Books 2014

It looks like I read 28 books this past year.  Some combination of buying a kindle and having the baby really upped the output.  I think I probably read less than 10 books in 2013.

Here's the top 10:

10	Woken Furies (Takeshi Kovacs Novels Book 3)	Richard K. Morgan
9	Broken Angels (Takeshi Kovacs Novels Book 2)	Richard K. Morgan
8	The Final Reflection (Star Trek: The Original Series)	John M. Ford
7	A Stitch in Time (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)	Andrew J. Robinson
6	Saturn's Children	Charles Stross
5	Year Zero: A Novel	Rob Reid
4	Stand on Zanzibar	John Brunner
3	Love Minus Eighty	Will McIntosh
2	The Peripheral	William Gibson
1	Song of Spider-Man: The Inside Story of the Most..	Glen Berger

The number one book there is obviously colored by my vocation, and that I even know some of the people involved somewhat tangentially.  Number two, the latest from William Gibson continues the streak he started quite some time ago with each book being better than the last.  The biggest surprise I think is the Brunner title "Stand on Zanzibar" as it was first published in 1968 but still holds up really well.  I'm not sure I liked either of the Takeshi Kovacs books as much as the first one, but I am also fairly sure I read Altered Carbon sometime in 2013.

Here's the rest in no particular order (ok, it's alphabetical order):

	A Fire in the Sun (The Budayeen Cycle Book 2)	George Alec Effinger
	Channel Blue	Jay Martel
	Heaven and Mel (Kindle Single)	Joe Eszterhas
	How Much for Just the Planet? (Star Trek: The Original..	John M. Ford
	Neptune's Brood	Charles Stross
	Pathfinder	Orson Scott Card
	Robert B. Parker's Blind Spot (Jesse Stone Novels Book 13)	Reed Farrel Coleman
	Robert B. Parker's Cheap Shot (Spenser series Book 42)	Ace Atkins
	Robert B. Parker's Damned If You Do (Jesse Stone Novels Book..	Michael Brandman
	Robert B. Parker's Wonderland (Spenser Book 41)	Ace Atkins
	Ruins (Pathfinder Book 2)	Orson Scott Card
	Scoundrels: Star Wars (Star Wars - Legends)	Timothy Zahn
	The Best of All Possible Worlds: A Novel	Karen Lord
	The Exile Kiss (The Budayeen Cycle Book 3)	George Alec Effinger
	Torchwood: Exodus Code (Torchwood Series)	Carole E. Barrowman
	Visitors (Pathfinder Book 3)	Orson Scott Card
	When Gravity Fails (Budayeen Book 1)	George Alec Effinger
	Yesterday's Kin	Nancy Kress

 
Channel Blue had a shot at the top ten but started out much more interesting than it finished.  The internet seems crazy about "How much for just the planet" but I just don't see it.  It's a TOS Star Trek book rendered as a musical.  I think maybe the excitement is over possibly seeing it performed as opposed to the book being particularly good.

Here's hoping this year's list is even longer.

Some of My Best Friends Are...

So it turns out that one of my favorite authors turns out to be a raging homophobe. Should I care about it?

Most of the authors I read I don't know a single thing about. Maybe some of them eat babies or run dog fighting or something, how would I know. Somehow it's gotten out that Orson Scott Card has a thing about gays. I guess it's fairly consistent with his Mormon beliefs.

Thing is, I always thought I did know something about OSC. Sometime back in the past I read an afterword in one of his books where he explains that he was starting a theatre and only became a sci-fi author to try to keep the theatre afloat. Something in that alway resonated with me. I felt a connection.

I do have to say that even without knowing his stance on gays I have been having a little trouble with OSC of late. I've been reading his page and his blog and there's more and more every week that I don't agree with. He's a big Bush supporter, he's critical of a lot of entertainment, we're just not on the same page.

But that shouldn't take away from Ender, or from Magic Street, or Alvin Maker. I wonder if I'll be able to separate the man's work from the man's views.

Last Minute PTM Type Gift Ideas

Got some last minute shopping to do for someone in the Production Technology field? Well, I've got some gift giving suggestions that might be helpful. Even at this last second many of them ought to be available locally so you could do a Monday shopping spree and still be done before the sleigh comes to a rest on your roof. I imagine that even if these things are not available locally they can still be used for inspiration (or gift card fodder).

So a sort of top ten countdown of PTM gifts...

#10 - Flying Alarm Clock



This one will be of particular use to students in the field, but I will also admit to having a little difficulty getting myself out of bed on occasion. I've seen the "puzzle alarm" and "the sonic boom" and "clocky" but this one seems to me to have the most chance of actually working. When the alarm goes off, the propeller flies into the air and you need to replace it before you can shut the signal off (although I guess this is rapidly solved with gaff tape - but maybe not). There are several students I would recommend this to directly, but I bet people giving them gifts don't read this blog.

