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Definitely a Peter Clines book

Revisado: 10-22-19

Overall, I enjoyed this book like most of the other Peter Clines books. It had the trade mark humor and fast action. In some respects, it is a combination of the Ex-heroes series and the Threshold universe series combining zombies with the sqale (squid whale alpha predator). However,I bought this book and was really excited because of the Threshold universe connection but I was disappointed that the only connection to 14 and the The Fold is the sqale. There's no mention of green cock roaches nor dimensional gateways.

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Humanity lost in space

Revisado: 10-17-19

Humans left earth and live in giant spherical ships in space searching for a new planet to resettle. That's the back drop, but the story is more abut society and class struggle. It is really a microcosm of society on earth except it is in space. The story deals more with relationships and crimes then it is with science fiction. The story might as well have taken place on 21st century earth. If you are looking for a thriller, this is for you. If you are looking for more of a science fiction type, this is not it.

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Quick silly story

Revisado: 10-16-19

Told in a series of emails, the story is about a young man who discovered Nikoli Tesla's journal and dimensional traveling portal. He and his friend go dimension hopping, get lost in the multiverse and subsequently found their way home. All I have to say, don't pay full price. Buy it only if on sale.

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History of Tesla and SpaceX with a dash of Musk

Revisado: 10-16-19

I am not much a biography reader and I bought this book mainly because my son is big Elon Musk fan. To my surprise, this book is more about the history of Tesla and SpaceX than it is about Musk. The book is about the formation of Tesla and SpaceX with Musk as the main character. With a biography, one would think it is the other way around. The history of both companies are very interesting and fun to know about the behind the scene of things. However, I feel this book was published a few years too early and is missing a few things.

First, SolarCity was briefly mentioned and did not have the same in depth analysis and coverage as Tesla and SpaceX. Second, this book was published in 2015 when Tesla, SpaceX and SolarCity were at their high points. Since then many things have happened which would have made the book much more interesting. For example, SolarCity effectively collapsed and was bought by Tesla. The decision of Tesla to acquire SolarCity was controversial to say the least. In addition, many analyst feel that SolarCity is a dead weight on Tesla and further diverges Tesla's focus. I would have loved to learn about the thinking behind the SolarCity acquisition. The book also does not cover the development, introduction and production of the Model 3 which many would argue as the most important car model in Tesla's history.

Finally, although the author tried to stay objective, readers can't help but get the sense that the author is a Musk fan. Passages in the book speak glowingly of Musk's vision for the future. The author also left to the end some of the critical inconsistencies of Musk's backstory and quickly glosses over them. Ashlee Vance clearly supported Musk's views and was not critical of Musk.

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Confusing and difficult to follow

Revisado: 10-16-19

I like Cryptonomicon and Seveneves, but I really had a difficult time following this Stephenson book. The transitions between the real world and the metaverse (virtual reality) was confusing. I had a hard time differentiating what was happening in the metaverse versus what had happened in the real world. I liked how Sumerian mythology was woven into the story. Personally, I think the story would have been better if Stephenson had left the entire metaverse out.

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Good premise but terrible writing and narration

Revisado: 08-03-19

I like the premise - something goes wrong on a routine mission to space which resulted in David Dixon being the most wanted man by most government agencies around the world. However, the writing and narration leaves little to be desired. The authored tried to envelope the reader into the action but the writing style and words used failed miserably. For example, instead of describing the impact of bullets flying everywhere, the author used sound like words such as "zing", "bang", etc. This was extremely annoying and reminded me of the 60s Adam West Batman TV episodes. It did not take me into the story/action, instead I was sitting there going "oh God, this is terrible.". In addition, the embellishment by the narrator only made the impact worse. Don't buy this.

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An elevator to space

Revisado: 07-22-18

The story about building an elevator space at the highest point on the equator, on top of a mountain in Sri Lanka. The concept of a space elevator was very popular in science fiction during the 1970s but has since seen its popularity fall off. Most of the concepts in the story is science based but expanded to a fictional scale - very much in the same vein as Niven type stories. Part of the conflict in the plot was the location of the proposed location of the elevator, on top of a mountain on the island nation of Sri Lanka. At the top of this mountain is a 3000 year old Monastery and the monks have no intentions of moving and letting teh monastery be destroyed in the name of progress. For that reason, the author, Arthur C. Clarke, delved too deep into the back story of the monastery and the religious/social pressures that led up to present day conflict. I think the back story could have been shorted and present day science fiction part expanded on more. Another plot thread that wasn't very satisfying was the Starflyer and Starhome threads. Would have liked to have seen those threads expanded.

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Rinse and repeat....

Revisado: 07-06-18

This review is going to sound contradictory. I really enjoyed volumes I and II of this series. However, by the time volume III rolled around, all the stories sounded the same to me. Different character names, but the stories are all very similar - a man or a woman comes to Holmes' house and tells of an extraordinary story. Holmes' tells Watson he already figured everything out but just need some proof which he leaves to get. The story ends with Holmes surprising everyone by capturing the criminal in front of everyone and then explains the mystery.

So far my statements does not match my star ratings. I had a difficult time deciding on the star ratings. In the end, I thought if I hadn't read Volumes I and II, how would I rate volume III? I concluded that if I wasn't familiar with Sir Conan Doyle's writing style nor Sherklock Holmes stories, then I would find Volume III to be fascinating.

There you have it. If you have volumes I and II, then I would skip III unless you want it for completeness.

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The best is The hound of Baskerville

Revisado: 06-24-18

More Sherlock Holmes mystery. This volume includes the key story of Professor Moriarty versus Sherlock Holmes and the supposed demise of Holmes. But the best story in this collection is probably the The Hound of Baskerville. The Baskerville is one of the longer stories and is sort of atypical of a Holmes' mystery. The mystery and solution unfolds in real story time which differs from most Holmes mysteries. Most typical Holmes mysteries start with a client visting Holmes at his Baker street home and narrates a story. Holmes asked a few questions, then dismissed the client and go on some tasks which won't be revealed till the end. Holmes returning from his unsaid tasks and states he has solved everything and they go on to arrest the criminal followed by a complete confession by the said criminal. The mystery concludes with Holmes revealing his deductions and how he went about to prove his deductions to the astonishment of everyone else.

However, in the Baskerville mystery, it is revealed in mid story that Holmes is under cover as he tries to solve the case. It also revealed the villain before the end of the story and the villain was never capture, thus no confession. Another different aspect was the mystery within a mystery such as the unrelated mystery of the butler, his wife and her criminal brother.

If you like turn of the 20th century writing and mysteries in general, ,this is a must get (along with volume I and III). I am currently listening to volume III.

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Good stories and good performance by the reader

Revisado: 06-16-18

Considered by many as the original and greatest detective of all time, these Sherlock Holmes stories takes you to late 19th century London. I like the descriptive writing style and many of the stories are stories told within the narratives. Not much action in the sense of fighting or chasing, but I did enjoy the mental aspects of how Sherlock solves the mysteries. I am listening to Volume II now and will listen to Volume III as well.

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