Permutation City Blog

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The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick

I've heard of this book mentioned many times but only just got arrond to reading it. A alternate history in which Germany and Japan won the second world war. Can't say it really caught my attention.
Publication date: 2010-02-16

Quantum

The people, the history, and the theories that helped form quantum mechanics. Science is a lot more difficult that coming up with a good idea. Although interesting this book has a lot of information and is a bit dry.
Tags: Book , Review , Free
Publication date: 2010-02-11

Casino Royale, Ian Fleming

This Bond is very different from the one I grew up with. He's less sophisticated and less competent. Baccarat is less well suited to excitement than Poker. Interesting to read but I'm not sure I'll bother with any other books.
Publication date: 2010-02-04

How the Dead Live, Will Self

Follows the story of a woman at the end of and after her life. It indeed describes "how the dead live". I bought this after listening to a reading by the author in a bookshop. It seemed to be a good read the first time round but this time it didn't catch me at all.
Tags: Book , Review , Free , Will Self
Publication date: 2010-01-29

The Wind-up Bird Chronicals, Haruki Murakami

An odd blend of the everyday with with an element of the fantastic. A cat disappears and Kumiko suddenly becomes much more complicated. Coincidences become common place. While I enjoyed reading this I'm not sure it was satisfying in the end. Things should happen for some reason.
Publication date: 2010-01-22

Your Inner Fish, Neil Shubin

A look down the evolutionary ladder to see where we've come from. The book compares us and our embryos with the animal kingdom. Evolution continually re-purposes pieces of anatomy for new jobs. Many of our body's failings are due to particular adaptations that our ancestors made.
Publication date: 2010-01-13

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson

This comes in three enormous volumes and has taken ages to read. It's really worth. The strips look great, especially when in full page colour.
Publication date: 2010-01-13

The secret Scripture, Sebastian Barry

An old woman in a mental hospital secretly writes about her life as a doctor tries to discover exactly why she is in the instituation. A okay read. It's difficult to follow in a few places as history is presented in different ways through different peoples eyes.
Publication date: 2010-01-10

Grimm's World, Venor Vinge

A printing barge which sails the sea making and distributing fiction is an odd idea for a story. It's not actually the focus of what's going on. Vinge plays with the ideas of fantasy world, developing technology, and a psychic fox pet.
Publication date: 2010-01-05

Mostly Harmless, Douglas Adams

Adam's final installment to the extended Hitchhiker's trilogy. It has familiar characters but it's been brought up to date new science fiction ideas. This doesn't work for me as the original series belongs to my childhood. I still enjoy the originals and they don't need to be brought up to date.
Publication date: 2010-01-02
1 to 10 of 294 with Book, Review: Prev Next