to enjoy it. It IMHO a decidedly non-political book, even if the subject matter is inexorably intertwined with politics.

Robinson is an author that I really like for his hard sci-fi. I first found him from his Red Mars trilogy, which was amazing. Like more of the hard sci-fi, the pacing is going to be slower, and there's going to be a lot more technical exposition. Think Tom Clancy and submarine novels, but for hard sci-fi. The Red Mars trilogy is really well written, and the character development over the course of the trilogy is some of the best I've ever seen. "Heroes" or "villains" are complex, multi-faceted, and dynamic, and you really see them change and evolve over the course of the series.

Ministry is also a climate change / global warming inspired book. It presents a harder-hit world than Termination Shock, in which a group set up by the UN called the Ministry for the Future is intended to advocate for all those future people (and animals) who haven't yet been born. Well, the Ministry becomes the linchpin for the worldwide push to reverse the effects of global warming, and in doing so enrages all the usual suspects who would be against it.

As with anything by Robinson, it is a well-written book. However, one area where I think it deviates from Termination Shock is that it IMHO ends up being overtly political from an anti-capitalistic perspective. I think it gets into some fantastical economics and certain areas were not really believable, if for no other reasons than my prior beliefs on economics makes it sound like it simply wouldn't happen / wouldn't work. The end result of where the world leads doesn't entirely sound to me like I'd like it very much.

So if that bothers you, don't read this book. Read the Red Mars trilogy instead. However, if you're the type that can hold your nose through those parts and still enjoy a good story, there's enough good in there to be worth it in my opinion.
Thanks for taking the time to write that. Predictably Irrational sounds pretty good, I read a book on marketing a few years ago and it really changed how I think about products now.

I'm going to check out both of those Sci-Fi books, I've kind of been struggling to find good fiction books lately.



Highlights from what I've read lately:
The Fold by Peter Clines (really good Sci-Fi)
Andromeda Strain by Michael Critchton
Artemis by Any Weir
 
Highlights from what I've read lately:
The Fold by Peter Clines (really good Sci-Fi)
Thanks. Need something for the plane and possibly the hotel as I'm headed to Kauai next week. Just ordered this for the Kindle.

Anything else by Clines that you recommend if I like this, i.e. perhaps his seminal or most popular work? Any other good sci-fi you've read recently?
 
Thanks. Need something for the plane and possibly the hotel as I'm headed to Kauai next week. Just ordered this for the Kindle.

Anything else by Clines that you recommend if I like this, i.e. perhaps his seminal or most popular work? Any other good sci-fi you've read recently?
Well that book is sort of part of a set, but I think the author doesn't want it advertised that way. Technically Apartment 14 is the first book in the set, but it doesn't matter what order you read them in, and I think the Fold is a much better book personally.

I may or may not have mentioned these previously in the thread but here's some of my favorites:
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir - You've probably already read it.

Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton - Description on Amazon paints it as a murder mystery but it's so much more. It's a long book, but he really immerses you in this slightly futuristic world. Hamilton is such a great writer.

The First 13 Lives of Harry August by Claire North
Janus Group Series by Piers Platt

Have a good flight!
 
Interesting... The prequel book and the first book for the Janus Group are free for Kindle...

...that's how they get ya! 😂

Alright, with that I've got three (or more like 2.25) books queued.
Man they got you too. I picked up a box set of the first 3 for 1 money, and once I got sucked in I had to $$$.
 
The writer of Harbinger, Olan Thorensen, also has a series called "Destiny's Crucible". I can give a short synopsis of the premise without it really being a spoiler:

American chemistry grad student Joseph Colsco is on a flight from SF to Chicago. Looking out the window, he sees a flash and then all hell breaks loose. He wakes up on an alien craft speaking to an AI who tells him that the collision was accidental, and they have repaired his injuries (which took two years). They can't let him back on Earth, because he now knows of the existence of aliens, but these aliens are investigating the past where some other alien race transplanted humans to other planets in that region of the solar system (for unknown purpose). They offer that he can be dropped onto one of those planets, a place where technology is circa 1700's Earth, or can choose termination.

