Tag: books

Skunk Works by Ben Rich & Leo Janos

These are Rich’s personal stories of his time working at Lockheed. It was interesting to read about some of the top secret projects he worked on and some of the technical challenges the teams faced.

Poor management in my opinion though. He regularly talks about requiring the team to work 12+ hour days, 7 days a week, for weeks on end to meet deliverable deadlines to which some manager had agreed.

Published in 1994, it’s also a thinly veiled argument for why the U.S. government should continue funneling billions of dollars into the defense industry after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Driving Honda by Jeffrey Rothfeder

An interesting look inside the history and guiding philosophies of the Honda conglomerate.

For some reason, the author spends the final chapter on an only-tangentially-related diatribe on national manufacturing policy.

The Admirals by Walter R. Borneman

A group biography of the only five-star Fleet Admirals in U.S. history (thus far). After their backgrounds and early careers we then get a high-level history of WWII in the Pacific theater.

Implicitly covers the transition in naval theory from great fleet-on-fleet engagements won by battleships to standoff battles via carrier groups and projected air power.

Accelerando by Charles Stross

An exploration of a future in which an artificial intelligence singularity has occurred (sentient AI systems self-developing beyond human comprehension). It starts off way too over-the-top cyberpunk, but settles down.

Uses the evolving singularity as an explanation for the Fermi Paradox.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Speaking of bionic humans…this novella explores a bionic, human-based security “drone” which evades its governor module and begins exploring its own free will. “Human based” in that it’s mostly robotic, but uses a human brain to provide the intelligence to the system (the details aren’t fully described in the book).

It wants to protect the people it was hired to protect, but it also mostly just wants to be left alone to watch TV shows.

Twelve Desperate Miles by Tim Brady

The story of the SS Contessa, a merchant ship drafted into WWII mobilization, loaded with fuel and ammunition, and sent across the Atlantic to supply the invasion of North Africa.

The titular 12 miles was the trip up the Sebou river from the Atlantic coast to an air field.

It’s an interesting history, but I think it’s oversold. The cover text implies this ship was leading the convoy. It was, in fact, late and traveled alone across the ocean trying to catch up. And while the trip up the river was no-doubt harrowing for the crew; in context of the many horrible things that happened in WWII I’m not sure it rises to the descriptor “desperate.”

The Infinity Machine by Sebastian Mallaby

The latest read for the book group at work. This is a story about the current wave in artificial-intelligence research and development which we have all be subjected to whether we like it or not.

Extremely deferential to the people involved and if you were to read this book uncritically you’d believe by the end that the world is now full of sentient, artificial-intelligence systems quickly making humanity obsolete. I found it a bit cloying in its admiration.

Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson — Book 3 of the Stormlight Archive series

This book took up most of my month of reading. Another massive tome in the series primarily covering a continuing series of failures trying to rally the nations to a common cause and solidify a defensive posture against the opposing forces. A shattering revelation about the voidbringers, but a glimmer of new hope before the end.