Tag: books

Books December 2025

December 31, 2025 2:59 pm

The Witcher: Baptism of Fire by Andrzej Sapkowski

The saga of Geralt and Ciri continues. Geralt recovers in Brokolin and begins anew his search for Ciri. Ciri joins up with the Rats.

A lot of people die throughout.

50 Years of Text Games by Aaron Reed

The most recent book-group pick at work. This is a history of text games–where the concept of “game” evolves with time and mostly becomes what is now called “interactive fiction.” It was interesting, well researched.

The Witcher: The Tower of Swallows by Andrzej Sapkowski

Ciri is nursed back to health by Vysogota. Geralt searches for the druids in hopes they can provide information about Ciri. There’s a reformed vampire. Yennefer is seen again.

A lot of people die throughout.

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

This was the girls’ pick as my Christmas present this year. It’s an odd book. Take the tropes of supervillainy; mix them with whimsy, sarcasm, and quotidian life; add a dash of sentient cats and dolphins–you’ll end up somewhere in the vicinity of this book.

Easy reading; enjoyably humorous.

That’s 35 books completed in 2025, one of which in French, and several of which were really long. I also played two text-heavy video games entirely in French: Syberia and Spiritfarer. My French has a long way to go (especially aurally), but it’s nice to see that I can muddle through content and not get totally lost.

Books November 2025

November 30, 2025 6:07 pm

Zero by Charles Seife

This was an interesting study on the history and impact of zero as a mathematical concept. I enjoyed it. It was quite a deep dive covering mathematics history up through quantum physics.

Having studied calculus and the basics of quantum physics I was familiar with much of the end results of the application of zero to these domains, but had not learned the finer points.

Virus Ground Zero by Ed Regis

This was an interesting, though somewhat shallow, look at the workings of the CDC. Sad to know that such an important institution has been gutted and its work undermined by political commissars who make decisions based on feelings rather than science. We know how that ends. We mocked the USSR for doing it for decades. It will take decades to repair the damage done in less than a year. And in the meantime, people will die.

The Witcher: The Time of Contempt by Andrzej Sapkowski

The rest of the Witcher series went on sale a while back and I bought the books I hadn’t read yet and decided to start back in for a break from non fiction.

This book is a bit of an interlude as the table is set for the next set of events in the story. So a little less gripping. I’m expecting things will pick up in the next one.

The Positronic Man by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg

A classic sci-fi work that uses a change of setting to address persistent societal issues from a more objective standpoint. In this case, civil rights for those who differ from traditional expectations and norms. Sadly, still deeply relevant in today’s world.

Books October 2025

October 30, 2025 6:15 pm

Pandora’s Star by Peter F. Hamilton

This is the first book in the Commonwealth Saga. It has a lot going on. A murder-mystery storyline. A spy story. A first-contact story. And some action-adventure happening too.

Hamilton creates an interesting universe and spends many, many pages filling it in. Long, but I enjoyed it.

Polostan by Neal Stephenson

I’m not sure what to say about this one. It’s historical fiction set during the cold war following a woman born in the US, taken by her parents to the USSR, returned to the US as an older child, then back to the USSR as an adult. Her life is not smooth.

It’s the first in a series so hopefully more happens later–making this all foundational, but otherwise it never seems like much happens.

Books September 2025

September 28, 2025 10:50 pm

The Telescope in the Ice by Mark Bowen

After having been disappointed in the last few non-fiction books I read for being shallower than I was looking for, The Telescope in the Ice made up the difference.

A deep dive into the history of modern particle physics and what we now call the “standard model” with a focus on the neutrino. The book follows the global efforts to detect neutrino interactions culminating in the IceCube neutrino observatory at the South Pole.

I found it really interesting. The author gives the history, science, and engineering of the topic with first-person accounts providing details along the way.

And that was the only book I got finished in September. It was lengthy and not exactly light reading. Then I started another massive sci-fi tome which took up the rest of the month. I’m almost done with it.

Books August 2025

August 31, 2025 11:26 am

Did lots of reading but volumes two and three of the Baroque Cycle took a long time to get through.

The Confusion by Neal Stephenson

Volume two of the Baroque Cycle. The adventures continue around the world. Capers, betrayals, antics, and science.

The System of the World by Neal Stephenson

Volume three of the Baroque Cycle. We bring the 4300+ page story to a conclusion back in England. Isaac Newton’s mastery of the Mint is called in question after an epic heist. Our protagonist is imprisoned and led to the gallows. And alchemy brings someone back from the dead.

I enjoyed the series, but as I mentioned on volume one, I’m not sure how it would land for someone with no prior knowledge or interest in the early scientific revolution and its characters. Some knowledge of France and French helps too throughout.

An excerpt from The System of the World which I connected with from the end of Book 7 (Currency) – Chapter 8 (Westminster Palace):

Other men seemed to’ve been blessed with the ability to live in the moment, and to have experiences (Daniel imagined) in the raw vivid way that animals did. But not he. How would the ceremony, the pageantry of the Queen’s visit to Parliament look, to one who could see them thus? Colorful, magnificent, mesmerizing, Daniel supposed. He’d never know. Daniel could only see this as a sick old lady paying a call on a room full of anxious blokes who hadn’t bathed in a while.

I often feel like other people exist in a state of immersion that doesn’t exist for me. Seen most particularly in things like crowds. Many people seem to become one with a crowd (like at a sporting event) where the crowd becomes their own and whole self. Only as the crowd disperses do they regain their sense of self and individuality. I, rather, look around and wonder what’s happening to everyone and have the continual dialog running through my head wherein I see, process, and analyze the events around me but perhaps don’t experience them. At least, by outward appearances, I don’t seem to experience them in the same way as others anyway.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

And now, for something completely different. This is one of Jess’ favorite authors, so I thought I’d give it a try.

It’s written entirely in present tense which gives it a strange feeling–which goes well with the story which is about a strange circus.

There are competing magic systems at play, but unlike, say, Sanderson, we’re not giving some in-depth explanation of how they work. It’s left vague and dreamlike.

It was certainly different than anything I’ve read recently. I liked it alright.