He chooses the alternative planet. He arrives on an island, slowly learns the language and blends in to the local culture, all the while trying to find ways to use his knowledge of technologies unknown in this society (and his chemistry background) to uplift their society. At the same time, the island has a small occupying force of one of the main empires from the rest of the planet, bent on subjugating the island and incorporating it into the empire. Obviously a conflict will ensue, and Joseph (now called Yozef due to language/pronunciation differences) becomes a more and more pivotal factor in that conflict due to his knowledge.


The only true "sci-fi" portion of this is the premise of how he ended up on-planet. It's not really so much "sci-fi" after that point.

To give you an idea of how this series has gripped me, there are 8 books currently. I bought book 1 on June 20. I am now halfway through book 8.

I highly recommend it.
Not necessarily to quote myself here, but book 9 drops on Jun 1. Highly recommend this series.
 
I may or may not have mentioned these previously in the thread but here's some of my favorites:
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir - You've probably already read it.
Ryan Gosling is starring in the movie due 2026. Hopefully it's as good as The Martian. I'm excited!
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12042730/

I haven't read Artemis yet but they're making a movie of that too.

Finished the Three Body trilogy last week, starting on Seveneves now. Spent an hour chatting with audible yesterday getting my account cancelled (the third Three Body ebook isn't available anywhere else so I used the free month signup) and a refund for the months sub that they charged me after I cancelled the iOS app subscription which isn't the same apparently and confusingly as cancelling an account subscription. /rant.
 
A few that I've read recently:

This is one that will appeal to the economics/psychology geeks out there. A lot of economic theory rests on the idea that we are all rational actors, making decisions about all sorts of things based on a solid cost/benefit analysis and rationality. But not only is this not true, the ways in which we deviate from rational action are consistent and predictable. In essence, we have psychological tendencies that lead to not only taking irrational actions, but they are nearly universal across humanity so we mostly make the same ones no matter who we are.

It's not only interesting as a book, but I've long believed that certain psychological "blinders" that we all have as people are only something you can combat if you know that they exist and you're looking out for them. Confirmation bias, as I've mentioned here (but isn't a big one in the book), is an example of that. You have to proactively fight it to have any chance of even limiting its effect on you. I think most of what is in this book is the same. By having knowledge of the common errors we make, and the common ways that marketers/etc attempt to manipulate us based on those errors, you at least have a fighting chance of overcoming them and making rational decisions.

Neal is a sci-fi writer that I've read a TON of stuff from. He is very much topic-spanning, i.e. we're not talking "space opera" sci-fi, and he has done a lot of writing based on overlaying his stories on past history. Previously I've criticized him for not knowing how to finish a book, seeming to always fall back on some deus ex machina ending, but with his more recent stuff has seemed to really improve on that relative to his earlier works.

Termination Shock is set in near-future Earth, where the planet is starting to feel some much more significant effects of global warming than we are today. Nothing about this is "post-apocalyptic" or anything like that. But per the recent Houston flooding, Houston is significantly flooded to where most houses are up on stilts like coastal Florida or the Carolinas. Groups from various parts of the world that are concerned about sea level rise (like the Dutch, Venice, New Orleans, etc) are trying to figure out what to do about it. They cross paths with an ultra-rich guy who made his billions in filling stations across Texas and the Southwest, who introduces them to a geo-engineering project that he's about to start to try to bring down global temperatures. China and India stand to potentially be hurt by these actions, and of course that plays a part in the whole thing.

Overall, like most of Stephenson's work, it's an excellent page-turning read. Good character development and realistic actions by the characters, good plot and pacing, and multiple storylines that you don't necessarily recognize where they're going that weave into a good ending. And w/o any deus ex machina.

You don't have to be all in on climate change / global warming to enjoy it. It IMHO a decidedly non-political book, even if the subject matter is inexorably intertwined with politics.

Robinson is an author that I really like for his hard sci-fi. I first found him from his Red Mars trilogy, which was amazing. Like more of the hard sci-fi, the pacing is going to be slower, and there's going to be a lot more technical exposition. Think Tom Clancy and submarine novels, but for hard sci-fi. The Red Mars trilogy is really well written, and the character development over the course of the trilogy is some of the best I've ever seen. "Heroes" or "villains" are complex, multi-faceted, and dynamic, and you really see them change and evolve over the course of the series.

