what are you reading?

[merman]

I'm reading the two volume set about Gremlin Graphics. Really good and way better than I was expecting it to be.

Currently 20% off at www.bitmapbooks.co.uk


Beyond Aukfontein: An Odyssey Through a Ruined World by John Szczepaniak

The first novel from retro gaming expert John, set in a post-apocalyptic world where 90% of the population has died from viruses or tactical weapons. The survivors are spread among the ruins, including biker gangs fighting over the spoils in South Africa's ruined cities. Young biker Mik survives a deadly attack by a mysterious Red Plane, whose occupants slaughter his friends and kidnap his lover Kimberley. Mik sets out to free her and gain revenge.

Along the way he discovers a sky colony, a ship filled with gladiators fighting and a tribe of parkour specialists. He makes new allies along the way - the Bedouin Seras, the sword-wielding Catalina and pilot Sergei. After crossing the Russo Empire, Sergei flies them in a gunship to take on the Red Plane in a final climactic battle.

Vivid descriptions, violent setpieces and a strange world - it gripped me.

[Mark]

Just read Twelfth Night by that Shakespeare chap. Definitely one to watch, rather than read I think. A good 30 or 40% of the book could be summed up with #bants #notafuckingclue. I got the gist, but of the Shakespeare I've read this is the one that most struck me as stage direction, rather than a decent read.

[zip accident]

Just read this:



https://amzn.to/2w3LnTi

It's adequate.

[Deckard]

Reading the new Gaiman retelling of Norse mythology which is rather good as like him I read a load from my school library when I was 10-15 years old.

[merman]

The Future Was Here - The Commodore Amiga
Jimmy Maher, MIT Press

https://amzn.to/2OVnbJS

This is part of the Platform Studies series, looking at particular hardware and its impact and cultural significance. The first instalment was Racing the Beam on the Atari 2600.

The Amiga book is excellent, mixing technical discussion of how it worked with a good narrative about how and why things went wrong for Amiga.

[Deckard]

Just started the final of the three "Transformation" series from Neal Asher - I absolutely love this dark AI trilogy starring a super AI called Penny Royal who grants wishes.....

https://amzn.to/2w2tNz6

[F-ZeroOne]

"Transformation" - I read that and found it almost unremittingly grim - I believe his wife died at some point during the writing which may explain it. I like Asher (even if I disagree with his viewpoints sometimes) but I found reading that series was a bit like reading accounts of the German campaign in Russia in World War II, after a while the figures just start becoming difficult to deal with.

[rowan]

The ZX Spectrum ULA.
http://www.zxdesign.info/book/
I bought this on a whim after some recommendation & then seeing Giles' review on Amazon

Flicked through it upon arrival & it all looked quite techy with a lot of electronic diagrams but bizarrely I've found it hard to put down at times.
Yes, a lot of the circuitry detail is lower level detail than my main interest but the way the whole thing was put together & the sheer innovation in reduction of components & simplistic design is something to marvel at to this day. What they got out of so little..

[Portland]

GoT again in case Winds of Winter actually appears this year...

[venusian]

Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth

https://amzn.to/2N9ECWx

https://www.kateraworth.com/2017/04/05/ ... cs-is-out/

Economics is broken. It has failed to predict, let alone prevent, financial crises that have shaken the foundations of our societies.
Its out-dated theories have permitted a world in which extreme poverty persists while the wealth of the super-rich grows year on year. And its blind spots have led to policies that are degrading the living world on a scale that threatens all of our futures.
Can it be fixed? In Doughnut Economics, Oxford academic Kate Raworth identifies seven critical ways in which mainstream economics has led us astray, and sets out a roadmap for bringing humanity into a sweet spot that meets the needs of all within the means of the planet.

[RiK]

Got a few on the go at the mo:

"Mind Driving" by Stephen Haley (Advanced Driving stuff)

"Tools of Titans" by Tim Ferriss

Slightly more obscure!
"Five Elements and Ten Stems: Nan Ching Theory, Diagnostics and Practice"

[zip accident]

I started this a few weeks ago, it's long, and I suspect it's turned to rubbish.

https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/wiki/ref/u ... ding_order

Don't start any bit late in the evening if you have anything even slightly important to do the following day, some bits are relatively short, some aren't, and some are relatively short but lead very strongly to the next bit.

[Mark]

I'm about half-way through Right-Ho Jeeves. It's the 3rd Jeeves and Wooster book I've read, and again I'm loving the writing. Some of the descriptions are just fantastic.

At Cannes she had been a happy, smiling English girl of the best type, full of beans and buck. Her face now was pale and drawn, like that of a hockey centre-forward at a girls' school who, in addition to getting a fruity one on the shin, has just been penalized for "sticks".

[NorthWay]

Just read "Ringworld" (David Niven). Was not overly impressed.

https://amzn.to/2BBbOVl

[zip accident]

Just read "Ringworld" (David Niven). Was not overly impressed.
https://amzn.to/2BBbOVl

In English or translated?

I think it's adequate SF, not worth the hype perhaps but nothing was ever going to be.