Permutation City Blog

An ancient virus is re-awakened from humanities DNA. But this virus is part of humanity and a change that has happened before. An interesting idea but feels like it steps outside what is realistic. That's science fiction for you. There's sequel Darwin's Children.

The story of the discovery and investigation of the earliest geared machine. Built 2000 years ago it showed the positions of the moon and stars. It shows how much investigation must go into so small a thing and how much it can change our view of history.

The most striking thing about this book was how different it was from the movie. One or the other is not telling the whole story. Other than that it felt very dry. A life made up of people, places, and dates.

Some general information on techniques for storing fruits and vegetables plus a bunch of recipies. I'd have prefered a bit more detail on the techniques but then I don't have anything to store yet.

This looks a peoples behaviour and statistics. Do estate agents really try to get the best price for your house? Are teachers likely to cheat on class tests? It's a good idea to fully think through the consequences of rules and regulations with the knowledge that people are always trying to get the best deal for themselves.

This book is set in Kent a couple of thousand years after an apocolypse. This book is written in a corrupted English dialect. It's hard to say much else about. There was a plot but trying to understand what was actually going on under the language was difficult. Not something I'd recommend.

I remember the TV series of this from when I was a kid. In retrospect it was very cheesy. The book was good fun. Monkey goes around causing chaos and bullying people and spirits. He is finally trapped under a mountain for 500 years to teach him a lesson before journeying with Tripitaka. He can still cause chaos but is forced to limit his actions.

Utopia has arrived with everyone having everything they want and no-one wanting anything they can't have. However it's a world where everyone is programmed what and how much to think. There are rulers and an under-class, both happy and neither free. If someone still has problems after all that they can take a soma dream. A well considered piece of writing.

In this world demons rule the night and humanity hides behind warded walls. The main characters are those, for one reason or another, have been outside those walls at night. I loved the atention paid to warding in the culture. I had mixed feelings while reading this. There are high points to enjoy but the author is very quick to match each of these with a low point.

A story told through a sequence of letter, journal, and story extracts. It centres around the humdrum life of workers in a Staples store. They're each trying to find their way through life and the possibility of some meaning. It has a familiar feeling of Coupland's work. It is sort-of self-referential which walks a fine line between being clever and self-intulgent, sometimes falling off towards the later.