What are you reading?

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

The latest book by the author of 'The Martian'. I wasn't too thrilled with 'Artemis'; it was ok, but no 'Martian'. This one, maybe still not a 'Martian', but a really fun read. A two-sitting read (I started late and had to sleep). A lot of the dry humor (and a few LOL's), and a bunch of 'science the (crap) out of it'. Reminds me a lot of Hal Clement novels.

I just finished this one too. Not “The Martian”, but a solidly entertaining book. I appreciate the ‘science the (crap) out of it‘ approach too. Not a lot of hand waving SciFi tropes that blatantly violate physics. His books are always rather well put together too, meaning few if any glaring plot holes or contradictions that pull you out of the story. Only once did I say “wait a minute, how did...”, and that one was easy to chalk up to unexplained rather than impossible/contradictory. I also had one quibble with the science too...Xenon will make bonds. XeF2 is a thing, it is a weird thing, but it is real and I have used it.
 
Every once in a while I re-read a book that I read " a long time ago" and really liked. I just finished two - The Scar by China Mieville, and Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. Interestingly neither held up this second time around. They weren't bad, but I found myself wondering what it was that I was so impressed with on my first reading. Hmmmm.

s6
 
I just got done reading. "The Code Breaker", by Walter Isaacson. This is an excellent and timely book describing DNA, RNA, CRISPR, the latest gene splitting techniques and their role in developing Covid-19 vaccines.
 
It's probably an acquired taste. All the BBC dramatizations were/ are notorious / celebrated for being deliberately very different than the kind of TV or film that would get made today. Sometimes an episode seemed to centre on little more than a teacup being moved or a conversation in a pub.

Oh, but I love most BBC productions . . . Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Smiley’s People have no equals. I even somewhat liked the production of Len Deighton’s Berlin Game, Mexico Set, and London Match.
 
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. Wonderful stuff. The audiobook versions are perfect.

As short as they are (time-wise), you ought to get two books for one credit . . . even then you’re getting the short end of the stick. A decent audiobook should never be less than twelve hours long, while most these are under four hours. That said, I listened to a sample and the narrator didn’t sound bad at all.
 
I just finished Homer Hickam's "Rocket Boys", part by reading, part by listening to the audiobook. I read the last few chapters last night instead of going to bed at the usual time.... Very enjoyable. I figured I should finally get to it seeing as I have one of those Miss Riley kits on the way (will be here today, I think). Oddly enough, there was no "Miss Riley" rocket in the book, per se.

I'm glad to see the positive words about the new one from Andy Weir. I preordered it from Audible and will likely get into it shortly.

Audible has almost all of the Asimov Foundation books and they are well done.
 
I just started re-reading The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde. It's a great sendup of the murder mystery genre. Detective Jack Sprat leads the Nursery Crime division, and is investigating the suspicious death of Humpty Dumpty. Did he fall, or was he pushed?
 
As short as they are (time-wise), you ought to get two books for one credit . . . even then you’re getting the short end of the stick. A decent audiobook should never be less than twelve hours long, while most these are under four hours. That said, I listened to a sample and the narrator didn’t sound bad at all.
I got them through our library system.
 
Just finished the Bob Lee Swagger series from Stephen Hunter and now I’m on book 4 of the Jack Reacher series from Lee Child.
Also reading a collection of Robert Silverberg novellas from the middle of the last century. 🙂
 
I recently read the most recent book in the truly excellent "Frontlines" series by Marko Kloos.

https://www.amazon.com/Frontlines/dp/B07F7W3ZB4
It fits the genre of "Marines in Space", but it is so much more than the average offering in this area. If they do not make a movie out of this series, it proves there is no intelligent life in Hollywood.

One of the short stories from this series/universe, "Lucky 13", was done as an excellent anime in the series (also pretty darn good) "Love, Death and Robots" that was shown on Netflicks a year or so ago. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9788508/?ref_=ttep_ep13

This series is back on Netflix, with a new season 2 opening on Friday, it turns out.
 
I just finished this one too. Not “The Martian”, but a solidly entertaining book. I appreciate the ‘science the (crap) out of it‘ approach too. Not a lot of hand waving SciFi tropes that blatantly violate physics. His books are always rather well put together too, meaning few if any glaring plot holes or contradictions that pull you out of the story. Only once did I say “wait a minute, how did...”, and that one was easy to chalk up to unexplained rather than impossible/contradictory. I also had one quibble with the science too...Xenon will make bonds. XeF2 is a thing, it is a weird thing, but it is real and I have used it.

Read it, enjoyed it. Indeed, not "The Martian", but fairly enjoyable in and of itself.
 
Recently finished the last of Hamilton's FDR-at-War trilogy. He drew a lot on diaries and letters written at the time, not accounts written years later, and gives a great impression of how things were and looked at the time of

And Buell's excellent bio of Raymond Spruance. Buell himself was a serving surface officer in the 60s and 70. He drew almost uniquely from interviews he conducted with men who had been Spruance's staff officers, standing in the background but seeing events first hand.

Amar's "America's Constitution: A Biography" is terrific. He likewise takes you back into events, demonstrating vividly the then unprecedented and unique genius of the founding of America's democratic republic, while also facing the failings built into the 1787 Constitution.
 
I just finished Homer Hickam's "Rocket Boys", part by reading, part by listening to the audiobook. I read the last few chapters last night instead of going to bed at the usual time.... Very enjoyable. I figured I should finally get to it seeing as I have one of those Miss Riley kits on the way (will be here today, I think). Oddly enough, there was no "Miss Riley" rocket in the book, per se.

I'm glad to see the positive words about the new one from Andy Weir. I preordered it from Audible and will likely get into it shortly.

Audible has almost all of the Asimov Foundation books and they are well done.
Great book, wonderful story. :)
 
Back
Top