Shawn

Inside look at a modern physics debate

Revisado: 07-08-16

When I bought this book I was not sure if it was a crank book. It seemed legit. But I've seen too many crackpot theories and online debates that use unproven physics. I wasn't interested in that.

This book did not let me down. It goes right to the fringes of science (what we know). It takes a hard look at the debate within in physics. It builds the case for non-locality and hologram theories, including quantum loop gravity. But the last chapter makes it clear that these issues are not solved.

The obligatory history of science section was refreshing! We saw familiar characters. But the book showed different parts of their work and conflict with other scientists. Not the same old well known stories. I really learned more about the history of science. At least, as it related to the locality debate. But it filled in a lot of detail around the same people we have heard of before.

Musser worked hard to describe different models of the universe, and did it well. Despite the fact that some ideas are so big it's hard to grasp them. But he repeated the important details. He discussed quantum field theory, but only barely touching on it. He didn't seem to think it was important for the reader to understand it. But I am glad I previously listened to "The Particle and the End of the Universe" which discusses QFT.

This book shows how messy science is. Most people think science is well organized lists, charts and facts. But that's not science. That's established outcomes of science. Real science is about what we haven't established things. When we don't fully understand what is happening. This book looks at the changes that may be coming out of physics over the next few decades.

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Thoughtful, slow moving sci-fi

Revisado: 06-13-16

This is a fantastic, slow-moving, near future, sci-fi novel. Is a worldwide conspiracy killing leading scientists? This novel is just the start of a first contact story. Yet, it was interesting on its own. I now know there are other books in this series and I look forward to reading them.

On the Soft-To-Hard Science scale this book leans to hard. But it's so well written and translated that it's easy to understand.

Bonus: After this I began reading a book named 'Reality Dysfunction.' I thought that name would have been great for this novel. It describes the crisis being faced by the leading scientists perfectly.

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A great conclusion to the Aurora rising trilogy

Revisado: 11-23-15

G.S. Jennsen is fast becoming my favourite guilty pleasure. Her books are just so much fun to read.

One criticism I have is that with the exception of one single planet, almost everything seems to be named after the Greco-Roman culture. It seems very unlikely that our future should draw so heavily on simply one cultural tradition.

On the other hand, the reason I've enjoying these books is because they have a balance of action to thought, technobabble or emotions, plot to character development. It's a fun light read and so that criticism, while valid, doesn't really effect my enjoyment of the books that much.

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A fun continuation of an amusing adventure

Revisado: 11-12-15

This book, like the last one was a fun romp through time. It dealt a lot more with time-travel paradoxes, which was fun. It showed different cultural depictions of magic-users, and had a lot more women. The first novel was light on story, and was more character driven. This story has more plot to it, which can be good or bad, depending on what you wanted from the story.

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A good sequel to a fun, balanced sf adveture

Revisado: 10-08-15

A good fun soft-sf romp. A good sequel to the previous book, continuing the story of the Aurora Rising trilogy.

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Slow, hard sci-fi essay against space travel

Revisado: 10-08-15

Kim Stanley Robinson is a brilliant writer. Each of the shifting narrative perspectives he used to tell this story was expertly done... But most were not engaging. There is a little something for everyone in this book. Everyone will find a part they will enjoy. But most parts they won't.

This book is based on good research and is filled with fascinating ideas. The author's intent was carried out perfectly. But his intent simply wasn't a good idea. This is a long essay about why space travel may be impossible, filled with great ideas that made me thing. Most of this book simply wasn't an engaging read, despite being filled with awesome ideas.

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A fun read in a VR setting

Revisado: 10-08-15

This is a funny book about a computer tinkerer who discovers that the world is a computer simulation and he can hack into the main data file. So he heads to medieval England to be a wizard. However, he finds that he is not the only one!

This book is funny and well thought out. There are some minor technical and physical problems but Scott Meyer clearly thought through how this would work and came up with an easy talking point for every issues. It's fast past, really fun and very funny.

My favourite quote from the book is one I will have to use with my friend in the future when we play board games where people get wood: "don't make the obvious joke." I can see myself rereading this in the future when I want an easy, fun read.

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Breezy alien artifact story

Revisado: 09-08-15

A light and fun alien artifact story. I would have loved to read this novel back in the 90s when I was a new SF reader. While I found it well written it was uninteresting for the 21st Century. It was a light, entertaining read, but it wasn't the best use of my time.

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Aliens in video games: a conspiracy theory

Revisado: 09-04-15

This book is the second nostalgia for the 80s filled video game book by Ernest Cline. It asks the question: what if invading aliens acted in real life the way they do in video games? They send weak attackers first, and then gradually send more difficult attacks, giving you time to learn their weaknesses, power up, and get the skills needed to defeat them?

This books comes up with a serious answer to this question and covers it in layers of amusing conspiracy theories. It's a fun romp through old video games and taking silly questions to logical extremes. Like Ready Player One this is not a great work of fiction, but it's an addictive read if you like the classic videogames. The 80s references make sense, technology comes out of no where for good reason and there is one amusing conspiracy theory after another, involving the entire videogame industry!

Good for a light read for the videogame / geek enthusiast, even if you just missed growing up in the 80s like I did.

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An excellently balanced epic-space-opera

Revisado: 08-31-15

Like a giant starship, Starshine starts slow and accelerates slow. I thought this was a refreshing space opera that balanced politics, characters, a galaxy spanning crisis, technology and emotions. It wasn't 'too much' of anything, and it wasn't missing anything.

The story is a great balance. And G.S. Jensen is a very balanced writer. This is her first novel and it reminds me of the first novels by some of my favourite authors. Not perfect, but uniformly good. I look forward to reading her other novels and see her grow as an author.

This is not a fast paced action packed romp with aliens. It also isn't an extremely slow moving, intellectual treatises. If you are looking for extremes this is not the book for you, and will disappoint.

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