Permutation City Blog

I've got Explosions in the Sky playing at the moment. It's sounds great. Despite the occasionally loud volume and fast pace it always sounds gentle on the inside. I hope I can get some more of this soon.

This book follows a number of different software "people" when they decide to look outside their closed world and explore the universe instead. This follows of of Egan's traditional ideas mathematics, physics, and conciousness. I particularly like the first chapter which follows the genesis of one of the main characters inside his computer womb.

I thought I'd experiment by writing my own very simple blog. It'll allow me to play with some ideas that might get used on Dark Red eventually. I haven't got the styling quite right yet, curently the text is spilling over the blue background. I was also expecting it to be slow, when you look at a page it has to process every single post, but the server seems to be up to the job. Updates will come as and when I feel like it, best not to expect anything too dramatic.

A heavily physics inspired book mixing up Egan's traditional ideas about the nature of reality and the boundaries of the mind. A physics experiment gone wrong threatens to devour the galaxy if left unchecked.

The final book in his The Damned trilogy, a sequel to The False Mirror. This one focuses on a peaceful non-human avian alien who studies the unpopular subject of human behaviour in war. Some of the new information in this book seems a little bit too convenient but Foster still manages to come up with some interesting ideas.

A sequel to A Call to Arms this story takes place may years later. It follows a group of aliens who turn out to be humans who turn out to be very different humans. I don't think this is as strong as the originally but it works as a bridging book to the last in the trilogy.

An interstellar war in stalemate is radically change when humans are discovered. The only know race to evolve on a planet who's super-continent has broken up. It may have caused their unique aggressive streak. A quick read, something I come back to when I'm looking for some easy entertainment.

This is a initially slow black & white film that is well worth watching for it's gripping second half where two trucks filled with unstable nitro-glycerin have to be driven through miles of tortuous terrain.

A story of the human ex-governor of Belzagor revisiting a planet which has now been returned to the natives. He goes on an exploration of his past and the primitive order that has returned to the planet. This was a re-read. I remembered the plot twist from last time but enjoyed the book again. Silverberg is trying to say some things about humanity and primitive society. It's nothing that hasn't been said before though. I don't care though and it goes back on my shelves for the future.

Primary it's a place to review things for myself and in case anyone else is interested. This isn't going to be a blog about me so much as about the things I like and don't like.