Ministry is also a climate change / global warming inspired book. It presents a harder-hit world than Termination Shock, in which a group set up by the UN called the Ministry for the Future is intended to advocate for all those future people (and animals) who haven't yet been born. Well, the Ministry becomes the linchpin for the worldwide push to reverse the effects of global warming, and in doing so enrages all the usual suspects who would be against it.

As with anything by Robinson, it is a well-written book. However, one area where I think it deviates from Termination Shock is that it IMHO ends up being overtly political from an anti-capitalistic perspective. I think it gets into some fantastical economics and certain areas were not really believable, if for no other reasons than my prior beliefs on economics makes it sound like it simply wouldn't happen / wouldn't work. The end result of where the world leads doesn't entirely sound to me like I'd like it very much.

So if that bothers you, don't read this book. Read the Red Mars trilogy instead. However, if you're the type that can hold your nose through those parts and still enjoy a good story, there's enough good in there to be worth it in my opinion.

About half way through Ministry For the Future and I'm loving it. As an oil man, and a libertarian, some of the political stuff is tough but it's just so damn well written. I've always loved apocalyptic stuff, and the others I've read were always based on nuclear, zombies, EMP or plague, so this is a nice change of pace. Thanks.
 
About half way through Ministry For the Future and I'm loving it. As an oil man, and a libertarian, some of the political stuff is tough but it's just so damn well written. I've always loved apocalyptic stuff, and the others I've read were always based on nuclear, zombies, EMP or plague, so this is a nice change of pace. Thanks.
And thanks to you. Got through The Fold before my plane even landed on the way there and finished book 6 of the Janus Group as it was approaching LAX on my return Sat morning...
 
And thanks to you. Got through The Fold before my plane even landed on the way there and finished book 6 of the Janus Group as it was approaching LAX on my return Sat morning...

Have a few more pages left in Ministry, but 98% done. I love how the story is told from many perspectives, but you weren't kidding about the anti-capitalism and the economics. Luckily the worst of it isn't until near the end so, easily overlooked. I kept thinking I had missed some pages on the carbon coin stuff, because I was unable to understand it, so I googled, and then decided "alright dude it's a book just sit back and enjoy the ride".
 
I think I'm the only person on my rowing team that hasn't read this yet so I decided it's going to be next on my hit list. The wife and I seen this at a theater (Brew Flix?) which I thought was a great experience. I'm specifically going after the audio version, going to listen to it on my evening walks.

51ID7c2dG5L._SL500_.jpg
 
I think I'm the only person on my rowing team that hasn't read this yet so I decided it's going to be next on my hit list. The wife and I seen this at a theater (Brew Flix?) which I thought was a great experience. I'm specifically going after the audio version, going to listen to it on my evening walks.

51ID7c2dG5L._SL500_.jpg
You will enjoy it. Very good story.
 
You will enjoy it. Very good story.
Oddly, I did not. I learned more about the sport and those involved in this event than I thought I'd ever know, but otherwise it was pretty dry for me. On another note, I did kayak Lake Washington from bottom to top.

Recent book read: ok, not great. I might move on from this author (read almost all of his books)

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I remember reading some of this series back when I was in high school. Got the first 6 from Thriftbooks a couple weeks ago and starting on the first one. From what I remember it was almost like this was mercenary group inspired the mercs in the Predator movie

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I've been pecking away at "The Best of H. Allen Smith."

1724353506809.png


H.A.S. was a popular humorist back in the middle of the last century. He had a trio of best sellers in the 30s of humorous anecdotes about his encounters as a journalist with celebrities and eccentric folks, mostly in NYC and LA.

Today, hardly anyone has heard of him, yet he is responsible for the whole chili cookoff phenomenon!

In 1967, HAS, living in the suburbs of NYC, published a magazine article entitled, "Nobody Knows More About Chili Than I Do." Some Texans took offense to that, including Wick Fowler and Carroll Shelby (yes, that Carroll Shelby). After some good-natured arguments back and forth in the magazine, he was challenged to a chili cookoff to be held in Terlingua, Texas, now home of the national chili cookoffs. Fowler and Shelby both went on to produce chili mixes that are still available today. Smith later published "The Great Chili Confrontation," an entertaining retelling of the events.
 
