Semiosis and Interference by Sue Burke.

The Book of Koli

Tales of the Dying Earth by Jack Vance

An omnibus edition of The Dying Earth, The Eyes of the Overworld, Cugel's Saga and Rhialto the Marvellous.  Although Vance's two SF short stories The Gift of Gab and The Potters of Firsk stuck in my mind, I hadn't read much of his other work before, and didn't realise that The Dying Earth was a foundational work for twentieth-century fantasy.  Nobody else I know of has his baroque intoxication with language and with colours.

Penric's Progress by Lois McMaster Bujold

The first three "Penric" novellas, finally available in dead tree form (hardback now, paperback due in January 2021).  Set in the "World of the Five Gods" (same world as The Curse of Chalion and others).  Terrific!  Don't miss this series!

Tales of the Dying Earth by Jack Vance

I own a paper version, but with different cover:

Mine's paperback too, but it's quite old, a UK edition published in 2000.  Publishers seem to have a habit of changing the artwork when they re-publish, as well as by country.

Mastering Ubuntu Server 3rd Edition by Jay LaCroix.



Jay has a decent YouTube channel covering various server topics. I figured I’d buy his book to help support him and his channel. And it’s actually a good read. I was familiar with most but not all it covered. So it’s a handy refresher/reference for a server geek, and an excellent how-to for someone just getting into servers - or interested in setting up their first home lab. Highly recommended.

Requiem for the American Dream - The Principals of Concentrated Wealth and Power - Noam Chomsky



MIT professor of linguistics needs no introduction to the world of intelligent discussion and debate. This book was compiled from a series of talks, and might have been titled: “a blueprint for tyranny” just as easily. An uncomfortable read. Especially in the wake of the political and social dumpster fire we’ve lived through over the previous four years.

YouTube made a full video of it. It’s worth watching - and thinking about - if you’re not into reading books.

Finally reading something by William Gibson.  Pattern Recognition

Quote from: tomos on January 26, 2021, 10:47 PM

Mort by Terry Pratchett. A nice (and not too big) hardback.

about 70 pages in -- a very easy and entertaining read so far. My first book by Pratchett.

enjoyed that to the end and went for the second in the series -- "Reaper Man". It's a bit all over the shop (almost halfway through). Definitely not as good as the first

Don't overlook that there are sub-series within the series.  The ones I enjoyed most are the ones featuring the Guards (Vimes, Carrot, Nobby, Colon et al.) , and the ones featuring the Witches (mostly Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Magrat, and later on, Tiffany Aching).

Discworld Monthly is a great source for all things Pratchett.  You can sign up for their monthly email newsletter.  It's such a shame that there won't be any more Discworld novels...

The Emperor of Scent:
https://www.amazon.com/Emperor-Scent-Story-Perfume-Obsession/dp/0375759816


"The Emperor of Scent tells of the scientific maverick Luca Turin, a connoisseur and something of an aesthete who wrote a bestselling perfume guide and bandied about an outrageous new theory on the human sense of smell. Drawing on cutting-edge work in biology, chemistry, and physics, Turin used his obsession with perfume and his eerie gift for smell to turn the cloistered worlds of the smell business and science upside down, leading to a solution to the last great mystery of the senses: how the nose works."

Quote from: mouser on April 17, 2021, 06:23 AM

how the nose works

Don't forget Turin's archenemy, Nobody Nose.

I hear he was a prowd individual. 

Having exhausted the available Jack Reacher novels I have been going through the Mitch Rapp series.

Seems like a weird name for a hero.  Perhaps it has to do with character ownership rights.  I do not imagine very many character name collisions with that moniker. 

I like those and have read all of them. Never thought it was a weird name, though. Rapp is a relatively known if not overly so last name.

No wonder the hero is an assassin!  Having a single syllable for both first and last name must generate anger management issues. 

I suspect that the only problem John Doe has with his name is that people often confuse him with someone else.

Quote from: MilesAhead on April 20, 2021, 04:41 PM

Having a single syllable for both first and last name must generate anger management issues.

I guess I should be a lot angrier than I am then. Maybe I should try to be an assassin!

Speaking of assassins and books read, I read Sammy "The Bull" Gravano's Underboss  a few years ago.  Hollywood makes Button Men seem cool but Sammy describes in detail how killing the target is just the start.  The real work is using a chain saw on the corps to make the pieces easier to dispose.  A good read.  I got a few laughs especially Sammy's early encounters with the Justice System.