#9 - Getting Things Done, David Allen



So this is a sort of Bible to the desperately anal set, and I think that the GTD community might actually be a cult; but let's face it, there are worse cults a person could fall in with. If your gift give-ee never answers your emails this might be the gift for them. Lot's of good ideas about how to keep up with life without letting the keeping up overwhelm you. My boss recommends the audio-book.

If I'd actually read this book I probably would have done this post two weeks ago.

#8 - Stylish Safety Gear

There's so much cool safety gear these days. People are that much more likely to use gear that's actually fun. Pictured here are DeWalt's DPG82 Concealer Goggles which I recently got myself. They are comfortable, don't block peripheral vision, and they don't fog up - but mostly they look cool. If you don't want to do goggles you could do tinted safety glasses - I think amber is still safe for shop work - or some kind of hearing protection. There are also like a million new kinds of cool work gloves available and they all look like something from a sci-fi film - very cool.

#7 - Label Maker

Especially if you are going to go the GTD route, you are going to need a label maker. As I understand it, David Allen specifies a label maker as one of the primary tools of organization. Even without that glowing recommendation I think we can all see the use of having things cataloged in a way that makes sense, you can only remember so much for so long and it is easier to read a label than it is to unstack an entire pile of bankers boxes only to disover what you were looking for isn't there. Just remember, don't label the walkie-talkie before you drop it down the well.

#6 - Tool Bag



It's all bags now, you need a refresher? Pictured here is my personal favorite, the CLC 26 Pocket Backpack Bag. I bought this thing several years back and could not be happier. David Allen would like it too because with this bag things need to go where they need to go. It might look small, but it can hold A LOT. How much? Check here. Although this is my favorite, there are dozens of cool options out there. Overall, I think smaller and more dividers is better - but that's me, you should see Kevin's toolbox.

#5 - Shop Geek Clothes



Did you know you can buy Craftsman pants? How about DeWalt shoes? I swear it's a shop rat dream come true. I haven't sprung for the shoes yet, but I always feel like just the right kind of geek when I wear my Craftsman pants - even more special than with Carhartts or Dickies.

#4 - Forbidden Lego, Ulrik Pilegaard and Mike Dooley



There are apparently rules that the designers at Lego have to follow for models that become sets for sale. There's no glue, no altering of pieces, and no automatic advancing magazine part guns. In authoring this book, these designers were not so encumbered. A nice read for any Lego fan, which is most Technical Directors.

#3 - Feet and Inches Calculator

Quick: What's 3'-2 5/8" + 6'-4 15/16" - 1'-11 1/2"? What? I don't know either, but I can tell you I have to do that sort of thing all the time when I am working. Remembering the decimal equivalents will help, but nothing gets it done as well and as quickly as having a feet and inches calculator. It's just indispensable for adding up a row of fractions on a drawing before the guy in the shop finds the problem for you. (oh, and I think it's 7'-8 1/16" but my calculator is in the office).

#2 - Theatre Geek Tools


Really you can never go wrong with gadgets. Every stagehand in the world has a multi-tool and a flashlight. I think I have two multi-tools and at least four flashlights. MagLite is the standard for flashlights. I won't even get into a discussion over Leatherman or Gerber or SOG or Victorinox or or or. Pictured above are the Streamlight Stinger Jr. LED and the Leatherman Skeletool. I think with both of these your gift-ee will be so cool people around them will be looking for their jackets. Want to put the people around them right into the deep freeze? Well, then you'll be wanting to make someone the first on the block with one of these:



The Spyderco ByrdWrench ~ BY15P. My monitor just frosted over.

#1 - Stapler


Ok, so it probably isn't what you were thinking would be #1. I can only say that there is nothing I wish people I deal with had more often than a stapler. If I make sure to impart just one skill to people I teach in my classes, that skill might just be stapling. Shown here you have my personal favorite the PaperPro Prodigy Stapler. It has a spring driven mechanism, so no matter how much you are fastening you always press with the same force, no smashing. They make a miniature version, the Nano, that I think maybe ought to be issued to every single person at birth.

So that's it. Certainly not anything ground shattering, but hopefully some decent ideas. Now, you've probably got about 12 hours left for shopping, so hop to it. Alternately, you could just bookmark the page for next year.

Happy holidays.

Shopping Stop

I went to the bookstore for a bit tonight. They were playing really awful Christmas Carol interpretations. I think I have to say that even more than not really caring for the decorations early I don't like being pummeled with the music. Still I guess it's not so much early any more, being well after Thanksgiving and all.

But they could pick better versions to play.