The Winter Fortress: The Epic Mission to Sabotage Hitler's Atomic Bomb by Neal Bascomb. For my book group, else I would never have seen it. Clear prose, and a story of Nazi nuclear scientists, brave Norwegians and their British associates, among others.
 
I just finished this. It presents a very different viewpoint of the conflict between Israel and Palistine compared to what is presented in the Amercan media.

20240827_055042.jpg
 
Some of the ones I've got on deck:

  • Wide Awake by Steven Konkoly: Book 3 of a sort of SpecOps/spy thriller series. The first two were good page-turners but nothing I'd call weighty. But if you're into that genre, give book 1 a shot.
  • The Singularity is Nearer by Ray Kurzweil: A follow up to his very famous The Singularity is Near, so if you know (and have read/enjoyed) it, you're probably like me and looking forward to the follow up. In what will become a theme, I realized the book existed when he was interviewed on Bill Maher's program on HBOMax.
  • Trust: America's Best Chance by Pete Buttigieg: Don't know much about it. He was also on Bill Maher's show and the reviews were decent. So figure I'll give it a shot.
  • What This Comedian Said Will Shock You by Bill Maher: Again. You can imagine how I realize this book exists.
  • Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton: Book 1 of a series. I don't know Hamilton, but in my news feed was a story about "7 Hard Sci-Fi Books". IIRC, I looked up one of the books on Amazon and in the reviews they were talking about Hamilton as one of the greats of sci-fi, so instead of the book from that list I ended up with this.
  • Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks: Similar to above. Book 1 of a series. Apparently he's also a heavy-hitter of sci-fi that I only heard about via Amazon reviews of OTHER sci-fi books. So I figured I need to give it a shot.
  • Loka by S.B. Divya: Book 2 of a series that I pre-ordered something like 16 months ago after reading the first book, and it was just released. Sci-fi with a heavy emphasis on genetic engineering and design. Very interesting. We'll see where book 2 goes.

Been loading these up for the plane ride to/from Ireland where I'll be heading in ~6 weeks.
 
Some of the ones I've got on deck:

  • Wide Awake by Steven Konkoly: Book 3 of a sort of SpecOps/spy thriller series. The first two were good page-turners but nothing I'd call weighty. But if you're into that genre, give book 1 a shot.
  • The Singularity is Nearer by Ray Kurzweil: A follow up to his very famous The Singularity is Near, so if you know (and have read/enjoyed) it, you're probably like me and looking forward to the follow up. In what will become a theme, I realized the book existed when he was interviewed on Bill Maher's program on HBOMax.
  • Trust: America's Best Chance by Pete Buttigieg: Don't know much about it. He was also on Bill Maher's show and the reviews were decent. So figure I'll give it a shot.
  • What This Comedian Said Will Shock You by Bill Maher: Again. You can imagine how I realize this book exists.
  • Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton: Book 1 of a series. I don't know Hamilton, but in my news feed was a story about "7 Hard Sci-Fi Books". IIRC, I looked up one of the books on Amazon and in the reviews they were talking about Hamilton as one of the greats of sci-fi, so instead of the book from that list I ended up with this.
  • Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks: Similar to above. Book 1 of a series. Apparently he's also a heavy-hitter of sci-fi that I only heard about via Amazon reviews of OTHER sci-fi books. So I figured I need to give it a shot.
  • Loka by S.B. Divya: Book 2 of a series that I pre-ordered something like 16 months ago after reading the first book, and it was just released. Sci-fi with a heavy emphasis on genetic engineering and design. Very interesting. We'll see where book 2 goes.

Been loading these up for the plane ride to/from Ireland where I'll be heading in ~6 weeks.

I know I've mentioned Peter F. Hamilton several times already in this thread, but he really is great. I think he's significantly more popular in the UK though.
 
A bunch of Ken Follet books (pillar of fire, world without end, and others), The Mysterious Case of Rudolph Diesel, Essays of GK Chesterton, and How to Brew.
 

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