I have maybe a dozen books on my "to read" shelf. I waled away from "Spook Country" more than a month ago and I haven't been back to it. I guess I should finish it someday. So I didn't buy anything. Here are some of the things I specifically didn't buy:

or this:
or this:
although I am not certain I've read the prequel to that one. Or even this:

Which really I will get sooner or later, but maybe if I wait until I am ready to read it I can get it off the $5.99 table. Nothing wrong with that.

Pile-O-Books

I've fallen way behind on the book reviews (reviews in general actually - but the movie and TV shows don't physically pile up on my desk). So here's some catch up by way of a more capsule format:

Light - M. John Harrison
Ok, I will admit it, I bought this book because it has a cat on the cover. The graphic is clean and interesting and the copy on the back says something about self-aware, intelligent spacecraft and so I thought I'd give it a go. It trys to be this sort of epic scale story of humanity reaching for the stars. I guess it succeeds, but in the end I cared very little for any of the people, really didn't understand why they were doing what they did, and then to boot the worlds they moved in were fairly unengaging. There was sex and violence that didn't so much contribute, really much that seemed just for the sake of itself. It's an ok summer read, but there are lots of those.

The Cylons' Secret - Craig Shaw Gardner
I figured I'd give a Battlestar novel a chance. I've liked most of the Trek, Star Wars, and Doctor Who books I've read. This one makes it self out to be in the universe of the current TV series. If it is, it is only on deep, deep background. The only common characters are Tigh and Adama, and the story takes place prior to Adama getting his first command. So that was fairly disappointing. Overall the story is ok, a tale of a cut off research station where humans and mech Cylons have learned to live together and then the fallout of their being discovered once again. Again, fairly solid summer reading, but truthfully nothing to blog the whole internet about.

Bloodlines- Karen Travis/Betrayal - Aaron Allston
These two pretty much hang together. Yes, Val, I am one of those people with these books. These are the first two of the "Legacy of the Force" series. We're 40 years post A New Hope here. The storys center around Jacen Solo (that's Han and Leia's older son for those without a scorecard). These don't have the depth of the Thrawn books, and they don't have the pace of the X-Wing stories, but they stand on their own and are faithful and respectful to the rest of the panopticon. There's a bunch of good stuff surrounding Boba Fett's family and people. Fett is a great character, and 99% of that is from what was written after the movies. Probably the hardest thing to grasp in these books are that Luke, Mara, Han, & Leia are now in their late 50's. Try as I might, I just can't picture them that old - and based on some of the physical things they do I think the author's might have the same issue.

Allegiance - Timothy Zahn
I have really thoroughly enjoyed each Timothy Zahn Star Wars novel. That is true of this one as well, all though I had some trouble getting on board with the basic premise. This book is pre-Battle of Yavin, during the Empire. At some point someone must have been involved in a conversation where they came up with the idea that the stormtroopers weren't evil, it was the emperor. So some of the troopers must have been stand up guys. This book is about a group of stormies who desert and become vigilante do-gooders. Just a real high diameter pill to swallow at the outset, but if you can supend your disbelief into siding with stormtroopers then this book will impress. (I never had any problem liking Thrawn, Pealleon, older and younger Fel, and Mara - even Fett. I wonder why I can't really picture white hatted stormtroopers.)

High Profile & Spare Change - Robert Parker
Someone once said of Iasaac Asimov's prolific publishing: "that's not writing, that's typing!" I wonder what they would say about Robert Parker. I think he has four novels coming out this year. Take that JK, Parker coulda wrapped up Harry Potter in two years. This is a Jesse Stone and a Sonny Randal. But really they're all Spensers, just cop Spenser and chick Spenser, and that's fine with me. I think maybe Parker has gotten the investigative process down almost too well. They always say that its really just dogged and waiting. Sometimes reading these books you get the feeling the crime is just a wall falling over in slow motion. Also, I think this is more in the recent books than the earlier ones but it seems like the "who" is always fairly clear pretty early. The books have become more about being able to prove it, or finding out the "why." Since Parker started writing Sonny Randal I have been waiting for the Grand Unifying Parker Book, for the story with Spenser, Jesse, and Sonny - not to mention Quirk, Belson, Joe Broz, Ritchie, Susan, Rita, Hawk, Spike, Healy and the rest of the regulars. Jesse and Sonny get together in High Profile and I was thrilled. So much so that when they talk about the disposition of that affair in Spare Change I was sad all over again. Both books are a good read, solid Parker.

OSC Hates The Alexandria Link

Here's one of my favorite authors sharing his opinion of something I don't think he liked very much - and why its more than just bad for it's own sake...

Civilization Watch - February 18, 2007 - Evil Fiction - The Ornery American: "I didn't hate it because it was badly written -- it was mediocre in the way that mediocre thrillers usually are, and that means it would ordinarily have been tolerable.

No, the reason I stopped listening to Steve Berry's The Alexandria Link is that this book is evil."